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Sustainable forest management is crucial to generate ecological, economic, as well as social benefits. Such management practices have existed for some time in community forests of Nepal, yet there are gaps in regards to developing common understanding on the technical competence and benefits of sustainable management of forests. With this intent, EnLiFT2 successfully concluded a ‘Modular Training on Forest Management for Community Users’ in Chautara municipality, Sindhupalchowk (29-30 August 2023) and Bhumlu rural municipality, Kavre (3-4 September 2023) on 4 September 2023. The training was intended to develop better understanding on the concept of sustainable forest management among the community forest user groups. The partakers (14 males and 14 females in Chautara; 17 males and 10 females in Chaubas) of the training, which also involved representatives of local government in both sites (3 from each palikas) undertook both theoretical as well as sessions on practical application of sustainable forest management. The training sessions and field activities were facilitated and guided by researchers of the EnLiFT2 project.

The sessions delivered during the training involved the following:

Session 1: Concept of SFM

Sessio2: Prospects and challenges of SFM in Nepal

Session 3: Community rights and responsibilities in SFM

Session 4: Forest management system and rotation age according to the species present in the area

Session 5: Policies related to SFM

Session 6: Preparation and implementation of sustainable forest management operational plans in the current situation

The Barandabhar biological forest/corridor is unique in terms of its rich biodiversity, and connects Chitwan National Park in the south to the Mahabharat Hill Range in the north. In the recent years, the biological corridor has been affected by infestation of invasive alien plant species like Mikania micrantha, Lantana camara and Chromolaena odorata among others. While efforts have been in place to address the issue in the past, the interventions did not take into consideration couple of aspects like natural regeneration, season for invasive plant removal, and targeted species for removal among others. With an aim to mitigate the problem, ForestAction Nepal has been working with the community forest user groups to restore the degraded forest and conserve biodiversity through site level demonstration, building capacity of the forest user groups, and provide feedback for future efforts on policy reform in forest restoration. The initiative is supported through IKI small grant.

Here are some of the key achievements of the intervention:

■ Selective invasive plant species were completely uprooted or slashed through use of local technologies like sickle, spade, kutto, kodalo. Over 700 Metric tonnes of invasive plant species have been collected restoring 110 hectares of forest land. It was mostly the forest user groups engaged in the work that took 800 man-days involving over 120 local people, mainly women.

■ With an aim to promote natural regeneration, protection of native species was prioritized. So far, over 24000 native seedlings have been protected, including Sal, Khasreto, Kadam, Padke, Sitalchini, Kamare, Sindure, Asna, Rajbrikshya, Kadam, Simal.

■ Training was provided to 94 members from three community forests.A total of 60 quintal of compost manure prepared out of the invasive plants. The composts are being used in their farms.

■ A biodiversity assessment and profiling of Barandabhar corridor is being undertaken. Floristic survey has reported a total 347 species of flowing plants, faunal survey listed 47 species of amphibians and reptiles, 7 species of the reptiles and amphibians that are listed in IUCN Red list (1 Endangered, 2 Vulnerable, and 4 Near Threatened) and 7 listed in CITES (1 Appendix I and 6 Appendix II), two of which are endemic to Nepal has been found.

■ One amphibian species which is expected to be new to science and 2 species of plants that might be new to Nepal has been found (yet to be verified).

■ Communication and dissemination of the work, along with preparation and publishing of training materials.

ForestAction Nepal, along with its consortium partners HIMAWANTI, AFFON, and FenFit, Nepal, has successfully completed the plantation of 31,034 NTFPs in Sindhupalchowk and Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta Purba) districts this year. The process of plantation as a resource base creation has been an empowering process for women entrepreneurs carved out by the project Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions. The project took intersectionality as an important approach for the action research. Many women are deprived of forest resources, even though their livelihoods depend heavily on the forest for food, fuel, and income. Their access to these resources is denied. Hence, to ensure the resources in the vicinity of the communities, the plantation and distribution of the NTFP resources like 500 bamboo, 23,900 amriso, 2000 coffee, and 4634 nigalo were done.

They are the ones who preferred the species for the plantation after being involved in the task force created for undertaking the activities. Strolling around the village, they found the different qualities of the species based on their traditional knowledge. They also went to neighboring villages for resource exploration, enhancing their freedom of mobility from their daily household work and even negotiated the prices. Hence, they secured abundant resources for the consistent supply of raw materials for the enterprises they selected in the inception period of the project, allowing them to assure the sustainability of the resources. Furthermore, interactions with the private farmers and local government in the process have helped in their agency’s development as well as strengthening of private sector.

The arduous process of the plantation involves mind mapping and demand collection from women entrepreneurs, followed by coordination and discussion with stakeholders- Local Government, Division Forest Office, private resource owners, community forest user groups, rural marginalized women entrepreneurs, in Nawalpur and Sindhupalchowk districts. Arranging the human resources for extraction purposes (labor, transportation) was a herculean task during these peak agricultural engagement periods yet it was successful with strong dedications from the entrepreneurs.

To assure sustainability, women entrepreneurs are held accountable to leverage the resources, and social mobilizers are mobilized for frequent monitoring and supervision at the plantation site.

Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions (WEE-FS), an action research project led by ForestAction Nepal in consortium with HIMAWANTI Nepal, AFFON, and FenFIT and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada, has been carving out eco-friendly products like bio cups and plates from Sal (Shorea robusta) leaves and aesthetics from Thakal (Phoenix laureiroi) leaves. To ensure resource-based sustainable harvesting, leaf inventory was conducted in Nawalparasi (E).

In Nepal, 44.74 % of the area is covered by forest, where Sal is the dominant species of the Sub-Tropical/ Terai region. Forest act 2079 stated that extracting any form of forest product should be provisioned on the Community Forest Operational Plan. Internalizing the fact, an inventory of Sal leaves was conducted in Deurali CFUG, Amarjyoti CFUG, and Sankhadevi CFUG in Gaidakot Municipality and Thakal leaves inventory was carried out in Namuna CFUG-Devchuli Municipality. The inventory was designed in close technical coordination with the Divisional Forest Office, Nawalparasi (E); besides, Community Forestry Inventory Guideline, (2061), NTFP Inventory Guideline (2069), and Forest Regulation (2079) were referred in the design process. This inventory ensures ecological integrity, economic viability, and resource-based sustainable harvesting techniques, all these while developing enterprises to economically empower marginalized women.

This inventory, therefore, enables the comprehensive evaluation of the resource base and sustainable harvesting method to address the escalating subsistence and commercial requirements of marginalized women groups involved in the NTFP-based enterprises identified by the women entrepreneurs.

The stinging nettle (sisnoo), have a long history of its usage as weaponry during wars. These have now emerged as an empowering tool for women in Sindhupalchowk. Considered as an abandoned weed, sisnoo has a growing demand on the national and international markets because of its medicinal and health benefits. It helps in body detoxification, increased metabolic efficiency, boosted immunity, increased energy levels, and many more. For ages, people from many different nations and cultures have used nettles. It has been used therapeutically on the skin, consumed as an herbal tea, and eaten as a wild food plant. In recognition of its growing significance, the project “Economic Empowerment of the Women through the Forest Solutions,” funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada and implemented by ForestAction Nepal along with its consortium partners, Himalayan Grassroots Women’s Natural Resource Management Association (HIMAWANTI), Nepal, Association of Family Forest Owners, Nepal- (AFFON), Federation of Forest-based Industry and Trade, Nepal (FenFIT-Nepal) has supported 12 women groups in Sindhupalchowk to promote it as a green enterprise.

These women are actively engaged in nettle leaf collection, drying, grinding, and packaging, along with the basics of product marketing. They are also equipped with necessary technological backing, including a multipurpose grinder and a packaging machine supported by the project. Not only have these enterprises raised hope among women in supporting their livelihoods, but have also emerged as a promising technique in promoting eco-friendly farming. In order to safeguard the environment, this enterprise operates according to green standards that restrict energy use, no greenhouse gas emissions, and generate less amount of waste.

Exposure visits have proven to be a crucial training method in terms of sensitizing communities on a variety of resource management techniques. It has especially been beneficial to women groups where they get an opportunity to interact and learn from each other, allowing them to perceive solutions from the point of view of their real life situation. In this backdrop, Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions (WEE-FS)- an action research project led by ForestAction Nepal in consortium with HIMAWANTI Nepal, AFFON and FenFIT supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada organized an exposure visit targeting women Thakal entrepreneur group from Namuna Community Forest User Group (CFUG) on December 14, 2022. Among the participants were women entrepreneur groups, executive committee members of Namuna CFUG, representative of Nawalpur Khabar, representative from the Local Government (Ward level) and district Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN) .

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Jalthal is a biodiversity-rich forest island in South-East Nepal. It is a remnant of once contiguous lush forest popularly known as Charkoshe ban. In the recent years, forests of Jalthal have been infested with Invasive Alien Species (IAS)-particularly by Mikania-mile a minute, thus posing threat to biodiversity. In an effort to restore the degraded forests of Jalthal and promote conservation of its biodiversity, ForestAction Nepal in collaboration with the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), FECOFUN Jhapa, and community forest user groups of Jalthal, have been implementing activities targeting the removal of IAS along with supporting the livelihoods of community forest user groups.

Good progress has been made in regards to having a solid scientific foundation including documentation of key biodiversity components, identifying specific threats and their proximate and underlying causes, communicating ecological significance of the forest with local communities and government, piloting invasive species management practices, and identifying locally suitable agroforestry for forest biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of forest biological resources.

Community and private forests are the main sources of timber in rural and urban areas of Nepal. The logs sold from private and community forests are often sawn in the saw mills in nearby markets. Users’ needs to pay a bulk amount of money for sawing saw logs in addition to their full day engagement.  Similarly manually sawing is very expensive and the quality of sawn timber also not upto the standard.

Considering the hardship that communities are facing, the idea of testing a portable saw mill that would provide door to door quality service for timber sawing was envisioned during the design of EnLiFT2 project. Portable sawmills are an attractive microenterprise, where farmers can produce lumber for their own use and sell the surplus or offer custom sawing for neighbors. A low up‐front investment coupled with the ability to maximize returns on timber make this type of harvest attractive from many perspectives.

The EnLiFT2 project team supported the trial of the portable sawmill purchased by the DFO Sindhupalchowk. In particular, EnLiFT2 supported the testing of sawmill to assess the technical, financial and social feasibility.

Also see the blog on portable sawmill testing

A National Inception Workshop for “Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions”- an Action Research Project funded by IDRC Canada and implemented by a consortium of ForestAction Nepal, The Himalayan Grassroots Women’s Natural Resource Management Association (HIMAWANTI), Association of Family Forest Owner’s, Nepal (AFFON) and Federation of Forest-based Industry and Trade, Nepal (FenFIT-Nepal) was held on 2nd January 2022. The workshop aimed at further refining the methodology, strengthening the research-policy linkage, and building synergy among the stakeholders.

EnLiFT 2 is supporting Community Forest User Groups with timber harvesting and post-harvesting procedures, alongside government line agencies. Here, EnLiFT researchers are with Community Forest Users, taking measurements of dimensions of fallen and standing trees selected for harvesting, in the process of developing a harvesting plan in Lakuri community Forest, Chaubas, Kavre.

Photo Credit : Sarada Tiwari / Kapil Dahal