OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS TO COMMUNITY FORESTS FOR LOCAL INCOME GENERATION AND LIVELIHOOD: A CASE STUDY OF FOUR COMMUNITY FORESTS IN BUMTHANG DISTRICT, BHUTAN
type: CreativeWork
description: Bhutan has had an active community forestry program since 2000. A key feature of the nationally organized program is the devolution of forest management and use to local residents who participate in a “Community Forestry Management Groups” (CFMG) for managing nearby community forests (CF) according to rules developed by the Department of Forests. These groups are responsible for developing and implementing community forest management plans that entitle them to use locally valuable forest products (fuel wood, construction timber, mushrooms, bamboo etc). Most recently CFMGs have been given the right to sell forest products from their CFs that are not needed locally with the goal that community forestry can contribute to rural poverty alleviation in Bhutan, in addition to sustainable forestry. While studies have been conducted on the relative achievements of community forests at the community level, few report on the dynamics of the program on individual household livelihoods, especially in the context of other food and income generating activities. The objective of this study is to examine the actual contribution of community forests to rural livelihoods in Bhutan including the relatively new goal of income generation to alleviate rural poverty. Four community forests were selected as case studies, all in Bumthang district or dzongkhag. Two community forests were selected in two different blocks including one long established and one recently established, and one with relatively good and another with relatively degraded forest conditions. These include Shambayung CF established in August 2003 and Lhapang CF established in April 2010 in Tang block and, Ziptangzur CF established in December 2003 and Dechen Kinga Choeling CF established in July 2010 in Ura block. To understand the contribution of community forests to individual household livelihoods, face to face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire were conducted by the author with CFMG member households in …
abstract: Bhutan has had an active community forestry program since 2000. A key feature of the nationally organized program is the devolution of forest management and use to local residents who participate in a “Community Forestry Management Groups” (CFMG) for managing nearby community forests (CF) according to rules developed by the Department of Forests. These groups are responsible for developing and implementing community forest management plans that entitle them to use locally valuable forest products (fuel wood, construction timber, mushrooms, bamboo etc). Most recently CFMGs have been given the right to sell forest products from their CFs that are not needed locally with the goal that community forestry can contribute to rural poverty alleviation in Bhutan, in addition to sustainable forestry. While studies have been conducted on the relative achievements of community forests at the community level, few report on the dynamics of the program on individual household livelihoods, especially in the context of other food and income generating activities. The objective of this study is to examine the actual contribution of community forests to rural livelihoods in Bhutan including the relatively new goal of income generation to alleviate rural poverty. Four community forests were selected as case studies, all in Bumthang district or dzongkhag. Two community forests were selected in two different blocks including one long established and one recently established, and one with relatively good and another with relatively degraded forest conditions. These include Shambayung CF established in August 2003 and Lhapang CF established in April 2010 in Tang block and, Ziptangzur CF established in December 2003 and Dechen Kinga Choeling CF established in July 2010 in Ura block. To understand the contribution of community forests to individual household livelihoods, face to face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire were conducted by the author with CFMG member households in …
author: DORJI, WANGCHUK
keywords: Bhutan, community forestry, rural livelihoods
date published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:11:36Z
provider: University of Montana
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Montana