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REDD+ comes with money, not with development: an analysis of post-pilot project scenarios from the community forestry of Nepal Himalaya

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) attracts poor nations to keep their forest standing only to sequester carbon through monetary incentives. However, in countries like Nepal where forest is an integral part of social practices, communities need to keep using forests for making a living. Based on household survey, field interview, personal observation, and broad review of forestry legislations, this paper scrutinizes villagers’ experiences of changes in forest management after implementation of a REDD+ pilot project in nine Community Forestry Users Groups (CFUGs) of Nepal. Since REDD+ was not initiated by local communities but tacitly implemented by international NGOs, most villagers lacked knowledge about it and the associated benefits from the pilot project, thus fewer villagers were found to be motivated to participate in the pilot project. Consequently, it delinked villagers from their forest by implicitly tightening uses rules, which resulted in constraints to fetch forest products. In addition, REDD+ benefits were distributed to some poor households but not to all, which resulted to an antagonistic sentiment in the villages. Thus, a rigorous assessment of conditions and framework of REDD+ and an involvement of local community from the start without compromising in the uses of forest products is of the utmost importance before considering the REDD+ framework as an alternative or as similar to CFUG in Nepal. Alternatively, REDD+ can be a part or a development project under the CFUG’s framework, which could be socially as well as legally acceptable on the present situation.