For Environment, Democracy and Livelihoods
The Sixth national community forestry workshop was organized by the department of forest on 16-18th June 2014 at Staff College, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur with the broad motto “community forestry for sustainable development and prosperity”. The workshop provided the platform to discuss the issues, challenges and their potential solutions to formulate a short, medium and long term action plan for community forestry to pave the way towards sustainable development of the country. Five researchers from ForestAction Nepal – Dr. Naya Sharma Paudel, Dr. Krishna Paudel, Mr. Govinda Paudel, Ms. Sujata Tamang and Mr. Shurid Chapagain presented their papers under different themes of the workshop.
During this workshop, ForestAction Nepal organized a side event entitled “Protection or production: exploring the prospects and challenges of sustainable forest management in community forest (CF) in Nepal”. Prominent figures in forestry sector participated in the event as panel members namely, Academician/Conservationist Dr. Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, Community rights advocate Mr. Momamad Kar Khan (FECOFUN), Forest Officer Mr. Vijay Raj Subedi (Govt. of Nepal), and Timber entrepreneur Mr. Kapil Adhikari (FenFit). The discussion primarily focused on scientific forest management (ScFM) intervention in CF and its challenges on addressing the concerns of different stakeholders. The side event became a platform to inform the participants with diverse opinions and stands on ScFM and contributed to develop its understanding and role in increasing forest productivity, improving livelihoods and food security.