Title of Thesis:

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View of Nepalese mountain
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Biodiversity in Community Forestry
Perceptions and Attitudes in Nepal
Uma Acharya John Petheram and Rowan Reid The
University of MelbourneAustralia
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NepalPopulation 26 mln (estimates 2004) Area
147 000 km2 Forest area 29
Nepal
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Forest for livelihood
Fuelwood Fodder Foods Manure Medicinal use
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Technocratic forest management until the1980s

• Encroachment
• Grazing
• Poaching
• Burning
• Deforestation
• Degradation

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Not always forest
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Community Forestry - 1978

12000 forest user groups manage gt13 of
forest area
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• Community forestry popular approach to natural
  resources management (1980s)
• Biodiversity - a widely used term in policy
  and projects in CF

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Why is the research needed ?

• To understand peoples perceptions of the term
  biodiversity (Jaiwik bibidhata)
• Better understanding should assist policy making
  and forest management for biodiversity

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Main research objective

• To document meanings and concepts related to
  the (western) terms biodiversity - held by
  forest users
• - held by policy makers and forestry officials
  

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METHOD

• Qualitative methods
• Grounded Theory
• Participatory Rural Appraisal

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Methods
PRA
Grounded theory
Techniques
Focus group discussions
In-depth individual interviews
Key informant interviews
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Data collection process

Selection of districts (2 districts)


Selection of Forest user groups (8 FUGs)
D A T A C O D I N G
Focus group discussions (8)
Individual Interviews (35)
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Map of Nepal
N
E
P
A
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Study sites Terai Plains and Mid Hills
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A focus group discussion - males only
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A focus group discussion mixed group
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Individual interviews
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Results and discussion

• Biodiversity (Jaiwik bibidhata) is a new term
  for the users
• In peoples minds biodiversity is linked to
• forest benefits
• multifold use of forest

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Community forestry has contributed to BD
Community Forestry
Enhanced Biodiversity
Attention care
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Peoples perceptions of biodiversity
Tendency towards enhancing bio- diversity
Concurrence with Western meanings of biodiversity
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Peoples perceptions of biodiversity
BD - is many species and variety of life in
forest
Tendency
BD means natural form of forest
Diverse forest is better
BD meanstogetherness, care, concern for
forest
BD - associated with multifold use
BD economic and societal benefits
BD means forest is useful
Uncertainty and confusionabout BD
Unknown term- so have no opinion
Indifference to BD - survival is main concern
Darker boxes indicate more common views
Concurrence
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Some conclusions

• Confusion exists about the meaning of the term
  biodiversity
• Exposure leads to greater knowledge base

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Some conclusions

• Attitudes vary with exposure, caste, gender,
  economic well-being
• Some meanings are similar to western definitions
  other are not compatible

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Policy implications

• For biodiversity conservation policy there is a
  need to
• Develop mutually acceptable definition of
  biodiversity in Nepal
• Reinforce mutually acceptable meanings and
  improve knowledge-base
• Co-learning in ecology is vital between users,
  scientists and policy makers

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Thank you
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Additional Questions

• Definition of BD (western)
• What is community forestry?
• What is CFUGs?

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Definitions of Biodiversity

• " the variability among living organisms from
  all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial,
  marine and other aquatic ecosystems, and the
  ecological complexes of which they are part this
  includes diversity within species, between
  species and of ecosystems
• (Convention on Biological Diversity Rio de
  Janerio, 1992, Article 2)

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the variety and variability among living
organisms and the ecological complexes in which
they occur The U.S. Office of Technology
Assessment (Dobson, 1995)
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What is Community Forestry?

• Community Forestry situation where forests
  are controlled and managed as a common property
  by groups of rural people who agree to use them
  to support their farms and households.
• Acharya, 2001

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What is a Community Forest Users Group (CFUG)?

• A group of people historically using a particular
  patch of forest
• Formed and registered through a formal process
• Authorized to use and manage the handed over
  forest under agreed terms and conditions with
  Govt.