ABSTRACT
The success of community forestry largely depends on how actors in the playing field interact from local to national levels, mobilizing their technical, civic, political, and administrative powers to influence policies and practices. This chapter analyzes the knowledge and power dynamics shaping community forestry development in Nepal, discerning the multi-scalar processes that drive its functioning. A multi-scale and multi-dimensional analysis of the political landscape within which community forestry operates reveals how stakeholders mobilize power and knowledge to shape forest restoration and local livelihoods outcomes. Specifically, interactions between the state and civil society, the interplay between scientific and popular knowledge, the influence of development aid, decentralization, and articulation across scales are mapped. This chapter also explores the emerging tension between the new provincial forest authority and local governments about regulating community forestry. The chapter concludes with insights into the evolution of community forestry system in Nepal and suggesting improvements to it in the new, multi-level governance system with shifting stakeholder interests.
