Citation
Bista, Rajesh; Graybill, Sophia; Zhang, Qi; Bilsborrow, Richard E.; & Song, Conghe (2023). Influence of Rural Out-Migration on Household Participation in Community Forest Management? Evidence from the Middle Hills of Nepal. Sustainability, 15(3), 2185.Abstract
Rural out-migration was a rare socio-economic phenomenon when community forestry began in the 1980s in Nepal. Now, out-migration significantly influences nearly every aspect of rural livelihoods in the country. However, it is unclear how out-migration affects community forestry governance, which is essential for sustainable rural development. Therefore, this paper addresses the following research question: Does rural out-migration affect forest users’ participation in community forestry decision-making and management practices? This paper draws on data collected from an extensive survey of 415 households from 15 community forest user groups in 2 Mid-Hill districts of Nepal. The research used ordered-logit regression to model the impacts of out-migration on participation in forest management and decision-making, while controlling for a number of other socio-economic factors. The model results show that total household size and number of internal migrants, together with multiple resource characteristics and institutional attributes, were major factors affecting participation in decision-making and forest management. However, the number of international migrants did not have a significant role in determining the levels of the participation. This study provides valuable insights for future community forestry policymaking that aims to address the effects of out-migration on community forest management in Nepal.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su15032185Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2023Journal Title
SustainabilityAuthor(s)
Bista, RajeshGraybill, Sophia
Zhang, Qi
Bilsborrow, Richard E.
Song, Conghe