Meeting the needs of Nepal's poor: Creating local criteria and indicators of community forestry

Abstract

Community forestry holds great potential to improve the situation of poor people through provision of basic forest products. However, Nepal's traditional caste and wealth structures can lead to forest management that does not meet the needs of poor people. Locally created criteria and indicators of success offer an opportunity to incorporate values of status equality into community visions for the future. In this study, we identify similarities and differences between the goals of rich and poor users to determine the aspects of community forestry that require special attention during creation of criteria and indicators.