Agroforestry

Agroforestry is the practice of raising tree and agricultural crops in a given space and time.It is an old age practice. The agroforestry system practised by Nepalese farmers vary according to location and altitude.The objective of developing agroforestry in Nepal is to meet the present and future requirements of fuelwood, fodder, small timber and to reduce environmental degradation. The agroforestry system of Nepal can be classified into :

• Farm based agroforestry system - It includes models like commercial crops under tree (eg. tea , coffee), tree in and around agriculture (fields, homegarden, etc.)
• Forestry based agroforestry system - This system is practiced only in terai region of Nepal. The aim of this system is to encourage farmers to inter crop agricultural crops in between rows of trees.

Community Forest Process : Strength, Weakness,Oppotunities,Constraints

The strength and opportunities of community forest process in Nepal may be :

• Local people can be the most effective managers of forest, if they are provided with rights, arrangements and conditions.
• Support relationship must be needs focused and demand-led.
• Community forest has a generally beneficial impact on household livelihood.

Similarly, the weakness and constraint of community forest process in Nepal may be :

• Conflict, particularly regarding forest boundaries, is a chronic problem.
• Over-extraction of forest products is another major problem.
• Less utilization is being another problem due to lack of awareness, external support, market linkage,etc.

Community Forestry

Community forest can be defined as forest protected, managed, utilized by local forest user group. The user group can be defined as a legally recognized group of people consisting of all members of a community that frequently use a particular forest area for various kinds of products or who has been using and managing an forest area traditionally. The forest user group is responsible for the management and utilization of forest products.

The concept of community forestry is introduced in forest conservation and development because it considers people as an integral part of forest ecosystem. It considers the relationship between people and natural environment. Rural communities depend on forest for supply of fodder, fuel wood, timber and other forest products that are essential for their use.

Forest Nurseries

Forest Nursery are classified into temporary and permanent depending upon the objectives and species to be raised. Temporary nursery is designed to provide the seedlings needed to plant in a particular area and when the area is completely planted , the nursery will be moved elsewhere. The advantage of temporary nursery is in reduction of transport distance between the nursery and plantation as this nursery is within the planting area or close to it. Thus, it reduce cost and the risk of damage to seedling in transport.But, in case of permanent nursery, the plant is not moved elsewhere because it is planted in the required area.

Regeneration of forest

Forest can be regenerated both by natural and artificial means.They are:

Artificial regeneration : It consists of  afforestation means and reforestation. Under afforestation, a forest is established by artificial means over an area from which forest vegetation has always or long been absent. Likewise, under reforestation, artificial restocking of forest area from where a tree crop has been recently removed is performed.

Natural regeneration : It includes minimization of exposure of soil, economy of labour, permitting the great extension of regeneration area in good seeding year, genetic improvement through the survival of only rigorous seeding out of large numbers, reduced risk of damage from natural causes including pests and diseases, maintenance of natural mixed type,etc.For natural regeneration, there should also be adequate supply of seed, light condition, required density,etc.

Forest Valuation

Forest produce variety of products.Thus, forest have value to people and contribute to meeting human needs.
The contributions might be :

• direct use of forest,
• indirect use of forest,
• the existence of forest or of options for it's  direct or indirect use in future.

The direct use of forest vary from individual and from groups to group. Likewise, the indirect use can be changed over time as individual situation and perception.The direct use value can be consumptive use ( eg. fuel, timber, medicine, fruits,etc) and non-consumptive use ( eg. trekking, photography,etc).The indirect use  value can be related with soil protection, watershed protection,carbon storage, habitat and protection of biodiversity,etc.

Forest Management

Forest Management is the act of defining the forest boundary, protection and re-plantation. The objectives of forest management might be to maximize it's usefulness, to extract and utilize over-mature trees, fallen and dead trees,to fulfill the need of forest products, to help in reduction of poverty by creating employment, to maintain and enhance biodiversity, to increase social and national income, etc.
Forest Management may include :

• plantation of grasses and saplings,
• grazing in controlled manner in such a way that the growth of grass is not affected,
• nursery of desirable species,
• no illegal cutting,
• no forest fires,
• legal action taken as per rules and regulations against offenders who harm the forest,etc.

 Forest Management plan should be simple and could be developed on a 5-10 year management rotation based on selective filling and natural regeneration.

Use of forest products in people

People have different basic needs. To fulfill certain basic needs, people depend upon forest products. Forest products such as fuel wood, timber, grass, log, etc are used by people. These products are necessary to perform household activities.Fuel wood is required for cooking puropose, timber for house construction purpose, grass and fodder for feeding animals, etc.

The dependency level of people on forest products vary according to their living standard and responsibilities.Poorer household may depend on the forest for fooder whereas richer household tend to have private sources. Similarly, women may be concerned with fuel wood, fodder, leaf litter collection, while men may be concerned with agricultural implement and construction of houses with the help of those products.

Forest types

Forest of Nepal can be divided into two kinds:

• National forest
• Private forest

National forest : National forest means all forest in Nepal except Private forest. It is classified into:

1. Government managed forest - It is managed by government of Nepal.
2. Protected forest - If government deem necessary that any portion of the national forest is of special significance, it may declare such forest as protected forest.
3. Community forest - It is managed by community themselves through forest user group.
4. Leasehold forest - Government may grant any part of national forest as leasehold forest to produce raw material for forest based industries, to plant trees to increase the forest products for sale or for distribution or for use, to operate tourism industry, to run agroforestry, to operate farm of insects, butterflies,etc. But, these purpose should be compatible with the conservation and development of forest.
5. Religious forest - National forest handed over to certain religious institution, group or community is religious forest.

Private forest : Private forest is planted or protected forest in any private land, owned by an individual under current law.All the rights and obligations of such forest belongs to the owner. The management, protection,development, and utilization of such forest products is performed by the owner as per prevailing rules and regulations.

Current status of forest in Nepal

Due to applicability of community forestry policy since few decade, people in Nepal have learnt about the importance of forest and the techniques of caring it. The concept of community forest plays an important role in such a way that, it brings together the field level staff, local agencies, donor, etc.Now, people have the concept of coordination and integration to 'own and manage' forest and it's products. Also the concept of community forest is being able to create awareness in people about the forest and it's product and it's proper management.Community forestry has a beneficial impact on household livelihood as well as community development activities. The benefits may be:

• Improvement in community infrastructure such as schools,roads,etc.
• Improved flows of forest products on sustainable basis.
• Development of livelihood opportunities,etc.