Forest and trees: changing perspectives on a natural resource in the Nepal Himalaya

Abstract

In Nepal, state interventions, development projects and scientific investigations from different disciplines have always had a strong focus on forests. The article attempts to give a chronologically ordered overview of the changing perceptions of, and approaches to, forests and to identify the different important actors. The first section provides a historical account of state perceptions and interventions in Nepal under the Shah and Rana rules. The second, deals with the post-Rana period to the present and focuses mainly on the changing perception of forests in the field of science, given that state policy has become increasingly influenced by the international mainstream through development agencies, donors and research. Two opposing research approaches - the 'Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation' and its critical response, the 'Himalayan Dilemma' - are reviewed. Finally, new trends in forest-related perception and policy are examined. The overview of past and current forest-related perceptions and policies shows that forests are perceived and described from many different and contested points of view, which reflect the particular experience, culture, values, political and economic interests, scientific approach and abilities of the observer