Integrating Geomatics and Participatory Techniques for Community Forest Management; Case Studies from the Yarsha Khola Watershed, Dolakha District, Nepal

There is a growing need for forest resource information in community forestry to provide baseline data enabling changes in the resource to be assessed. Traditional methods of forest resource assessment are not appropriate for community forestry owing to the time and expenses involved and their focus on timber production. This paper shows how recent geometrics technology can be used in conjunction with participatory techniques to provide a framework for low cost, appropriate technology forest resource assessment. The role and value of a variety of different approaches are evaluated by using case studies as examples. The use of geomatics in a participatory context has great potential for community forest resources assessment in providing basic spatial data for management purpose rapidly and effectively, and by acting as a facilitation tool.