Nepal's Community Research Articles

Attempting affirmative political ecologies: Collective transformative learning for social justice in Nepal's community forestry

Whilst political ecology scholarship has contributed much to articulating social injustices associated with Nepal's community forestry, here we took a different approach, by attempting an 'affirmative political ecology.' We drew on feminist and activist scholarship to inspire collective action that engaged directly with challenges of social justice and those charged with delivering it through their work. Guided by theories and practices of 'transformative learning' and a range of associated reflective practices, our participatory action research involved 4 facilitators and (up to) 25 participants who work across Nepal's forest bureaucracy (and for some, the wider community-based natural resource management sector). Together physically, remotely and through our writing, we reflect upon the operation of power in our professional – and personal – lives, exploring how that may enable a more informed and meaningful engagement with social justice within the workplace, and beyond. This article presents the process of our collective reflection and learning, and shares some of its initial outcomes based on the experiences of the 15 co-authors. Whilst 'simply' having the time and space to come together was hugely important, it was the form and feel of that space that was particularly significant, as we focused on co-creating a safe space which was non-judgmental and based on mutual respect, enabling comfortable and open discussion of often unspoken and uncomfortable issues. Ultimately, this article argues that collective practices of reflection and transformative learning can create shared learning, understanding, empathy and solidarity, and thus that it offers hope in the face of on-going social injustices. It therefore urges political ecologists to work towards such caring and affirmative collective engagements with practitioners as one way in which to affect change.

Nepal's community forestry: critical reflection from the governance perspective

ABSTRACT In recent decades, the role of community forestry (CF) has been to address the livelihoods of local people beyond its original objective of forest protection. Yet, there have been governance-related concerns, particularly the distribution of benefits among group members. We used a case study approach to better understand the CF model from the perspective of household satisfaction and benefit distribution at the local level. For data collection, we used multiple methods, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and household surveys. The study utilised the Henry-Garret ranking for analysing key elements of forest governance and a probit regression model for identifying the major contributing factors of satisfaction towards CF governance. Results suggested greater equity in CF governance and the empowerment of marginalised forest communities. Though CF has created new opportunities to consolidate forest users’ efforts toward provisioning broader environmental services, the system continues to favour elites and other influential groups in CF decision-making. The study suggests improving equity and introducing incentives to primary forest dependents. The additional incentives will not only help communities to adapt to the changing context but also increase their interest in decision-making, particularly for equitable distribution of benefits and local collective action.

Trouble felt in Education and Sustainability during the Time of Covid-19 in Nepal: Responses of Teachers, Parents and Students

Examined in this study are crisis-related educational initiatives. Its goal is to analyse the educational approaches employed in Nepal's community schools during the COVID-19 pandemic-caused catastrophe. This study is qualitative, hence the methodology employed is deemed appropriate. In this study, the data are collected through purposeful sampling. The participants are dedicated teachers from particular schools, as well as kids and parents. The study was conducted in the Kageshwori Manohara Municipality in the Kathmandu district. The study's primary sources are the participants, hence primary sources were used to collect the data. Using narrative enquiry and qualitative approaches, the data are analysed. Interviews were used to collect the data because it was a qualitative study. Narrative enquiry is used in the study, which follows the interpretative paradigm. Inductive and qualitative research approaches are thus both used in this study. The difficulties and crises that teachers, students, and parents experienced in Nepal during COVID-19 are examined in this paper. According to reports, COVID-19 has caused unforeseen changes in people's lifestyles. It prompted the development of online education, which promoted the use of modern technology although financial crisis disturbed sustainability of people. The results of this study demonstrate the technical and economical difficulties of adopting online classes in COVID-19. It is expected that this study will have an impact on society and academia. This study has preserved the value of originality because it is based on primary sources.

STATUS, LEADERSHIP, AND ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN NEPAL

Community colleges in Nepal, subsidized by the local community, have been preparing students to be productive members of the nation's futu re. The role of community colleges seems crucial in contributing in the field of Nepali academia from the date of its establishment. The pu rpose of this paper is to present the cu rrent status of Nepal Community College comparing to other Asian countries. This review study intends to provide a solution to the question of when Nepal's community college will have sufficient endowment to meet the needs of students and other stakeholders with a direct or indirect connection to the institution. It also explores if community campus leadershi p and supervision practices are sufficient to produce competent students who may be employable in Nepal and beyond. This article seeks to identify certain leadershi p and management approaches, as well as the growth of community colleges. Additionally, this material is based on years of experience obtained while working as a community college instructor.

Conservation by corruption: The hidden yet regulated economy in Nepal's community forest timber sector

Through the case of commercial timber production in Nepal's community forests, we uncover and explain how effective anti-corruption and harvest regulation have produced a kind of ‘allowed’ corruption that promotes forest conservation. An ethnographic study in four community forests and in-depth interviews of nearly 200 actors along the Sal (Shorea robusta) timber commodity chain showed that all actors participated in a highly organised form of collusive corruption. Anti-corruption officials call this practice “corruption without illegality” because it does not involve unauthorised harvest in community forests. Instead, it suppresses producer prices through legally required but rigged timber auctions that generate windfall profits, which sawmill owners share with upstream actors to ensure a steady supply of raw logs. Local-level timber brokers connect community forest user groups to sawmill owners. They also operate as stealth conveyers of unofficial payments to forestry officials and other upstream actors because they can camouflage such cash flows as transaction costs. Anti-corruption authorities enforce formal timber harvesting rules, which deters forestry officials from getting involved in overharvesting schemes. However, these same rules, plus some legal posturing, allow forestry officials to extract rents from legally harvested logs at minimum risk. This is hardly a coincidence because it enables the central administration to regulate difficult-to-control field-level forestry officials' behaviour without curtailing their access to informal incomes. Forest user groups lose out, but they could increase their timber income substantially by exercising their powers to decide whether or not to harvest timber. Elevating timber auction floor prices through state intervention is also feasible.

Vertical distribution of soil properties and soil organic carbon in community managed forest of Siwalik Hill, Nepal

Abstract. Lamichhane U, Ghimire P. 2022. Vertical distribution of soil properties and soil organic carbon in community managed forest of Siwalik Hill, Nepal. Asian J For 6: 91-96. Nepal's Community Forestry (CF) approach is globally recognized as an innovative and successful approach to forest resource management. Shorea robusta Gaertn. is the dominant tree species of Nepal's forest which covers 19.28% of the total stem volume of the country's forest area. Soil represents a significant terrestrial Carbon (C) pool and can play a significant role in mitigating global warming. Therefore, analyzing soil physicochemical properties and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stock is essential because they are key parameters for evaluating land use management systems. The present study was conducted in the Durga Mai Community Forest (DMCF) of Makawanpur District, Nepal, to assess the vertical distribution of soil physicochemical properties and SOC stock. Soil samples within a 1 m profile in five depth layers (0-20 cm, 21-40 cm, 41-60 cm, 61-80cm, and 81-100 cm) were collected and analyzed for Bulk Density (BD), soil texture, soil pH, soil carbon content, Total Nitrogen (TN), Available Phosphorous (AP), Available Potassium (AK) and SOC stock. Sandy loam was the dominant soil textural class reported throughout the study area. Average BD, soil pH, TN, AP, and AK in the S. robusta forest's soil in 1 m soil profile depth were found to be 1.16 ±0.07 gmcm-3, 5.78 ±0.62, 0.14 ±0.04 %, 5.94 ±1.04 kgha-1, and 104.20 ±19.66 kgha-1, respectively. The results estimated 107.57 ±3.06 tha-1 of SOC stock in 1 m soil profile, with 0.93 ±0.21% average SOC content. Further, average TN, AP, and AK were found to be decreased with an increase in soil profile depths. Similarly, soil profile depths significantly affected SOC stock and soil properties like BD, soil pH, TN, AP, and AK.

Reterritorialization of Community Forestry: Scientific Forest Management in the Terai and Chure Region of Nepal.

Nepal's community forestry is an example of a decentralized, participatory and autonomous development model. However, recent community forestry practices informed by the concept of scientific forestry in resource-rich and commercially lucrative Terai regions of Nepal have reversed community forestry gains. Scientific forestry, enforced through the Department of Forest has reproduced frontier power dynamics creating reterritorialization of community forestry through commercialization. Discouraging subsistence utilization and increasing commodification of high-value timber resources have been crucial in reconfiguring forest authority and territorial control. Moreover, the Scientific Forestry Programs have informally institutionalized rent-seeking practices at the local level. A local level, power nexus has developed among forest officials, contractors and community elites that systematically undermine local participation, allocation of resources for subsistence livelihoods and local autonomy. In effect, scientific forestry is recentralizing forest authority by legitimizing territorial control and the elite accumulation of benefits.

Community entrepreneurship: Lessons from Nepal's Chaubas community forestry sawmill

Nepal's community forestry is well studied and widely acknowledged, but its experience of Community Forestry Enterprises (CFEs) as a form of community entrepreneurship has not been part of a robust scholarly debate. While CFEs are considered a means to enhance community livelihoods and reduce poverty, a growing body of literature suggests that it is difficult to establish, grow and sustain economically profitable and socially beneficial CFEs. Across the developing world, many CFEs have emerged, functioned for certain periods of time, and then disappeared. In view of this, several conceptual questions have been raised about the viability and sustainability of CFEs. The aim of this paper is to investigate why CFEs fail and what could make them succeed. By analyzing the Chaubas-Bhumlu Community Sawmill of Nepal (hereafter, Chaubas CFE), this paper demonstrates that CFEs do not necessarily become successful, despite good access to natural resources, reasonable business plans, and significant start-up capital and support from external stakeholders. The Chaubas CFE struggled to sustain the enterprise in the face of changing government policies and politics, persistent conflictual community level dynamics, and the lack of local business capacity. We argue that the confidence on communities to engage in the business of natural resources is not well founded, especially in the context of complex social, political, and environmental realities that underpin business development and operation.

Conservation by Corruption: The Hidden Yet Regulated Economy of Nepal's Community Forest Timber Trade

Conservation by Corruption: The Hidden Yet Regulated Economy of Nepal's Community Forest Timber Trade

Knowledge power nexus in Nepal's community forest planning

The forest management plans started as simple document turned to complex silviculture based plans that included compartmentalization and detailed mapping of the forests. Several researches focused on the community forestry outcomes, but there is a paucity of studies on the implications GIS based mapping of small patches of community forests from the users perspectives. The plans have switched the users from adopting local knowledge to technical scientific knowledge. Thus, this paper explores the understanding of local communities about the forests and implications of complex GIS tools in community forestry. Taking a case study approach, this study compared participatory maps produced by the local communities with the maps produced through Landsat Image classification in terms of accuracy, acceptability by the local users and associated costs. Semi-structured interviews of community forest user groups and forest bureaucracy and focus group discussions with the users were carried out to analyse the significance of the role of GIS based mapping in community forest management. The findings revealed that participatory maps performed better in terms of accuracy, cost and acceptability by the users. The local communities found it difficult to interpret the GIS-based maps. The users considered that the forest bureaucracy is using these GIS-based maps as a means of controlling the users from a distance. Hence, blending of local and scientific knowledge will yield better results and increase the ownership of technical interventions in community forestry.

Bureaucratic recentralisation of Nepal's community forestry sector

This paper explores the forest bureaucracy's practices of implementing community forest policies in Nepal and how this shapes the realities of community forestry for forest user groups. To this end, we conducted a content analysis of community forest management plans; surveyed 74 community forest user groups; conducted intensive field observation in six community forests and interacted with executive committee members and forest bureaucrats from two western hill districts. Our results show that forest user groups were hardly aware of their formal rights, including the obligations of forest bureaucrats to deliver free-of-charge services and technical support. Nobody holds forest bureaucrats accountable for failing to fulfil this part of their official duties. Rather, the forest bureaucrats have established different legal and extralegal processes and mechanisms through which they regain and maintain control over community forest resources. We call this 'bureaucratic recentralisation', and it allows forest bureaucrats to reap personal benefits, including unofficial revenues for delivering statutorily no-cost services.

Improving science-policy interface: Lessons from the policy lab methodology in Nepal's community forest governance

Whether and how science can improve public policy is a highly contested topic in both the scholarly domains and the world of policy and practice. The research community often finds itself frustrated over the continued neglect of research evidence by policy makers. At the same time, policy makers see researchers as addressing their own questions of curiosity, and not those of concern to policy makers. In the context of this ongoing research-policy divide, this paper presents experimental work on the research-policy linkage conducted in Nepal's forest sector. The insights presented here emerged from applying what is increasingly known as the “Policy Lab” methodology. We designed and operationalised this method to facilitate policy uptake of research on forestry and food security within the context of community forestry governance in the country. The method comprised facilitating the two-way interaction between the research team and policy actors. Underpinning this method were six Policy Lab events organized during 2014–2019 as part of an action research project aiming to enhance livelihoods and food security of local communities in the Nepalese hills. We found that Policy Lab methodology, if organized using the suggested principles, can help improve the much-needed link between research and policy. The study has also exposed new issues of concern that merit attention at the science-policy interface.

The Contested Role of Management Plans in Improving Forest Conditions in Nepal's Community Forests

Nepal's forest legislation requires community forest user groups to prepare inventory based management plans. Several studies have observed positive changes in forest cover after the establishment of community forestry; however, the role of management plans in bringing about such change is less examined. Based on a case study of nine community forests in the mid-hills of Nepal, this paper discusses the role of plans in changing the forest conditions. The study assessed changes in forest conditions, observed forest management activities, conducted household surveys, and interviewed forest bureaucrats. Image analysis showed improvement in forest conditions after the introduction of inventory based planning; however, improvements cannot be attributed to the plans, as the prescriptions in these were not used in practice. Instead, it emerged that a culture emphasizing forest conservation, changes in demography and increased remittance incomes together with increasing bureaucratic requirements contributed to the improved forest conditions. The role of the plan remains contested since it largely serves as a basis for controlling communities and, hence, preparation of such plans appears as an empty ritual with little connection with actual forest management.

Investments in different taxonomies of goods: What should Nepal's community forest user groups prioritize?

Community forestry was initiated four decades ago in Nepal, with the aim of conserving forests and providing basic forest products to proximate households for subsistence use. Many resources were invested in improving the well-being of local communities, especially through the selling of forest products. However, there is limited knowledge of how this investment contributes to well-being. Following the concept of economic goods, this paper elucidates how community forest investment in different taxonomies of goods contributes to households' well-being. A statistically representative (n = 377) household survey was carried out in the Terai and mid-hills, representing different income groups (low, middle and affluent), along with focus group discussions and key informant interviews in two community forests. The data collection was supplemented with an analysis of community forest-user groups' records and their interactions with stakeholders. Two-stage statistical models were developed to explain the effect of the investment in different taxonomies of goods to household well-being, where economic factors were confounded in the first stage, followed by multinomial regression. Investment in private goods, especially in income and employment-generating activities, positively contributes to household well-being. In contrast, investment in public and common goods may not necessarily contribute to well-being, emphasizing the need to identify goods that positively contribute to the household well-being. We argue that appropriate policy reforms should be made to prioritize investment in private goods by the community forest user groups that maximize the contribution of community forestry to human well-being, especially that of low-income households.

Blue Diamond Society: working with Nepal's LGBT community

Over the past decade, transgender activist Manisha Dhakal has witnessed significant change in Nepal. In 2007, she shared her story of being discriminated against for being a transgender woman during a Supreme Court hearing which led the court to rule that the new democratic government—following the abolition of the monarchy—must create laws to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, and change existing laws that fuel discrimination. Reaching Nepal's mobile population at risk of HIVMigrant workers are one of the largest risk groups in Nepal's HIV epidemic. With thousands crossing the border on a daily basis, case-finding is a major challenge. Sophie Cousins reports. Full-Text PDF

From didactic to personalized health and nutrition counselling: A mixed-methods review of the GALIDRAA approach in Nepal.

GALIDRAA (greet, ask, listen, identify, discuss, recommend, agree, and appoint), an interpersonal communication method, is used in health and nutrition behaviour change programmes to structure communication between front-line workers (FLWs) and beneficiaries. However, programmatic experiential evidence and monitoring and evaluation of the method are scarce. Suaahara aims to address maternal and child undernutrition, in part by influencing household-level behaviours. Suaahara trained both government and programme FLWs in GALIDRAA for use during counselling. This study investigates their adherence to the GALIDRAA method 2years later, using quantitative and qualitative data from a 2014 process evaluation study. Descriptive and thematic analyses were conducted to assess adherence to GALIDRAA. We found variation in adherence to each of the eight GALIDRAA steps among both Suaahara field supervisors (FSs) and Nepal's female community health volunteers (FCHVs). The prevalence of FLWs identifying a beneficiary's problem, discussing, questioning, and probing for constraints with the beneficiary, and, only then, recommending a doable solution, that is, the process of personalized nutrition counselling, was substantially higher among Suaahara FSs than FCHVs. However, both FCHVs and FSs counselling skills, particularly regarding adherence to each step of the GALIDRAA approach, have room for improvement. This highlights the need for additional training and post-training follow-up including supportive supervision related to appropriate counselling methods such as GALIDRAA and may indicate that there are additional FLWs constraints, beyond knowledge, that programmes need to address.

The effects of the Nepal community forestry program on biodiversity conservation and carbon storage.

Approximately 15.5% of global forest is controlled by ~1 billion local people and the area under community control is increasing. However, there is limited empirical evidence as to whether community control is effective in providing critical global ecosystem services, such as biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. We assess the effectiveness of one example of community-controlled forest, Nepal’s Community Forestry Program (CFP), at providing biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. Using data from 620 randomly selected CFP and non-CFP forest plots, we apply a robust matching method based on covariates to estimate whether CFPs are associated with greater biodiversity conservation or carbon storage. Our results reveal a significant positive effect of CFP on biodiversity, which is robust against the influence of unobserved covariates. Our results also suggest a significant negative effect of the CFP on aboveground tree and sapling carbon (AGC) at the national scale (-15.11 Mg C ha-1). However, the CFP has a mixed effect on carbon across geographic and topographic regions and in forests with different canopy covers. Though there were no significant effects of the CFP on AGC at lower altitudes, in the Terai or hill regions, and under closed canopies, there were positive effects in open canopies (25.84 Mg C ha-1) at lower slopes (25.51 Mg C ha-1) and negative effects at higher altitudes (-22.81 Mg C ha-1) and higher slopes (-17.72 Mg C ha-1). Our sensitivity analysis revealed that the positive effects are robust to unobserved covariates, which is not true for the negative results. In aggregate, our results demonstrate that CFP can be an effective forest management strategy to contribute to global ecosystem services such as biodiversity, and to a lesser extent carbon.

Biomass Carbon Content in Schima-Castanopsis Forest of Midhills of Nepal: A Case Study from Jaisikuna Community Forest, Kaski

Forests are considered as both the source and sinks of carbon. Different types of forests have different carbon stock. Nepal's midhills community forests have high potentiality to sequester carbon. This paper analyzes the biomass carbon stock in Schima-Castanopsis forest of Jaisikuna community forests of Kaski district, Nepal. Forest area was divided into two blocks and 18 sample plots (9 in each block) were laid randomly. Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) and height of trees (DBH≥5cm) were measured using the DBH tape and clinometer. Leaflitter, herbs, grasses and seedling were collected from 1*1m2 plot and fresh weight was taken. Biomass of tree was calculated and below ground biomass is assumed 15% of above ground tree biomass. For calculating carbon stock, biomass is multiplied by default value 0.47. The above ground tree biomass (AGTB) carbon of chilaune, katus and other species was found 19.56 t/ha, 18.66 t/ha and 3.59 t/ha respectively. The AGTB of chilaune dominated, katus dominated and whole forest was found 43.78 t/ha, 39.83 t/ha and 41.81 t/ ha respectively. LHG carbon was found 2.73 t/ha. Below ground biomass carbon at whole forest was found 6.27 t/ha respectively. Total biomass and carbon at forest was found 108.09 t/ha and 50.80 t/ ha respectively. Difference in biomass and carbon content at chilaune dominated block and katus dominated block was found insignificant. Carbon estimation at forest of different elevation, aspect and location are recommended for further research.

When the Men Are Away: Migration and Women's Participation in Nepal's Community Forestry

Studies of migration and gender have focused mostly on changes at the household level, where they have found women's experience to be mixed, with greater autonomy in decision-making but also a greater work burden and increased stress. Little is known about migration's impact on community-level gender relations. This study of 10 forest user groups in 3 districts of Nepal, experiencing different levels of migration, investigated changes within migrant and nonmigrant households and how they impact people's participation in local forest user groups. We found a slight increase in women's participation in the groups' general assemblies, especially among nuclear households with at least 1 migrant member. However, male migration did not seem to increase women's access to those groups' executive committees, where most decisions are made. Traditional gender norms, institutional requirements that privilege literacy and men's networking skills, and men's entrenched control of local forestry institutions continue to l...

Female Community Health Volunteers in Community-Based Health Programs of Nepal: Future Perspective.

Nepal’s Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) program started in 1988. In the early years of program initiation, FCHVs were assigned to promote and distribute the family planning commodities such as condoms and pills. Over past three decades, FCHVs’ roles have gradually expanded beyond family planning program and especially are focused on maternal and child health services at a large scale. FCHVs are an integral part of many community-based health programs, and their roles are instrumental in linking families and communities to community health workers and periphery-level health facilities. However, the fragmented nature of health programs poses a challenge for these health volunteers to coordinate activities and deliver the results. This perspective aims to review their contribution, challenges and recommend an integrated FCHV program model to support in the implementation of the community-based health interventions effectively.