Changing Policies and the Persistence of Patron-Client Relations in Nepal: Stakeholders' Responses to Changes in Forest Policies

Abstract

In 1978, following two decades in which all forest resources were nationalized, the government of Nepal introduced a policy for community forestry that promised to hand over most accessible forests to communities for protection and management.' Some recent assessments of the impact of community forestry policy implementation have shown mixed results.2 They all indicate that while the physical condition of most community forests has improved in some areas, the improvement is very uneven across the country. Moreover, community members have not yet benefited from any of these forests. In fact, in some areas, some households, especially the poorer ones, have been affected negatively by the community forestry policy.3 Community forestry policy, then, has not yet lived up to its expectations. The limited and, in some places, negative impact of community forestry policy in Nepal can be explained by looking at the relationships among stakeholdersdifferent individuals, groups of people, and organizations and institutions-who have interests in forest resources. In recent years, there has been an increased recognition of the existence of differing and often conflicting views on the ways in which forests should be used and managed and the need and ways for accommodating such multiple views.4 Worsley et al. describe how people in a given society are always divided into various strata, which are not only distinct from each other but also interconnected through such relationships as inferiority and superiority, usually of many kinds: political, economic, social, and religious. Often such stratification serves as a basis for regulating access to scarce goods, not just material objects of consumption, but rather all things valued and sought after in society, including the distribution and receipt of immaterial benefits such as prestige. People work and spend in order to acquire necessities of life, which include using wealth to gain