About me

PhD research scholar in Rural Development, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal

Publications

Participation of Diverse Well-Being Users in Community Forest of Far-Western Lowlands in Nepal [1]

Basan Shrestha [2]

Although Community Forestry (CF) Program of Nepal has been successful in improving forest condition and meeting the forest product requirements of user groups, there is a growing concern whether it has been successful in improving the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised people. This situation could curtail the future of resource base, as sustainability of the resources is linked with sustainability of collective human institutions and livelihoods. Despite the fact that lowland holds only 10 percent of the total forests in Nepal, this region consists of high-value and productive forests with immediate economic potential for the forestry sector in Nepal. Thus, controversies and conflicting debates exist on the management of lowland forests posing mechanisms to support the creation of institutions for sustainable CF management that address user group heterogeneity and inequity. The proposed study will examine how diverse well-being users (poor versus other users) have participated in CF management. More specifically, it will examine (1) dependency of households with diverse well-being status on forest resources to meet their requirements and income; (2) the user, group and resource characteristics that determine benefit from forest resources to diverse well-being households; and (3) their contribution to forest conservation. The study will be conducted in far-western lowland districts namely Kailali and Kanchanpur where the government of Nepal has progressively handed over forests to the communities. The Community Forest User Groups will be selected on the basis of completion of 5 years from the date of forest hand over by the government to the communities. Participatory Well Being Ranking will be undertaken to categorise the user households based on social and economic criteria, into poor and other strata. The households will be sampled from each stratum using stratified random sampling technique. The sample size will be determined using statistical tool. Besides, focused group discussion will be conducted using a structured checklist and field observation will be undertaken to understand the prevailing practices. Data will be analysed and interpreted using both quantitative (statistical tools) and qualitative techniques (weighted average index, case stories and content analysis). The proposed study will add knowledge to understand how CF management program has contributed to address the dependency on forest resources, contribution to forest conservation and benefit accrued to the users of diverse well-being status in the group. The issues raised in study will have policy implications to ensure equitable impact of CF management program on the livelihood of poor and marginalized people. 1 December 2007

[1] An abstract of the PhD dissertation proposal submitted to the Central Department of Rural Development, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
[2] Mr. Shrestha holds MSc degree (Regional and Rural Development Planning) from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; MSc (Statistics) and MA (Sociology) from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is currently working as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Western Terai Landscape Complex Project (WTLCP), Dhangadhi, Kailali, Nepal. WTLCP is a joint undertaking of Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, UNDP, GEF, SNV, WWF, NARC and LI-BIRD.Official Telephone: 977-091-525971 (Dhangadhi), 977-1-4262310 (Kathmandu) Cell phone: 9841885457, Email: basan_shrestha@yahoo.com.

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