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- Fischer, Harry, et al.
(författare)
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Dark and bright spots in the shadow of the pandemic: Rural livelihoods, social vulnerability, and local governance in India and Nepal
- 2021
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Ingår i: World Development. - : Elsevier BV. - 0305-750X .- 1873-5991. ; 141
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption to lives and livelihoods around the world. These disruptions have brought into sharp focus experiences of vulnerability but also, at times, evidence of resilience as people and institutions gear up to respond to the crisis. Drawing on intensive qualitative enquiry in 16 villages of Himalayan India and Nepal, this paper documents both dark and bright spots from the early days of the pandemic. We find intense experiences of fear and uncertainty, heightened food insecurity, and drastic reductions in livelihood opportunities. However, we also find a wide range of individual and collective responses as well as a patchwork of policy support mechanisms that have provided at least some measure of basic security. Local elected governments have played a critical role in coordinating responses and delivering social support, however the nature of their actions varies as a result of different institutional arrangements and state support systems in the two countries. Our findings highlight the changing nature of vulnerability in the present era, as demographic shifts, growing off-farm employment and dependence on remittances, and increasing market integration have all brought about new kinds of exposure to risk for rural populations in the context of the present disruption and beyond. Most importantly, our research shows the critical importance of strong systems of state support for protecting basic well-being in times of crises. Based on these findings, we argue that there is a need for greater knowledge of how local institutions work in tandem with a broader set of state support mechanisms to generate responses for urgent challenges; such knowledge holds the potential to develop governance systems that are better able to confront diverse shocks that households face, both now and in the future. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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- Khatri Bahadur, Dil, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?
- 2021
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Ingår i: World Development. - : Elsevier BV. - 0305-750X .- 1873-5991. ; 141
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper critically reviews the outcomes of internationally-funded interventions aimed at climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction. It highlights how some interventions inadvertently reinforce, redistribute or create new sources of vulnerability. Four mechanisms drive these maladaptive outcomes: (i) shallow understanding of the vulnerability context; (ii) inequitable stakeholder participation in both design and implementation; (iii) a retrofitting of adaptation into existing development agendas; and (iv) a lack of critical engagement with how ‘adaptation success’ is defined. Emerging literature shows potential avenues for overcoming the current failure of adaptation interventions to reduce vulnerability: first, shifting the terms of engagement between adaptation practitioners and the local populations participating in adaptation interventions; and second, expanding the understanding of ‘local’ vulnerability to encompass global contexts and drivers of vulnerability. An important lesson from past adaptation interventions is that within current adaptation cum development paradigms, inequitable terms of engagement with ‘vulnerable’ populations are reproduced and the multi-scalar processes driving vulnerability remain largely ignored. In particular, instead of designing projects to change the practices of marginalised populations, learning processes within organisations and with marginalised populations must be placed at the centre of adaptation objectives. We pose the question of whether scholarship and practice need to take a post-adaptation turn akin to post-development, by seeking a pluralism of ideas about adaptation while critically interrogating how these ideas form part of the politics of adaptation and potentially the processes (re)producing vulnerability. We caution that unless the politics of framing and of scale are explicitly tackled, transformational interventions risk having even more adverse effects on marginalised populations than current adaptation.
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- Khatri Bahadur, Dil
(författare)
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Can Evidence and Voice Influence Policy? A Critical Assessment of Nepal's Forestry Sector Strategy, 2014
- 2016
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Ingår i: Society and Natural Resources. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0894-1920 .- 1521-0723. ; 29, s. 357-373
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines Nepal's recently prepared Forestry Sector Strategy (FSS) (as of 2014) in terms of the use of scientific evidence and the quality of stakeholder participation. By reviewing the content and analyzing the context of its development during 2012-2014, we found that the transitional politics and overt influence of international development agencies dominated the process and content of the FSS. Although the FSS was developed through a significant stakeholder engagement, there was limited use of the available scientific evidence. The FSS was narrowly conceived as a deliverable of supporting aid programs, with limited demand for a politically meaningful policy processes. While civil society groups were consulted, they largely failed to present an independent voice due to their dependence on funding agencies. Our assessment calls for rethinking policy development in a way that facilitates assertive and independent participation by a range of actors and make better use of the available research.
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| 7. |
- Khatri Bahadur, Dil
(författare)
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Climate and development at the third pole : dynamics of power and knowledge reshaping community forest governance in Nepal
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Given the international climate objectives of adaptation and REDD+ being adopted in many developing countries there are growing concerns about their effects. This thesis seeks to investigate the implications of implementing climate objectives for community forestry governance. The thesis deals with the questions of how community forest management and uses are (re)shaped by the influence of governmental and non-governmental interventions and what effects the changing community forestry objectives may have on the interests of people reliant on forest resources. The thesis draws on extensive field studies and the author’s long-term engagement in development interventions and policy processes in Nepal. The analysis is primarily concerned about the dynamic of knowledge and power in (re)shaping local resource governance agenda and examines the way certain forms of knowledge and discourses get translated into interventions, transforming rules and practices in community forest management. The analysis conceptualizes power, where knowledge is a product as well as an influence. The analysis also pays attention to how knowledge and discourses are mobilized by actors towards certain ends. Findings shows that the community forestry objectives and priorities have shifted over time prioritizing certain resources such as timber as a source of revenue and undermining local needs of livelihoods and food security. Such shifts were found to have been influenced by a combination of factors, including broader socio-economic changes shifting the role of forest in peoples’ lives, scientific expertise and governmental and non-governmental interventions. I argue that the climate policy objectives that are superimposed on the established community forestry institutions can bring new forces that fuel the ongoing changes in forest management objectives and enhance the technical and bureaucratic influence on community forests management. The technical and bureaucratic nature of interventions under donor funded projects on climate change have reinforced the way forests are valued for monetary benefits. The projects studied appear to have limited effects in delivering the promise of supporting local livelihoods; instead the interventions, such as in REDD+ piloting, risk curtailing local rights and benefits. There is a risk that local interests in managing community forests will be subsumed to the technocratic logic of climate interventions. The development of climate-related policy and interventions need to pay greater attention to the dynamics of knowledge and power and safeguard local interests against those of local elites, experts and external organizations.
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- Khatri Bahadur, Dil
(författare)
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From Forests to Food Security: Pathways in Nepal's Community Forestry
- 2018
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Ingår i: Small-Scale Forestry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1873-7617 .- 1873-7854. ; 17, s. 89-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is an increasing recognition of the contribution of forests to food security of poor and marginalized people. However, empirical findings remain limited on how forests contribute to food security. Drawing on four case studies of community forestry in Nepal, this paper discusses pathways through which forests are contributing to food security needs of local communities. The evidence presented here was gathered through 4 years of action research and draws insights from the past 40 years of Nepal's community forestry practice, which is often regarded as a successful case of conservation and development. It is shown that there are four distinct pathways through which community forests contribute to food security as a source of: (1) income and employment; (2) inputs to increase food production; (3) directly for food; and (4) renewable energy for cooking. Despite emerging pathways linking forest management to food systems at the local level, forestry policies and institutions have neither explicitly recognized nor strengthened the linkage between forest and food security. The paper highlights that there is a need for a fundamental shift in thinking from the conventional notion of 'forests for soil conservation' to 'sustainable forest management for food security'.
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| 10. |
- Khatri Bahadur, Dil, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-scale politics in climate change: the mismatch of authority and capability in federalizing Nepal
- 2022
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Ingår i: Climate Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1469-3062 .- 1752-7457. ; 22, s. 1084-1096
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nepal's transition to federalism in 2015 involved a significant redistribution of authority across three levels of government, with a greater level of autonomy granted to provincial and local levels. We examine multi-scale climate policy and politics in Nepal, focusing on three elements that are important for policy development and implementation: (a) the authority to make decisions; (b) the knowledge and expertise to develop and implement policies; and (c) the ability to access and mobilize resources, primarily external funding, by government bodies at different levels. Our findings show that the newly decentralized local governments are constrained in their ability to develop and implement climate change-related policies and practical responses by a mismatch between the authority granted to them and existing institutional capabilities. These governmental bodies have limited opportunities to develop, access and mobilize knowledge of climate and development and financial resources, which are needed to put new policies into action. Based on this analysis, we argue that decentralization of governmental authority is not likely to produce effective climate policy outcomes if this mismatch remains unaddressed.
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