The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Earth and Mineral Sciences “JUST LIKE FINGERNAIL AND FLESH”: COMMUNITY FORESTRY, BIOGAS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNMENTALITY IN NEPAL A Dissertation in Geography by Shaunna Leigh Barnhart © 2012 Shaunna Leigh Barnhart Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2012 The dissertation of Shaunna Leigh Barnhart was reviewed and approved* by the following: James McCarthy Professor of Geography Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee Brent Yarnal Professor of Geography Laksman Yapa Professor of Geography Clare Hinrichs Associate Professor of Rural Sociology Karl Zimmerer Professor of Geography Head of the Department of Geography *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT Community forestry and household biogas digesters that reduce firewood dependence for cooking are two complimentary and relatively successful programs in Nepal. Both have their roots in 1970s development initiatives that ran largely as parallel programs with minor intersections until the late 1990s when some community forest groups began to promote biogas digesters as a tool to further development and forest conversation objectives. This research analyzes the import and impact of the intersection between community forestry and biogas, with a focus on their impacts across scale from households to global markets. Two central research questions guide this study, with the results based on qualitative ethnographic fieldwork, over 300 interviews, participant observation, and primary document collection conducted over 17 months during a three year period in Kathmandu, Jhapa and Gorkha districts of Nepal. The first research question seeks to understand how environmental governmentality and subjectivities can help us to situate individuals’ actions and perceptions regarding the case of community forestry and biogas adoption in Nepal, as well as what this empirical case can contribute to further our understandings of the evolving concept of environmental governmentality. By applying foundational elements of Michel Foucault’s governmentality to community forestry and biogas technology in Nepal, this study demonstrates how community forestry has become a tool used to modify environment related behaviors. This research contributes to environmental governmentality literature by arguing that researchers must also consider the complex interplay of multiple subjectivities residing within individuals and how this impacts their changing environmental attitudes and behaviors. The second core question is how are community forestry and biogas technology in Nepal situated in national and international movements for sustainability, development, and carbon iii markets and how do those connections influence the form and content of these specific programs in Nepal? This research finds that from their inception, both community forestry and biogas have been connected to global movements and events, but that the discourses surrounding them and the rationale for their continuation has changed. Knowledge production, discourse, and power are foundational elements of environmental governmentality that contribute to understanding and analyzing this process. By analyzing how the discourses and rationales surrounding these two initiatives change over time, this research contributes to a better understanding of the complex and varied workings of environmental governmentality. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………………..viii Acronyms ………………………………………………………………………………………...x Glossary of Nepali Words ……………………………………………………………………...xii Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………….xiv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………...1 Research Overview …………………………………………………………………………...5 Introducing Biogas ……………………………………………………………………………6 Introducing Community Forestry ……………………………………………………………10 “Just Like Fingernail and Flesh” ……………………………………………………………..13 Introducing the Research Questions ………………………………………………………...15 Structure of the Dissertation ………………………………………………………………...18 Chapter 2. LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………..20 Brief Global History of Forest Governance …………………………………………………21 Centralization of Forest Governance ……………………………………………………..22 Shifting to Community Forestry …………………………………………………………25 The (Non) Tragedy of the Commons ………………………………………………………...31 A Brief Review of Political Ecology ………………………………………………………..34 Foucault’s Governmentality and Application to Human-Environment Relations …………..37 Plurality of Aims …………………………………………………………………………41 Knowledge Production and Discourse …………………………………………………...43 Technologies of Government …………………………………………………………….44 Biopower …………………………………………………………………………………45 Subject Formation ………………………………………………………………………..46 Productive Power ………………………………………………………………………...48 Non-Sovereign Power ……………………………………………………………………49 Environmental Governmentality, Community Forestry, and Biogas in Nepal ……………..50 Chapter 3. RESEARCH DESIGN ……………………………………………………………..55 Finding the Research ………………………………………………………………………...56 Research Design and Methods ………………………………………………………………59 Ethnographic Fieldwork ………………………………………………………………….60 Participant Observation …………………………………………………………………..62 Qualitative Interviews ……………………………………………………………………64 Surveys …………………………………………………………………………………...68 Primary Documents ………………………………………………………………………69 Managing and Verifying the Research …………………………………………………...73 Sites of Engagement …………………………………………………………………………74 Jhapa ……………………………………………………………………………………...77 Gorkha ……………………………………………………………………………………81 Kathmandu ………………………………………………………………………………85 Research Relationships ……………………………………………………………………...89 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………...90 v Chapter 4. A HISTORY OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND BIOGAS IN NEPAL ……...92 A Brief History of Forested Spaces …………………………………………………………94 Kingdom of Gorkha: History, Power, and Forests ………………………………………95 After Unification: Reactive Forest Policies, Patronage, and Security …………………..97 Forest Practices under Rana Rule 1846-1951: Exclusion, Bureaucracy, Patronage ……..99 Placing in Historical Global Contexts …………………………………………………..101 Restructuring Governance: 1951-1975 ………………………………………………...103 Community Forestry Antecedents 1976-1990 ………………………………………….108 Community Forestry as People’s Rights 1990-Presesnt ………………………………..111 Biogas: Road to Independent Renewable Energy …………………………………………118 Early Biogas Development 1955-1977 …………………………………………………119 Biogas in the 1980s: Expanding Access through Community Plants ………………….123 Parallel Programs: Community Forestry and Biogas in the 1980s …………………….127 Biogas as Market Choice, 1992-Present ………………………………………………..128 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………….133 Chapter 5. “JUST LIKE FINGERNAIL AND FLESH” ……………………………………..137 Situating Environmental Governmentality within Local Histories ………………………...139 Jhapa: Laying Down for Forest Rights ………………………………………………...140 Gorkha: Restoring What was Lost ……………………………………………………..147 Enter Biogas …………………………………………………………………………….151 Themes in Visual Biogas Promotional Materials ………………………………………….152 Revealing Environmental Governmentality: Knowledge, Discourse, and Power ………...156 Knowledge and Love: Teaching Forest Conservation …………………………………156 Expanding Role of the Community Forest User Group ………………………………...162 Sustainable Development: Thinking of the Future …………………………………….166 Just Like Fingernail and Flesh ………………………………………………………….171 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………….177 Chapter 6. GENDERED DISCOURSES IN BIOGAS ……………………………………….178 Women in Biogas Promotion ………………………………………………………………179 Biogas in Song and Television …………………………………………………………181 Women in Biogas Industry ……………………………………………………………...183 Gendered Experiences in Biogas …………………………………………………………..184 “We Are Not Free”: Biogas as Liberation ……………………………………………..187 “First Nepal Does It”: Biogas as National Pride ……………………………………….190 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………….191 Chapter 7. THE ALLURE OF CARBON TRADING ………………………………………..194 Creating Carbon Commodities ……………………………………………………………..198 Household Decisions with Global Connections ……………………………………………203 Linking Local Practices to Global Carbon Markets: Carbon Credits ……………………..206 Aggregating Household Biogas: The National Initiative ……………………………….207 Aggregating Household Biogas: Terai Arc Landscape Initiative ……………………...209 Carbon Rights ……………………………………………………………………………...210 vi Crediting the Forest: REDD and the Promise of Carbon Profits ………………………….213 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………….217 Chapter 8. CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………...220 Addressing the Research Questions: Environmental Governmentality …………………...222 Addressing the Research Questions: Global Connections ………………………………...225 Applications Beyond Nepal ………………………………………………………………..227 Future Directions …………………………………………………………………………...228 Concluding Thoughts ………………………………………………………………………229 References ……………………………………………………………………………………..231 Appendix A: Community Forestry/Biogas Survey (English and Nepali) …………………….246 Appendix B: Biogas Sales Agreement (English and Nepali) ………………………………...251 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Typical household biogas digester in Jhapa and Gorkha …………………………...7 Figure 1.2: Using firewood ……………………………………………………………………...9 Figure 2.1: Triangle of governance types with population as a target of governance …………44 Figure 2.2: Triangle of governance types with environment as a target of governance ……….44 Figure 3.1: Qualitative Interview Questions …………………………………………………...67 Figure 3.2: Topography map of Nepal highlighting