Community Forests ›

Changing dynamics of relations between people and community forests

For decades, Nepal’s Community Forest Users’ Groups (CFUGs) have been the backbone of local environmental stewardship, fostering a deep sense of ownership and connecting forest resources to cultural identity and future aspirations. However, these vital community ties are currently under threat. Rapid demographic shifts, particularly the outmigration of young men, have disrupted traditional management systems and placed a heavier burden on women and marginalized groups. These changes risk eroding generations of traditional ecological knowledge and weakening the sustainable practices that have long protected Nepal’s landscapes.

The Baglung District, specifically the rural municipalities of Badigad and Nisikhola in Nepal’s Gandaki Province, serves as a critical focal point for studying these dynamics. While the region is rich in resources and history, there are early signs that the CFUGs are experiencing strained managerial capacity and potential changes in relations with their community forests. Leveraging our established partnerships with groups in the region, our research will explore these changes.

The research is designed as a real-world laboratory to capture the described trends in collaboration with local partners and local communities. It explores the research questions:

How do individuals and communities in Nepal relate to their community forests?
How have these relationships evolved over the past 10–20 years?
How is this relationship expected to develop in the future?
What can be extrapolated from the research results on changes in human-forest
relationships on a global scale?

The project seeks to encourage participatory reflection among CFUGs and therefore encompasses multiple dimensions of the human–forest relationship, including personal, cultural, and livelihood dimensions, as well as economic, management, and governmental aspects.

This collaborative project bridges RECOFTC’s extensive history in Nepali forest governance with the WISIONS team’s expertise in transdisciplinary research, and the participation of Bishnu Prasad Devkota, from the Institute of Forestry in the University of Tribhuvan. By combining these strengths, we aim to gain deep insights into the ecological health and economic value of community forests across our target regions.

A central part of this research involves working with CFUGs to understand their role in navigating modern environmental challenges and their relation to their community forests. In Nepal, CFUGs have played a vital role in forest management for several decades. These organisations foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among community members. Through this partnership, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between CFUGs and forests, and to ensure a resilient future for Nepal’s forests.

The project aims to achieve the following objectives:

Encourage the local populations

to reflect on the current relationship to their community forests and reflect on potential changes in this relationship in recent years.

Reimagine the role and values

of community forests for the future.

Enable global learning

for changes in human-nature relationships.