The role of environmental incomes in rural Nepalese livelihoods 2005–2012 contextual information Larsen, Helle Overgaard; Rayamajhi, Santosh; Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal; Charlery, Lindy Callen; Gautam, Narayan ; Khadka, Nirajan ; Puri, Lila; Rutt, Rebecca Leigh; Shivakoti, Tara ; Thorsen, Rikke Stamp; Walelign, Solomon Zena Publication date: 2014 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (APA): Larsen, H. O., Rayamajhi, S., Chhetri, B. B. K., Charlery, L. C., Gautam, N., Khadka, N., Puri, L., Rutt, R. L., Shivakoti, T., Thorsen, R. S., & Walelign, S. Z. (2014). The role of environmental incomes in rural Nepalese livelihoods 2005–2012: contextual information. Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. IFRO Documentation No. 2014/4 Download date: 28. sep.. 2021 The role of environmental incomes in rural Nepalese livelihoods 2005–2012: contextual information Helle Overgaard Larsen Santosh Rayamajhi Bir Bahadur Khanal Chhetri Lindy Callen Charlery Narayan Gautam Nirajan Khadka Lila Puri Rebecca Leigh Rutt Tara Shivakoti Rikke Stamp Thorsen Solomon Zena Walelign 2014 / 4 IFRO Documentation 2014 / 4 The role of environmental incomes in rural Nepalese livelihoods 2005–2012: contextual information Authors: Helle Overgaard Larsen, Santosh Rayamajhi, Bir Bahadur Khanal Chhetri, Lindy Callen Charlery, Narayan Gautam, Nirajan Khadka, Lila Puri, Rebecca Leigh Rutt, Tara Shivakoti, Rikke Stamp Thorsen, Solomon Zena Walelign This document is related with the research project Community Based Forest Management in the Himalaya (ComForM) I-III. The project was financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Partners: Institute of Forestry Pokhara, Tribhuvan University, Nepal; Department of Forest Research and Survey, Government of Nepal; Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Published October 2014 Department of Food and Resource Economics University of Copenhagen Rolighedsvej 25 DK-1958 Frederiksberg www.ifro.ku.dk/english Preface The present document presents the design as well as contextual information from the four research sites of the research project Community Based Forest Management in the Himalaya (ComForM) I - III conducted by the Institute of Forestry (IOF), Tribhuwan University, Nepal and the Global Development unit, Department of Food and Resource Economics (IFRO), Copenhagen University, Denmark, with support from the Department of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS), Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal. The research design was developed together with the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Poverty Environment Network (PEN). Three panels of data were collected in Nepal during the three phases of the ComForM project running from 2003 to 2014 and funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (104.Dan.8.L.716 - two contiguous projects, 10-015LIFE). The development of the research design was undertaken in collaboration with the project Tropical Forests for Poverty Alleviation - from Household Data to Global Analysis, funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (933-LIFE). i Acronyms CIFOR Centre for International Forestry Research ComForM Community Based Forest Management in the Himalaya DFRS Department of Forest Research and Survey IFRO Department of Food and Resource Economics IOF Institute of Forestry PEN Poverty Environment Network GNI Gross National Income USD United States Dollar GDP Gross Domestic Product VDC Village Development Committee FUG Forest User Group CAMC Conservation Area Management Committee ACAP Annapurna Conservation Area Project Rs Nepalese rupees Danida Danish development cooperation cbft Cubic feet FMSC Forest Management Sub-committee ii Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Nepal .......................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Community forestry in Nepal .................................................................................................... 3 2 Research design and implementation ................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Objectives................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 The PEN methodology ............................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Pre-fieldwork activities .............................................................................................................. 6 2.3.1 Site selection 2.3.2 First contact 2.3.3 Setting the research team 2.3.4 Acquiring local context information 2.3.5 Sampling households 2.3.6 Preparing the questionnaire 2.4 Fieldwork ................................................................................................................................... 8 2.4.1 The survey interviews 2.4.2 Extra-survey activities 2.4.3 Checking information 2.4.4 Giving gifts 2.4.5 Household attrition 2.5 Post field work..................................................................................................................... 11 2.5.1 Data entry 2.5.2 Data cleaning and management 2.5.2 Returning results to local communities 2.5.3 Data analysis 2.6 Researchers .............................................................................................................................. 12 3 Research sites ............................................................................................................................. 13 3.1 Kaski District: Tibrekot Community Forest User Group......................................................... 13 THE BELOW SUBHEADINGS ARE REPEATED FOR ALL FOUR SITES 3.1.1 Brief history 3.1.2 Forest management 3.1.3 Demographics 3.1.4 Study villages 3.1.5 Major economic activities 3.1.6 Seasonal calendar 3.1.7 Markets and market access 3.1.8 Forest products 3.1.9 Major land cover and land uses 3.1.10 Description of conservation areas 3.1.11 Tenure institutions 3.1.12 Government and other development/conservation projects 3.1.13 Calamities 3.2 Chitwan District: Kankali Forest User Group .......................................................................... 17 3.3 Mustang District: Lete and Kunjo Village Development Committees .................................... 20 3.4 Gorkha District: Simjung and Gyachchok Village Development Committees ....................... 29 iii 4 Additional research ......................................................................................................................... 32 4.1 Firewood consumption in hotels in Mustang, 2006 4.2 Community wood outtake 4.3 Traditional medicine use and medicinal plant consumption 4.4 Law enforcement in community forestry 4.5 Shocks to livelihoods 4.6 Climate change, gender and livelihood trajectories 4.7 Wealth dynamics 4.8 Perceptions of climate change 4.9 The implications of road establishment on livelihoods 4.10 Citizenship 5. Literature ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................38 A. List of researchers involved ...................................................................................................... 39 B. PEN Questionnaires used in the three survey rounds................................................................ 40 C. Additional surveys attached to the PEN survey ...................................................................... 153 D. Contextual data........................................................................................................................ 261 E. SI unit conversion data ............................................................................................................ 273 F. The validity and reliability of own reported values ................................................................. 278 G. List of papers produced ........................................................................................................... 292 iv 1. Introduction This working paper describes the design of the The core of the research design is the Community based natural forest management construction of total household accounts, in the Himalaya (ComForM) research project including environmental incomes, for a random that sought to establish the importance of sample of households in four sites. Data were environmental income to rural Nepalese collected from the same households at either livelihoods. The research was undertaken by two or three points in time, thus enabling the Institute of Forestry (IOF), Tribhuwan analysis of livelihood dynamics. The University, Nepal and the Global Development methodology for establishing the total Unit, Department of Food and Resource household accounts was developed together Economics (IFRO), University of Copenhagen, with the Centre for International Forestry Denmark, with support from the Department Research’s Poverty Environment Network of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS), (PEN). A brief introduction to the research Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, objectives and the PEN methodology is Nepal. The research took place in