Interests and Power As Drivers of Community Forestry Community of Drivers As Power and Interests Devkota Raj Rosan
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“The concept of Community forestry promises to bring the forces of the local Rosan Raj Devkota forest users into a joint effort to maintain sustainable forests. The analysis shown in Devkota’s PhD thesis refers to the limitations of this concept drawn by powerful stakeholders. The theoretical sound and empirical rich analysis Interests and Power as provides the information needed to improve community forestry by a realistic Drivers of Community Forestry power strategy in practice.” - Prof. Dr. Max Krott, Chair of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy A Case Study of Nepal Georg-August-University Goettingen Rosan Raj Devkota Interests and Power as Drivers of Community Forestry Community of Drivers as Power and Interests Devkota Raj Rosan ISBN 978-3-941875-87-6 Universitätsdrucke Göttingen Universitätsdrucke Göttingen Rosan Raj Devkota Interests and Power as Drivers of Community Forestry This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License 3.0 “by-nd”, allowing you to download, distribute and print the document in a few copies for private or educational use, given that the document stays unchanged and the creator is mentioned. You are not allowed to sell copies of the free version. erschienen in der Reihe der Universitätsdrucke im Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2010 Rosan Raj Devkota Interests and Power as Drivers of Community Forestry A Case Study of Nepal Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2010 Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliographische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.ddb.de> abrufbar. Global Forest Decimal Classification: 922.2, 906 Centre for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Forestry (CeTSAF)- Tropenzentrum Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Büsgenweg 1 37077 Göttingen Address of the Author Rosan Raj Devkota e-mail: [email protected] This work is protected by German Intellectual Property Right Law. It is also available as an Open Access version through the publisher’s homepage and the Online Catalogue of the State and University Library of Goettingen (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de). Users of the free online version are invited to read, download and distribute it. Users may also print a small number for educational or private use. However they may not sell print versions of the online book. 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Max Krott 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Ralph Mitlöher Tag der Disputation: 12.11.2010 Satz und Layout: Rosan Raj Devkota Umschlaggestaltung: Franziska Lorenz Titelfoto: Rosan Raj Devkota © 2010 Universitätsverlag Göttingen http://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISBN: 978-3-941875-87-6 Dedicated to my mother who taught me the value of education | i Acknowledgements This research has been possible with the support and guidance of many people. I am deeply indebted to all those who patiently shared their ideas during my research. I find myself fortunate being able to work under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Max Krott, whose guidance has been really precious and through his advices I have been able to develop my research project. I am extremely indebted to him for his encouragement and endless assistance he has provided since the beginning till the end of my research. Also special thanks go to Prof. Dr. Ralph Mitlöher (Tropical Silviculture) and Prof. Dr. Renate Bürger-Arndt (Nature Conservation), who have supported me being my doctoral examination committee members. This PhD research could have not taken place without the financial support provided by the Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer- Dienst (KAAD). I am thankful to KAAD in Bonn and KHG team in Goettingen. Also, I am quite grateful to the German Research Foundation (DFG) who provided me with financial support for the comparative project. In Germany, at the Chair of Forest Policy and Nature Conservation, I am thankful to all staff members, professors and especially to the members of Community Forestry Working Group (CFWG) - Ahmad Maryudi, Carsten Schusser, Manjola Salla, Ratchananth Phattarawit, Yufanyi Mbolo, Helene Aurenhammer and Axel Bader for their constructive comments in my research. Important advices were provided from Dr. Lukas Giessen and Nazmus Sadath during my study in Goettingen. Thanks go to Manjola Salla who proofread my thesis and provided essential advices in helping me to bring this PhD thesis in its final form. In Nepal, special thanks go to Sudip helping me to collect data, as well as to all respondents: Officials at the Ministry and Department of Forests, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, National Planning Commission, District Forest Offices, District Soil Conservation Offices, Officials at the Nepal Swiss Community Forestry Project (NSCFP-Dolakha), Biodiversity Sector Program for Siwalik and Terai (BISEP-ST: Makawanpur and Chitwan) and other governmental and non-governmental offices at the Central and District-levels for their interest, time allocated, and available documents provided in order to support my research. Immense considerations go to the Community Forest User Group Committees, sawmill owners and wood contractors, with whom I interacted during and after the fieldwork. Special gratitude goes to all my family members, who have always supported, encouraged and blessed me to keep going on. I am notably indebted to my mother, who has always blessed me , my sisters Usha and Kalpana who have always encouraged me in every step of my life, and to my mother and ii | father -in-law, whose blessings and immense understanding made me finish my studies on time. Immense thanks go to my Nepalese colleagues in Goettingen, who have always inspired me in my academic journey, as well as sincere thanks go to Claudia Wenzel (in Dresden) for her blessings. My deepest debt goes to my beloved wife Sabita, as well as to my children Aditi and Aaron, who have been patient, encouraging, and supported me during my studies. So, for all this incredible support and kindness provided by all of you MAY GOD BLESS YOU. | iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................i Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... iii List of Tables................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................. vii List of Boxes ............................................................................................................... viii List of Map .................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. x The Project Structure .................................................................................................. xii Research Summary ..................................................................................................... xiii Chapter One Research Concepts ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Research Rationale ............................................................................................... 2 1.3. Research questions and hypothesis ................................................................... 4 1.4. structure of the thesis........................................................................................... 5 Chapter Two Elements of Power- An Analytical Framework ................................................. 7 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7 2.2. Basic assumptions of power ............................................................................... 8 2.3. Definitions and theoretical roots of power elements ..................................... 9 2.3.1. Coercion ..................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Trust .......................................................................................................... 10 2.3.3. Incentives ................................................................................................. 12 2.4. Operationalization of power elements ............................................................ 13 Chapter Three Research Methodology ........................................................................................... 15 3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 15 3.2. Selection of community forest user groups (CFUGs) .................................. 16 3.2.1. Criteria to select case studies................................................................. 16 3.2.2. Cases ......................................................................................................... 17 3.3. Identifying the most powerful group of stakeholders .................................. 19 3.3.1. A complete network survey .................................................................. 19 3.3.2. Power elements ......................................................................................