Forests under non-forest use

111 5. Implications of forest restoration and rehabilitation initiatives

5.1 History of initiatives, strategies and techniques

National-level degradation control – history of policy measures: Until 1951, forest resources were used as one of the main sources of government revenue. After 1951, the government gradually enacted several policies and legislations with regard to forest resource development. The most prominent policies and legislations include: the Forest Nationalization Act 1957, the Wildlife Protection Act 1958, the Forest Act 1961, the Forest Protection Act 1967, the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973, the National Forestry Plan of 1976, the Panchayat Rules and Panchayat Forest Rules 1978, the Soil Conservation and Watershed Act 1982, the National Conservation Strategy 1988, the Master Plan for the Forestry Sector 1989, the Forest Act 1993, the Nepal Environment Policy and Action Plan 1993, the Environment Protection Act 1996, the Forestry Sector Policy 2000, the Nepal Biodiversity Strategy 2002 and the Leasehold Forestry Policy 2002. The Master Plan for the Forestry Sector 1989 and other conservation policies have developed many strategies and programmes to cope with deforestation and forest degradation. Of these programmes the community forestry and leasehold forestry programme is an effective intervention to halt and reverse degradation and deforestation. At the moment, the government has handed over a total of about 1.7 million ha of state-owned forests to 18 133 CFUGs for development, conservation, management and sustainable use DoF 2013. The government, with the financial assistance of the International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD and technical support from FAO, has been implementing the pro-poor leasehold forestry programme that has been effective in reversing environmental degradation. The Terai Arc Landscape TAL Strategic Plan MoFSC 2006 aims to restore and conserve forest resources outside protected areas to maintain ecological integrity and support sustainable livelihoods. The plan envisages the restoration of 70 percent of degraded forests via natural regeneration and 30 percent via plantation. The restored corridors and bottlenecks will contribute to restoring degraded habitats and reducing grazing pressure in the future. MoEST 2006 has estimated that an area of about 18 000 ha was rehabilitated annually Table 6. Table 6. Land under rehabilitation Adapted from MoEST 2006. Many forestry sector programmes such as community forestry, leasehold forestry, pasture development, soil and water conservation, conservation of protected areas and development of markets for non-wood forest products NWFPs are being implemented in selected locations with increased people’s participation. Enhanced attempts are underway to manage the buffer zone areas surrounding the protected areas for biodiversity conservation. Buffer zone management scheme areas are already underway using the participatory approach, however, the objectives are different. Forest management and development plans were developed for a number of national forests but with limited or no implementation. This has resulted in poorer results than expected in terms of rehabilitation, production, number of forest industries, employment and overall contribution to the economy. The Ninth and Tenth Five Year Plans 1998 and 20022003 attributed this condition to lack of proper allocation of funds and attention to the forestry sector. Involvement of NGOs: The forest and biodiversity resources of Nepal are scattered and it is not possible for the government to manage them alone. NGOs are therefore mobilized as necessary for sustainable forest resource management. The Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation, the Mountain Institute, WWF, IUCN and so forth are all involved in biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest resource management. Coordination among donors and the government: Nepal has maintained relations with many countries and organizations as development partners. In order to achieve better coordination, the MoFSC has formed the Forestry Sector Coordination Committee FSCC. The FSCC discusses problems and gives advice to the government, maintains uniformity in programme implementation and also avoids duplication of activities. International cooperation: The forestry sector of Nepal has received technical and grant assistance from foreign aid for more than 40 years. Due to the low revenue surplus from the forestry sector, financing of development expenditures for the forestry sector is largely met by foreign aid, as the government has allocated less than 2 percent of the total national budget for the sector. A significant number of forestry sector development programmes and projects have been financed with foreign aid. Land area under rehabilitation Rehabilitation of degraded croplands Rehabilitation of degraded rangelands Rehabilitation of degraded forests Area ha 5 176 900 12 992 Remarks Rehabilitated annually Rehabilitated annually Rehabilitated annually 112

5.2 Technical approaches

Along with the policy framework to curb deforestation and forest degradation, technical backstopping has also been enhanced. The Department of Forest Research and Survey DFRS under the MoFSC started its research on rehabilitation of degraded land in 1963. The species elimination trial of local and exotic pines identified Pinus roxburghii to be suitable for degraded sites in the hills of Nepal. The DFRS then the Forest Resources Survey carried out NFIs which helped to identify the extent, nature and location of forest degradation and deforestation in the country. In addition to support, it assisted policy-makers with the planning of forest resource management. In 1976-1978, all operating donors in the forestry sector supported the need to restore and rehabilitate degraded forests. A small grant for forestry research was allocated for the DFRS to implement ‘project-focused research’. For example, the Hill Community Forestry Project World Bank, Terai Community Forestry Project ADB, Resources Conservation and Utilisation Project USAID, Integrated Hill Development Project SDC and the Integrated Bheri Carnali Rural Development Project CIDA. In addition, Overseas Development Assistance ODA, UK projects had their own research activities carried out in the Pakhribas Agricultural Centre Dhankuta in the Eastern Region and Lumle Agricultural Centre Kaski in the Western Region. To identify and document techniques for successful rehabilitation through plantations, the Silvicultural Research Project SRP conducted all essential research and established necessary facilities to obtain and store high quality seed. Breeding seedling orchards were established, and collaboration with the Tree Improvement and Silviculture Component TISC was enhanced. Laboratories were established to test seed quality. Nursery techniques of all important and planted species were identified and documented. Nurseries were established in all the Silvicultural Trial Units. Research was conducted on rehabilitation and plantation of diverse types of degraded sites in disparate topographic zones for different species and documented. Block plantations of identified species were studied and findings were documented to support future management and development of plantation forests. Species studied in block plantations were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Dalbergia sissoo, Pinus roxburghii and Pinus patula. In 1984, to study the techniques for regenerating degraded forests, Natural Forest Management Research was initiated. Schima castanopsis was targeted as it was located in the most populated area. Because of its multiple uses, it was the species of choice for rejuvenating degraded forests naturally. This study was extended to other forest types as well. The second study was carried on Shorea robusta sal, which was again another highly degraded forest type in the Terai. Research on forest recovery was carried out in degraded shrub forest and degradeddenuded sites. Silvicultural techniques were used in shrublands, while plantation techniques were the option for denuded sites. The success of reviving degraded shrublands was quite visible as shrub forests quickly responded. While the work has been of high quality, due to poor institutional links between research and end-users, the findings have not been well utilized.

5.3 Other initiatives to implement forest restoration

The Forestry Plan 1976 was the first systematic plan with provisions for afforestation. This was followed by the Master Plan for the Forestry Sector, 1989 which gave details for future supply and demand of forest products. The 1978 position was changed when rules were promulgated whereby Panchayats village councils could be allocated up to 125 ha of bare or sparsely-forested government land for plantations in the hills, whereas in the Terai, this was 130 ha of such degraded forests for plantations to meet the local subsistence needs for forest products. The Decentralization Act of 1982 and the Decentralization By-laws of 1984 made forestry one of the components of the district development plan for each district. After promulgation of the Forest Act, 1993 and Forest By-laws, 1994 the responsibility of managing nearby forests was given to local users so that all degraded barren lands could be planted with the active participation of local forest dependents. Considerable areas of plantations have been established by agencies such as the Nepal-Australian Community Forestry Project, Nepal Swiss Community Forestry Project and numerous other bodies. By 1985, about 5 000 ha were being planted annually. Not all the plantations were successful, and in some areas, there was a lack of people’s participation apart from paying villagers to raise, plant and protect trees. Until the early 1980s plantation activity was mostly on government forest lands rather than private or community lands. From the mid-1980s onwards plantations were carried out in community and private lands as well. Currently, community plantations have become the major source of forest products. The plantations are intensively managed and are technically supported by District Forest Offices. Central leveldepartmental plantations have been removed from the programmes. Additionally, emphasis has been put on encouraging tree planting by individual farmers. Farmers have been planting trees on their own land for many years, often using wildings from the natural forests in the hills and from nurseries in the Terai. In recent years, this activity has been increased considerably in response to the declining supply of forest products from common landsforests.