Abstract/Summary

The main aim of this study is to understand stewardship in Nepal’s community forestry in the context of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) implementation. Stewardship is about fostering harmonised interactions and relationships between people and nature whereas REDD+ is a UN climate change initiative. This study analyses how REDD+ affects the three aspects of stewardship for Nepal’s community forestry namely forest management, livelihoods and equity, and governance at the community forest user group (CFUG) level. Despite the fact that community forestry in Nepal has improved local forest stewardship to some extent, there are still stewardship issues, for example, passive forest management, inequity in benefit sharing, failure to maximise livelihood opportunities and insufficiency in decentralisation process. This study looks at how, to what extent and whether REDD+ can address the stewardship issues. It uses case study as a research method. The study takes place in five CFUGs participating in a REDD+ pilot project in Gorkha and Chitwan districts. Data for the study are collected from in-depth interviews, group discussions, field observations, CFUG minutes and other secondary sources. It is found from the study that REDD+ adopts conservation-oriented forest management rather than sustainable forest management, limits access to forests and practises restrictive harvesting from which the livelihood of forest poor is adversely affected. Furthermore, REDD+ tends to reinforce pre-existing inequity. It likely shifts community forestry towards a less participatory and more centralised forest governance. Findings from many other studies in the same project area and REDD+ cases from other countries are similar to the findings of this study. This study concludes that REDD+ less likely improves stewardship in community forestry. In addition to this, the study offers invaluable insights to researchers, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders to better understand the impacts of REDD+ in community-based forestry.