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The dependency of Nepalese people for fuelwood, fodder and other forest resources led to deforestation of forest under the management of the Government of Nepal in the 1960s and 1970s. Community forests (CF) were established as a means to restore forest resources and proper management of forest use by the local people under their own management. The agrarian rural communities of Nepal across the different regions use forest products for household, energy and fodder purposes. Labor allocation for forest resource collection, household dependency on forest resources and the role of women regarding management and decision making in CF activities are analyzed in this dissertation. The findings of this study will help inform policy at regional levels regarding afforestation, improving livelihoods and well-being, and changing attitudes toward the role of women in rural Nepal. The market prices of fuelwood and fodder collected from CFs in Nepal are used to impute revenue from their collection and the labor productivity by rural households using CFs. Regression analysis suggests that locational and seasonal variation in labor productivity and revenue generation characterized the surveyed households. Relative income earned by rural households from the collection of forest resources in terms of total household income is defined as a component of dependency and regressed on household demographic variables. The rural communities in the Terai region of Nepal are more dependent on CF for fuelwood and firewood collection compared to households in the Hilly region of Nepal. Livestock owned by respondents was positively associated with forest dependency while land holdings, distance (travel time) to the nearest CF, and private tree ownership (e.g., plantation) were negatively related with household dependency on CF. Ordered logit regression analysis of Likert scale responses regarding role of women in CF management and decision-making activities were also analyzed. Regional and caste differences were observed in terms of the attitudes/perceptions of surveyed household members. Extension activities and other policies focusing on the importance of women in resource management can benefit from the present study.

Intensive grazing of forage crops by dairy cows is common practice during the winter months in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Such intensive grazing on wet soil increases the risk of denitrification and the production of the powerful greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N₂O). However, at the beginning of this research project, no information was available on denitrification and N₂O emission from forage crops grown in free-draining stony soils, which are widespread in Canterbury. The objectives of this thesis were, therefore, to quantify N₂O emissions from winter grazed forage soil, develop methods to mitigate those emissions, and to improve knowledge and understanding of the effects of severe animal trampling on the physical properties of, and denitrifying microbial population in, the soil below forage crops grazed by dairy cows during winter. Three field-based experiments were carried out in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and were complimented by a laboratory-based experiment in 2012. The field experiments used lysimeters and soil blocks collected from a stony Balmoral soil used for forage kale. The nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide (DCD), and a carbon-rich biochar were also used as soil amendments to mitigate N₂O emissions. Total N₂O emissions from trampled soil ranged from 1.3% to 1.9% of urine-N applied to the soil. When applied at 20 kg ha⁻¹, DCD reduced total N₂O emissions from trampled soil with urine by 44-68%, but DCD did not significantly affect N₂O emissions from non-trampled soil. Biochar, with or without DCD, had no significant effect on N₂O emissions when incorporated into the soil at 5 t ha⁻¹ (1% of soil dry weight). Trampling increased the bulk density of the fine earth fraction of the stony soil from 0.89 g cm³ to 1.11 g cm³ (P

Participatory democracy has been an official part of Community Forestry (CF) since 1989 when the main policy document, the Master Plan for the Forestry Sector (MPFS), was introduced in Nepal. However, many problems related to benefit distribution from CF have emerged because of the way decision-making is influenced by the social and institutional structures present at the community level, particularly in terms of dominance by wealthy and caste elite and the inability of poor and disadvantaged households to participate fully in decisions. The purpose of the study is to investigate the potential for poor and disadvantaged households to have positions on the Executive Committee (EC) of the Community Forestry User Group (CFUG), and whether representation of the poor and disadvantaged on the EC has any influence on the distribution of CF products or the formulation of distribution rules. The study used a conceptual approach using elite theory with models that looked at EC decisions based on whether there was a single caste in the CFUG or multiple castes, and whether only rich households were on the EC or whether a mix of rich and poor households were on the EC. Rich and/or high caste individuals, typically identified with EC membership, would interact on the EC either as a consensually integrated elite where there was one caste, or a plural elite where there was a mix of castes. A mix of rich and poor households on the EC was characterised as an organisational elite model, in which the EC organisation provided power and influence to members of the EC, including the poor, thus providing a balance to the dominance by the traditional elite. The study uses CFUG-level data from 31 CFUGs in the Baglung district and household data from 310 households. The results of the study show that while the usual factors associated with wealth and caste are important for selection to EC leadership positions, NGO membership was also an important factor EC leadership positions. The importance of NGO membership is that it means that NGOs and civil organisations are able to strengthen the leadership capabilities of poorer and disadvantaged people or encourage/empower someone to be an EC member through training, workshops and study tours. This finding also supports the concept of the organisational elite model. The study also examined the effect of representation of the poor and disadvantaged on the EC by studying the factors that determined the relative distribution of forest products and the rules of distribution. In both cases, the higher the representation of the poor and disadvantage on the EC, the greater the benefits to the poor, both in terms of greater quantities distributed and longer distribution or collection periods. The policy implication of the study is that there is a way to overcome the traditional domination of the EC by the local elite through greater activity of NGOs, CBOs and civil society organisations. These organisations help the poor and underprivileged households to build up capacity to undertake leadership roles and through the organisational elite model become part of the elite decision-making.