Participating or just sitting in? The dynamics of gender and caste in community forestry

Community forestry (CF) has successfully promoted sustainable resource use across Nepal. But to what extent do the programmes fulfill the goal of providing resources for the poorest of the poor? Although some attention has been paid to the issue of participation of women and marginalized castes within CF, there is no or limited investigation into how such members participate, the extent to which they influence management decisions and the implications of this for sustainable resource management. This article first outlines why equating gender with women is problematic and then highlights the importance of integrating other forms of social difference into an understanding of social power. Using case study data from north-western Nepal, it is shown how the implementation of community forestry needs to take into account pre-existing social relations for the programmes to be universally successful.