Phase II July 2007 to June 2012
Partner
Social
Forestry Division, Department of Forests and Park
Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests
Budget
CHF
3.23 millions, funded by the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Contact
BB
Chhetri, chhetribb ( ) yahoo.com;
Kaspar Schmidt, kaspar.schmidt ( ) helvetas.org.bt
Geographic Coverage The project covers all 20 districts of Bhutan.
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the improvement of rural livelihoods by empowering local communities to manage forests resources allocated to them as community forests on a sustainable basis.
Objectives:
Existence of an enabling environment for the establishment of community forests throughout the country;
Capacities built at all levels for effective implementation of the community forestry programme and to ensure sustainability;
The community forestry programme contributes to poverty reduction.
Main Achievements and challenges
Today,
community forestry is a key component of Bhutan’s forest policy and an
important movement in the country. Community forestry was first explored
in the late 1990s, but faced considerable initial resistance. Following
the adoption of a more decentralised and people-centred approach to
forestry, the number of community forests
and community forest management groups (CFMGs) has increased rapidly
since 2007.
Since the start of the project in 2002, the PFMP has contributed substantially to the development of technical capacities for community forestry. Now, the project’s support shifts gradually to addressing new challenges such as improving governance of CFMGs, linking community forestry with local governance, and generation of pro-poor income from marketing forest products and services.
Outlook
The project continues to support the establishment of new community forests. It is also engaged in efforts to make the regulatory framework for community forests even more enabling and to mainstream community forestry. Furthermore, the PFMP contributes to the further development of capacities of members of CFMGs, foresters and other stakeholders to implement community forestry.
The community forestry programme has made significant progress to date. But it will take several years before the gains can be consolidated. Most of the CFMGs have just started the process of evolving into mature and strong local institutions that are empowered and able to manage their forests for both biophysical and socio-economic outcomes.