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. A new article on Forest Policy and Economics reports 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.

The study was based on interviews with a total of 309 households in eight forest user groups in the middle hills of Nepal and analysis of results on reported changes in forest product collection and livestock numbers.

Some of the main findings of the report:

• Reported forest product collection has increased since the introduction of community forestry, while livestock numbers have decreased.
• 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.

The report concludes that 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.

Bhim Adhikari, the first author of this paper, had also recently published a report on distributive aspects of common property resource management in Nepal.

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Bhim Adhikari, Frances Williams and Jon C. Lovett. Local benefits from community forests in the middle hills of Nepal. Forest Policy and Economics. Available online 17 February 2006