Jamunbote Community Forest in Livelihood of Kavrepalanchowk District

Abstract

Community Forestry has become vital for the forest management policy and practices since 1978. This concept brought all interested local people together and gained great momentum to uplift the livelihood of the poor and disadvantaged groups through sustainable use of forest resources. This study aims to explore and assess the contribution of community forestry on the livelihood assets i.e. human, physical, social and financial aspects of the community forest user groups. This study was carried out in Jamunbote Community forest of Panchkhal municipality ward no., -2- of Kavrepalanchowk district which represents the scenario of most of the hilly community forest. Primary data were collected through questionnaire surveys (20% households were taken as a sample), key informant survey (n=7), and secondary data from related journals, articles, websites. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using MS Excel and results were illustrated in the form of descriptive statistics. Our results show that around 64% of the respondents depended on agriculture, remaining were involved in business, private, government and foreign land jobs. This study found that the contribution of Community Forest is seen in physical, social, human and financial capital. Community Forest sometimes organizes training and workshops to build up the skills of user groups. Based on the people’s perception, most of the income was spent on infrastructure development, community development, forest management and protection. This study also found that the social relationship between and with user groups has increased after the handover of community forest. For increasing its potentiality on livelihood improvement, Government and concerned community forest should carry out effective workshops and training for poor, disadvantaged and marginalized groups. Additionally, Community forest should focus on alternate income generating activities like bamboo plantation, forest product based handicraft industry, horticulture for its user’s well-being. Key words: Community forestry, Disadvantaged group, Livelihood, Marginalized group, Forest management and protection