20/12/2024 Comment les groupes d'utilisateurs de la foresterie communautaire peuvent-ils s'adapter au mieux à un monde en mutation ? Tel était le thème d'un important dialogue politique national qui s'est tenu récemment à Katmandou et qui a rassemblé des représentants du gouvernement, la Fédération des utilisateurs de forêts communautaires du Népal (FECOFUN) et des experts forestiers pour discuter des défis et des solutions potentielles.
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Pioneering community forestry – successes and challenges
For over four decades, Nepal’s community forestry program has encouraged communities to grow, manage and harvest their own forest resources. Currently, over a third of the population (35 percent) belongs to community forest user groups and, collectively, they manage 2.4 million hectares of land.
Under this pioneering scheme, communities manage their forests based on an operational plan approved by the divisional forest officer, a representative of the provincial government.
Community forestry in Nepal is globally recognized for its success in halting deforestation and forest degradation and increasing forest cover. But it also faces challenges, in particular in how it responds to changing socio-political priorities, adapts to climate change, and embraces growing economic opportunities.
Forest sector governance is also a significant challenge with a lack of clarity within government around the responsibility to conserve forests and preserve biodiversity whilst also using forests for their timber and products.
A pathway to sustainability
Community forestry user groups are at the heart of the solution. Because of their widespread presence and the fact that their livelihoods are already so entwined with the forest, community forestry user groups are well placed as pathways to sustainability and prosperity. But they need support to do this.
The dialogue, which took place on the 19th and 20th December 2024, provided a platform for government representatives, FECOFUN, forest experts, academia and the private sector to come together and discuss these pressing issues and share ideas.
Hosted by the Ministry of Forestry and Environment and FECOFUN, with support from the Forest and Farm Facility, the policy dialogue focussed on three key areas:
• How community forests can adapt/react to sociopolitical dynamics, including governance, local empowerment and community engagement.
• The potential of community forests to drive economic development transforming sustainable livelihoods into economically resilient businesses.
• The role of community forestry in adopting climate adaptation and mitigation activities.
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