The Role of Community Forestry in Rural Development A Case Study of Kankali Community Forestry of Chainpur VDC of Chitwan District

Abstract

This thesis is an assessment of the economic effect of community forest user group conducted in Kankali Community Forestry Area in Chainpur VDC, Wards No. 8 of Chitwan district. It seeks to help the understanding of the benefit derived by the community forest. It reviews basic concept about income generating activities, community development activities and forest development activities undertaken in the Kankali Community Forestry Area and equitable sharing mechanism that are accepted by community forest user group. In this study, census survey method is used to achieve the objective and primary and secondary data collection method is used for both quantitative and qualitative data collection. Qualitative and quantitative types of data analysis method are used for making this an effective. Over the past twenty five years, community forestry has developed increasingly as a central component of Nepal forest development strategy. The main aim of this strategy is the handover of government forestry land for management of Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs). Community forestry has helped in improving the economic status of the community. Community forestry resource and fund have been mobilized to improve the social status and livelihoods of the people. This study covers information of income sources and expenditure pattern over the last five years of community forestry. Majority of the income (84%) has been generated by selling of forest products. Community forestry is now one of the main forest management systems of Nepal and it aims to provide basic needs and economic benefits to the country's rural people. The master plan for the forestry sector of Nepal (1988) has cleared guideline to place all community forest management works under the control of user groups in order to ensure the benefits as well as cost for management among users and to encourage sustainable forest management. In spite of these enlightened and progressive ideas for the development of sustainable forest management system, equitable benefits sharing among users and conducting community development activity as well as poverty reduction activity and welfare activity of users have become one of the most challenging issues in planning and development of community forestry. Conflicts and disputes generally guided by political ideology have often developed among the user, particularly when the time for implementation of various forest operations, allocating the forest products, benefit shaving eventually arrived. Mean while, government forest policy and legislation are inadequate to encourage user groups to solve the problems. Hence, a study of the community development and forest development activity carried out by CF and real income generation and benefit sharing pattern for sustainable community forest management is relevant to present day challenges facing community forestry in Nepal. Identifying the real benefits and real income generation from CF may present no major conceptual difficulties but can be very difficult to carry out in practice. Income to the CFUG from the collection of fuel wood, polls, timber, leaf litter, fodder, grasses and bedding materials are taken as the direct benefits. The indirect value of community forest refers to social and environmental goods and services that, the Kankali Community Forestry Area provides. Community forestry activity has become economically effective because of providing sustainable forest products, reducing the extend of poverty by creating income generation through modernization of agriculture pattern, and introducing the agro forestry programme as well as non timber forest product collection. This micro level study has shown that the present management process of the Kankali Community Forestry Area need to be improve to increase it's productivity and distribute it's direct and indirect benefits to the users on an equitable basis. In fact, user can be motivated to rationalize forest use only if they themselves benefits from improved forest management. Equitable benefit sharing and decision making process are fundamental factors the sustained development of community forestry. I has been experienced that the local elites tend to make most decisions and capture most of the benefits generated from community forestry. So the real success of community forestry lies in how far it can reach and impact upon the poorest.