16 REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS FOR CF
boundary demarcation, land use mapping and planning, forest inventory, management planning, harvesting, and selling products.
Decree 59PM2002 provides for the establishment and management of large, contiguous tracts of production forests as Production Forest Areas. Villages are
allocated village forests mainly through the land and forest allocation program. Harvesting of trees for personal use is allowed in village production forests or
village use forests Forest Law Art 28 and MAF Reg. No. 535 on Management of Village Forest. Villagers can participate in commercial logging and other
production forest management activities when a Production Forest Area exists within their boundaries.
The piloting of village forestry ended in 2000 at the end of the project period. This was followed by two years of study and debate on how the lessons from
piloting village forestry should be converted into an official policy for participatory, sustainable forest management. The government effectively withdrew its support
for commercial timber harvesting through village organisations through Prime Ministerial Order No.11 of May 1999.
5.3.2. Progress with Implementation
During the years when one of the major pilot projects operated, the following was achieved in pilot production forests:
• Village Forestry was introduced in 60 villages covering a total area of
145,000 ha. All villages had production forests, but only 41 villages had commercial production forests;
• In the 41 villages a total of 33 village forestry associations VFA was
established; 29 of these associations were single-village VFAs, and three associations were multi-village VFAs; and
• Forest management plans were formulated by the 33 VFAs, based on a
model, and training was provided by forestry staff. The forest management plans covered an area of about 100,000 ha of both commercial and non-
commercial production forests and other forest categories.
There has been some piloting of village forest agreements in three provinces through an IUCN supported-NTFP Project, though this project concluded in 2002.
5.4. Nepal adapted from Kanel 2005
5.4.1. Regulatory Framework
The National Forest Plan 1976 was the first government document that mentioned people’s participation in forest management. The Forest Act 1961
was amended in 1977 to make provisions to hand over a part of government forests to local administrativepolitical units or village councils called “Panchayats”.
Panchayat Forest and Panchayat Protected Forest Rules were implemented in 1978, and this marked the beginning of community forestry in the country.
Under these rules, forest land without trees could be handed over to local panchayats as “Panchayat Forest” for rehabilitation, and land with trees could
be handed over as “Panchayat Protected Forests”. In order to implement these provisions, the Government initiated several community forestry projects which
eventually covered all the hill districts.
Gilmour, O’Brien Nurse
17 The Master Plan for the Forestry Sector, approved in 1989, provides a 25-
year policy and planning framework for the forestry sector, and it remains the main policy and planning document. The Master Plan gave the highest priority to
the community and private forestry programs, and some of the important elements are:
• All the accessible hill forests in Nepal should be handed over to user
groups not to the Panchayats to the extent that they are willing and capable of managing them;
• Priority of community forests is to supply forest products to those who
depend highly on them; •
Women and the poor should be involved in the management of community forests; and
• The role of forestry staff should be changed to that of extension service
provider and advisor. The forestry staff should be provided with reorientation training to deliver the services needed by Community Forest
User Groups.
The major recommendations of the Master Plan have been incorporated into the formulation of a new Forest Act 1993 and Forest Rules 1995.
Operational Guidelines to guide implementation of community forestry were introduced in 1995 and modified in 2001 and 2004.
5.4.2. Progress with Implementation
