The **Federation of Community Forest Users** is an organization in
[Nepal](Nepal "wikilink") that [protects and regenerates
forests](Environmentalism "wikilink") and aids impoverish communities in
a [democratic](Democracy "wikilink") way resembling the principles of
[libertarian socialism](Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink"). It was
founded in
[1988](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Southern_Asia "wikilink")
and has 8,500,000 members.\[1\]

## Organization

The Federation is a network of independent community groups with powers
to buy or sell property, to negotiate and sell timber, to hold separate
bank accounts and transact independently, to punish offenders, etc. The
groups receive 100 percent of the proceeds of a timber sale, and are
required to spend it on village development and forest regeneration
(although amendments may reduce the percentage).

## History

### Background

The massive amounts of deforestation in Nepal, corruption and
inefficiency in the government forest agency and pressure from
environmentalists pushed the governments of Nepal to decentralize the
management of forests in the late 1980s.\[2\]

### Founding

The Federation was founded with government support in 1988.

### Successes

By 2000, the government of Nepal had given control of 17% of the total
forestland in the country to the Federation. A villager from Siranmati
commented:

> “The surrounding hills you see were totally naked some twenty years
> ago. Then the Swiss agency planted these pine trees. But nobody was
> interested in its protection, because it was not ours. Now every
> household is involved in the protection.”\[3\]

## Contact

  - [The Federation of Community Forest
    Users](https://fecofun.org.np/index.php) website

## See Also

  - [Joint Forestry
    Management](Joint_Forestry_Management_\(India\) "wikilink")

## References

<references />

1.  <https://fecofun.org.np/index.php>
2.  [Trupti Parkeh Mehta](Trupti_Parkeh_Mehta "wikilink") (2002) -
    [Community Forestry in India and
    Nepal](https://www.perc.org/2002/06/01/community-forestry-in-india-and-nepal/)
3.