A Workable GIS model for CFU Groups in Nepal

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dbhari@du.edu University of Denver

The Community nearby the forest have benefits and difficulties due to the forest and wildlife. They can hence be considered as the major stakeholders of the forest. If they are given tenureship upon the forest, they can manage the forest properly benefiting themselves. But in many cases (for example in Africa, and Latin America), this is not taken as the best models. But, the example from Nepal clearly shows that if they are given full rights and empowerment, they can play vital roles in managing forest in sustainable way and benefitting their community and the nation.

Here is the poster that we presented at the Tropen Tag (Tropical Day) which is one of the biggest conference about Tropical forestry and Agriculture. This conference was held in Kassel and jointly organised by Kassel university and Georg August University, Germany and participated by thousands of scientist from more than 70 nations.

When I used to remember my days working at the District Forest Officer, I have plenty of important events, people, incidents to remember. During my 10 years of professional jobs working as the Forest Officer, in Nepal, I have encountered many people, and faced many problems. Some characters are quite good and some are bad however both of these character have strong impressions to me. During my jobs, I have served mostly in Dang, Achham, Sarlahi and Doti ranging from Terai to High hills.

The lab test conducted to determine the tensile shear strength of Scot pine against longitudinal shear according to EN20-1. The tensile shear strength of Scot pine with two different adhesives i.e. semi structured adhesive such as PVAC (Poly Vinyl Acetate) and structured adhesive i.e. PF (Phenol Formaldehyde) was tested in bonded specimens of Scot pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) sapwood. Altogether 40 specimens (10/10) for each adhesive (and state) were tested in two different (dry and wet) states. The test was conducted in fully automated computer programmed machine named Zwick Z010 / Zwick Roell using testXpert II software. The lab results show that there is similar tensile shear strength between PVAC and PF bonded Scot pine in dry state whereas they differ highly in wet state.

The natural resources' distribution policies in Nepal are anti-poor. Some example can easily be drawn from the case of land and forest. Most of the Nepalese peasants, who derived their livelihood wholly and solely by selling their labor are deprived of their rights to land. Dalits, Janajati and landless people who work on landlords' land have neither land nor food and shelter. They also do not have the rights on forest and water. Top five percent of the populations have captured the 37 percent of agricultural land. 24 percent poor are tilling others' land. The productive Tarai forest is under the direct management of government although Tarai people are in favor of community forestry. Government is taking revenue from community forest. Local people have been prohibited from taking basic forest products from conservation areas for sustaining their livelihoods. But the process of extending the conservation area is continued. The rights of citizens on irrigation, electricity and drinking water are being undermined and hurriedly given to private hands. In this way, natural resources are being out from poor and marginalized Nepalese. We hold strong reservation on such anti-poor policies.