Tackling the Terai Forest Governance Impasse: Can District-level Multi-stakeholder Processes Help?

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of multi-stakeholder forums in improving the forestry sector governance in Nepal, drawing on the experience of authors and case studies from two districts, in the Central and Western Development Regions of Nepal. It shows that the District Forest Coordination Committee (DFCC) processes have augmented citizen participation in district-level forest-related decisions and enhanced the political acceptability and implementation effectiveness of such decisions. Evidence shows that DFCC processes have significantly improved forest governance in terms of key indicators such as transparency, accountability and effectiveness. Even during the conflict?hit environment of the recent past, the DFCC provided a deliberative forum for the stakeholders linked to various modalities of forest management, and hence serve as an institutional mechanism for deepening the process of democratisation at local level. From these findings, we argue that DFCCs have the potential to facilitate a learning process for sector-wide reform in forest governance. 

Full text is available at the ForestAction website

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v8i2.2305

Journal of Forest and Livelihood 8(2) February 2009 pp.16-26