The use and usefulness of inventory-based management planning to forest management: evidence from community forestry in Nepal

TY - JOUR

T1 - The use and usefulness of inventory-based management planning to forest management

T2 - evidence from community forestry in Nepal

AU - Toft, Maja Nastasia Juul

AU - Adeyeye, Yemi

AU - Lund, Jens Friis

PY - 2015/11

Y1 - 2015/11

N2 - This paper examines the use and usefulness of inventory-based management planning to practical forest management in processes of community forestry in Nepal. The paper is based on case studies in four Community-Forestry User Groups (CFUG) in the mid-Hills of Nepal and draws upon semi-structured interviews, participatory rural appraisal exercises and analyses of aerial photographs. First, we find that the operational plans supposed to guide community-level management are based on sub-standard forest inventories, which limits their potential role in practical forest management. Second, we find that community-level managers do not rely on the operational plans in their practical forest management. Finally, we find that community-level forest managers in these four cases have managed to conserve their community forests over time and appear knowledgeable about the developments in the condition of their forests in the sense that their impressions of past and current forest condition are mirrored in what we can observe from analysis of change in forest condition based on aerial photographs. Based on these results we question the usefulness of inventory-based management planning in the context of community forestry.

AB - This paper examines the use and usefulness of inventory-based management planning to practical forest management in processes of community forestry in Nepal. The paper is based on case studies in four Community-Forestry User Groups (CFUG) in the mid-Hills of Nepal and draws upon semi-structured interviews, participatory rural appraisal exercises and analyses of aerial photographs. First, we find that the operational plans supposed to guide community-level management are based on sub-standard forest inventories, which limits their potential role in practical forest management. Second, we find that community-level managers do not rely on the operational plans in their practical forest management. Finally, we find that community-level forest managers in these four cases have managed to conserve their community forests over time and appear knowledgeable about the developments in the condition of their forests in the sense that their impressions of past and current forest condition are mirrored in what we can observe from analysis of change in forest condition based on aerial photographs. Based on these results we question the usefulness of inventory-based management planning in the context of community forestry.

KW - Community forestry

KW - Forest inventory

KW - Knowledge

KW - Decentralization

KW - Asia

U2 - 10.1016/j.forpol.2015.06.007

DO - 10.1016/j.forpol.2015.06.007

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1389-9341

VL - 60

SP - 35

EP - 49

JO - Forest Policy and Economics

JF - Forest Policy and Economics

ER -