Who shapes the environmental policy in the global south? Unpacking the reality of Nepal

Aryal, Kishor; Laudari, Hari Krishna; Neupane, Prem Raj; Maraseni, Tek

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2021.04.008

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…The official documents were available from the forestry ministry, agricultural ministry, and international organizations [24,25,27,[58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. Other information was collected from policy and implementation review reports or publications [6,11,13,15,17,19,38,56,[69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81]. Most of the recent documents were available online.…”

Section: Study Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some other political ecology literature stated that socio-politically powerful vested interest groups may have strategically blocked others in using some resources or practices [35,36,39,56,57]. Specifically, international hegemony theory postulates that vested interest countries tactically use non-military force, ideology, socially constructed values, or other non-coercive measures to meddle policy decisions and societies' behaviors of other countries to reap benefits from them [35,37,39,57].…”

Section: Literature Review: Foundation Of the Research Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, international hegemony theory postulates that vested interest countries tactically use non-military force, ideology, socially constructed values, or other non-coercive measures to meddle policy decisions and societies' behaviors of other countries to reap benefits from them [35,37,39,57]. The strategies make the vested interest actors succeed to obtain political legitimacy of reaping socially unfair benefits from other countries [56]. The strategic power subjugates subordinated groups or minorities in the psychosocial state to accept values or ideologies of the strategic groups despite suffering [35,39,57].…”

Section: Literature Review: Foundation Of the Research Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past policies also neglected the indigenous assets [67,100]. A growing number of studies indicate that the bad governance of Nepal provided vested interest international agencies opportunities to influence national policy which hampered national development including indigenous systems [38,56].…”

Section: Weaknesses In Long Term Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Policy and Development Agencies Led to the Degradation of Indigenous Resources, Institutions, and Social-Ecological Systems in Nepal: Some Insights and Opinions

Dhakal

Chand²,

Shrestha³

et al. 2022

Conservation

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Rapid growth of environmental problems, economic volatilities, and social changes have increased the scopes of adopting environmentally friendly and resilient production systems. Regenerative farming and forestry practices are such systems appropriate for mountain communities in Nepal. They had performed better with indigenous resources, institutions, and social-ecological systems. Unfortunately, the assets have been degraded to extinction, mainly commencing works of national and international development agencies. Consequently, regenerative practices are disappearing. Despite appeals and commitments, the degradations of the assets are not halted and reversed. This study used secondary sources of data and work experiences and explained the working faults of the external agencies involved in the agriculture, forest, and wildlife sectors. It elucidated that most regenerative practices had sustained well in forest and farm resource-integrated production systems and a modest degree of natural and human inputs and production environments. The production environments degraded when the government agencies provided foreign agencies opportunities to be involved actively in policy formulation and implementation of agriculture and forestry-related sectors. The foreign agencies meddled in the national policies and community practices and modified the production environments for their interests and benefits. They intervened in policies and local communities to practice a farming system based on extremely human-made and imported inputs and institutions and to manage forest-related resources in extremely intact natural systems. In the policy discourses and decisions, the farming inputs, practices, and institutions popularly practiced in developed countries are considered superior whereas the indigenous ones are considered inferior. Agricultural plans and policies have overvalued yield, profit, or other direct returns and undervalued environmental friendliness, indirect economic benefits, and social advantages to prioritize support of the government and other agencies. The introduced farming inputs and institutions displaced or hampered the indigenous ones. The foreign agencies also meddled in forest policies and practices of the country to address environmental and economic problems of developed countries which resulted in adverse impacts on the indigenous assets. They intervened in the resource management policies with financial and technical inputs to destroy some of the assets and make the forest-related resource management that results in better benefits (offsetting GHG emission, enhancing tranquility and serenity of recreational sites, and potentially expanding agricultural markets) to the people of developed countries. This study has explained how the officials and experts of both government and foreign agencies abused and misused some strategic tactics and overused, poorly used and disused, others in their work process to address their self-centered interests and problems. In essence, intentional destructive interventions of the policy and development agencies have resulted in degradation to the extinction of the indigenous assets in the communities.

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Section: Study Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Review: Foundation Of the Research Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Review: Foundation Of the Research Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Weaknesses In Long Term Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How Policy and Development Agencies Led to the Degradation of Indigenous Resources, Institutions, and Social-Ecological Systems in Nepal: Some Insights and Opinions

Dhakal

Chand²,

Shrestha³

et al. 2022

Conservation

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show abstract

“…Paudel et al [35] highlighted the advantage of marginalized communities in planning and implementation of adaptation actions. Aryal et al [36] found that environmental policy making in Nepal is government monolithic and expert-based. While these existing studies have focused on diverse aspects of climate change, there remains little research on policy coherence, which we attempt to consider in this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do National Policies Translate into Local Actions? Analyzing Coherence between Climate Change Adaptation Policies and Implications for Local Adaptation in Nepal

Darjee¹,

Sunam

Köhl³

et al. 2021

Sustainability

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National climate change policy and strategies set out a framework for planning and undertaking climate change adaptation as well as mitigation activities at the national and local levels. In this article, we examine the coherence and contradictions between national policies and plans, and its impacts on the implementation of adaptation measures at the local level. We undertook a content review of key climate change policy documents (n = 4) of Nepal. In addition, we conducted a field study in the Rajdevi Community Forest User Group (CFUG) located in the mid-hills of Nepal, which has developed and implemented a community level adaptation plan of action (CAPA). The field study involved household interviews, focus group discussions, and an in-depth analysis of CAPA implementation. The paper found that while policies are coherent for targeting highly affected areas and communities, they deviate from discerning an appropriate planning and implanting unit. The local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) considers the local government as an implementing unit, while the national adaptation program of action (NAPA) puts an emphasis on the local community groups. It suggests that the existing LAPA implementation breaches the provision of community-level institutions for the implementation conceived in the central framework. Despite little attention to promoting food security in climate change policy, through the CAPA, local communities have planned and implemented adaptation measures envisioned in the thematic areas identified in the climate change policy of Nepal: agriculture and food security; forests and biodiversity; water resources and energy; climate-induced disasters; public health; and urban settlements and infrastructure. Nevertheless, the CAPA is not institutionalized under government policies and the institutional framework as a local level implementing unit. So, the consensus for a local implementing unit in the policies has remained a key issue. We suggest identifying a suitable and acceptable unit for implementing climate change adaptation at the community level. Only if an appropriate implementing unit is identified can the policies be successful with a broader acceptance and desirable outcomes enshrined in the climate change policy.

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Achieving Water, Energy, and Food Security in Nepal Through Nexus Approach to Planning and Development

Upreti

Timsina²,

Maraseni

2022

Sustainable Development Goals Series

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Who shapes the environmental policy in the global south? Unpacking the reality of Nepal

Cited by 30 publications

References 79 publications

How Policy and Development Agencies Led to the Degradation of Indigenous Resources, Institutions, and Social-Ecological Systems in Nepal: Some Insights and Opinions

How Policy and Development Agencies Led to the Degradation of Indigenous Resources, Institutions, and Social-Ecological Systems in Nepal: Some Insights and Opinions

Do National Policies Translate into Local Actions? Analyzing Coherence between Climate Change Adaptation Policies and Implications for Local Adaptation in Nepal

Achieving Water, Energy, and Food Security in Nepal Through Nexus Approach to Planning and Development

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