Life and forestry in Pina

Thursday, October 14
Urthu is part of the 69th poorest district out of 75 in Nepal, based on how often and how many forest products they collect and other criteria. It's a poor place by those and other standards. But here in Pina, part of Mugu--the poorest district of the 75--it feels so different. Urthu seems very rich in comparison. When we were waiting to begin our research this morning, I was watching two young boys, no more than four years old, running around and laughing with so much joy. I thought to myself: This place isn't poor...just look at the richness! But they grow up very quickly. The older kids smile sincerely when we greet them, but at the same time, most of them are so serious. I also watched a young girl--maybe 5 or 6 years old--poor water from a jug into a small pitcher and then squat outside, furiously washing her hands and then face. Did I wash myself of my own accord a single time when I was that age? I think not. It impressed me very much, to say the least.
The hillsides here are covered in farmland, and forest is relatively sparse. The large forest that does exist is part of the Rara Lake national park. There are no community forests here. The villagers are prohibited from utilizing what were originally their natural resources within the park, although buffer zones have been created to permit them to gather fuel wood and building materials from certain confined areas.
The villages receive a good amount of the park's revenue (40%, I believe), but from what we heard, that money has gone toward such things as roads and a temple that were destroyed in the monsoon rains due to unstable foundation and insufficient building materials. They say that the national park's establishment has protected the forest, and that it's because they failed to do so themselves that they now have to walk for hours to gather enough timber and fuel. With community forestry, villages would both be revitalizing and protecting the forests and gleaning all of the resources they need. But still, those we interviewed said they prefer the income.
Many different NGOs and others have come in to develop basic amenities like toilets and electricity, but all of them lose funding and pull out after two or three years, leaving their work half done at most, and causing conflict between those who are benefited and those who aren't. For example, Poverty Reduction Nepal brought in small solar panels to power one simple light each, but they were only able to distribute to 40 houses, leaving the village's other 65 houses without electricity and with no choice but to burn tinder for light, causing health problems from all of the smoke. Another problem exists in that, understandingly, people are most often unwilling to invest in things brought to them from outside, so new developments often aren't maintained.
After completing our interviews, eight of us girls walked down through the millet fields to the river down below where all of the female porters and cooks were washing their clothes. We walked across and upstream a ways and found the perfect, secluded bathing spot. Man, I hadn't felt that clean in a while.