100th Community Forest handed over to Limbu people as part of centenary celebrations
9 October, 2008 – The social forestry division under the agriculture ministry handed over the 100th community forest on October 6 as part of the celebrations of 100 years of Monarchy in Bhutan.
The 100th community forest, Woongbab community forest, was handed over in Thimphu to the management group of Limbu gewog, Punakha.
Agriculture minister, Lyonpo Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, said that giving an opportunity for local communities to participate in decision making and management of resources was the only policy that promotes all four pillars of Gross National Happiness.
“The sense of belonging can protect the environment, revive the old culture of cooperation among villagers, promote good governance through participation, and help reduce poverty,” he said. “I can’t find any better platform to promote GNH than the community forest,” he said.
According to the minister, when the concept of community forest first started, it didn’t receive much support and nobody believed in it. “However now everyone believes in it and the establishment of community forest has picked up with support from Helvetas and the Swiss agency for development cooperation,” he said.
The chief forestry officer of the social forestry division, Chado Tshering, said that the community forest was a decentralisation and devolution of power in practice, through which local communities are empowered to take decisions concerning the use and management of community forest resources.
The 100 community forests established across the 20 districts involve more than 5,000 households in managing of more than 12,000 hectares of national forest.
Lyonpo Pema Gyamtsho said that the government would give top priority to forestry development in the 10th Plan. “We hope that we can provide one community forest in each village by the end of the Plan,” he said.
Social forestry division officials expect to establish at least 400-500 community forest management groups (CFMGs) across the country by the end of the 10th Plan.
Community forest was piloted in 1997, based on the provisions of the forest and nature conservation act 1995. However, implementation picked up only since 2002. Helvetas and the Swiss agency for development cooperation supported the establishment of community forest.
On Monday, Lyonpo Pema Gyamtsho handed over the community forest certificate, record-keeping books, marking and passing hammers to the management group from Limbu geog of Punakha.
Source: Kuenselonline
By Samten Yeshi