A community-based micro hydro: a promise for rural development in Nepal

Effects of simple technologies at household level are mostly nonmonetary and hard to quantify and therefore unrecorded. The study finds that micro hydro (MH) has a positive impact on income of rural households in Nepal and that it provides children electric light for their study. The study further reveals that the application of MH has contributed to reducing fuel wood consumption in rural households and that communities are more inclined to harvest fuel wood from government forest rather than community managed forests. Women and children have significantly less intensity to go for fuel wood collection after the installation of MH. The study makes policy recommendations to increase the number of MH installations in rural areas and to transfer ownership of forest resources management from government to local communities