Presentation short abstract

Drawing on the case of Nepal’s community forestry development, this paper explores why we need to think forest landscape restoration beyond tree planting rather a long-term political process of institutional development and innovation for long-term ecological and local livelihood outcomes.

Presentation long abstract

Forest landscape restoration has become a key global environmental policy objective. The existing literature points to the need for local participation for positive restoration outcomes but pays limited attention to the political process of local participation for achieving the long-term positive outcomes. Nepal’s community forestry offers an interesting case to understand restoration as a political process with demonstrated results. Community forestry development in Nepal shows the mutually influential relationship between forest restoration interventions and the process of institution development and innovation. The initial agenda for restoration (narrowly understood as tree planting) in the mid-1970s provided a platform for the emergence of the community forestry program. The development of community forestry involved the political processes of devising a supportive national policy framework and building community institutions i.e., community forest user groups. These institutions, established from 1990 onward, fostered long-term positive outcomes in terms of recovery of once-degraded mountain landscapes and meeting local livelihood needs. Yet, these institutions face constant challenges to effectively set local restoration priorities as forest authorities dominate decision-making. Further, rapid socio-economic changes in the community led to declining collective action and these institutions have become redundant in the changed context. These challenges indicate the need for sustained political processes for strengthening and revising institutions for better livelihood outcomes. This analysis provides important theoretical and policy lessons towards thinking restoration beyond tree planting, rather a long-term political process of institution building and innovations.