| RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Community
Forestry Program:
WATCH's
Community Forestry Program has been successfully
facilitating the organization of women's
and community groups to regain control
over the protection, management and utilization
of forests from the District Forest Office
(DFO). The program's success has been
largely due to confidence building activities
(camps, trainings, literacy classes, etc.)
among the rural women. These lead participants
to become more involved and to assert
their decision-making rights in the community
forestry development process.
Through
the Literacy and Non-Formal Education
classes the women have formed groups,
prepared their own operational plans and
sent them to the DFO. Many of the forests
have now been handed over to the local
user-groups who have written their own
rules and regulations on how the forests
will be managed. The women play an active
role not just in cultivating the forest
nurseries, but also in their management.
WATCH
has organized 15 Community Forest User
Groups and is working on forming 6 more
groups. The Forest User Groups have regular
meetings on issues such as networking
among user groups, how to strengthen resource
facilities, agro-forestry and private
plantations. Many groups have started
income generating activities by growing
cardamom and chilies under trees.
WATCH
has also organized 11 leasehold forestry
groups. Leasehold forestry is done for
the poorest people who do not own or have
access to any land. The government leases
land to them for raising livestock and
other agricultural income-generating activities.
WATCH provides agricultural and forestry
information to these groups and emphasizes
putting greenery into the areas, and training
the farmers on how to do so.
BARA
Forestry Project:
For
the last five years a Finnish INGO, FINNIDA,
has been working with the Ministry of
Forestry to draft a management plan under
which prime hardwood forests in the Terai
would be handed over to a Finnish Multinational
Forestry Company, ENSO, in partnership
with three Nepalese companies. Proponents
of the Bara Forest plan argue that huge
benefits will accrue to the people of
the Bara District. However, their assessment
and speculative figures do not adequately
answer local-level concerns about the
legality of what is being proposed, or
deal with issues of social responsibility
in forest development. The local people
have not been adequately consulted and
stand much to lose from the proposed plan.
WATCH
and the Federation of Community Forest
Users in Nepal (FECOFUN) have organized
a national level dialogue over the management
of community forestry in the Terai. They
have held numerous meetings, given many
presentations and written several papers
outlining the Bara plan to inform the
public on how the proposed activities
might affect local people. In spite of
the extreme reluctance on the part of
FINNIDA and the Finnish Embassy to present
a true picture of the repercussions of
the proposed Bara project, there is awareness
and interest in the project both in Nepal
and abroad.
WATCH
has been able to draw international attention
to the Bara project through a web site
hosted by the Swedish University of Agricultural
Sciences, while national awareness has
been raised through the Nepal Resource
Management Concerned Group (which while
focusing on the Bara Forestry Project
at the moment, is more concerned with
advocacy and lobbying). WATCH has prepared
a plan to organize the local people of
the Bara district so that they can take
over the management of forestry resources.
WATCH, FECOFUN and other groups continue
to discuss the issue and different strategies
for raising awareness and taking local
and national action.
Forestry
Education and Research:
WATCH's
involvement in forestry also includes
various educational and research activities,
which are important for innovation and
sharing ideas. With the support of various
other organizations, WATCH has held training
workshops and seminars, conducted case
studies, and produced various educational
materials.
WATCH
played a critical role in the development
of the training curriculum and materials,
as well as indirectly, by managing an
international workshop on 'Participatory
Tools and Techniques in Community Forestry':
Study
tours and other activities were organized
by WATCH for forest users and forestry
officials from countries such as Pakistan
and Kenya to visit community forestry
projects in Nepal. This allowed them to
learn from one another's ideas and experiences
in community forestry.
WATCH
has provided training to other NGOs on
community forestry and is supporting them
to initiate community forestry activities
in their areas.
Staff
from WATCH facilitated a 'Participatory
Forestry Management Review' workshop on
the Overseas Development Organization's
(ODA) approach to community forestry.
Participants reflected on what ODA had
done and considered how this could be
taken forward.
WATCH
conducted a study commissioned by the
Nepal-UK Community Forestry Project (NUKCFP)
to examine user's expectations from community
forestry.
Case
studies on conflict resolution, innovation
and creativity on the part of farmers
and forest group users are being collected
to be used as models for WATCH's activities.
WATCH
collaborated with ICIMOD to hold a South
Asia Regional Workshop of forest user
groups which was attended by about 80
participants from a number of countries.
A
national workshop organized by WATCH for
forest user groups to review proposed
additions to the Forestry Act culminated
in the formation of FECOFUN and the regional
women's user organization called HIMWANTI.
WATCH
has been involved in lobbying to make
the Forestry Act of 1993 and Forestry
Regulations of 1995 as people-oriented
as possible. It has good relationship
with various forestry agencies and community
forestry projects. Even now, WATCH continues
to be very involved in CF dialogue and
plays a critical role in allowing forest
users input into the policy process.
WATCH
provided consultancies in Vietnam, China,
Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal to design
trainings and other projects.
Lobbying
for Policy Formulation: WATCH has been
involved in dialogue and discussion over
the formulation of legislation governing
community forestry. It has lobbied members
of parliament to change provisions, which
were found to be user-unfriendly. WATCH
has been doing similar action for any
proposed revisions. WATCH feels it has
a duty to safeguard the rights of users
to manage their own forests. In collaboration
with FECOFUN WATCH launched a campaign
against the cabinet's decisions to confer
a monopoly for the harvest and sale of
forest products to a corrupt organization
like the Timber Corporation of Nepal,
which would violate local people's rights
of resource management. Under an Operational
Forest Management Plan, which has received
the backing of various international donors,
WATCH is also fighting a provision by
which the Department of Forests will not
hand over the Terai Forests to local people.
Support for Federation Building:
WATCH
played a critical role in initiating a
process of networking for forest users
(FECOFUN), women forest users (HIMAWNTI),
professional foresters (HIFCOM), and helped
form the Madhyasthata Samuha (Mediation
Group), the Nepal Participatory Action
Network (NEPAN), and Citizen Poverty Watch
Forum (CPWF). It played a part in the
conceptualization and foundation of all
these institutions and continues to provide
needed support.
Support
to (I)NGO's:
Along
with Action Aid Nepal, WATCH has been
working to initiate a process by which
INGOs and NGOs can identify their roles
in community forestry. WATCH is planning
to initiate training, reorientation and
follow-up support to NGO's to start community
forestry in their own areas. WATCH conducted
one such training for 23 NGOs two years
back. Many of these NGOs were supported
by WATCH to initiate a CF process in their
own area.
The
Terai Community Forestry Action Team (TECOFAT):
As
result of WATCH's involvement in the Bara
forestry issue, WATCH decided not to limit
its role to merely raising issues, but
to initiate a constructive process also.
So, it entered into dialogue with some
(I)NGOs to form an action team in order
to launch the community forestry process
in Terai. Ten (I)NGOs have already gotten
together to form TECOFAT. The main purpose
is to raise awareness of Terai people
about their rights, help them decide whether
they want to manage their resources by
themselves, and if so prepare them for
hand-over and management.
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