Law enforcement in community forestry: consequences for the poor

TY - JOUR

T1 - Law enforcement in community forestry

T2 - consequences for the poor

AU - Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal

AU - Larsen, Helle Overgaard

AU - Smith-Hall, Carsten

PY - 2012/12

Y1 - 2012/12

N2 - Decentralised forest management is believed to hold potential for increased economic and social equity. Implications of the associated local forest law enforcement on livelihoods, however, are not well understood. This paper explores the impacts of local forest law enforcement with a focus on the poorest forest users in community-managed forests. A case study including 14 community forest groups in western Nepal was conducted in 2008. Methods included review of archival data, a stakeholder survey (n = 211), and recall of forest crimes by a random household sample (n = 252). Local forest law enforcement was found to detect far more crimes than district-level enforcement. Crimes are primarily small-scale unauthorised appropriation of products for subsistence use by poorer households and rules are lightly enforced. It is argued that local law enforcement, while apparently not economically harmful to the poorer in the short term, may be used to perpetuate existing wealth and cast-based social inequities.

AB - Decentralised forest management is believed to hold potential for increased economic and social equity. Implications of the associated local forest law enforcement on livelihoods, however, are not well understood. This paper explores the impacts of local forest law enforcement with a focus on the poorest forest users in community-managed forests. A case study including 14 community forest groups in western Nepal was conducted in 2008. Methods included review of archival data, a stakeholder survey (n = 211), and recall of forest crimes by a random household sample (n = 252). Local forest law enforcement was found to detect far more crimes than district-level enforcement. Crimes are primarily small-scale unauthorised appropriation of products for subsistence use by poorer households and rules are lightly enforced. It is argued that local law enforcement, while apparently not economically harmful to the poorer in the short term, may be used to perpetuate existing wealth and cast-based social inequities.

U2 - 10.1007/s11842-011-9194-7

DO - 10.1007/s11842-011-9194-7

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1873-7617

VL - 11

SP - 435

EP - 452

JO - Small-scale Forestry

JF - Small-scale Forestry

IS - 4

ER -