Environment management in Nepal: unmanaging the manageable

This paper examines how a developing country like Nepal is integrating envi ronmental measures into developmental activities. Despite lacking many sect oral policies and strategies, including those on environment, from a macro- review of different environment-related legislation one can infer that reso urce use Acts are incomplete for sustainability. The failure by the governm ent to intervene could be partially corrected through the annual fiscal bud get and policy behavior. For example, market tools such as deposit-refund s ystems, a target-orientated 'win-win' approach, environmental taxes, servic e fees and subsidies will further streamline future courses of action. But, in the long term, innovative and integrative implementing mechanisms of di fferent policy options are needed. Since the command and control approach i s at an initial phase, a concurrent initiation of appropriate market-based instruments could herald a substantial change in the existing anarchism of resource-use behavior. The users' group concept for forest resource managem ent should be extended to poor families and people so that economic democra cy in resource ownership and management could exist. Behavioral change or h onesty on the part of different stakeholders such as bureaucrats, businessm en, politicians and people is necessary to pave the way for a sustainable f uture. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.