For Environment, Democracy and Livelihoods
This year, some concrete field innovations and piloting began in technology: Chainsaw for tree felling, portable sawmill for on-site milling, agroforestry and intercropping for suppressing mikania, Khasru research plots for increased fodder production, among others. On the institutional front, formation and functioning of cluster level mechanisms for increased community forestry performance, sub-municipality level ‘learning group’ for increased climate finance transparency have produced useful lessons. Training, apprenticeship courses, workshops, backstopping and on-site support remained important strategies for capacity building of forest user group members, forestry officials, women and smallholders. We adopted diverse strategies on policy engagement: policy labs, participating in a taskforce, reviewing and writing comments on policy documents, facilitating and organizing large policy forums, contributing to community forestry national workshop, and celebrating World Food Day. We continued with publications as our important strategy to influence policy, practices and inform the wider epistemic community in Nepal and beyond.