Flemming Sehested , is a director of Danish Forestry Extension . DFE works in partnership with local and international organisations to support the development of sustainable forest and natural resource management across the globe. Nature Nepal talks with flemming while he was in Nepal.

How Danish forestry extensions started to work ?
Danish forest extension is based on Danish forest owner association. We are a forest Management association located in Denmark .It is more than 100 years old organization. It is an advocate to whole private forest in Denmark. At the late 80ties we started to work internationally, mainly in Eastern Europe where land after the fall of the Iron Curtain privatized again. Later, we started working in devolving countries like Nepal, India, number of African countries and also other Asian countries.

When did you start working in Danish Forestry Extension?
I started working in 1999. My first assignment was in Nepal. I lived in Nepal from 1999 to 2001 while working. My office was in Dhanusa. The main objective at that time was to establish Forest Owner Association based on same principle as Forest Association of Denmark. It is relatively a successful project and we left after withdrawal in 2006. The Forest Owner Association is still there today servicing more than 800 families. It is an example of both financial and institutional sustainable organization.

What is the situation of the forest in Europe?
Forests in Europe itself are different than forests in Asia. Vast majority of forest is privately owned. We have long tradition of family forest in Europe. Means, for century forest has been in the hands of family member themselves. Obviously, the range of forest size is extremely big what characterizes private forest. Average forest holding in Denmark is 10 hectare. There are 5000 member in Danish Forestry Extension in Denmark. Our average holding is around 20 hectare. People are more concerned about forest resource. Deforestation is low. In fact forest cover is increasing. Sweden, has an annual increment of more than 100 million m3, but the logging rate is only app. 70 million m3. This is the scenery of the Europe.

Forests in Europe itself are different than forests in Asia. Vast majority of forest is privately owned. We have long tradition of family forest in Europe. Means, for century forest has been in the hands of family member themselves. Obviously, the range of forest size is extremely big what characterizes private forest.

Why you are interest in Forest sector?
My background is related to forest. I have a forest myself. I used to be a forest manager. I hold MSc. Degree in forestry. I manage forest myself on daily basis and supervise marketing of timber and forest products. Forest is there for responsible utilization. Forest is a resource which should be used in a right way. Forest is a living thing and people belongs to it.

What are the Working Areas of Danish Forest Extension in Nepal?
Initially, we began working by founding Terai Private Forest Development Association (TPFDA). Lately, we reutilized our work in Nepal by working on Environment education. Presently, we are working closely related to Wildlife Conservation Nepal. Actually in the initial phase it was the bottom of process we worked on. We started by visiting schools and lecturing environmental aspects, resource management, climate change and climate change adaptation. We give training to those who are trusted by the authority and manage to develop local curriculum in Environment education.We have also assisted in developing the National level curriculum on environment education. Now we are in process of a nationwide teachers training. In addition we also work with the Life School Centre in Dhanusa. Life School Centre is a learning centre on community based natural resource management and we are working on collaborative forest management.

How DFE is started working with Nepal?
I think there is a long history behind it. A number of DFE staff while previously working with e.g. FAO or Danida got inspired by the situation in Nepal and formed the idea of developing a forest owners association based on the same principles as in Denmark.

What kind of perspective is necessary for the development of private forest?
Right to natural resource, security of ownership of trees, trusting natural resource and political stability is necessary. Technical, Managerial and Advocacy for its member is also equally important for the development of private forest. Natural Integrated part of land management, right to grow and sells forest production without restriction are also the factors to be considered.

Why Private forest is important in Nepal?
I believe that ownership is extremely important while it comes to people performance. If they don’t feel any ownership they don’t feel to effort in it. If it comes to your own property, you are much more concerned and tend to manage it properly.