ArticlePDF Available

Drivers of regrowth in South Asia's human impacted forests

Authors:

Abstract

While loss of forest cover continues to represent a serious environmental challenge, significant reforesta-tion is taking place in many parts of the world. This article assesses the institutional factors that impact forest management in developing countries, with a focus on Nepal and India. Research methods link empirical results obtained from multiple methods in multiple field settings at different temporal and spa-tial scales to look at the human drivers of forest cover change across a range of social-ecological contexts. The legitimacy of ownership, degree of monitoring, density of forest users, and the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions appear critical factors, although the official designation of a forest tenure regime does not appear to be as important.
SPECIAL SECTION:
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009
1586
e-mail: nagendra@indiana.edu
Drivers of regrowth in South Asia’s human
impacted forests
Harini Nagendra1,2
1Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Sri Ramapura, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560 064, India
2Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University, 408 N. Indiana Ave,
Bloomington, IN 47408, USA
While loss of forest cover continues to represent a
serious environmental challenge, significant reforesta-
tion is taking place in many parts of the world. This
article assesses the institutional factors that impact
forest management in developing countries, with a
focus on Nepal and India. Research methods link
empirical results obtained from multiple methods in
multiple field settings at different temporal and spa-
tial scales to look at the human drivers of forest cover
change across a range of social-ecological contexts.
The legitimacy of ownership, degree of monitoring,
density of forest users, and the flexibility to adapt to
changing conditions appear critical factors, although
the official designation of a forest tenure regime does
not appear to be as important.
Keywords: Forest transition, institutions, protected
areas, reforestation, South Asia.
Introduction
AS the human footprint on the earth’s natural resources
continues to expand, the earth’s environment and ecology
have experienced increasing deterioration over the past
several centuries. Declining forest cover has been one of
the biggest contributors to global environmental change,
impacting a range of ecological and environmental
services including global temperatures, health, biodiver-
sity, air quality, soil fertility and water flows. Reduction
in the quantity and quality of forests has also had a major
impact on the quality of life and livelihoods for the many
millions of forest-dependent inhabitants around the world.
These impacts are particularly acute in the tropics, where
forests coexist with high population densities1. This article
discusses findings from a set of studies conducted over
the past five years that is aimed at developing a better
understanding of the relationship between institutions and
forest change in such complex, human dominated yet
biodiverse landscapes.
While awareness of the problem of deforestation is
growing, considerable debates rage on the best way to
manage forest change. A basic problem has been the
availability of accurate datasets that track the extent,
location, direction and spatial pattern of forest change in
different parts of the world. Surprisingly, such informa-
tion remains elusive even in this electronic age, posing a
major barrier to our understanding of the drivers of forest
change2.
The most comprehensive, large-scale and long-term
datasets with information on forest change at a national
scale are provided by the United Nations Food and Agri-
cultural Organization (FAO): for 1980, 1990, 2000 and
2005. These data have been used by many researchers to
search for factors driving forest change, such as popula-
tion, at country scales (e.g. ref. 3). Yet, these data are
provided at different scales, based on information provided
by over 200 countries, and have been strongly criticized
for providing an inaccurate picture biased by changes in
methodology, and in frequently changing baseline defini-
tions of forest4,5.
Recently, this data situation has improved for the tropics,
with corrected estimates of FAO statistics5, as well as more
reliable and robust assessments of the rates of tropical
deforestation from large-scale satellite image studies6,7.
While these provide somewhat different estimates of
global forest change and show that deforestation contin-
ues to be the dominant trajectory of land cover change in
the tropics, they also point to something interesting a
rising trend in reforestation, with an increase in secon-
dary forests in multiple parts of the tropics, including
countries as diverse as Bhutan, Puerto Rica and Gambia5.
The information provided by these large-scale datasets
is further corroborated by a growing body of recent litera-
ture, which suggests an increase in forest regrowth across
the tropics8–10. Large scale forest regrowth has been dem-
onstrated across countries as varied as Brazil, China,
Costa Rica, India, Mexico, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Tanzania
and Vietnam. This reforestation is often patchy, with tro-
pical forest landscapes typically consisting of a multiple-
use mosaic ranging from remnant forest patches to
disturbed and regenerating areas8. Nevertheless, the
areas of reforestation provide important environmental
services that range from carbon sequestration to soil con-
servation and the stabilization of hydrological cycles,
biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of ecologi-
cal services7,9.
SOCIETY AND SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGES
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009 1587
Forest transition theory
What drives this increase in forest cover? Two dominant
processes, or sets of processes, sometimes occurring in
parallel, have been put forward as explanations. The first,
macroeconomic explanation follows the lines of the Envi-
ronmental Kuznets theory, and applies mainly to forest
transitions in economically developed countries. While
the documentation of forest regrowth in the tropics is a
relatively recent phenomenon, forest transitions have
been previously noted in many economically developed
countries in the temperate world including Scotland,
France and the USA. The majority of these transitions,
occurring towards the last half of the 20th century, and in
contrast to the tropics, have been relatively well docu-
mented and researched. As these nations became more
industrialized and urbanized, there was an increasing
demand for labour in urban centres. The corresponding
scarcity of labour in the rural areas led to the abandon-
ment of agricultural farms on a large scale, resulting in
spontaneous reforestation9. This ‘economic development
path’ to forest transition has been observed in northern
Europe and north America after the first World War, and
in more recently, in parts of Asia and eastern/southern
Europe3,9.
A second explanation is based on microeconomic
explanations of forest scarcity. When forests are abundant,
there is little or no incentive to limit forest clearing. Once
forests begin to be cleared extensively, wood becomes a
scarce but important commodity, prompting large-scale
planting efforts by governments and local communities9.
Evidence for this comes from a diversity of countries in-
cluding India and China2. Yet, it is abundantly clear that
there are several countries across the world which now
experience fairly severe scarcities in forest products, but
are unable to reverse the trend of deforestation due to
factors that include the lack of supportive institutions,
corruption by local elite, and the collapse of civil autho-
rity2,9.
Developing a more comprehensive, area-specific and
robust understanding of factors that can drive reforesta-
tion in multiple contexts is critical if we are to hope to
encourage forest regrowth and arrest or reverse deforesta-
tion. These above described pathways, through important,
do not by any means explain all the trends in forest cover
observed. While playing an unquestionably significant
role in driving forest regrowth across the world, the eco-
nomic development path to forest transition is closely
linked with global and national policies and trends
towards modernization and economic development.
Although some countries have demonstrated this trend, it
is by no means universal and not of real assistance to
conservation agencies, government officials and scientists
interested in identifying policy interventions that can be
of direct assistance. Nor can we afford to hope that the
second path, an awareness of forest scarcity, will in itself
be sufficient to reverse the direction of forest change – it
has clearly been insufficient in several countries and
locations11.
Negative findings also prove difficult to reconcile with
these theories. There are many countries where no link is
seen between deforestation and per capita GDP, and no
systematic linkage between higher per capita GDP levels
and reforestation. Clearly, forest trends are not a function
of economic growth or income alone. Neither do there
appear to be direct links between country policies, gov-
ernance and forest regrowth. It is difficult to explain
trends in forest change by data collected at the country
scale. A binary classification into forest transition and
non-forest transition countries treats the issue at the
wrong scale and completely ignores the fact that any
country-indeed, even smaller regions, provinces or land-
scapes – will be composed of a mosaic of areas that are
experiencing reforestation, along with other areas that are
stable and areas where forests are disappearing at the
same time12,13. It is difficult to understand what drives
forest regrowth in specific areas by using aggregate
information that grosses over these important variations
in pattern, generated at gross scales. A better idea of the
local factors driving forest regrowth in different contexts
is clearly needed.
Forests and institutions
The data produced by the FAO Forest Resource Assess-
ment of 2006 indicates that Asia is the first continent to
experience forest transition since the mid 1900s. The
slowing down and reversal of tropical deforestation has
been noted in countries as varied as Bangladesh, Bhutan,
China, India, South Korea and Vietnam2,14. Nepal, while
experiencing net deforestation at the country scale, has
also demonstrated significant forest regrowth in the mid-
dle hills since the 1980s10,15. Reforestation in many of
these countries cannot be explained well by the forest
scarcity and economic development pathways2,10. This
implies the existence of other pathways and drivers, in
addition to these better described ones.
Tenure systems, while essential to an understanding of
forest cover change, have been largely ignored in discus-
sions of forest transitions. Developing a more compre-
hensive understanding of the range of institutional, policy
and tenure mechanisms that can help to promote refores-
tation is essential if we are to develop useful policy inter-
ventions. Considerable differences of opinion exist in this
regard. While many conservation biologists insist that
strict, nationally driven, protectionist conservation is
essential for the protection of forest habitat, others argue
that participatory community conservation with sustain-
able harvesting in ‘working forests’ can provide adequate
forest protection and forest regrowth16. The data on this is
mixed, with some cross-site studies indicating that gov-
SPECIAL SECTION:
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009
1588
ernment protected areas have succeeded in achieving
their conservation objectives17,18, while other studies
indicate that management by local communities can be
just as effective, if not even more so19,20.
Part of the reason underlying these differences in opin-
ion lies in the fact that forest change is a complex pheno-
menon, with multiple factors that interact at a range of
scales to drive change in specific directions. Thus, isolat-
ing specific drivers responsible for forest change in one
direction or another is a challenging task, methodologi-
cally as well as conceptually11. The task is further exac-
erbated by ideologically driven positions that have been
taken by many scientists and practitioners coming from
different positions. Finally, most studies are undertaken
in specific locations, with few attempts to establish a
broader understanding by undertaking comparative studies
of change at multiple locations. Thus, we need to go
beyond simplistic, limited and possibly flawed identifica-
tions of a single tenure regime or policy mechanism that
can lead to reforestation in all social, cultural and eco-
nomic settings, and instead to identify a range of factors
that appear to be significant in driving forest change in
one direction or another in different contexts. This will
help us understand when and why deforestation and
regrowth occur in specific regions within these larger
landscapes.
This article discusses initial insights from a set of studies
conducted over the past five years, aimed at developing a
better understanding of the institutional drivers of forest
regrowth in the Asian tropics. South Asia provides the
context for this research. India and Nepal constitute some
of the most densely populated of the world’s forested
countries. While both have experienced and continue to
experience significant deforestation due to human pre-
ssure, they have also shown significant regrowth since
the early 1990s (refs 2 and 10). Much of this can be
traced to the strengthening of effective national, regional
and local institutions12. While significant limitations still
exist, it is illustrative to examine these studies in the con-
text of work on collective-action theory as related to
common-pool resources.
Forests, like many other natural resources, belong to
the category of common-pool resources. They have two
main characteristics: (i) it is very costly to exclude poten-
tial beneficiaries from accessing and harvesting from the
resource and (ii) the amount of resource flows harvested
by one user is subtracted from the quantity available to
others21. Common-pool resources can be managed under
any of a broad type of property-rights regimes, from gov-
ernment ownership to private ownership, community own-
ership and open-access situations. When the resource is
open-access, in which there is no clear owner of the re-
source and unrestricted access is available to all, situa-
tions similar to the tragedy of the commons can arise.
However, if access is restricted under conditions of gov-
ernment, private or community ownership, then the
resource is capable of being well-protected, even regene-
rating over time21.
Over the past several decades since Garret Hardin’s
‘Tragedy of the Commons’ stimulated interest in this area,
many researchers have invested substantial effort in evalu-
ating the effectiveness of common property regimes and
government institutions for the protection and sustainable
use of natural resources22. The debate has been intensely
polarized, with some scientists (including several conser-
vation biologists) arguing that government-protected
national parks are the only way to achieve successful con-
servation, and others (including many social scientists
studying the adverse impacts of government institutions on
local people) that community control is the way to go. Yet,
it is becoming increasingly clear that no single institutional
type can be a panacea for effective management under all
situations23. Instead, one needs to look for rules-in-use
that can help increase the probability that a given manage-
ment regime whether community, government, or
co-managed – can be effective on the ground.
Until recently, many studies such as Garret Hardin’s
classic paper on the Tragedy of the Commons24 predicted
that users of a common-property resource such as forests
were inevitably trapped into a situation where each user
acted to maximize their own profits, leading to overuse
and destruction of the resource. Yet, evidence is now
mounting that, under appropriate circumstances, local
communities can be very effective guardians of forest
resources. Drawing on evidences from a number of local
case studies as well as larger comparative cross-site
analyses, this article reviews evidence on forest clearing
and regrowth in Nepal and India to discuss under what
conditions local and national institutions appear to be
effective at promoting forest regrowth.
The local studies draw on methods developed as part of
the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI)
research programme. Coordinated by the University of
Michigan and Indiana University, this programme is cur-
rently active in 13 countries across North America, Africa,
Asia and Latin America12. This programme was designed
to further the study of collective action in the manage-
ment of forest resources by developing a long-term data-
base of the factors affecting forests and the communities
that use them. The IFRI programme has been active in
both countries for more than a decade, and provides us
with a large and valuable database that can be used to
evaluate a range of factors that have been identified as
impacting forest condition positively or negatively. The
interdisciplinary methodology developed for this purpose
documents biophysical measures of forest and environ-
mental conditions, demographic and economic information,
and data about institutions that impact forest resources.
These features make IFRI an attractive resource for the
assessment of hypothesized relationships among demo-
graphic, economic, institutional and biophysical variables
driving forest change.
SOCIETY AND SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGES
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009 1589
The range of biophysical and ecological context and
ecology, and diversity of tenure arrangements over which
this data has been collected, provide us with sufficient
variation to be able to derive insight into the impact of a
range of hypothesized drivers of forest change. This data,
collected at the forest/community level (usually at the
scale of forests that cover a few hectares to a few square
kilometers in area), is supplemented with remote sensing
analyses of forest cover change at the landscape level
(of a few square kilometers in area)10,12,13. Such a two-
pronged approach provides us with a way of going
beyond the FAO reports which focus at the country scale,
by integrating site-specific, in-depth understandings of the
social, institutional and biophysical factors at individual
locations, with broader comparative examinations of the
factors that determine why forests disappear, stay stable
and regrow in different parts of a landscape, and across
different locations.
Associates of reforestation
Tenure
While examining a range of official tenure designations
in forests located in Nepal, India and elsewhere around
the world, we find a range of management regimes asso-
ciated with effective forest management. In Nepal, some
community forests, leasehold forests and co-managed
buffer zone forests have shown significant forest
regrowth, others have remained stable, or even deterio-
rated over time10,12,13,18,25–32. In India, some government
protected areas and joint forest management institutions
can lead to reforestation, whereas in other instances, the
same tenure regimes are also associated with forest clear-
ing12,13,18,30,33,34. These findings are backed up by larger,
cross-country analyses that indicate that under effective
conditions, both government and community protected
areas are capable of providing effective forest protection,
even encouraging regrowth in many cases12,13,18.
Thus, it appears that formal ownership is less important
than the actual rules and mechanisms used to manage for-
ests on the ground. If forest regrowth can be shown to occur
under a range of institutions, what are the other condi-
tions that can facilitate or hinder successful forest man-
agement? Some other significant factors are discussed
below.
Monitoring
Monitoring has emerged as one of the most significant
factors that we have observed to be consistently associ-
ated with forest change. Without effective monitoring of
withdrawals from the forest and sanctioning of infrac-
tions, it will always be difficult to prevent overharvesting
of forest resources as the temptations to extract
resources for personal use are always large. If forest rules
limiting access and harvest levels are either not known
(as often is the case for communities living in and around
protected areas), or are known but not considered legiti-
mate by local resource users, then there will be a need for
substantial investment in guns, fences and official guards
to patrol boundaries to prevent ‘illegal’ harvesting.
Without these expensive inputs, government-owned,
‘protected’ forests may not be protected in practise. In
these areas, the density of surrounding habitation is often
high and nearby urban markets generate incentives for
illegal wildlife and timber harvesting, as well as for graz-
ing. Both local communities and external poachers attempt
to harvest timber, graze cattle, and engage in other illegal
activities within the park, leading to frequent conflicts
with park authorities. Parks are often under-funded,
understaffed and ill-equipped to adequately monitor the
park, and enforce sanctioning measures on violators.
Such monitoring and sanctioning measures, while they
can be successful in the short term, also come at the
expense of increased conflict with local communities. On
the other hand, when efforts are made to involve local
people in conservation activities such as forest monitor-
ing and wildlife protection, substantial improvements
have been noted in some areas12,34.
In other contexts, usually found in community protected
or co-managed areas, when the users themselves have a
role in making local rules, they tend to participate more
fully in monitoring and sanctioning of over-extraction. In
co-managed buffer zone forests in Nepal, and Joint Forest
Management forests India, through government officials
make some visits to these areas for monitoring, the sub-
stantial proportion of the monitoring is contributed by the
communities27,29,33. These co-management initiatives have
the power of social approval behind them, and have suc-
ceeded in protecting forests even in the face of some very
difficult and insecure situations such as during the Maoist
insurgency in Nepal, signifying the resilience of these
efforts.
Experimental findings corroborate this, indicating that
when users are involved in decisions about rules affecting
their use, the likelihood of their following the rules and
monitoring others is much greater than when an external
authority simply proscribes and imposes rules on
them12,13,21. Social factors thus play a major role in the
effectiveness of such monitoring28. Interestingly, it appears
that even occasional monitoring, taking place every few
months, is sufficient to bring about change in community
monitored areas10. Even occasional monitoring can result
in social sanctioning by the community in which people
live. Given the closely linked communities within which
many people live in these contexts, this threat can be
quite effective in bringing about compliance from a wide
cross section of users21. In contrast, government-controlled
forests require frequent monitoring from armed forest
SPECIAL SECTION:
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009
1590
guards and even this is often not enough to guarantee
compliance or if it does, it comes at the expense of
great resentment and conflict with local users12,13.
Group size and collective action
Population has been frequently mentioned as a major
driver of deforestation35,36. These discussions completely
ignore institutions and the powerful capacities of people
to organize themselves into collective groups to combat
problems. We have found the relationship between the
size of a group and the likelihood of successful collective
action to be curvilinear10,27. When there are too few users
relative to the size of the forest (less than five users per
hectare of forest area), critical tasks such as forest plant-
ing, maintenance and monitoring cannot be carried out
effectively, and forest density tends to decline. When there
are too many users (more than 15 per hectare of forest
area), when there is enough labour available for forest
protection, planting and maintenance, cooperation and
coordination between users tends to break down, making
the task of forest protection even more difficult10. Thus,
forest management appears to be most effective at inter-
mediate group sizes between these extremes (also see ref.
37). Scale is an important factor that determines the rela-
tionship one observes between population and collective
action.
Flexibility to adapt to local context
Institutions need to be allowed the flexibility to modify
rules based on changing local environments and circum-
stances. Often this is not the case with national govern-
ments creating relatively inflexible one-size-fits-all rules
and limiting the capacity of local communities to adapt to
the change18,27,28,30. Often, neighbouring communities can
face dissimilar pressures on their forests due to ecological,
social and other differences, necessitating the adoption of
different institutional rules for effective management.
Yet, in the analyses of buffer zone user groups in the
Nepal terai plains, leasehold user groups in the middle hills
and Joint Forest Management programmes in India, we
found that these groups were asked to function according
to a rather restrictive set of management guidelines, in
which they had limited flexibility to modify according to
local circumstance26–30.
These restrictions have understandably created a sense
of lack of ownership in the communities and led to a
greater reliance on external technical and management
inputs provided by the state and international aid agen-
cies, as well as to conflict between those communities that
are part of these programmes and others who have been
left out of such efforts. In contrast, the community for-
estry programme, while still functioning under limitations,
has had a greater overall degree of flexibility to adapt and
modify management practises to local needs. Although
they have had initial problems, these community forestry
groups have experimented and learned from their initial
attempts, and are now putting better systems in place.
Thus, clearly, community groups do better when given the
flexibility to modify rules according to local social or
ecological circumstances.
Discussion
Loss of forest cover represents a serious environmental
challenge. Yet, significant reforestation has taken place in
recent years in many parts of the world2,9. The dominant
explanatory global frameworks of reforestation based on
explanations of industrialization, improvements in per
capita GDP, and increasing forest scarcity, fail to ade-
quately explain reforestation in many developing nations
including Nepal and India, where biodiverse forests co-
exist with densely settled areas. Such explanations focus
on the drivers of forest change as if they always have the
same momentum and direction in all settings. Further,
these explanations are usually assessed at the national
level, where data quality is often poor, degrees of free-
dom are limited, and confusion exists between correlation
and causality. Rarely are these studies posed at more
appropriate social–ecological system scales. They are less
able to explain when and why forest regrowth takes place
in certain areas within a country, region or landscape, while
other nearby areas are simultaneously being cleared of
their tree cover.
Such explanations also largely ignore institutions and the
powerful capacities of people to organize themselves into
collective groups to combat problems. The approach dis-
cussed here is aimed at achieving a better understanding
of the institutional factors that impact the success or fail-
ure of forest management in different contexts. From the
studies discussed, we find that the official designation of
a forest tenure regime, whether as government, commu-
nity, or co-managed, does not appear to have a consistent
relationship with the direction of forest change. Although
some government forests are successful, others fail
similarly, some communities are better able to manage
their forests than others. What seems to be more critical
is the legitimacy of ownership, degree of monitoring,
density of forest users and the flexibility to adapt forest
management rules as appropriate to local conditions.
Thus, in Nepal as well as in India, we find communi-
ties engaging in monitoring efforts to successfully manage
forests when ownership is perceived as legitimate and fair.
Traditional, strict public protection of parks can also work
to protect forests. This comes with a high financial cost
however, and appears unsustainable over the long-term as
such measures result in increased conflicts with local
communities. Although it may be a utopian dream to
SOCIETY AND SCIENCE – INTERDISCIPLINARY EXCHANGES
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009 1591
assume that national governments will ever cede formal
control of forests to local communities, increasingly, forest
decentralization initiatives are leading to greater roles for
local forest users38. Forest co-management, for instance
as designed in many Nepali park buffer zones26,27, provides
one such approach where within one national park
boundary, different groups of local users manage differ-
ent patches of forest across the periphery, thus assisting
in effective forest recovery. While great care must be
taken in identifying critical stakeholders, and in ensuring
that the poor and disadvantaged do not get left out of this
process, such an approach can provide the greater flexi-
bility required to adapt forest management to local socio–
ecological settings, resulting in more effective, sustain-
able forest conservation over the long term.
Strong institutions can perhaps explain the discrepancy
between the almost complete depletion of forests in many
industrialized nations at the time of the forest transition
(at less than 10% original forest cover remaining), and the
higher levels of original forest cover (between 20 and
50%) observed in many industrializing countries where
forest transitions are taking place9. Despite high levels of
human pressure on forest resources, the maintenance of
long standing tradition of forest protection, and of strong
local institutions in these countries can have significantly
assisted in forest recovery in these countries. This con-
servation of higher levels of primary forest cover in these
countries has significant implications in terms of greater
levels of maintained forest biodiversity39.
It is important to develop better methods for studying
such linked social–ecological systems across multiple
scales, because the impact of relevant variables – such as
population can differ radically at different scales. The
approach discussed here, using a combination of site-
specific case studies and cross-site comparisons, is very
useful to develop a better theoretical understanding of
critical variables that impact the success or failure of forest
governance as a common-property resource. Some of
these, such as the impact of policy changes or local eco-
logies, may be specific to the context of particular case
studies. Others, such as the role of monitoring on forest
change, may derive from a more fundamental theoretical
basis in human behaviour21. Certain groupings of driving
forces may be local, others regional, and still others may
be found across all contexts.
This article discusses evidence from long-term research
programmes that use research methods that focus at dif-
ferent temporal and spatial scales, and that link empirical
results obtained from multiple methods in field settings to
look at the human drivers of forest cover change in a
range of social–ecological contexts. These approaches are
designed to move beyond the use of single, discipline-
focused research methods which appear inappropriate to
understanding such complex, multiscale processes as forest
change. Approaches such as these, which integrate theo-
ries, methodologies and frameworks from the social and
ecological sciences, appear better suited to derive under-
standings of how individuals in dynamic, complex, social–
ecological settings react to institutional rules and affect
forest conservation. They provide us with a more deve-
loped understanding of the factors that have the potential
to direct the trajectory of forest change towards regrowth,
or further deterioration.
Note
The opportunity to spend an independent period of five
years working on the Society in Science: Branco Weiss
fellowship from 2003 to 2008, gave me the opportunity to
expand the horizons of my work in very fundamental
ways. In addition to a fellowship and research grant that
facilitated putting in place a relatively long-term, inde-
pendent plan of work on forest cover, it gave me the
opportunity of relative freedom from the routine academic
treadmill, with plenty of opportunities to read, think,
reflect and discuss work with other life scientists also
facing the challenges of interdisciplinary research. This
has led to fundamental alterations in the trajectory of my
work, providing an opportunity to engage more deeply
with the social sciences, giving me a chance to think about
and engage with broader issues relating to the study of
drivers of reforestation, devising strategies for putting
together a broader body of work relating to land cover
change in South Asia, and engaging with an urban eco-
logy programme of work in India. All of these have now
become major foci in my work and intellectual interests,
and may well not have been possible to develop the same
degree if it had not been for those much needed years of
generous support.
1. Bawa, K. S., Kress, W. J., Nadkarni, N. M. and Lele, S., Beyond
paradise – meeting the challenges in tropical biology in the 21st
century. Biotropica, 2004, 36, 437–446.
2. Mather, A. S., Recent Asian forest transitions in relation to forest-
transition theory. Int. For. Rev., 2007, 9, 491–502.
3. Kauppi, P. E., Ausubel, J. A., Fang, Mather, A. S., Sedjo, R. A.
and Waggoner, P. A., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2006, 103,
17574–17579.
4. Stokstad, E., UN report suggests slowed forest losses. Science,
2001, 291, 2294.
5. Grainger, A., Difficulties in tracking the long-term global trend in
tropical forest area. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2008, 105, 818–
823.
6. Achard, F., Eva, H. D., Stibig, H.-J., Mayaux, P., Gallego, J.,
Richards, T. and Malingreau, J.-P., Determination of deforestation
rates of the world’s humid tropical forests. Science, 2002, 297,
999–1002.
7. DeFries, R. S., Houghton, R. A., Hansen, M. C., Field, C. B.,
Skole, D. and Townshend, J., Carbon emissions from tropical
deforestation and regrowth based on satellite observations for the
1980s and 1990s. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2002, 99, 14256–
14261.
8. Lamb, D., Erskine, P. D. and Parrotta, J. A., Restoration of de-
graded tropical forest landscapes. Science, 2005, 310, 1628–1632.
SPECIAL SECTION:
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 97, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2009
1592
9. Rudel, T. K., Coomes, O. T., Moran, E., Achard, F., Angelsen, A.,
Xu, J. and Lambin, E., Forest transitions: toward a global under-
standing of land-use change. Global Environ. Change, 2005, 15,
23–31.
10. Nagendra, H., Drivers of reforestation in human-dominated for-
ests. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2007, 104, 15218–15223.
11. Geist, H. J. and Lambin, E. F., What drives tropical deforestation?
A meta-analysis of proximate and underlying causes of deforesta-
tion based on sub-national case study evidence. LUCC Report
Series no. 4, LUCC International Project Office, University of
Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2001.
12. Ostrom, E. and Nagendra, H., Insights on Linking Forests, Trees,
and People from the Air, on the Ground, and in the Lab. Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2006, 103, 19224–19331.
13. Ostrom, E. and Nagendra, H., Tenure alone is not sufficient:
Monitoring is essential. Environ. Econ. Policy Studies, 2007, 8,
175–199.
14. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Global
Forest Resources Assessment 2005: Forestry Paper No. 147,
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, 2006.
15. Gautam, A. P., Shivakoti, G. P. and Webb, E. L., A review of for-
est policies, institutions, and change in the resource condition in
Nepal. Int. For. Rev., 2004, 6, 136–148.
16. Zarin, D. J., Alavalapati, J. R. R., Putz, E. F. and Schmink, M.
(eds), Working Forests in the Neotropics: Conservation through
Sustainable Management? Columbia University Press, Columbia,
NY, 2004.
17. Naughton-Treves, L., Holland, M. B. and Brandon, K., Ann. Rev.
Environ. Res., 2005, 30, 219–252.
18. Nagendra, H., Do parks work? Impact of protected areas on land
cover clearing. Ambio, 2008 (in press).
19. Hayes, T. and Ostrom, E., Conserving the world’s forests: are pro-
tected areas the only way? Indiana Law Rev., 2005, 38, 595–617.
20. Nepstad, D., Schwartzman, S., Bamberger, B., Santilli, M., Ray,
D., Schlesinger, P., Lefebvre, P., Alencar, A., Prinz, E. and Fiske,
G., Cons. Biol., 2006, 20, 65–73.
21. Ostrom, E., Understanding Institutional Diversity, Princeton Uni-
versity Press, Princeton, NJ, 2005.
22. Dietz, T., Stern, P. and Ostrom, E., The struggle to govern the
commons. Science, 203, 302, 1907–1912.
23. Ostrom, E., Janssen, M. A. and Anderies, J. M., Going beyond
panaceas. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2007, 104, 15176–15178.
24. Hardin, G., The tragedy of the commons. Science, 1968, 162,
1243–1248.
25. Nagendra, H., Tenure and forest conditions: community forestry in
the Nepal Terai. Environ. Cons., 2002, 29, 530–539.
26. Nagendra, H., Southworth, J., Tucker, C. M., Karmacharya, M.,
Karna, B. and Carlson, L. A., Remote sensing for policy evalua-
tion: Monitoring parks in Nepal and Honduras. Environ. Manage.,
2004, 34, 748–760.
27. Nagendra, H., Karmacharya, M. and Karna, B., Cutting across
space and time: Examining forest co-management in Nepal. Ecol.
Soc., 2005, 10, 24; http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/
art24/
28. Nagendra, H., Karna, B. and Karmacharya, M., Examining institu-
tional change: Leasehold forestry in Nepal. Cons. Soc., 2005, 3,
72–91.
29. Nagendra, H., Pareeth, S., Sharma, B., Schweik, C. M. and Adhi-
kari, K. R., Forest fragmentation and regrowth in an institutional
mosaic of community, government and private ownership in
Nepal. Landsc. Ecol., 2008, 23, 41–54.
30. Nagendra, H. and Gokhale, Y., Management regimes, property
rights, and forest biodiversity in Nepal and India. Environ. Manage.,
2008.
31. Nagendra, H. and Ostrom, E., Institutions, collective action and
forest degradation: Learning from studies in Nepal. In The Sage
Handbook of Environment and Society (eds Pretty, J. et al.), Sage
Publications, London, pp. 578–589.
32. Schweik, C., Nagendra, H. and Sinha, D. R., Using satellites to
search for forest management innovations in Nepal. Ambio, 2003,
32, 312–319.
33. Ghate, R. and Nagendra, H., Institutional performance in forest
management: botanical evidence. Cons. Soc., 2005, 3, 509–532.
34. Nagendra, H., Pareeth, S. and Ghate, R., People within parks:
forest villages and fragmentation in the Tadoba–Andhari Tiger
Reserve, India. Appl. Geogr., 2006, 26, 96–112.
35. Mather, A. S. and Needle, C. L., The relationships of population
and forest trends. Geogr. J., 2000, 166, 2–13.
36. Ehrlich, P. R. and Ehrlich, A. H., The Population Explosion,
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990.
37. Agrawal, A. and Goyal, S., Group size and collective action: third
party monitoring in common-pool resources. Comp. Political
Stud., 2001, 34, 63–93.
38. Agrawal, A., Chhatre, A. and Hardin, R., Changing governance of
the world’s forests. Science, 2008, 320, 1460–1462.
39. Stokstad, E., A second chance for rainforest biodiversity. Science,
2008, 320, 1436–1438.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I thank the numerous local forest users
who assisted with enquiries in various field locations. Financial support
from a Ramanujan Fellowship from Department of Science and Tech-
nology, and from the Society in Science: Branco Weiss Fellowship, as
well as from the National Science Foundation Grant to CIPEC is much
appreciated.
... For instance, several programs run by the state aim to "tree" (used as a verb) the area. Both scholars and development practitioners working in the Global South critique this fixation on trees (Shiva 2006, Nagendra 2009, Fleischmann 2014. In our study area, the forest department uses an approach that clearly negates the value that scrub vegetation provides to the Yanadi community, including pastoralists and nonhuman species. ...
... One straightforward example is the continued focus on and investment in trees in this semiarid area by the Forest department, whereas the Yanadis have a much more holistic view of the landscape. Several scholars (Shiva 2006, Nagendra 2009) have criticized plantations encouraged by the Forest Department in India. Although forest policy has expanded its focus from revenue generation (as established by the British colonial administration) to include watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation, the technical training and rhetoric of "forests equals trees" persists. ...
Article
Full-text available
Biodiversity conservation in the Global South is defined and implemented through multiple approaches and frameworks, but in most cases, there is little understanding or value for cultural ecosystem services (CES). CES remain a challenge to incorporate, not only because of their intangibility, but also because of multiple definitions and specificities that emerge from particular human-nature interactions. In India, CES literally and figuratively form a critical part of the social fabric of rural communities. Hence, there is an imperative to acknowledge CES broadly, but also more critically within indigenous communities whose lives continue to revolve around natural resources. Here, we examine CES in part of the Eastern Ghats, southern India through the lifeworld of the Yanadi or Irula people, who shape their lives around the forests, successfully adapting to scarcity and dealing with present-day challenges that threaten their existence. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach that includes semistructured interviews and participant observation, we argue that, as much as the Yanadi lifeworld is shaped by the forests, the forests have been shaped by the community and their interaction with species and spaces. We discuss the CES that are sought out by the Yanadi community and elaborate on how these intangible or nonmaterial benefits are critical. We also examine the consequences of the state's lack of acknowledgement of CES in its management interventions since the 1970s, alienating the community that depends on the forest for not only resources, but also spiritual, cultural, and social capital.
... For instance, several programs run by the state aim to "tree" (used as a verb) the area. Both scholars and development practitioners working in the Global South critique this fixation on trees (Shiva 2006, Nagendra 2009, Fleischmann 2014. In our study area, the forest department uses an approach that clearly negates the value that scrub vegetation provides to the Yanadi community, including pastoralists and nonhuman species. ...
... One straightforward example is the continued focus on and investment in trees in this semiarid area by the Forest department, whereas the Yanadis have a much more holistic view of the landscape. Several scholars (Shiva 2006, Nagendra 2009) have criticized plantations encouraged by the Forest Department in India. Although forest policy has expanded its focus from revenue generation (as established by the British colonial administration) to include watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation, the technical training and rhetoric of "forests equals trees" persists. ...
Article
Full-text available
Biodiversity conservation in the Global South is defined and implemented through multiple approaches and frameworks, but in most cases, there is little understanding or value for cultural ecosystem services (CES). CES remain a challenge to incorporate, not only because of their intangibility, but also because of multiple definitions and specificities that emerge from particular human-nature interactions. In India, CES literally and figuratively form a critical part of the social fabric of rural communities. Hence, there is an imperative to acknowledge CES broadly, but also more critically within indigenous communities whose lives continue to revolve around natural resources. Here, we examine CES in part of the Eastern Ghats, southern India through the lifeworld of the Yanadi or Irula people, who shape their lives around the forests, successfully adapting to scarcity and dealing with present-day challenges that threaten their existence. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach that includes semistructured interviews and participant observation, we argue that, as much as the Yanadi lifeworld is shaped by the forests, the forests have been shaped by the community and their interaction with species and spaces. We discuss the CES that are sought out by the Yanadi community and elaborate on how these intangible or nonmaterial benefits are critical. We also examine the consequences of the state's lack of acknowledgement of CES in its management interventions since the 1970s, alienating the community that depends on the forest for not only resources, but also spiritual, cultural, and social capital.
... a. Experimental Design for field set-up: Quadrates Placement………………………… 22 "Declining forest cover has been one of the biggest contributors to global environmental change, impacting a range of ecological and environmental services including global temperatures, health, biodiversity, air quality, soil fertility and water flows" (Nagendra 2009). ...
... Map 2: Supervised Classification for Lokkere,Karnataka 29 ...
... 3, ST → CFM]. Secure usufruct rights, whether informal or formal, can inculcate a sense of ownership to the local communities, which encourages active participation in the management activities (Nagendra, 2009). In the absence of clearly defined rights and responsibilities, local communities cannot establish regulations for sustainable extraction, execute patrols, or fine offenders, which can result in unchecked extraction (Balooni et al., 2017;Niraula and Pokharel, 2016b;Qasim et al., 2013a). ...
Article
Mountains are critical ecosystems that have a strong influence far beyond their topographic boundaries. More than 50 million people inhabit the Himalayas, and more than one billion people depend on the ecosystem services they provide. Anthropogenic activities have driven concurrent deforestation and regeneration in the Himalayas, and interventions to reduce forest loss and promote forest recovery require a synthetic understanding of the complex and interacting drivers of forest change. We conducted a systematic review of case studies from 1984 to 2020 (n = 137) and combined a system dynamics approach with a causal network analysis to identify, map and articulate the relationships between the drivers, actors and mechanisms of forest change across the entirety of the Himalayan mountain range. In total, the analysis revealed five proximate drivers, 12 underlying drivers, two institutional factors and five 'other' factors connected by a total of 221 linkages. Forest change dynamics have been dominated by widespread smallholder agriculture, extensive non-timber forest product extraction, widespread commercial and non-commercial timber extraction, and high rates of agricultural abandonment. Underlying drivers include population growth, poor agricultural productivity, international support for development projects, and successful community forest management systems. Contradictory linkages emerge from a combination of contextual factors, which can have negative impacts on conservation goals. Global processes such as shifts in governance, transnational infrastructure-development programs, economic slowdowns , labor migrations and climate change threaten to destabilize established dynamics and change forest trajectories. The underlying and proximate drivers interact through multiple pathways that can be utilized to achieve conservation goals. Based on this analysis, we highlight five thematic focus areas to curtail forest loss and promote recovery: (1) decreasing the population pressure, (2) sustainable increase of agricultural productivity, (3) strengthening of forest management institutions, (4) leveraging tourism growth and sustainable infrastructure expansion, and (5) fuel transition and establishing firewood plantations on degraded land. The broader adoption of systems thinking, and specifically, a system dynamics approach and causal network analysis, will greatly enhance the rigour of policy development, help design site-specific interventions at multiple spatial scales which can respond to local and global changes, and guide deeper inquiry to enhance our understanding of driver-forest dynamics.
... 3, ST → CFM]. Secure usufruct rights, whether informal or formal, can inculcate a sense of ownership to the local communities, which encourages active participation in the management activities (Nagendra, 2009). In the absence of clearly defined rights and responsibilities, local communities cannot establish regulations for sustainable extraction, execute patrols, or fine offenders, which can result in unchecked extraction (Balooni et al., 2017;Niraula and Pokharel, 2016b;Qasim et al., 2013a). ...
Conference Paper
Deforestation in the Himalayas has been a long-standing concern and has been well-documented in the literature; however, case studies of afforestation are far and few in between. Additionally, highly focused studies fail to identify the distant actors that influence local processes. A fundamental conceptual map of various social, political and ecological components is therefore necessary for interventions to minimize deforestation and foster sustainable development. We analysed 101 peer reviewed documents published between 1984 to 2018 which documented 137 case studies of forest change in the Himalayan region. We combined a system-dynamics approach and a causal-network analysis to determine the relationships between proximate causes and underlying drivers which influenced forest cover and quality in the Himalayas. Proximate causes included agricultural expansion, agricultural abandonment, timber extraction, non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction, infrastructure expansion and community and government management practices. We identified 21 underlying drivers of forest change including formal policies, development projects, international funding, industrial growth, agricultural intensification and output, poverty, population dynamics, alternate energy, and institutional factors. Through the causal-network analysis we identified priority areas for interventions, for example increasing supply of NTFPs from non-forest land, reforestation of abandoned agricultural land, and community involvement forest management. We succeeded in unpacking the different processes that drive forest change and integrated scattered linkages between various factors. We recommend this approach for a holistic understanding of complex ecological systems.
... Tropical forest cover continues to decline around the world, and deforestation rates remain high (FAO 2015). But at smaller scales, net increases in forest coverknown as 'forest transitions'also commonly occur across the tropics (Perz and Skole 2003;Nagendra 2009;Aide et al. 2013) (Fig. 1). Understanding why, where and how forest transitions take place is of great interest to scientists, policy makers, and environmental agencies alike. ...
Article
Full-text available
Andean forests decreased in area over the past decade, and communities throughout the Andes are experiencing environmental degradation and soil fertility loss. But amid deforestation, forests returned to some Andean regions, producing local ‘forest transitions’, or net increases in forest cover. The mechanisms that drive these local transitions – often in part the actions of residents – are still little studied, but hold key information for creating successful forest and landscape restoration interventions. This paper investigates cloud forest cover dynamics in Intag, a region in northwest Andean Ecuador where people were actively reforesting by planting trees. We used remote sensing analysis of LANDSAT imagery (from 1991, 2001, and 2010) and household surveys and oral histories with residents of four communities. Results from remote sensing show that prior to reforestation projects (before 2001), deforestation rates were high (> 3%/year). But from 2001 to 2010 forest recovery surpassed deforestation – a local forest transition (net 3% forest cover). But although deforestation rates slowed precipitously (< 2%) people continued to clear forests in the highlands even as forests regrew around communities. This change in clearing rates and spatial redistribution of forest cover reflects people’s reasons for planting trees – to restore water and other key ecosystem services perceive to be ‘scarce’. The results point to a new ‘path’ by which forest transitions occur – the ecosystem service scarcity path – in which local demand for forest ecosystem services drive forest recovery.
... Thus, the influence of policy intervention on landscape variation were not considered as a restriction factor. Similar studies of the influence of policy intervention on landscape variation were also found using a CA Markov model [79,80], which showed a positive impact of the National forest policy on the forest cover. If the quantified policy intervention added into the simulation model and succeed in reality, then post 2020 we expect more accurate landscape prediction and regional natural environment optimization. ...
Article
Full-text available
The spatial pattern of landscape has great influence on the biodiversity provided by ecosystem. Understanding the impact of landscape pattern dynamics on habitat quality is significant in regional biodiversity conservation, ensuring ecological security guarantee, and maintaining the ecological environmental sustainability. Here, combining CA-Markov and InVEST model, we investigated the evolution of landscape pattern and habitat quality, and presented an explanation for variability of biodiversity linked to landscape pattern in Hubei section of Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA). The spatial-temporal evolution characteristic of landscape pattern from 1990 to 2010 were analyzed by Markov chain. Then, the spatial pattern of habitat quality and its variation in three phases were computed by InVEST model. The driving force for landscape variation was explored by using Logistic regression analysis. Next, the CA-Markov model was used to simulate the future landscape pattern in 2020. Finally, future habitat quality maps were obtained by InVEST model predicted landscape maps. The results concluded that, the overall landscape pattern has changed slightly from 1990 to 2010. Woodland, waters and construction land had the greatest variations in proportion among the landscape types. The area of woodland has been decreasing gradually below the average elevation of 140 m, and the area of waters and construction land increased sharply. Logistics regression results indicated that terrain and climate were the most influencing natural factors compared with human factors. The Kappa coefficient reached 0.92, indicating that CA-Markov model had a good performance in future landscape prediction by adding nighttime light data as restriction factor. The biodiversity has been declining over the past 20 years due to the habitat degradation and landscape pattern variation. Overall, the maximum values of habitat degradation index were 0.1188, 0.1194 and 0.1195 respectively, showing a continuously increasing trend from 1990 to 2010. Main urban areas of Yichang city and its surrounding areas has higher habitat degradation index. The average values of habitat quality index of the whole region were 0.8563, 0.8529 and 0.8515 respectively, showing a continuously decreasing trend. The lower habitat quality index mainly located in the urban land as well as the main and tributary banks of the Yangtze River. Under the business as usual scenario, habitat quality continued to maintain the variation trend of the previous decade, showing a reducing habitat quality index and an increasing area of artificial surface. Under the ecological protection scenario, the variation of habitat quality in this scenario represented reverse trend to the previous decade, exhibiting an increase of habitat quality index and an increasing area of woodland and grassland. Construction of Three Gorges Dam, impoundment of Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), resettlement of Three Gorges Project and urbanization were the most explanatory driving forces for landscape variation and degradation of habitat quality. The research may be useful for understanding the impact of landscape pattern dynamics on biodiversity, and provide scientific basis for optimizing regional natural environment, as well as effective decision-making support to local government for landscape planning and biodiversity conservation.
... Our analysis underscores the critical need for forest policies to widely adopt a bottom-up approach by involving local communities and village councils to effectively implement afforestation programs, e.g., by creating minor forest resources outside of forest area that benefit the local community. There already exist best practices on forest management tested at community level in India Prasad and Kant 2003;Nagendra 2009;Bhattacharya et al. 2010;Dilip Kumar 2015). However, forest protection would benefit if these models are upscaled, ingrained as policy, and integrated with implementation system through capacity building and technology upgrades. ...
Article
Full-text available
We examine the dynamics and spatial determinants of land change in India by integrating decadal land cover maps (1985–1995–2005) from a wall-to-wall analysis of Landsat images with spatiotemporal socioeconomic database for ~630,000 villages in India. We reinforce our results through collective evidence from synthesis of 102 case studies that incorporate field knowledge of the causes of land change in India. We focus on cropland–fallow land conversions, and forest area changes (excludes non-forest tree categories including commercial plantations). We show that cropland to fallow conversions are prominently associated with lack of irrigation and capital, male agricultural labor shortage, and fragmentation of land holdings. We find gross forest loss is substantial and increased from ~23,810 km2 (1985–1995) to ~25,770 km2 (1995–2005). The gross forest gain also increased from ~6000 km2 (1985–1995) to ~7440 km2 (1995–2005). Overall, India experienced a net decline in forest by ~18,000 km2 (gross loss–gross gain) consistently during both decades. We show that the major source of forest loss was cropland expansion in areas of low cropland productivity (due to soil degradation and lack of irrigation), followed by industrial development and mining/quarrying activities, and excessive economic dependence of villages on forest resources.
... Research on the use of non-commercial tree species to reduce the pressure on commercial species (see Beck (2011) and enforcement of forest laws and regulations is needed. Additionally, strict monitoring on the amount of resource extraction and on the status of the regeneration/plantation should be carried out to improve the forest conditions (Nagendra 2007(Nagendra , 2009). This ensures that exploitation is avoided and the forest management activities are under control. ...
Article
Full-text available
We assessed the impact of anthropogenic activities such as selective felling and resource extraction on plant diversity and forest structure in the broad-leaved forests of Bhutan. The forest area was grouped into three zones according to human influence: settlement-agriculture, semi-disturbed, and natural forest. A total of 140 plant species were identified. Maximum species richness of trees (8 species/plot) was recorded in natural forests and least in the settlement-agriculture zone (3 species/plot). Shannon (1.73 ± 0.62) and Simpson diversity (5.49 ± 2.97) indices were highest for the natural forest zone as compared to the semi-disturbed (0.92 ± 0.74, 2.70 ± 2.05) and settlement-agriculture zones (0.74 ± 0.74, 2.24 ± 2.13). The density and basal area of trees decreased from 373 N ha−1 and 37.9 m2 ha−1 in the natural forest zone to 114 N ha−1 and 5.7 m2 ha−1 in the settlement-agriculture zone. The diameter distribution revealed a lack of commercial tree species in the higher dbh classes from the settlement-agriculture and semi-disturbed zones due to selective felling. Increasing accessibility and anthropogenic activities caused the reduction in biodiversity of the watershed. Selective felling and resource extraction created gaps which were colonized by non-timber species and this may change the forest structure. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Article
Full-text available
SUMMARY This paper reviews the evolution of forest policies and forestry institutions in Nepal and tracks the accompanying trends of change in the country's forest cover over the last century. Our objective is to provide an essential foundation to the policy reform process that is underway in Nepal and many other Asian countries. The review shows that before 1957 the Nepalese government's focus was on conversion of forestlands to farmlands, and extraction of timber for export. After the nationalisation of the forests in 1957 until 1976, policy-making efforts were oriented towards national control of forests through stringent laws and expansion of the forest bureaucracy. This approach failed as evidenced by widespread deforestation and forest degradation across the country during the 1960s through 1980s. Early efforts of the government and donor agencies to rectify the problem through reforestation and afforestation also largely failed, but these efforts paved the way for subsequent initiation of the participatory approach to forest management in the late 1970s. Since then, community-based forest management evolved continuously under the aegis of supportive forest policies and legislations. The present community forestry program has met with notable successes in some areas. However, the program has been confronted with some contentious issues in recent years including a policy debate over the suitability of forests in the southern lowlands (the terai) for community management and sharing of income obtained from community forests. These and some other issues surrounding the community forestry program are discussed and their implications for designing or improving future forest governance have been identified.
Article
Full-text available
There is a current trend towards decentralization of forest management, particularly among developing nations. Nepal has taken a lead in initiating innovative policies of community forestry. Although these initia-tives have been largely deemed successful in the mountains, within the Terai lowlands, there is considerable debate about their outcomes. This research evaluates forest condition within recently declared community forests, national forests and protected areas in the Nepal Terai, using plot mensu-ration techniques and interviews with local users. The initial condition of forests that were handed over to local communities for use was significantly poorer than those retained as national forests. Protected areas had the highest levels of plant abundance, biomass and biodiversity, which is not surprising, given the level of funds and manpower input to managing these limited areas. In the context of current controversy about the outcome of community forestry in the Nepal Terai, the poor initial condition of forests handed over to local communities is highly significant, and needs to be factored into evaluations of community forest management. This research underscores the need for benchmark studies for evaluating the future outcomes of forest policies in the Terai, provides a valuable addition to the limited information on forest conditions under different management regimes in Nepal, and indicates some of the difficulties that local communities face while dealing with community forestry in practice.
Article
Full-text available
Key Words national parks, conservation and development, deforestation, tropics ■ Abstract The world's system of protected areas has grown exponentially over the past 25 years, particularly in developing countries where biodiversity is greatest. Con-currently, the mission of protected areas has expanded from biodiversity conservation to improving human welfare. The result is a shift in favor of protected areas allowing local resource use. Given the multiple purposes of many protected areas, measuring effectiveness is difficult. Our review of 49 tropical protected areas shows that parks are generally effective at curtailing deforestation within their boundaries. But defor-estation in surrounding areas is isolating protected areas. Many initiatives now aim to link protected areas to local socioeconomic development. Some of these initiatives have been successful, but in general expectations need to be tempered regarding the capacity of protected areas to alleviate poverty. Greater attention must also be paid to the broader policy context of biodiversity loss, poverty, and unsustainable land use in developing countries.
Article
Full-text available
The relationship between national trends in forest area and population is reviewed at the global scale. Evidence of an inverse relationship is confirmed. The relationship, however, may have weakened in recent decades, and it has clearly undergone a reversal in some countries during the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. The theme of a changing relationship through time is thus developed, as is that of an asymmetrical relationship in the sense that the forest area is likely to stabilize before population. On the basis of modelling from the current demographic relationship, the global forest area should stabilize before the middle of the twenty-first century.
Article
Full-text available
Tropical ecosystems support a diversity of species and ecological processes that are unparalleled anywhere else on Earth. Despite their tremendous social and scientific importance, tropical ecosystems are rapidly disappearing. To help tropical ecosystems and the human communities dependent upon them better face the challenges of the 21st century, tropical biologists must provide critical knowledge in three areas: (1) the structure and functioning of tropical ecosystems; (2) the nature and magnitude of anthropogenic effects on tropical ecosystems; and (3) the socio‐economic drivers of these anthropogenic effects. To develop effective strategies for conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of tropical ecosystems, scientific perspectives must be integrated with social necessities. Three principles for guiding tropical biological research are suggested: (1) broadening the set of concerns; (2) integration of biological knowledge with the social sciences and traditional knowledge; and (3) linking science to policy and action. Four broad recommendations are proposed for immediate action in tropical biology and conservation that are fundamental to all biological and social disciplines in the tropics: (1) assemble and disseminate information on life's diversity in the tropics; (2) enhance tropical field stations and build a worldwide network to link them with tropical field biologists at their field sites; (3) bring the field of tropical biology to the tropics by strengthening institutions in tropical countries through novel partnerships between tropical and temperate zone institutions and scientists; and (4) create concrete mechanisms to increase interactions between tropical biologists, social scientists, and policy makers. RESUMEN Los ecosistemas tropicales mantienen una diversidad de especies y procesos ecológicos como ningún otro en la tierra. A pesar de su gran importancia a nivel social y cientifico, los ecosistemas tropicales están desapareciendo rápidamente. Para ayudar a estos y a las comunidades humanas que dependen de ellos a encarar mejor los desafios del siglo 21, los biólogos tropicales deben proveer informacion critica en tres áreas: (1) la estructura y funcionamiento de los ecosistemas tropicales; (2) la naturaleza y magnitud de los efectos antropogénicos sobre los ecosistemas tropicales; y (3) las fuerzas socio‐económicas de esos efectos antropogénicos. Para desarrollar estrategias efectivas para la conservación, restauración y manejo sostenible de los ecosistemas tropicales, las perspectivas cientificas deben ser integradas a las necesidades sociales. Tres principios para orientar la investigación en biologia tropical son sugeridos: (1) ampliación del grupo de interés; (2) integración del conocimiento boilógico con las ciencias sociales y el conocimiento traditional; y (3) enlazar la ciencia con las politicas y la acción. Para una acción inmediata en biologia tropical y la conservación, se proponen cuatro recomendaciones amplias que son fundamentales a todas la disciplinas boilógicas y sociales en los trópicos: (1) recopilar y diseminar información sobre diversidad boilógica en los trópicos; (2) mejorar las facilidades para la investigación en los trópicos (estaciones biológicas) y construir una red mundial que las una con los biólogos tropicales; (3) apoyar el campo de la biologia tropical fortaleciendo las instituciones de 10s paises tropicales a travts de la colaboraci6n con instituciones y cienrificos de zonas ternpladas; y (4) crear rnecanismos concretos para incrementar la interacci6n entre bi6logos rropicales, cientificos sociales y tomadores de decisiones. RESUMO Os ecossistemas tropicais abrigam uma diversidade de espécies e de processes ecológicos sem paralelo em qualquer outro lugar da Terra. Apesar de sua tremenda importa̧ncia social e cientifica, os ecossistemas tropicais esta̧o desaparecendo rapidamente. Para ajudar os ecossistemas tropicais e as populaço̧es humanas que dependem deles a melhor enfrentar os desafios do século 21, os biólogos tropicais precisam gerar conhecimentos cruciais em trȩs áreas: (1) a estrutura e o funcionamento dos ecossistemas tropicais; (2) a natureza e a magnitude dos efeitos antrópicos sobre os ecossistemas tropicais; e (3) as diretrizes sócio‐econo̧micas destes efeitos antrópicos. Para se desenvolver estratégias efetivas para a conservação, restauracao e manejo sustentável dos ecossistemas tropicais, as perspectivas cientificas tem que ser integradas às necessidades sociais. Trȩs principios norteadores da pesquisa em biologia tropical são indicados: (1) ampliar o conjunto de interesses; (2) integrar o conhecimento boilógico com o conhecimento tradicional e as ciȩncias sociais; e (3) unir ciȩncia com politica e tomada de decisão. Quatro amplas recomendaço̧es são propostas para açã imediata na biologia tropical e conservação e que são fundamentals para todas as disciplinas boilógicas e sociais nos trópicos: (1) organizar e disseminar informação sobre a diversidade boilógica nos trópicos; (2) consolidar as estaço̧es de pesquisa de campo nos trópicos e construir uma rede mundial para ligar estaço̧es e os biólogos tropicais atuando nelas; (3) levar o campo da biologia tropical para os trópicos pelo fortalecimento das instituiço̧es nos paises tropicais e através de novas parecerias entre estes pafses e seus cientistas com os cientistas e as instituiço̧es de paises da região temperada; e (4) criar mecanismos concretos para aumentar as interaço̧es entre os biólogos tropicais, os cientistas sociais e os politicos tomadores de decisão.
Article
Many scholars call for the establishment of one kind of formal tenure—government ownership, privatization, or community control—as the way to solve problems associated with high levels of deforestation. This will not work without extensive and consistent monitoring of forest use. In this article, we draw on analyses of time-series remote images, on-the-ground social-ecological surveys of local stakeholders and their forests, and experimental laboratory studies to show that “protected” forests may not be protected in practice when tenure alone is deemed to be the “solution.” When users themselves consider the rules in place to be legitimate, they are frequently willing to engage themselves in monitoring and sanctioning of uses considered illegal, even when related to government-owned property. When users are genuinely engaged in decisions about rules affecting their use, the likelihood of users to follow the rules and monitor others is much greater than when an external authority simply imposes rules. Simple formulas focusing on formal ownership, particularly ones based solely on public ownership of forested lands, will not solve the problems of resource overuse.
Article
En los últimes tiempos, China, la India y Vietnam han experimentado un proceso de transitión forestal similar al proceso vivido en el pasado por muchos países europeos y estados norteamericanos, con una transitión entre la deforestatión neta y la reforestatión neta. Una teoría de transición forestal embriónica tiene como objetivo explicar este fenómeno. Tres casos recientes en Asia parecen indicar que resulta posible que en los países del Sur tendencias establecidas que se consideran normalmente como representativas de la degradatión ambientalse se detengan y se inviertan. Los parecidos y las diferencias entre los casos en cuestión confirman la necesidad de perfeccionar la teoría existente de transición forestal, como por ejemplo en el reconocimiento del papel importante que desempeñan los gobiernos.