6.2 Nationalisation changed the intervention of local governmentIn the post-Rana7 period in Nepal, just before the nationalisation policy was implemented, while state controland the power of forest departments had been increasing,especially through the birta system, a “technical elitismbased on forest science” (Soussan et al. 1995, 17) beganto be developed as a result of the influence of Westerncountries. For example, foresters began to be trained inthe developed countries (ibid.), and such scientificallytrained foresters began the nationalisation policy in orderto enact forest conservation and economic developmentthrough the conversion of private and communal lands tostate ownership (Houster 1993). The nationalisation offorest lands and state ownership were justified with theassertion that they would contribute to the welfare of thecountry and the people by the equal distribution of natural resources (Soussan et al. 1995)