TY - JOUR

T1 - Politics of getting the numbers right

T2 - Community forest inventory of Nepal

AU - Baral, Srijana

AU - Meilby, Henrik

AU - Chettri, Bir Bahadur Khanal

AU - Basnyat, Bijendra

AU - Rayamajhi, Santosh

AU - Awale, Srijana

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Inventory based management planning is a prerequisite for handing over forest management rights to community forest user groups in Nepal. However, the quality and rationale of such planning remains largely unexplored. Using a multiple case study approach, we aimed to assess the quality of community forest inventories in the mid-hill region of Nepal. We therefore conducted inventory in nine community forests, reviewed forest management plans and guidelines, and interviewed forest officials and representatives of community forest user groups to understand the procedures applied. Further we compared our inventory results with results presented in the plans and explored reasons for deviations. We found that the Inventory Guideline was frequently disregarded, both in design and implementation. Forest inventories were either poorly conducted or results simply fabricated. Significant differences were observed between the results of our inventories and those presented in the management plans. Furthermore, it turned out that growing stock volume was frequently manipulated to align with government circulars, specifying an upper limit of growing stock volume of 178 m3 ha−1. Seemingly, community forest inventories contribute to recentralizing community forestry through strengthening bureaucratic authority. Thus the inventory requirement serves mainly as a tool to satisfy bureaucratic requirements, rather than being a tool for guiding forest management decisions.

AB - Inventory based management planning is a prerequisite for handing over forest management rights to community forest user groups in Nepal. However, the quality and rationale of such planning remains largely unexplored. Using a multiple case study approach, we aimed to assess the quality of community forest inventories in the mid-hill region of Nepal. We therefore conducted inventory in nine community forests, reviewed forest management plans and guidelines, and interviewed forest officials and representatives of community forest user groups to understand the procedures applied. Further we compared our inventory results with results presented in the plans and explored reasons for deviations. We found that the Inventory Guideline was frequently disregarded, both in design and implementation. Forest inventories were either poorly conducted or results simply fabricated. Significant differences were observed between the results of our inventories and those presented in the management plans. Furthermore, it turned out that growing stock volume was frequently manipulated to align with government circulars, specifying an upper limit of growing stock volume of 178 m3 ha−1. Seemingly, community forest inventories contribute to recentralizing community forestry through strengthening bureaucratic authority. Thus the inventory requirement serves mainly as a tool to satisfy bureaucratic requirements, rather than being a tool for guiding forest management decisions.

KW - Bureaucracy

KW - Growing stock volume

KW - Operational plan

KW - Participatory forestry

KW - Recentralization

U2 - 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.007

DO - 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.007

M3 - Journal article

VL - 91

SP - 19

EP - 26

JO - Forest Policy and Economics

JF - Forest Policy and Economics

SN - 1389-9341

ER -