This paper explains how powerful actors use scientific forestry narratives to regain power over decentralised forest resources. Through elements of trust, incentives, coercion, and avoidance forest bureaucrats convince forest user groups of the need to implement so-called scientific management and planning principles to obtain predictable harvests. In reality, however, these principles replicate colonial-style Indian forest management and expand the involvement of forest bureaucrats in all aspects of community forestry to re-gain resource control and establish rent-seeking opportunities for forest bureaucrats. In this process, forest user groups lose authority over and income from their forests. We define this as “technical-sounding re-centralisation” since the forest bureaucracy has re-captured decision-making power over forest resources and associated revenue through narratives of scientific forestry. We argue that today's colonial-style re-centralised governance of community forests must give way to forest management principles, which devolve decision-making powers to local communities while ensuring conservation through utilisation, and reasonable taxation.

中文翻译：

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通过虚假的科学性重新集中：尼泊尔社区林业的案例

本文解释了强大的参与者如何使用科学的林业叙事来重新获得对分散的森林资源的权力。通过信任、激励、胁迫和回避等要素，森林官僚说服森林用户群体需要实施所谓的科学管理和规划原则以获得可预测的收获。然而，在现实中，这些原则复制了殖民风格的印度森林管理，并扩大了森林官僚对社区林业各个方面的参与，以重新获得资源控制权并为森林官僚创造寻租机会。在这个过程中，森林用户群体失去了对森林的权力和收入。我们将其定义为“技术上的重新集中”，因为森林官僚机构通过科学林业的叙述重新获得了对森林资源和相关收入的决策权。我们认为，今天的社区森林的殖民式重新集中治理必须让位于森林管理原则，将决策权下放给当地社区，同时确保通过利用和合理征税来保护。