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Equity workshop: Nepal's community forestry (CF) and lessons on equity
- 1. Naya Sharma Paudel ForestAc4on, Nepal Nepal's community forestry (CF) and lessons on equity Expert Workshop on Equity, Jus@ce and Well-‐being in Ecosystem Governance 26-‐27 March 2015, London
- 2. Outline • Introduc4on to Nepal's CF • Understanding and applica4on of equity within CF • Diverse forms of inequity in the context of CF • Policy and ins4tu4onal responses • Con4nued challenges and some lessons
- 3. Nepal's CF: A unique modality of ecosystem management • Government’s major programme • 35% popula4on directly involved • Over 25% forest area under CF • Over 18633 community groups • Substan4al environmental and livelihoods benefits
- 4. Group forma4on Forest handover community empowerment Ins4tu4onal strengthening Suppor4ve policy, ins4tu4ons and service provisioning security of forest tenure Increased ownership strong collec4ve ac4on Environment became conducive for collec4ve ac4on Forests recovered Availability of forest products ecosystem improved CF revenue and investment Improved ecosystem and associated benefits Early interven@ons: Focus on protec@on
- 5. The interven@on • Protec4on oriented • Feudal mindset of foresters • Techno-‐bureaucra4c dominance CF interven@ons and socio-‐ins@tu@onal contexts Socio-‐ins@tu@onal context • Differen4ated society • Hierarchical ins4tu4ons • Differen4al forest-‐people interac4ons Inequitable CF outcomes (especially during early phase) • Forest dependent poor suffered • Widespread elite capture • Disadvantaged groups further marginalised
- 6. The major challenges of equity in CF 6
- 7. Diverse forms of inequity within communi@es Forms Descrip@on Decision making Poor cannot afford 4me, cannot ar4culate well, their voice is oZen ignored Resource use restric4ons Rich manage from their private land, afford alterna4ve fuel; but poor have no alterna4ve Benefits from 4mber Rich benefit from cheap 4mber – hidden subsidy Employment Poor are paid for their labour contribu4on, rich are paid for their 4me in monitoring Symbolic capital Influen4al people capitalise on their posi4on as CF leaders Investment in infrastructure CF investment on roads, electrifica4on, temples and community buildings hardly benefit ultra poor Opportuni4es Be`er off people dominate workshops, trainings, and visits
- 8. Equity challenges emerged as a major concern
- 9. • Maoist conflict, people's movement and discourses of inclusive state • Migra4on [male] and increased role of women in CF management • Emerging market opportuni4es induced new challenges Larger forces influencing equity in CF
- 10. Changing understanding of equity in CF It is government's resource; we divide it equally wider poli4cal discourse (Women, Janaja4, Dalit, Madhesi) forgone loss (directly affected by conserva4on) poverty, dependency (forest dependent poor) tradi4onal use (charcoal makers) Equality Equity
- 11. Policies and ins@tu@onal responses Meso-‐forums capacity Ac4ons at CFUG level Ini4a4ves at different levels • 3rd Na4onal CF WS • Gender and social inclusion strategy of GON (2007) • CF Guidelines (2009) • FECOFUN norms (50% women) • DFO encouraging inclusive structure • Quotas for women and minorites • development agencies' affirma4ve ac4ons • Capacity building • Well-‐being ranking • Pro-‐poor IGA • Inclusive ECs • free membership • free products • Differen4al pricing Na4onal level policy reform
- 12. Equity provisions in group cons@tu@on and forest plan (Based on recent CF impat study 2012) Provisions Groups (%) (Total 18633) Representa4on of women, poor and excluded (DAG) households in major posts of execu4ve commi`ees 63 Fund mobilisa4on for welfare of women, poor and excluded 63 Provision for employment crea4on for women, poor and excluded households 18 Provisions to give priority to women, poor and excluded households for training, workshop and study visits 56 Provision of subsidy; forest products free of cost for DAG 53
- 13. Ini@a@ves for procedural equity have not translated into distribu@ve equity • Well being ranking • 50% women representa4on • Quotas for Dalits, IP, distant users • 35% pro-‐poor investment • Priority in training, exposure visits Distribu@ve equity Procedural equity Posi4on becomes a burden Struggling to establish leadership-‐ weak rela4on with officials, outsiders Cannot benefit from pro-‐ poor schemes; dependent on wage labour Patron-‐ client rela4ons No use of subsidised 4mber Cannot afford volunteer 4me for capacity building and networking DAG Posi4ve discrimina4on of aid is fine, but less so forest products
- 14. Lessons from Nepal's CF • Successful conserva4on can be achieved even without equity; therefore instrumental reason provides a week ra4onale for improving equity • Research can make important contribu4on to understand the problem; but larger drivers (e.g. poli4cal movement and migra4on) lead to major policy and ins4tu4onal responses in addressing equity ques4on • Procedural equity does not always lead to distribu4ve equity