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Community forestry helps re-green the Himalayas

By T.V. Padma, IANS

Kathmandu : The shaded path, the buzz of insects and the distant calls of birds signal the beginning of a small forest in Nepal’s middle Himalayas.

But this is no ordinary forest. It is one of many “community forests” in the region that have been entirely rejuvenated from denuded mountain land by local communities that now manage them, reports science portal Scidev.net.

Community forests, which now account for 22 percent of the total forest area in Nepal, have ushered in a paradigm shift in forestry science and management in the country and helped conserve one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.

“This is brahmi (Bacopa monnierii), it helps improve your memory,” points out 70-year-old Ram Prasad Ghimire as he climbs the steep forest path like a sure-footed goat. He continues to walk and talk, an encyclopaedia of local Himalayan herbs that get rid of worms or are used to make incense or paper.

Over 150 years ago, the lower slopes of the mountains that form 83 percent of Nepal’s land were covered in natural forests. Population pressure, commercial exploitation and mismanagement slowly stripped them away.

Between 1964 and 1985, Nepal lost 570,000 hectares (about nine percent) of its natural forest, according to government data.

Until 1980, the Jiri Valley in the Dolakha range and the Lamosangu area in the Sindhpalchowk district were two such barren, treeless areas.

With their livelihoods at stake, local communities took charge, applying their traditional knowledge of land and natural resource management to re-grow trees.

They simply left the hills alone for some time, ensuring the soil contained humus – brownish-black decaying plant and animal matter that supports plant growth – and moisture.

Hardy roots of several forest species soon began to sprout and local communities later planted saplings of their choice. Communities then drew up rules on which species should be grown, cut or left unused, and defined responsibilities and punishments for violating the rules.

By the mid-1990s the Jiri Valley had acquired a greenish tinge, and by 2005 it was dark green.

Local communities – such as Ram Prasad’s village, Ghimiregaon – also became involved where other projects had failed.

They took control of the 118-hectare Hilejaljale community forest after an Australian-aided community forestry programme started planting fast-growing pine trees in the 1970s.

But the sharp pine needles were of no use for cattle fodder or bedding, the branches gave insufficient firewood and no shade, and the soil turned acidic, which prevented undergrowth.

The community started replacing the pines with broad-leaf vegetation. The tactic worked – slowly, smaller plants grew in the trees’ shade. This encouraged people to try growing fodder grass – not part of the original forest – for their cattle.

“We are aiming to achieve 75 percent mixed forest vegetation and 25 percent pine in the coming years,” says Balram Ghimire, chairperson of Hilejaljale Community Forest User Group (CFUG).

“Community forestry has revitalised and rehabilitated almost all degraded hill slopes in Nepal in a cost-effective and sustainable manner,” says Bharat Pokharel, programme manager of a Nepal-Swiss community forestry project.

Today there are over 12,000 forest-user groups, he estimates. In fact, Nepal’s success in community forestry has created a new problem for its capital Kathmandu – nocturnal visits from leopards, whose numbers are growing in nearby forests.

Pokharel says his experience with community forestry has made him revise some of the accepted conservation concepts, such as providing “protected” forest areas that are off-limits to local people.

“Forests, people, agriculture and livestock together form an ecosystem that has survived for centuries,” he observes.

Dinesh Raj Buzhu, chief executive of the Kathmandu-based environment think-tank Resources Himalaya Foundation, agrees. “We cannot protect forests without people. With community forestry, there has been a paradigm shift from species-specific conservation to landscape conservation.”

The World Bank noted in an evaluation report in 2001: “Although Nepal is among the world’s poorest countries, it is a global leader in engaging communities in forest protection and management. With no precedents, the country has had to learn through trial and error and find innovative solutions as challenges emerged.”

Nepal is a biodiversity hotspot, home to 181 mammal species, 844 bird species and 7,000 plant species, over a third of which are not found elsewhere. The country has lost 11 bird species and three mammal species as a result of forest destruction.

Those involved in community forest ventures say that the number of birds is increasing, but views are mixed on the impact of community forestry on biodiversity conservation.

Community forestry has prevented local extinction of species and increased vegetation and wildlife, says Nakul Chhetri, a scientist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu.

Critics argue, however, that community forestry aims to supply forest products to local users, rather than to conserve or maximize biodiversity, and that activities such as clearing, weeding, thinning and pruning reduce biodiversity.

A survey in 2005 by the state-owned Department of Forest Research and Survey of two community- and one government-owned forest notes that CFUGs tend to conserve only “useful” species and not low-quality timber trees, shrubs, climbers, grasses and herbs, which could have negative implications for biodiversity.

But some CFUGs have allotted specified areas for biodiversity conservation.

Despite its multiple benefits and proven success, community forestry still faces hurdles in Nepal. Social and caste hierarchies within the forest-user groups exclude the poorest and most marginalized communities from the benefits.

Despite such drawbacks, Nepal’s community forests are one of the world’s little-known success stories, and it’s time to turn the spotlight on them.