The concept of community forest management(CFM) at Kanglung Gewog in Trashigang Dzongkhag, Bhutan

The concept of Community Forest Management (CFM) in Bhutan has out-looked and came to its existence in 2000 whereby its implementations were rapid after 2007. Over the years, since the nationalization of forests in 1969, Bhutanese policy-makers and foresters had realized that the participation of local communities (rural people) would be the icon to the conservation and sustainable management of forest resources. Although, CFM was mainly established and promoted in order to ensure forest protection, yet it is today, considered as a means to improve rural livelihoods and contribute to poverty reduction, which is the primary goal and objective of the government. The concept of CFM is not very old and it is still new to Bhutanese especially to the far-flung village people. The establishment of CFM in the localities (Gewog wise/village wise) has made the Bhutanese a unique opportunity to learn from the successes and difficulties that their neighbors have experienced and to create an approach most appropriate to the local context. Therefore, this paper shows the decentralization of forestry extension to the district and the Gewog level and it gives the information about the stepwise development of a legal frame work for CFM in Lumang Gewog. Moreover, it discusses the scope and its challenges associated with CFM in the Gewog. The CFM program will increasingly explore opportunities to generate economic and social benefits from active resource management in the CFM area whereby there will be improvement in people's living standard and result to poverty reduction in the country.