61 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
61 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
The **Federation of Community Forest Users** is an organization in
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[Nepal](Nepal "wikilink") that [protects and regenerates
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forests](Environmentalism "wikilink") and aids impoverish communities in
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a [democratic](Democracy "wikilink") way resembling the principles of
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[libertarian socialism](Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink"). It was
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founded in
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[1988](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Southern_Asia "wikilink")
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and has 8,500,000 members.\[1\]
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## Organization
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The Federation is a network of independent community groups with powers
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to buy or sell property, to negotiate and sell timber, to hold separate
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bank accounts and transact independently, to punish offenders, etc. The
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groups receive 100 percent of the proceeds of a timber sale, and are
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required to spend it on village development and forest regeneration
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(although amendments may reduce the percentage).
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## History
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### Background
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The massive amounts of deforestation in Nepal, corruption and
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inefficiency in the government forest agency and pressure from
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environmentalists pushed the governments of Nepal to decentralize the
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management of forests in the late 1980s.\[2\]
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### Founding
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The Federation was founded with government support in 1988.
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### Successes
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By 2000, the government of Nepal had given control of 17% of the total
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forestland in the country to the Federation. A villager from Siranmati
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commented:
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> “The surrounding hills you see were totally naked some twenty years
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> ago. Then the Swiss agency planted these pine trees. But nobody was
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> interested in its protection, because it was not ours. Now every
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> household is involved in the protection.”\[3\]
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## Contact
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- [The Federation of Community Forest
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Users](https://fecofun.org.np/index.php) website
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## See Also
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- [Joint Forestry
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Management](Joint_Forestry_Management_\(India\) "wikilink")
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## References
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<references />
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1. <https://fecofun.org.np/index.php>
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2. [Trupti Parkeh Mehta](Trupti_Parkeh_Mehta "wikilink") (2002) -
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[Community Forestry in India and
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Nepal](https://www.perc.org/2002/06/01/community-forestry-in-india-and-nepal/)
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3. |