Tackling Terai Forest Governance Deadlock: Can District-level Multi-stakeholder Processes Help?

This paper discusses the role of multi-stakeholder forums for improving forestry sector governance. It draws on evidences from past studies and cases from a district each in the Central and Western Development Regions of Nepal. The findings of this study show that the District Forest Coordination Committee (DFCC) processes have not only augmented citizen participation in district-level forest-related decisions but also enhanced the political legitimacy and applicability of decisions in practice. Evidence clearly demonstrates that the DFCC processes have significantly improved good governance in terms of several indicators such as transparency, accountability and effectiveness. Even in the contested and politically turbulent environment of the recent past, the DFCC provided a deliberative forum for various modalities of forest management in districts. Experiences show that, while multi-stakeholder forums are an evolving and dynamic entity, they are undoubtedly a decentralized institutional mechanism or instrument for deepening the process of democratization at local level and at the same time building learning for sector-wide reform in forest governance. The study was conducted in two Terai districts by using an appreciative inquiry approach.