Can bureaucratic control improve community forestry governance?: an analysis of proposed Forest Act amendment

The Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) has recently passed a proposal and drafted an amendment bill to revise the Forest Act 1993. This Act provided the legal foundation for community forestry programme in Nepal during the past two decades. However, the MoFSC has justified its recent move for legal change by citing anecdotal cases of irregularities and illegal felling in some parts of Terai and Churia region. But the Federation of Community Forest Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) and other civil society organizations have strongly opposed this move.  As a result, positions on the move have polarized, and sparked off resistance and opposition at local to national levels. In this
context, this paper examines the proposal in terms of the process and contents, and assesses how it impacts the community forestry programme and whether the proposed change would bring about expected outcomes.