Inequality, Aid and Democracy in the Woods: A Critically Optimistic View of Community Forestry

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Abstract
This presentation is a synthesis of my previously published research and analysis of community forestry. Community forests in Nepal are organized by government foresters who enroll local forest resource users into Community Forest User Groups (CFUG). These identified users become the “community” in community forestry. Government officials and foreign donors frequently “black-box” CFUG communities, effectively ascribing those communities with a false homogeneity. The user group formation process often reflects and exacerbates existing divisions within communities. Community forests in Nepal are co-constructed by multiple actors working together in a way that is mutually constraining for those involved. This mutual constraint prevents significant breakthroughs in restructuring local-level wealth and power disparities. Although community forestry is fairly successful at conservation, there remain huge disparities between community forest member households, limited access to vital forest products, and significant power disparities within community forest user groups. Such conditions of inequity, reinforced by community forestry policy and practice, severely challenge the livelihoods development potential of community-controlled natural resources. Overcoming these challenges may require a change in policy that mandates more inclusive local decision-making. I argue that new legal instruments and institutional arrangements must ensure fair participation in community forest decision-making and benefit distribution for marginalized groups. Towards that end, I consider a strategy of democratization for community forestry, and suggest ways that community forest user groups could be organized so that all interests are represented on forest user group committees and engaged in decision-making.