Facilitating Transition from Passive to Active Management of Community Forests in Nepal: Lessons from Livelihoods and Forestry Programme

This paper demonstrates that a transition from passive to active and equitable management of community forest is possible by adopting joint learning processes among local forest user groups, forest officials and local non-governmental service providers. Such an innovative approach has the potential to address several issues that underlie passive management: underutilization of forest, protection oriented forest management, overstocked forest (dense) vis-a-vis deficit supply of forest products, poorly designed silvicultural practices, poor planning of forest management, inadequate and restrictive forest inventory guideline, and limited recognition of forest management knowledge of locally trained resource persons. We present evidence of the processes and outcomes of active management being promoted by Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) in Nepal, drawing on the evidence from Livelihoods and Forestry Programme (LFP) area. The transition to active management is demonstrated through an assessment of revisions made in the community forest operational plans (OP). Key revisions identified include, among others: site specific forest management treatments, development of products utilization plans, non-timber forest products management, conservation of biodiversity and water resources, and creation of more equitable rules regarding forest product sharing.