Introduction
Nepal is a land locked country located between China in north and India in south covering 147,180 km2 surface areas. The current forest cover in the country is 5.8 million ha. The country can be divided into four major physiographical regions- Terai, Mid-hills,, high mountains and the Himalayas. The Out of the total area about 39.6 percent area is officially declared as forests. The National Forest Inventory (NFI) of base year 1994 shows that the land area occupied by more than 10 percent tree crown cover is about 4.2 million ha which is about 29% of the total surface area. The shrub land which includes shrubs as well as trees of less than 10 % crown coverage occupy about 1.6 million ha area which is almost 10.6% of the total country area.
Despite small in size, about 0.09 percent of the earth surface, her contribution in biodiversity conservation is of global significance. High topographic variations along the north -south transect offers higher level of diversity at species, ecosystem and genetic level. It is estimated that about 118 different ecosystem types are found in this country where more than 15,000 plant species exists in the wild. Out of total identified plants about 700 species are claimed to be of medicinal importance.
Pilot study reports on carbon estimation from different physiographical regions of the country reveals that a substantial amount of carbon stocks has been currently hold in the forests. If these forests could be managed sustainably, additional carbon dioxide gas can be captured and stored in the forests. However, increasing demands of forest goods and services have exerted tremendous pressure on the forest resources. There is high risk of releasing carbon dioxide, originally stored in forest biomass, from the forests in to the environment. If necessary measures are not taken to protect these forests then it would have serious implications on forest extent, production potentiality, forest health, watershed conditions, biodiversity, aesthetic conditions and the entire livelihoods of rural communities. Beside that it also contributes in global warming by increasing Green house Gas concentration in the atmosphere. Therefore, role of forests in climate change is both as a source and sink.
There is now general agreement on the importance of reducing of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change. As a signatory party to the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Nepal is committed to contribute in reducing global warming. The Bali Action Plan (COP-13) in 2007 had opened windows of opportunity for developing countries like Nepal to participate in forest carbon financing through the mechanism of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
The World Bank established the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to assist developing countries in building their capacities for REDD in developing countries in tropical and subtropical regions, and to test performance-based incentive payment programs in pilot countries to set the stage for a much larger system of positive incentives and financing flows in the future. The assistances is crucial to produce a credible estimate of national forest carbon stocks and sources of forest emissions, determine a national reference scenarios for emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to develop a national REDD strategies for addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the pilot country. For such assistance The World Bank had advertised in its web site to submit the letter of Intent (LOI) for REDD readiness in Year 2008.
The Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) of Nepal submitted LOI to The World Bank dated on ——– . Then Foreign Aid Coordination Division (FACD) of MoFSC took initiation to prepare a readiness Plan Idea Note (R-PIN), which is the starting point for REDD readiness. A loose forum was formed including representatives from the government, non-government, civil society, private institutions, and donor organizations. After several round of meetings and working sessions , with active involvement of 26 individuals from nine organization, a final draft of R-PIN was prepared and submitted to the Bank on dated 15th April, 2008; Which got approved in July, 2008. Nepal formally became participating country in FCPF after signing MoU by MoFSC and the bank on 08 September 2008. After that, MoFSC made a formal decision on dated 26th January 2009 with three tiers of institutional set-up for REDD readiness in Nepal.
The current institutional set-up is as follows:
- Apex body: High level Multi-sectoral /multi-stakeholder co-coordinating/monitoring body chaired by the Hon. Minister of MoFSC.
- REDD Working Group: Eight members body- Governemnt, NGO/INGO, Private sector, Civil society organization, and donor community; chaired by the Secretary, MoFSC.
- REDD Cell: This is executive body lead by the Joint Secretary of MoFSC .
The REDD Cell is responsible for coordinating the REDD readiness process under FCPF as well as other REDD projects in Nepal. The Cell is currently working to prepare the Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) for Nepal. The R-PP essentially defines a set of minimum requirements for Readiness, and urges to draw a roadmap for achieving REDD Readiness. This road map will indicate how steps will be laid out and organized in achieving “Readiness” to undertake activities reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), in the Nepalese context. This will also help to identify and then establish the capacity to establish a reference scenarios for emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and implement a REDD strategy, in order to generate emission reductions and associated environmental and livelihood benefits in Nepal. The REDD Cell is targeting to prepare the R-PP document by the end of March and submit it to the Bank by 19th April, 2010.
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