How can forests better serve the poor? A review of documented knowledge on leasehold and community forestry in Nepal.

How can forests better serve the poor? A review of documented knowledge on leasehold and community forestry in Nepal.

In Nepal, Leasehold Forestry (LHF)1 and Community Forestry (CF) are the two participatory forestry development programs within the forestry sector. While CF’s implementation began in the early 1980s, LHF was designed in the mid-nineties to directly target the poorest households. The emergence of CF was a response to growing concerns of the environmental degradation in the hill regions of Nepal. The program sought to bring patches of forest lands under the control of local communities, with the twin goals of meeting local forest product needs and combating deforestation. In practice, CF had a general focus on restoring the quality of the forestlands during the initial stages of the program’s implementation. However, recent policy debates and practices have begun to address the diverse livelihoods issues2 of local forest users. The emergence of LHF, subsequent to CF, was the result of two key factors: a) growing policy emphasis on poverty reduction, and b) a realization among key forestry actors that equity issues had not been adequately addressed by other forest management approaches, including CF.

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Bhattarai, B. and Dhungana, S. 2005. How can forests better serve the poor? A review of documented knowledge on leasehold and community forestry in Nepal. Discussion Paper. ForestAction Nepal.