Contested law: Slow Response to Demands for Reformulating Protected Area Legal Framework in Nepal

Abstract

The paper identifies and highlights gaps in protected area (PA) legal provisions in Nepal and makes a case for timely reformulation of legal framework to suit the new socioeconomic and political contexts. Laws concerning PAs are examined against the contexts of international agreements, conventions, and accepted standards as well as the local ground realities. The legal framework is critically analysed using seven analytical variables: the process of PA declaration, governance types, power sharing, management plan, tenure rights, benefit sharing, and compliance and law enforcement. Literature review, content analysis, interviews and participant observations were adopted in securing data. It is observed that the current legal framework either does not reflect the current contextual reality or stand only in paper or are not properly implemented as per the spirit of the law. It is argued that regulatory framework should reflect both the contemporary conservation discourses and should respond to the popular demands emerged in the post-conflict political context in Nepal.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v10i1.8603  

Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.10(1) 2012 88-100