Abstract

Community forestry is expanding in developing countries but there is limited knowledge of, and contradictory findings about, its contribution to biodiversity conservation. This study aims at increasing the understanding of tree species diversity in community forests compared to National Parks. A forest inventory was carried out in four community forests and one National Park in the mid-hills of central Nepal. The study found that community forestry has contributed to high tree species diversity where forest management communities have interests in multiple species, but most community forests are moving toward promoting limited timber yielding species that have high economic value. Linking community forestry with economic incentives for conserving multiple tree species could therefore be a strategy to conserve biodiversity outside of protected areas.

Keywords

conservation; species richness; community; forest management

Published in

Journal of Sustainable Forestry
2014, Volume: 33, number: 8, pages: 796-813
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC

SLU Authors

• Gerhardt, Karin

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Swedish Biodiversity Centre


Sustainable Development Goals

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss


UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2014.925811

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/77123