The adequacy of community forest operational plans for estimating fuelwood supply and consumption in Nepal

Abstract

ABSTRACTFuelwood derived from community forests of Nepal is critical for rural livelihoods. Supply of fuelwood is regulated through 5-year operational plans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adequacy of operational plans in addressing the demand and supply of fuelwood in community forests of Nepal. Data was gathered from operational plans, household interviews and fuelwood supply assessment in 13 community forests of Nalma (inaccessible by road) and Taksar (accessible by road) villages in the Lamjung district. Our study revealed that per capita annual fuelwood consumption in Nalma (486 kg) was significantly higher than in Taksar (398 kg), and also significantly different combinations of fuelwood, biogas and electricity were utilised between the villages. These differences were associated with their respective distances from the main road. Community forests contributed 57 and 63% of the total fuelwood consumption in Nalma and Taksar, respectively. Of 13 community forests, nine have planned annual demand and supply of fuelwood well below our estimates of actual supply and consumption, indicating that most of the operational plans inadequately represented the prevailing demand and supply of fuelwood. In addition, the planned quantities of fuelwood demand and supply in current operational plans were markedly different and poorly linked to the previous projections, which suggest inconsistent and inadequate application of standard planning guidelines. We recommend a revision of the methods used in the preparation of these plans to determine fuelwood demand and supply in community forestry implementation.