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The 2nd batch study tour group on Community Forests returns from Nepal

A 25-member group returned from Community Forests study tour at Nepal comprising of team leader from Social Forestry Division, Gewog Forestry Extension Officers (GFEOs), Community Forestry Management Groups (CFMGs) from Dzongkhags and representatives from the territorial divisions.
The study visit was aimed to expose the participants to participatory extension in community forestry focusing on; community forest management and CF based enterprise development, NWFP processing and marketing and pro-poor income generation and sharing of costs and benefits in CFMGs.
 
Upon return, the team in their debriefings to the sponsors and the organizers expressed their astonishment over new ideas and insights gained from the study tour. They presented that they were fascinated by concepts of leasehold forestry concepts, FECOFUN(Federation of Community Forest User’s Nepal), 3 P model (Public-Private Partnership), bamboo and briquette enterprises, to mention few, which can be replicated in our Country.

Lobneykha Community Forest in Chukha, besides many other experiences gained from the tour, will inculcate surrogating of permanent iron flag post in their quest to minimize dependence on timber poles. “We will include it in the Management plan since it is due for revision very soon upon maturation of 10-year Community Forests Management Plan,” assured Gaytse, the Chairman and the participant of the current group.

Another participant, Dorji Gyeltshen, Chairman of Jari Phuensum CF at Paro found the rain water harvesting technique too enticing. “I’ve made my mind to adopt the idea to solve the water problem in my village,” he raised during the debriefing. The team members also expressed their confidence that venturing into bamboo and briquette making are very much within capacity of CFMGs since it doesn’t involve any complex procedures. Moreover, it can help maximize income generation and use the resources judiciously.

"Thining and cleaning are regular activities inside the CF and the residues will serve as prime raw materials for such enterprise"

According to Lobzang, GFEO at Wangdue, the thining and cleaning are regular activities inside the CF and the residues will serve as prime raw materials for such enterprise. However, he cautioned that a proper market study is a must pre-requisite.

Dr. Kasper Schmidt, Advisor with the Participatory Forest Management Project (PFMP), elucidated that after studying the proposals, the feasibility of rendering technical and financial support will be looked into and in order to ensure that such study tour materialize into applying of ideas and exposures gained, Social Forestry Division will carry out need-based monitoring. He also expressed that he was happy to see 5 women representative.

"With the current group, atleast one representative from all Dzongkhags have been  to Nepal "

The 10-day study tour conducted from 21 August till 31 August 2011 was sponsored by Participatory Forest Management (PFMP)and organized by Social Forestry division (SFD) under Department of Forests and Park Services.

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