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A team of researchers from ForestAction Nepal have recently completed a five month long intensive field study in 113 Community forests in Central Nepal. The study was conducted as part of biodiversity impact evaluation of USAID funded Hariyo Ban II program. The study will contribute towards the broader analysis of the theory of change that assumes there is a link between livelihood interventions and improved biodiversity outcomes. The study was jointly administered by CAMRIS International, ForestAction Nepal and University of Sheffield, UK as part of USAID Nepal Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) project.

The study covered six districts – Syangja, Kaski, Tanahu, Gorkha, Lamjung and Chitwan, in Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) in Central Nepal. The study spanned tropical to subalpine climatic zones between 200 to 3500 meter above sea level and covered gregarious Sal forest in the southern plain to the monodominant Rhododendron stands in the northern high mountains. Over 3300 forest plots, each of 314 m2 were sampled.

The data will serve as baseline data for impact evaluation of Hariyo Ban II program. The data will also be equally useful for analyzing temporal and spatial change in forest cover, tree diversity and composition, forest disturbance, biomass outtake, forest growth and carbon sequestration. All the plots are georeferenced, therefore can be revisited later to assess any changes in future.

USAID MEL project and the study team expects that results from this study will inform future biodiversity and livelihood support and economic growth programming, thus ensuring it more effectively contributes to the goals of the USAID Nepal Mission. The findings will also contribute to the broader knowledge base on the connection between sustainable economic growth and biodiversity conservation.

An inception workshop for the project entitled ‘Enhancing livelihoods from improved forest management in Nepal’ kicked off in Lalitpur on 3 December 2018. The workshop was attended by the Secretary of Ministry of Forest and Environment Dr. Bishwa Nath Oli, His Excellency Australian Ambassador to Nepal Mr. Peter Budd, representative of the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research Dr. Norra Devoe, Chief of Planning Division at the Ministry of Forest and Environment Dr. Sindhu Prasad Dhungana, Joint and Under Secretaries of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, representatives from the University of Adelaide and University of New South Wales, among others.

EnLiFT-2 builds on the momentum, lessons and successful partnerships formed in EnLiFT-1. With two Universities in Australia – University of Adelaide and University of New South Wales – the project in Nepal will be led by ForestAction Nepal and will work in partnership with the Nepal Agroforestry Foundation, Department of Forest, Forestry Research and Training Center and RECOFTC.

A two day training on Google Earth Engine(GEE) was jointly organized by ForestAction Nepal, Resources Himalaya Foundation and East-West Centre,Hawaii from 3rd to 4th December 2018 at ForestActions premises. This hands-on workshop was aimed for training in accessing and analyzing temporal, spatial tree cover data through range of processing techniques on open-access dataset of cloud-based GEE platform. Along with understanding of GEE , the new 25-year Nepal tree cover/change dataset including its methodology, accuracy, and derived products, and access and use of Hansen et al. global forest cover dataset were discussed during the training.The training was facilitated by Jamon Van Den Hoek (Oregon State University),Alex Smith(University of Bern) and Kaspar Hurni(Oregon State University). Total of 18 participants from academic and research field were directly benefitted from the training.

“An International meeting on Twenty-five years of community forestry: Mapping tree dynamics in Nepal” science meeting was held at Hotel Annapurna from 29th November 2018 to 30th November 2018. The meeting was jointly organized by Resources Himalaya Foundation, ForestAction Nepal and East –West Center. The meeting was attended by representative from various INGOS, NGOs and governmental organizations. The inaugural session of the program was chaired by Professor Ram Bahadur Chhetri.

The first day of the meeting had three technical sessions. The first technical session for the first day was chaired by Professor Pitambar Sharma, second technical session was chaired by Dr. Ambika Gautam and the third technical session was chaired by Dr. Jeff Fox. The major topics that were covered during the first day were land cover change in Nepal and forest cover change in Nepal. Ms. Samata Manandhar, Researcher from ForestAction Nepal presented on the topic “Community forestry in the changing rural dynamics in Nepal” during the third technical session.

The second day of the meeting had two technical session. The first session was chaired by Jamon Van Den Hoek and the second session was chaired by Professor Krishna R. Tiwari. The major topics that were covered during the second day were Forest Monitoring and Drivers of Change in Nepal.

A half day interactive workshop on “Rice Cultivation in Nepal” was organized by Forest Action Nepal on September 30, 2018 at Hotel Greenwich Village, Lalitpur. The main objective of the workshop was to discuss on the issues of rice farming focusing on the hurdles of rice value chain development in Nepal. Representatives from Ministry of Agriculture, NARC, IRRI, farmers’ network, media and other stakeholders concerned with agriculture participated in the event. Ms Sarada Thapa from ForestAction gave a presentation on “Rice Value Chain: Where did we Fail?”. The highlights of the presentation being the background of the rice cultivation in Nepal, import and export status of rice, production and productivity status, scenario of rice value chain and its challenges and opportunities in Nepal. After the presentation, the floor was opened for the discussion. The major issues raised in the workshop are listed below:

• Government should increase investment in research and extension.
• Change in food habit of people has led to increased demand of rice in market.
• If hybrid variety is the solution, we should develop it in our country rather than bringing it from other countries. But still it very much necessary to conserve and preserve our local rice cultivars.
• Fragmentation of land has led to decrease in size of holding which affects mechanization of farm.
• In order to stop the youth migration, it is much necessary to create an environment where our manpower enjoys being engaged in farming and they do not even think about going abroad.

 

A half day workshop entitled “Rice Cultivation in Nepal: Opportunities and Challenges ” was jointly organized by Forest Action Nepal and FAYA Nepal on August 13, 2018 at Hotel Devotee, Dhangadhi. The main objective of the event was to discuss on the issues, opportunities and challenges of rice farming focusing its status on province 7 of Nepal. Honorable Minister Ms. Binita Chaudhary from Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Co-operative of Province 7 was the chief guest of the event. Honorable members of parliament, local representatives, farmers, media persons and stakeholders concerned with agriculture participated in the event. A presentation on “Rice Value Chain in Nepal ” was made by Ms. Sarada Thapa, ForestAction Nepal. Background of rice cultivation in Nepal, its import/export status, production/productivity, scenario of rice value chain in Nepal and its challenges and opportunities were highlighted in the presentation.

Presentation was followed by the open discussion. Major issues of rice farming raised and discussed are listed below:

• Loss of local and indigenous rice cultivars.
• Change in food habits.
• Decreased land and soil productivity.
• Subsidy allocated by government has not reached to the actual farmers.
• Promotion of organic rice farming as it reduces the cost of production and improves the productivity of soil.
• Technology such as SRI should be given emphasis.

The 38th World Food Day with a slogan “A #ZeroHunger world by 2030 is possible” was celebrated on 31st October this year in Nepal. On this occasion ForestAction Nepal, secretariat of Alliance of Agriculture for Food, in joint collaboration with World Food Day Committee Nepal organized an event namely “Raithane Khadya Sanjh” on the premises of Department of Agriculture, Hariharbhawan, Lalitpur. The event was organized with the motive of strengthening the concerns of food and agriculture with conservation of highly nutritious indigenous crops varieties which are still not valued at the policy levels. The major guests of this event were Hon. Minister Chakra Pani Khanal and Hon. State Minister Ram Kumari Chaudhary from Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Hon. Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet from Ministry of Forests and Environment and Hon. Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel from Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Similarly, Secretory of MoALD, Directorate General of Department of Agriculture (DoA), present and former members of National Planning Commission (NPC), parliamentary members, other officials from MoALD and DoA, representatives from FAO, I/NGos, farmers network, media and other people concerned with food and agriculture attended the event.

The program had two main sessions. In the first session, few short presentations were delivered. Mr. JeewanShahi talked about Slow Food Movement, Mr. TeekaBhattarai shared some insights from Cuba Visit, Mr. Uddhav Adhikari talked about the need of Organic farming in Nepal and Dr. Ganga DattaAcharya shared the story of organic state – Sikkim. The major attraction of the program was the second session – the dinner session where the different local food items of Karnali region were served. During the event the local and indigenous products of Karnali region were also displayed. Around 300 people visited the stalls and enjoyed the food made by using the products from Karnali such as Chino/Prosomillet and Kaguno/Foxtailmillet, Jumli Beans, Jumlirajma Beans, Jumli Potatoes, Timur and bakery products such as Apple pie and Apple strudel. This initiative was well appreciated by our guests.

Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu, Nepal,

November 29-30, 2018

Meeting location: Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu, Nepal

Meeting dates: Thursday November 29 to Friday November 30, 2018

Regional Support Organizations: Resources Himalaya Foundation and ForestAction

International Support Organization: NASA South Asia Research Initiative

Dates: November 29-30: Science meeting

December 3-4: Hands-on workshop with Google Earth Engine; training in accessing and analyzing annual, nation-wide tree cover data. Led by Jamon Van Den Hoek (Oregon State University), Kaspar Hurni (University of Bern), and Alexander Smith (Oregon State University)

A one-day workshop on forest and livelihood-related research and application was organized jointly by International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI), Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN) and ForestAction Nepal on 23 May 2018 in Kathmandu with an aim to share the findings of the research work by IFRI scholars among others. The workshop included several research and application presentations in addition to introduction of two FLARE data collection and analyses tools (The LivWell tool and the CommFor tool). The workshop provided a platform for discussion and networking among presenters and participants from a diverse set of government and non-government organizations.

A workshop on “Gender, Conflict and Cooperation in the context of climate action” was organized by the CALCNR project team along with Middlesex University, Flood Hazard Research Centre, IDE and Nice Foundation at Dhulikhel Lodge Resort from 3-4 May 2018.Ms Samata Manandhar and Ms Yuvika Adhikari from ForestAction Nepal participated in the workshop. All the partner organization of CALCNR presented their learnings focusing on the climate change, conflict and gender dimensions of the project. Ms Samata Manandhar from ForestAction presented on findings and recommendations under CALCNR project by focusing on the gender dimensions of the project.

A learning sharing workshop on “Enhancing livelihood and food security from Agro-Forestry and Community Forestry in Nepal’ was organized by ForestAction Nepal at Himalayan House, Dhulikhel on 30th March 2018. The workshop was chaired by District Forest Officer, Prem Khanal. The workshop started with a series of presentation and was followed by the discussion session. All the partner organizations under Enlift project presented their findings and progress during the workshop. The presentations mainly focused on Lessons from Agro forestry Innovation, Underutilized Land, Gender and Social Inclusion, Learning from Silviculture Intervention in Kavre and Lessons from from Chaubas Sawmill.

Dr. Naya Sharma Paudel and Ms Samata Manandhar from ForestAction Nepal attended the International Agro forestry Conference which was held at Hotel View Bhrikuti, Godavari from 27 to 29 March 2018. Ms. Samata Manandhar presented on the topic “Rural outmigration: an opportunity for Agroforestry”. The presentation focused on the challenges and opportunities raised on agro forestry due to increase in migration in the rural parts of Nepal.