IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpm/docweb/2204.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Community Forest Management: The story behind a success story in Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Libois, François
  • Baland, Jean-Marie
  • Delbart, Nicolas
  • Pattanayak, Subhrendu

Abstract

Since 1993, Nepal has implemented one of the most ambitious and comprehensive program of decentralization of forest management in the world, which is widely considered a success story in terms of participatory management of natural resources. Using quasi-experimental methods, we first quantify the net gains in tree cover related to the program in the Hills and Mountains of Nepal, and describe their temporal evolution. We then discuss the mechanisms driving forest restoration, highlighting that, while community forestry played a role in increasing forest biomass and forest size, it also reduced demand pressures by altering energy choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Libois, François & Baland, Jean-Marie & Delbart, Nicolas & Pattanayak, Subhrendu, 2022. "Community Forest Management: The story behind a success story in Nepal," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 2204, CEPREMAP.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpm:docweb:2204
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/docweb/docweb2204.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Leone, Marinella, 2019. "Women as decision makers in community forest management: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 180-191.
    3. Kedar Baral & Hari Prasad Sharma & Ripu Kunwar & Craig Morley & Achyut Aryal & Bhagawat Rimal & Weihong Ji, 2021. "Human Wildlife Conflict and Impacts on Livelihood: A Study in Community Forestry System in Mid-Hills of Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-14, November.
    4. François Libois, 2016. "Households in Times of War : Adaptation Strategies during the Nepal Civil War," Working Papers 1603, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    5. Libois, François, 2022. "Success and failure of communities managing natural resources: Static and dynamic inefficiencies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    6. Agarwal, Bina, 2013. "Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199683024.
    7. Baland, Jean-Marie & Bardhan, Pranab & Das, Sanghamitra & Mookherjee, Dilip, 2010. "Forests to the People: Decentralization and Forest Degradation in the Indian Himalayas," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1642-1656, November.
    8. Madhav Joshi & Subodh Raj Pyakurel, 2015. "Individual-Level Data on the Victims of Nepal’s Civil War, 1996--2006: A New Data Set," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 601-619, May.
    9. Magnus Hatlebakk, 2007. "LSMS Data Quality in Maoist Influenced Areas of Nepal," CMI Working Papers 6, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), Bergen, Norway.
    10. Jennifer Alix-Garcia & Craig McIntosh & Katharine R. E. Sims & Jarrod R. Welch, 2013. "The Ecological Footprint of Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Mexico's Oportunidades Program," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 417-435, May.
    11. Edmonds, Eric V., 2002. "Government-initiated community resource management and local resource extraction from Nepal's forests," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 89-115, June.
    12. Bluffstone, Randall A. & Somanathan, E. & Jha, Prakash & Luintel, Harisharan & Bista, Rajesh & Toman, Michael & Paudel, Naya & Adhikari, Bhim, 2018. "Does Collective Action Sequester Carbon? Evidence from the Nepal Community Forestry Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 133-141.
    13. Sébastien Desbureaux, 2016. "Common Resources Management and the "Dark Side" of Collective Action: an Impact Evaluation for Madagascar’s Forests," Working Papers 2016.30, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    14. Johan A. Oldekop & Katharine R. E. Sims & Birendra K. Karna & Mark J. Whittingham & Arun Agrawal, 2019. "Reductions in deforestation and poverty from decentralized forest management in Nepal," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(5), pages 421-428, May.
    15. Bocci, Corinne & Mishra, Khushbu, 2021. "Forest power: The impact of community forest management on female empowerment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    16. Dasgupta, Partha & Maler, Karl-Goran, 1995. "Poverty, institutions, and the environmental resource-base," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 39, pages 2371-2463, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Isabelle Chort & Berk Öktem, 2024. "Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: Evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1020-1057, May.
    2. Poudyal, Bishnu Hari & Khatri, Dil Bahadur & Paudel, Dinesh & Marquardt, Kristina & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2023. "Examining forest transition and collective action in Nepal’s community forestry," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Marie Baland & François Libois & Dilip Mookherjee, 2018. "Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(2), pages 401-439.
    2. Takahashi, Ryo & Otsuka, Keijiro & Tilahun, Mesfin & Birhane, Emiru & Holden, Stein, 2024. "Beyond Ostrom: Randomized experiment of the impact of individualized tree rights on forest management in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    3. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sangharmitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee, 2009. "Forest Degradation in the Himalayas: Determinants and Policy Options," Working Papers 1002, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    4. Bošković, Branko & Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Pelli, Martino & Risch, Anna, 2023. "The effect of forest access on the market for fuelwood in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Leone, Marinella, 2019. "Women as decision makers in community forest management: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 180-191.
    6. Bhattacharjee, Arnab & Aravena, Claudia & Castillo, Natalia & Ehrlich, Marco & Taou, Nadia & Wagner, Thomas, 2022. "Agroforestry Programs in the Colombian Amazon: Selection, Treatment and Exposure Effects on Deforestation," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 537, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    7. Paudel, Jayash, 2018. "Community-Managed Forests, Household Fuelwood Use and Food Consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 62-73.
    8. Isabelle Chort & Berk Öktem, 2024. "Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: Evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1020-1057, May.
    9. Chankrajang, Thanyaporn, 2019. "State-community property-rights sharing in forests and its contributions to environmental outcomes: Evidence from Thailand's community forestry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 261-273.
    10. Keenan Marchesi & Marc Rockmore, 2023. "Conflict and nutrition: endogenous dietary responses in Nepal," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 281-296, February.
    11. Di Girolami, Erica & Kampen, Jarl & Arts, Bas, 2023. "Two systematic literature reviews of scientific research on the environmental impacts of forest certifications and community forest management at a global scale," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Alemu Mekonnen & Randall Bluffstone, 2017. "Does Community Forest Collective Action Promote Private Tree Planting? Evidence from Ethiopia," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(5), pages 86-106, May.
    13. Bocci, Corinne & Mishra, Khushbu, 2021. "Forest power: The impact of community forest management on female empowerment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Jung, Suhyun & Rogers, Martha, 2024. "Mobile phone adoption, deforestation, and agricultural land use in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    15. Alpízar, Francisco & Ferraro, Paul J., 2020. "The environmental effects of poverty programs and the poverty effects of environmental programs: The missing RCTs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    16. Jayachandran, Seema & de Laat, Joost & Lambin, Eric F. & Stanton, Charlotte, 2016. "Cash for Carbon: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Deforestation," CEPR Discussion Papers 11349, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Daniel Runfola & Geeta Batra & Anupam Anand & Audrey Way & Seth Goodman, 2020. "Exploring the Socioeconomic Co-benefits of Global Environment Facility Projects in Uganda Using a Quasi-Experimental Geospatial Interpolation (QGI) Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    18. Poudyal, Bishnu Hari & Khatri, Dil Bahadur & Paudel, Dinesh & Marquardt, Kristina & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2023. "Examining forest transition and collective action in Nepal’s community forestry," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Bluffstone, Randy & Robinson, Elizabeth & Guthiga, Paul, 2013. "REDD+and community-controlled forests in low-income countries: Any hope for a linkage?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 43-52.
    20. Cook, Nathan J., 2024. "Experimental evidence on minority participation and the design of community-based natural resource management programs," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Forest management ; Community forestry ; Nepal ; Energy ; Participatory development;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpm:docweb:2204. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mathieu Perona (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ceprefr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.