Opportunity Costs of Forest Conservation in Nepal

and based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Globalisation and climate change have an increasing influence on the stability of fragile mountain ecosystems and the livelihoods of mountain people. ICIMOD aims to assist mountain people to understand these changes, adapt to them, and make the most of new opportunities, while addressing upstream-downstream issues. We support regional transboundary programmes through partnership with regional partner institutions, facilitate the exchange of experience, and serve as a regional knowledge hub. We strengthen networking among regional and global centres of excellence. Overall, we are working to develop an economically and environmentally sound mountain ecosystem to improve the living standards of mountain populations and to sustain vital ecosystem services for the billions of people living downstream -now, and for the future.

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. ICIMOD would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from ICIMOD. The views and interpretations in this publication are those of the author(s). They are not attributable to ICIMOD and do not imply the expression of any opinion concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or the endorsement of any product.

Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 2018

This study analyzes the sustainability of community forest management, representing four forest types of two physiographic region Hills and Terai of Nepal. We assess the sustainability based on species composition, stand density, growing stock volume, and growth-to-removal ratio using inventory data of 109 permanent forest plots from four consecutive intervals of three to five years. In addition, forest users, forest committee members, and forest officials were consulted. We observed increment on the representation of economically valuable tree species in all forest types of both regions. The pole-size tree dominates in all forest types with declining number of trees and regeneration. In case of Hills forests, they were over-harvested until 2013 but were under-harvested in the recent period. In contrary, forests were under-harvested in the Terai. We found that ecological objectives of sustainable management are fully achieved while economic benefits remained unharnessed where harvesting is far below the growth. We conclude that maintaining a large number of trees may contribute to ecological but not on economical sustainability. We argue to rationalize annual harvest in all categories of the forest to enhance resource conditions together with regular benefits to the local communities.

PeerJ

Despite the local and global importance of forests, deforestation is driven by various socio-economic and biophysical factors continues in many countries. In Nepal, in response to massive deforestation, the community forestry program has been implemented to reduce deforestation and support livelihoods. After four decades of its inception, the effectiveness of this program on forest cover change remains mostly unknown. This study analyses the spatial and temporal patterns of tree cover change along with a few socio-economic drivers of tree cover change to examine the effectiveness of the community forestry program for conserving forests or in reducing deforestation. We also investigate the socio-economic factors and policy responses as manifested through the community forestry program responsible for the tree cover change at the district level. The total tree cover area in the year 2000 in Nepal was ∼4,746,000 hectares, and our analysis reveals that between 2001 and 2016, Nepal has l...

Ecology and Society, 2005

This research follows the manner in which State-driven, upwardly accountable, forest decentralization programs play out on the ground, and evaluates their impact on forests and local institutions, a topic of much current concern and debate. In a landscape in Nepal's Terai plains, we conducted a census of 23 co-managed community and buffer-zone forest user groups-two predominant approaches to involving communities in forest-management activities in Nepal's Terai plains-to draw statistically relevant conclusions about the relative impact of these two programs at a landscape scale. We use a multidate Landsat TM® image classification to develop a land-cover change classification, and use this to generate objective, quantitative, biophysical indicators that enable us to assess the extent of clearing and regeneration in the forest areas controlled and managed by each of these communities. In-depth field interviews with the communities provide us with information about the impact of these initiatives on local institutions. Finally, we link these two kinds of information sets to interpret the satellite information on forest-cover change with reference to the socioeconomic processes and management rules that influence forest-cover change in these regions. Satellite image analysis shows the regeneration of several patches of forest that are managed within the purview of the Royal Chitwan National Park's buffer-zone program. This can be related to high levels of investment in plantation and forest-management activities by external agencies. The substantial revenue that these communities derive from ecotourism also helps, allowing them to hire forest guards, and afford better monitoring capabilities. In contrast, the less wealthy, communityforestry user groups have to make do with volunteer patrols, and do not have the same level of external technical and financial support to invest in plantation activities. Buffer-zone users, however, have to deal with rather strict controls on export of forest products, which were put in place by park authorities, and which the users do not have the power to modify. Downward accountability is limited, and communities do not have a high degree of effective control over forest-management policies. Thus, local communities currently function under a situation of constraint, where they have been delegated responsibilities, but lack the devolution of property rights and decision-making power. This has significant and potentially negative implications for the future of the program.

Virginia Tech, 2000

This study suggests that transfer of State forests to the local communities is the least cost policy option to improve prevailing deforestation problem in Nepal. However, there are few problems at operational, institutional, and policy levels, which are restricting community forest (CF) transformation. Based on the result of six representative case studies, this work identifies following important issue viz. low marginal flexibility, incomplete and uncertain property rights transfer, equity problem, specific demand adjustment problem, and inconsistent forest policy. This work recommends for amendment of modern CF policy guidelines to reduce CF transformation costs, increase present value of future returns, and reduce present value of enforcement costs. These amendments will be effective to improve prevailing CF work situation in Nepal.

Environment & Management, 1994

Forest Policy and Economics, 2007

Community forestry has been in existence for about 20 years in Nepal, but there are few observations on changes in resource use since its inception. This study aims to investigate how farmers affected by community forestry have adapted to its introduction and whether their livelihood options have changed in response to changes in forest accessibility and forest product availability. A total of 309 households were interviewed in eight forest user groups in the middle hills of Nepal and results on reported changes in forest product collection and livestock numbers analysed. Reported forest product collection has increased since the introduction of community forestry, while livestock numbers have decreased. The main findings of the study are that, despite controlled access to the forest, collection rates have increased slightly in the majority of income groups and households. The number of trees on private land has increased, while the size of livestock herds has decreased. As long as the farmers can continue to adapt without adversely affecting their livelihoods they will support this forestry management system leading to an increased chance of the long term success of common property forest management in Nepal. D

Journal of Forestry Research, 2017

Community forest management helps in mitigating deforestation and forest degradation by addressing the negative aspects of rural livelihoods such as poverty and social exclusion. It is important in regulating global climate by encouraging sequestration of carbon in shoots, roots and soils. We studied the status of community forest management, forest resource harvest and carbon stocks in two community forests of the mid hill region of central and western Nepal. The study was based on primary and secondary data collected through carbon stock measurement from field visits and allometric equations, household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and review of past studies. Socioeconomic variables such as gender, age group, livestock and landholding status were related to resource utilization, conservation, and management of community forest. Forest resources such as timber, firewood, fodder and leaf litter were harvested in sustainable ways. People were involved in forest thinning, co-management meetings, guarding and planting trees for forest conservation and management. Density and carbon stock of trees increased gradually in comparison to a previous study. We recommend further research on other community forests for more accurate and better results.

2016

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was reformulated to cover deforestation and forest degradation, which, until recently, were overlooked in climate change mitigation initiatives. However, whether REDD+ will benefit countries like Nepal, which has a relatively low deforestation rate, less forest cover, and a population predominantly comprising farmers who are heavily dependent on forests, is being debated. To address this issue, the opportunity cost (OC) of REDD+ need to be analyzed. This study analyzes the OC of REDD+ against high-value and mid-value crops in the Thangsa Deurali Community Forest (TDCF) of Dolakha district in the midhills of Nepal. This community forest has been participating in the REDD+ pilot program since 2009. In the study, household survey, focused group discussions, and key informant interviews were used to collect data on community forest management, including forest harvesting and agricultural practices. To estimate the OC, ...