Sustainable Forest Management / Livelihoods and Forestry Programme

Sustainable Forest Management

There has been a need realised for active and sustainable forest management in Nepal which maximises forest products and increases income of the community. In the past, most of community forest user groups focused on protection of the forest; and in sufficient attention was given sustainable management and use of the forest resources. It has also been realised that the economic and environmental potential of Nepal’s forest have not been fully optimised. In this context, Livelihoods and Forestry Programme (LFP) has made efforts to manage the forest resources sustainably and equitably by developing its Sustainable Forest Management Strategies (SFMS). Forest user groups have been organised and support is provided for the preparation of constitutions , operational plans (OP), their implementation and amendments/renewals. In addition to community forests, the programme also supports the sustainable management of leasehold forests, private forests, religious forests, government managed forest and other types of forests that need sustainable management. DFO staff are trained on SFM and basic training is provided to local resource persons for forest management techniques and management of non timber forest products (NTFP), etc.

Most of the forest management activities of LFP are implemented through the District Forest Office (DFO). In addition to that, forest management initiatives are supported through technical Local Resources People (LRP), Federation of Community Forest Users Groups and local non-governmental organisations. The main actors of forest management are the users themselves. LFP is bound to determine the right of poor and excluded (P&E), in order to let them have opportunities in forest resource management and benefit sharing. Issues on gender balance and priority for P&E are taken sensitively and their equitable participation is ensured in the programme implementation. The programme encourages self-reliance among the groups and discourages support from outside. A system has been developed for learning from each other and cooperation among the forest user groups.

In order to focus on the needs and urgencies of P&E of the community, LFP has promoted diverse types of forest products in the community forests for the purpose of increasing income of P&E of the community. Special focus has been made and opportunities are provided to them in this regard.

In recent years, delivery with the backlog of OPs has been of the issues in term of promoting sustainable forest management in CF. In order to address the issue, LFP has been supporting forest user groups in quick renewal and amendments of their OPs by developing and mobilising LRPs along with DFO system. Every effort has been made to make the new and amended OPs technically sound and P&E sensitive. Some additional provisions are also incorporated, if the need arises, in the new and amended OPs for active forest management and equitable distribution of forest resources. CF land allocation is by one of the effective management modality to target P&E in many CFs. Now more focus has been given on effective implementation of the OPs with providing technical input through DFO and LRPs.

LFP has been investigating the possibilities of supporting various forest user groups in participatory management of forest which are under the government in the Terai region. LFP has encouraged private forest and afforestation and plantation programmes have been introduced at road sides, canals banks, rivers banks and other public forest lands. LFP has been providing technical support for rising seedlings for afforestation and proper management of these newly planted forests. LFP has also been exploring the latest knowledge for forest resource management in the Terai. There has been analysis of available knowledge for forest management at the local level. In addition, analysis is underway looking into new ways to manage the forest in the Terai.

LFP's support to Sustainable Forest Management were reviewed independently in 2004 and 2006 by LIBIRD and ENPHO . Executive summary of the reviews highlight over findings, issues and recommendation.

There has been remarkable improvement in forest condition, biodiversity conservation and forest products availability in the community forests after handing over to the local communities.