ABSTRACT
Community forestry in Nepal initially focused on involving local communities in protection of forests (in some ways as proxies for the Department of Forests), then changing to a more explicit focus on livelihoods. In the early years communities were often relatively isolated geographically and forest use was largely for self-consumption. Over the years this has changed greatly and communities are increasingly involved in market economies. Global changes such as internationalization of labour have led to large numbers of Nepalis (mostly men) working outside Nepal. Labour migration has meant the transfer into Nepal of large amounts of income as remittances, leading to significant increase in the wealth of rural people, the emergence of a remittance economy and what has been described as the ‘feminization of agriculture’. The aim of this chapter is to elucidate how and to what extent these changes affect local management of forests, and to consider implications for the future of community forestry. Drawing on field research and literature analysis, we demonstrate that effects of the remittance economy are felt in community forestry in four major ways: a) instability of community forestry institutions due to unprecedented migration and feminization of local communities; b) lessening forest-people interdependency; c) shifting social values on wealth maximization; and d) lack of an inclusive and strategic planning system in community forestry. The functioning and sustainability of community forestry is threatened by the rise of the remittance economy in Nepali villages. This chapter highlights some possible ways to make community forestry more resilient in the changing context.
