How conservation goes to scale

Community Forestry in Nepal

Despite billions of dollars invested, “getting to scale” remains a VISION
fundamental challenge for conservation practitioners and
donors. 1 , 2 Community-based projects often struggle to deliver On the ground: Our research will
national-scale results, while a well-recognized “implementation
enable conservation practitioners
gap” frequently exists between national conservation plans and
local action.3,4 Occasionally, however, a conservation initiative will to tailor their activities and, thus,
spread, with widespread adoption, and a potential to transform catalyze conservation at scale.
the relationship between people and nature across large areas.
Policy: Our research will
Diffusion of innovations theory 5,6,7 -- the science of how, why, and empower conservation decision
at what rate ideas and practices are adopted by individuals, makers to achieve their policy
groups, organizations, or countries -- provides a novel lens for
objectives more quickly and at
examining patterns and trends in the establishment of
conservation policies, programs, and practices. Despite less cost.
widespread use in other fields (e.g., agriculture, health,
technology), conservation science and policy has largely Research: Our work will spark
overlooked or ignored the sociological literature on diffusion of new directions in conservation
innovations. To foster evidence-based conservation decisions and research, highlighting the social
catalyze conservation at scale, we will use diffusion of innovations processes that drive patterns and
theory to generate novel insights into why conservation actions are trends in the adoption of
adopted and the factors that shape rates and patterns of conservation policies and
establishment. practices.

This research applies the DOI theory to understand the drivers behind the adoption of Community
Forestry in Nepal. Following the formal establishment of Community Forestry through the Forest Act
of 1993, Community Forestry has been adopted by approximately 19,000 community forest user
groups and has included the participation of roughly 35% of Nepal’s population 6,7.

METHODOLOGY:

This research used the General Elimination Methodology (GEM) to systematically identify and rule
out causal explanations for the adoption of Community Forestry in Nepal. Firstly, a literature review
was conducted to identify the potential drivers of adoption and spread of Community Forestry in
Nepal. The final list of factors included drivers identified in the literature on Community Forestry in
Nepal and drivers deemed to be important based on DOI theory. When possible, drivers were
organized under innovation characteristics, adopter characteristics and context characteristics based
1 From 1980-2007, global foreign aid for biodiversity conservation totaled $16.8 billion. Miller, et al. 2013. Conservation Letters 6:12–20.
2 Cumming et al 2006. Scale Mismatches in Social-Ecological Systems: Causes, Consequences, & Solutions. Ecology & Society 11(1): 14.
3 Dressler et al. 2010. From hope to crisis and back again? A critical history of the global CBNRM narrative. Env.Cons. 37:5-15.
4
Knight, et al 2008 Knowing but Not Doing: Selecting Priority Conservation Areas and the Research-Implementation Gap. Con Bio 22: 610-617.
5 Rogers, E. M. 2010. Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press.
5 Walker, J. L. 1969. Diffusion of innovations among American states. American Political Science Review 63:880-899.
7 Wejnert, B. 2002. Integrating models of diffusion of innovations: A conceptual framework. Annual Review of Sociology 28:297-326.
6 Hang, C. 2017. Community forestry pays off for Nepal. Forest News.
7 Bluffstone, R. 2018. Collective action yields positive outcomes for Nepal’s forests. World Bank.
on Jagadish 8. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 experts in Community Forestry to
understand each participant’s theory of change (ToC) for the adoption of Community Forestry. These
ToCs displayed the drivers that participants considered to be most influential for adoption, as well as
the links that participants identified between drivers. Participant’s responses were coded and used
to create a combined theory of change. The combined theory of change was validated through a
secondary literature review.

RESULTS:

This study found that the majority of the drivers selected by participants as most influential were
related to the innovation and context characteristics of Community Forestry in Nepal.

In response to a narrative of forest degradation, participants described that donor-funded projects

instigated the development of early national policy that facilitated the adoption of community
forestry. They said that communities engaged with Community Forestry because it formalized their
traditional practices and usage of the forests, helping communities meet their subsistence needs.
Participants stated that the lack of trust between communities and the government, due to the lack
of ownership that communities had over their forests, hindered adoption of community forestry in
Nepal. In addition, participants expressed that the greatest cost to communities was their time and
benefits were accrued primarily based on geography.

Over time, participants identified a shift away from communities adopting Community Forestry only
to fulfil their subsistence needs to also engaging in capacity building and learning between
communities. Participants also determined that the recent decline in the adoption of community
forestry had been a result of government resistance in land handover and outmigration.

Theory of change figure

HIGHLIGHTS:

8 Jagadish, A., Mills, M. & Mascia, M.B. In prep. Operationalizing diffusion of innovations theory in conservation science and practice.
• While the effects of community-based conservation interventions will be context dependent, this
research highlights the influence of international support, benefits and learning on the adoption of
Community Forestry in Nepal
• International support provided the financial and technical support needed for the early policy
development and adoption. However, in order to ensure that policies are adapted to local contexts
and needs, it is beneficial for governments to involve donors in every phase of development for an
initiative. In addition, it is vital that donors continue to invest in strengthening existing institutions such
as Community Forestry, rather than into new unsustainable programs.
• Tangible benefits are essential for communities to adopt an initiative, but it is essential that these
benefits are equitably distributed. In order to help mitigate this inequity, it is important to address
equity issues during conservation planning.
• Governments need to implement policies that support complete devolution through strong tenure
rights for participatory forest management to work beyond individual cases. It is also critical for
governments to tailor conservation initiatives to build social capital that allows communities to
understand management rules. Federal governments should further devolve power to lower scales of
government to ensure the continuation of conservation initiatives.
• Moreover, adoption is more likely to occur where there are socio-ecological triggers for an innovation
that encourage champions inside and outside of communities to motivate adopters
• This research found that the importance of these different drivers for the adoption of Community
Forestry changed over time, highlighting the need for flexibility and adaptive management approaches
to conservation planning.
• Conservation practitioners should also ensure that the rate of adoption of an innovation does not
outpace its capacity to sustain itself.