Poverty alleviation or aggravation? The impacts of community forestry policies in Nepal

Abstract

This research studies the effects on income and employment when externally imposed policies constrain use of common forest resources. Using a mixed-integer linear programming model, the study examines the impacts of cons ervation-oriented community forest policies in Nepal on three household income groups. The results show that current community forest policies, which direct forest use towards environment conservation and timber production, cause large reductions in employment and income of the poorest households and largely explain the recent increase in rural poverty.