Armed Conflict, Community Forest User Groups, and Natural Resource Management

Studies of population-environment relationships frequently are framed around processes such as population growth, consumption, and modes of production. The role of war and armed conflict, however, has received less attention, despite the fact that these events can quickly disrupt and transform how populations interact with their environments. We use an institutional analysis and development approach to explore the social and ecological factors that drive the relationship between armed conflict and the resilience of resource management activities. The setting is 21 independently controlled community forests and their user groups in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal from 1995 through 2010--a period that spans the beginning, middle, and end of the violent Maoist insurgency in Nepal. We find that armed conflict negatively impacts the ability of community forest groups to provide a variety of conservation programs. Armed conflict also decreases these groups' annual income, which subsequently reduces the benefits the groups can provide for their members. Considering what institutional characteristics increase vulnerability to the negative effects of armed conflict, we found that the highest vulnerability rests with community forest user groups that have more responsibility--such as larger forests--and more frequent bureaucratic activities.