Capitalisation and sharing of experiences on the interaction between forest policies and land use patterns in Asia: link people with resources

In 2005, SDC held a workshop on "Capitalisation and Sharing of Experiences on the Interaction between Forest Policies and Land Use Patterns in Asia", in partnership with ICIMOD, the Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia (RECOFTC), and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). The aim was to improve policy and institutional frameworks for comparing and scaling up good practices in community-based natural resource management, with a focus on learning from community forestry in Nepal. Volume one of two volumes produced contains the rationale and objectives of the workshop, the summaries of the presentations and working group discussions, and the outcomes of the workshop. This volume is intended for those who are interested in obtaining a quick picture of the status of community forestry and other community-based resources and what the workshop achieved in terms of facilitating useful dialogue. Volume II presents selected full papers on the various topics. Topics considered include the regional and national status of community forestry and other initiatives like leasehold forestry and parks and protected area management in Nepal; social forestry in Bhutan; Guzara forestry in Pakistan; wetlands in China; and rangelands in Mongolia. Different approaches, models, and institutional arrangements; national-level policies; and micro-level experiences are examined. Flexibility in policies and laws to allow room for innovations at the community level was identified as a key ingredient for success; policy development should be based on research and lessons learned from the field.