Shifting Power, Sharing Power and Sanctions: Issues from User Group Forestry in Nepal
This paper presents a case study of Nepal's' user group forestry programme. The programme's objective is to bring abut 'phased handover of hill forests to the communities'. This paper argues that the power to manipulate forest resources does not lie with the state (but with local landlords or broader community groups), and that shifting power to the community involves reconciling the demands of different interest groups.