Nepal's community forestry is well studied and widely acknowledged, but its experience of Community Forestry Enterprises (CFEs) as a form of community entrepreneurship has not been part of a robust scholarly debate. While CFEs are considered a means to enhance community livelihoods and reduce poverty, a growing body of literature suggests that it is difficult to establish, grow and sustain economically profitable and socially beneficial CFEs. Across the developing world, many CFEs have emerged, functioned for certain periods of time, and then disappeared. In view of this, several conceptual questions have been raised about the viability and sustainability of CFEs. The aim of this paper is to investigate why CFEs fail and what could make them succeed. By analyzing the Chaubas-Bhumlu Community Sawmill of Nepal (hereafter, Chaubas CFE), this paper demonstrates that CFEs do not necessarily become successful, despite good access to natural resources, reasonable business plans, and significant start-up capital and support from external stakeholders. The Chaubas CFE struggled to sustain the enterprise in the face of changing government policies and politics, persistent conflictual community level dynamics, and the lack of local business capacity. We argue that the confidence on communities to engage in the business of natural resources is not well founded, especially in the context of complex social, political, and environmental realities that underpin business development and operation.

尼泊尔的社区林业得到了很好的研究和广泛认可，但其将社区林业企业 (CFE) 作为社区创业形式的经验并未成为激烈的学术辩论的一部分。虽然 CFE 被认为是提高社区生计和减少贫困​​的一种手段，但越来越多的文献表明，很难建立、发展和维持经济上有利可图和对社会有益的 CFE。在整个发展中世界，许多 CFE 已经出现，在一定时期内发挥作用，然后消失。有鉴于此，人们就 CFE 的可行性和可持续性提出了几个概念性问题。本文的目的是调查 CFE 失败的原因以及使它们成功的原因。通过分析尼泊尔的 Chaubas-Bhumlu 社区锯木厂（以下简称 Chaubas CFE），本文表明，尽管拥有良好的自然资源、合理的商业计划以及大量的启动资金和外部利益相关者的支持，但 CFE 并不一定会成功。面对不断变化的政府政策和政治、持续的社区层面动态冲突以及当地业务能力的缺乏，Chaubas CFE 努力维持企业的发展。我们认为，社区参与自然资源业务的信心并不充分，尤其是在支撑业务发展和运营的复杂社会、政治和环境现实的背景下。以及来自外部利益相关者的大量启动资金和支持。面对不断变化的政府政策和政治、持续的社区层面动态冲突以及当地业务能力的缺乏，Chaubas CFE 努力维持企业的发展。我们认为，社区参与自然资源业务的信心并不充分，尤其是在支撑业务发展和运营的复杂社会、政治和环境现实的背景下。以及来自外部利益相关者的大量启动资金和支持。面对不断变化的政府政策和政治、持续的社区层面动态冲突以及当地业务能力的缺乏，Chaubas CFE 努力维持企业的发展。我们认为，社区参与自然资源业务的信心并不充分，尤其是在支撑业务发展和运营的复杂社会、政治和环境现实的背景下。