Policy and governance issues in timber harvesting: A case study of collaborative forest in Nepal

摘要: Effective management of forest resources is crucial to ensure sustainable benefits. However, Nepal is suffering from increasing import of wood products despite nearly half of the country's area is under forest coverage. Conservation-focused policy and action are considered to be the cause for limited outcome in forest production. The recent policy initiatives of the Nepal Government has indicated positive move towards production oriented forest management, but implementation of such policies on the ground are yet to be assessed. Taking the cases of scientific forest management (SFM) program under collaborative forest management (CFM) regime, this study had assessed the governance implication of policy implementation. In doing so, this study had showcased two collaborative forest management (CFM)-sites, viz. the Barabanin CFM-site of Kailali district and the Pathari-Sanischare CFM-site of Morang district, and examined whether the concerned CFM Committees could be effective, efficient and unbiased in implementing sustainable timber harvesting and bringing about the possibilities for improvement. This study concludes that participatory planning, monitoring and good governance of CFM are key contributing factors to promote sustainable timber harvesting in Terai. In addition, conducive policies and laws, transparent processes in all critical points such as development of harvesting plan, tree marking, wider-participation of stakeholders during harvesting, equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, management of timber-depot, auction and transportation of timber contribute for effective and efficient timber harvesting …