<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f539c7e80680e0d6fe6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768"/><figcaption>All photos: HEMANT OJHA</figcaption></figure>Nepal's <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/">community forestry success story</a> has been praised internationally. Other developing countries have tried to emulate it, and in November even The New York Times noticed this success, running <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/world/asia/nepal-reforestration-climate.html">a story titled ‘How Nepal Grew Back Its Forests’</a>.The Times reported: ‘Large swaths of national forest land were handed to local communities, and millions of volunteers … were recruited to protect and renew their local forests, an effort that has earned praise from environmentalists around the world.' it went to cite emerging issues including increased wildlife and rural migration.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/climate-climax,3651" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate climax</a>, EditorialHowever, what The New York Times missed out on was how community forestry is now facing a multi-faceted and systemic crisis from dysfunctional local groups to regulatory recentralisation that I observed during my recent fieldwork in Kavre, Sindhupalchok and Lamjung districts. Kavre and Sindhupalchok were where Nepal's community forestry concept was first piloted in the 1980s, with support from an Australian aid program.“No one attends the meetings for the community forest anymore. The forest has become a jungle of weeds and unwanted shrubs, increasing the risk of fire,” a community forestry leader in Kavre told me. “Twenty years ago, people used to pay for small tree branches and even leaves, but today, people are not interested in receiving any forest products even when I offer free delivery.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/">Who now owns Nepal's forests?</a> Sonia AwaleThis 80-year-old Kavre resident has experienced a systemic institutional decline in his community forest, so much so that he is the only member of the village committee running and keeping the group afloat.In another community forest in Kavre, mature trees had fallen and were lying on the forest floor, left there for months or perhaps even years.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f579c7e80680e0d6fe7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="1024">“These trees have good commercial value in the market, but the forest user group is not interested in investing time and effort to clear complex regulatory requirements for sale,” explained Sarada Tiwari of ForestAction Nepal. “And they don’t need fuelwood as they buy LPG from local shops.”Indeed, in almost every site I visited, I found that community forests had become dense jungles, increasing the fire hazard. Restrictive regulations prevent communities from harvesting trees, leading to a decline in the interest of local user groups in managing forests. As a result, good market value trees are left dying.After 40 years of glorious history, community forestry in Nepal is facing a new generation of problems which threaten to undermine past gains.Perhaps the primary source of this crisis is the significant shift in people’s dependence on forests. With increased road networks and the flow of remittance from family members working abroad, people have shifted from using fuel wood to fossil fuels.  With the decline in farming, the use of other forest products has also significantly dropped. But this new forest-people relationship is yet to be reflected in plans and policies of community forestry.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/protecting-nepals-parks-by-saving-buffer-zones/">Protecting Nepal’s parks by saving buffer zones</a>, Teri D AllendorfPolicymakers in Kathmandu believe that community forestry is mainly a source of subsistence livelihoods, a proposition that was true two decades ago. That is why they continue to impose restrictions on harvesting and marketing of forest products.A forest official told me: “We are careful not to encourage commercial harvesting of timber from community forest areas”.This is what happens in practice, despite formal laws being open to marketing forestry products side-by-side with what is seen as progressive community forestry policies at the federal level. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19042#.Y7QEuexBzDJ">Nepal’s Forest Law 1993</a> was one of the world’s strongest forest legislations to devolve power to local communities willing to take control of an area of forest in their locality. The same spirit continues through the Forest Act 2019.Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/villagers-step-up-to-protect-nepals-tigers/">Villagers step up to protect Nepal’s tigers</a>, Teri D AllendorfHowever, in actual practice, regulatory enforcement hardly follows the policies and legal provisions in letter and spirit. A senior community forestry activist once said: “In Nepal, forest laws are undermined by rules; rules by working procedures, working procedures by written notices, and written notices by oral instructions. How can you then comply with all of them?”What’s worrying is that even community forestry activists seem to have an orthodox attitude that denies more active and sustainable use of community forests.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f599c7e80680e0d6fe8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768">“We are worried that some projects aim to promote marketing of forest products which can jeopardise community forestry,” said one community forestry activist working at the national level. He seemed to have settled on the idealistic narrative of community forestry, and believed it was not necessary to think of ways in which communities could benefit from the growing market values of forest products.Even when trees are harvested as per the sustainable use plans and with necessary approvals, the wider public and the media portray it as destruction of protected woodlands. This has prompted forest officials to take a risk-averse approach, further reinforcing regulatory restrictions in marketing surplus products.To be sure, felling trees may sound synonymous with the act of deforestation. But our research has reconfirmed some of the existing scientific knowledge and community wisdom that it is possible to undertake sustainable forest harvesting without jeopardising the forest ecology. Indeed, active use of forest can also protect the forests from fire hazards and foster good ecosystem health.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/community-forest-comes-in-handy-earthquake-reconstruction,2927">Seeing both forest and trees</a>, Om Astha RaiProven techniques exist to facilitate forest regeneration after harvesting mature trees. However, operational regulations and the mindset of policymakers and community leaders that forests are for subsistence farmers, prevent innovation for more active and equitable use.Nepal’s community forests are an <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/community-forest-comes-in-handy-earthquake-reconstruction,2927">important natural capital for locals</a>. Forests make up nearly 45% of Nepal’s land area and there are over 500 commercially tradable products, with 150 species already in trade. Across the country, over 22,000 forest user groups manage 34% of the total forest area, but only a small fraction of community forests are under active management.Yet Nepal is spending billions to import timber because domestic forests are under-utilised. Clearly, local communities as well as the national economy cannot afford this crisis in community forestry.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2023020814028/63e39f5d9c7e80680e0d6fe9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768">There is no one solution to tackle this impending crisis. The absence of marketing is not the only problem. What is required is a holistic socio-ecological solution that empowers communities to take action, with incentives accruing to them as per the ecologically sustainable levels of natural capital use.In a research project funded by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research, we are analysing the political and economic roots of this crisis to inform an exploration of actionable ways to revitalise community forestry institutions at the local level. Our focus is on Kavre and Sindhupalchok where we are also tracing historical evolution of community forestry from the days of Australian project in the 80s.Read also: <a style="font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15.36px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px;" href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12130#.VuEeTX197Dc" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The greening of Nepal</a>, Marty LoganBut a problem of this scale is not solvable by a research initiative alone. It is crucial to foster critical dialogue among policymakers, communities and research groups. Every aspect of community forestry should be brought in the table for new policy discussion – from resource rights to local organisational models, from financial governance to social equity, and from business models to market linkages. How local governments and community groups can work together should be a key dialogue agenda.But dialogue without practice-based insights and research-based evidence is pointless. Moreover, change cannot happen without key policy actors appreciating the changing context of community forestry.Hemant Ojha is associate professor at the University of Canberra, and also an adjunct associate professor at Australian National University, Australia.Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/safeguarding-the-soul-of-sal/">Safeguarding the soul of sal</a>, Lila Nath Sharma

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Reviving Nepal's community forestry success story

<figure><img width="2846" height="1594" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372181a9c7e80680e0baa25jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The Nijgad Airport construction site. Pic: Kiran Nepal</figcaption></figure>As the date for a final Supreme Court ruling on the proposed new international airport in Nijgad approaches, uncertainty once more shrouds the $3.5 billion project. Supporters call the airport 60km south of Kathmandu as a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">necessary infrastructure investment</a> for the country’s economic growth, while opponents say it is an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">expensive and an ecologically disastrous white elephant</a>. On 26 May, the Supreme Court is slated to give a final verdict on a public interest litigation citing irreversible environmental damage, since it will mean felling 40sq km of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/">primary tropical forest</a>.  A 2010 feasibility study by Korean consultants Landmark Worldwide proposed a 3-phase construction with a single 4,000m runway for 15 million passengers per year at a cost of $650 million in the first phase to be completed in 4 years. By the third phase, there would be four runways for 67 million passengers a year at a cost of $6.7 billion. It will take another ten years for the final completion.Successive governments, including those led by parties in the current coalition as well as the opposition, have all enthusiastically backed Nijgad, saying it is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">important for Nepal’s future</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a> Om Astha Rai“Kathmandu airport was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Air-jam,4196">built for 9.2 million passengers</a> a year, and it has already exceeded that,” says Pradeep Adhikari, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). “Annual international passenger growth is 9-12% and domestic flights have grown by 33% in the past year. Tourism was growing at 10% a year pre-pandemic, and will revive,” he added.With Kathmandu projected to handle 25 million passengers per year by 2040, Pokhara and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bhairawas-new-airport-already-too-small/">Bhairawa just do not have the capacity</a> to reduce that pressure.“We have reached the limit of air space capacity, terminal capacity and runway capacity,” Adhikari explains.However, it is not just environmentalists who question the rationale for Nijgad. They say the airport is designed for an obsolete <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">‘hub-and-spoke’ model</a>, whereas global aviation has moved to point-to-point destinations with new generation of aircraft that can circumnavigate the globe with just one stop.They also say that with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">impact of the pandemic</a> and spreading awareness about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tourism-aviation-and-carbon/">climate crisis</a>, there is already a slowdown in civil aviation growth in parts of the world, and that the age of mega-airports is over. Besides, can Nepal afford the debt financing for such a mammoth undertaking? <figure><img width="1329" height="885" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372181e9c7e80680e0baa26jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The writ petition at the Supreme Court faults a 2018 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-environment-impact-non-assessments/">Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)</a> for downplaying the impact on biodiversity and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">carbon sequestration potential</a> of the Nijgad jungle – the last remnant of the once extensive Char Kose Jhari that stretched across the central Tarai.Nepali Times received a copy of the EIA report, and found that it actually <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">copy-pasted from a hydropower project</a> in the mountains. It did not even delete technical references to ‘headwork’ and ‘powerhouse’. It cites Nijgad as being the habitat of the ghoral, an antelope-like mammal found only in the Himalaya.One of the other concerns is noise pollution from heavy jets on the nearby Parsa National Park, but the EIA misses the point. Saying instead that noise will be mitigated by using ‘less dynamite’. Again, this seems to be from an EIA of a hydropower project. The EIA was prepared by the firm GEOCE Consultants, whose area of expertise is hydropower. The EIA also overestimates passenger handling capacity of 60 million per year, lacks environmental and ecological assessment of the proposed ‘aeropolis’, quarry sites, and infrastructure in the construction and operation phases.In its final phase, the airport  would ultimately require 8,046 hectares of which nearly 95% is heavily forested at present. This has led critics to call Nijgad a “<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">logging concession</a>” rather than an international airport project.Destruction of the Nijgad forest could impact on <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465">ground water recharge</a> and river flow, affecting irrigation and agriculture production downstream in the fertile Tarai plains.It would also remove the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423">last remaining wildlife corridor</a> for migration between the Tarai jungles and the Siwalik and Mahabharat ranges to the north.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">Nepal must save Nijgad Forest to receive climate funds</a>, Kashish Das ShresthaSince the project area is a part of the Parsa National Park buffer area and lies in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/">Terai Arc Landscape</a> (TAL), environmentalists say that the EIA should have analysed the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">impact of the project on biodiversity and wildlife</a> much more carefully. A 1994 report by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for the Conservation of Nature</a> (IUCN) showed the Nijgad forest to be ecologically fragile, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/economy-ecology-of-nijgad-airport/">rich in biodiversity and wildlife</a> movement routes.  The forest has Khair, Sissoo, Sal and Satisal trees, some of which  cannot be logged and exported by law according to the revised forest rules of 2001.Hardwood tropical forests with their canopy cover and undergrowth are much <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/">more effective at carbon sequesteration</a>, and experts have calculated that felling the Nijgad jungle would prevent 22,500 tonnes of carbon from being absorbed from the atmosphere annually.Parts of the Nijgad jungle are community forests, or locally protected, and have small seasonal streams and natural drainage systems forming a ‘paini’ network that villagers traditionally use for wells, irrigation and drinking.The EIA does not have a valuation of ‘ecosystem services’ and livelihood benefits for the 37,000 households that depend on the forest for firewood, fodder and water. If the forest is replaced by an airport, it could put further pressure on the nearby national park and other protected areas.The EIA mentions that the government will compensate local communities for loss of livelihood, and initiate a major <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mini-forests-to-make-kathmandu-more-liveable/">reforestation drive</a> to replace the trees. But it does not mention where and how many trees will be planted. Nepal’s record for compensation and replanting in other infrastructure projects is poor. <figure><img width="1361" height="784" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/637218219c7e80680e0baa27jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>CAAN’s Adhikari argues that no development project anywhere in the world comes with zero environmental cost.“The idea is to mitigate the impact and strictly follow  guidelines for replanting trees that are lost,” he says.  But such massive reforestation is an ambitious goal, and difficult with Sal saplings that nurseries find hard to grow. It takes decades to build species diversity and fully functioning forest ecosystems, and they still cannot replace native forests. Environmentalists say the EIA also does not look at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/15-points-for-and-against-nijgad-airport/">alternative sites</a> for the airport that would be less damaging.Nepal has increased forest cover in the past years, but sub-tropical and tropical forests are declining even as the country’s carbon footprint grows. At COP26 in Glasgow last year, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba set a target for Nepal to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-can-up-forest-cover-to-45-by-2030/">increase its forest area to 45% by 2030</a>, and opponents of the project say Nijgad would be a step backward.The Nijgad EIA was submitted in March 2018, and hurriedly approved within two months by the Ministry of Forests and Environment. Critics say it is wrong for both the presenter of the EIA and the approver being government agencies. In fact, the last sentence of the EIA even says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/zurich-airport-international-opts-out-of-nepal-project/">Prime Minister K P Oli  backed the project</a> and wanted it to be started ‘ASAP’.“We have to look at 20 years from now,” says Adhikari of CAAN. “There is going to be big tourism growth, Nepalis will be traveling more, and we will have outgrown Kathmandu, Pokhara and Bhairawa. Nepal needs a primary international airport in the coming decades.” Even before the EIA approval, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation had already contracted the Nepal Army to start clearing trees at the Nijgad site. At present 60% of land acquisition has been completed, tree felling has begun, and work has started on civil works and river training.Politically motivated environmental assessments are common in developing countries like Nepal, and opponents say the Nijgad EIA is one such.  Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">Megalomania + Kleptomania</a>, Editorial

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Building Nijgad, come what may

<figure><img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12239c7e80680e0a98bejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Chitlang, Makwanpur. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba announced at COP26 last week that Nepal would increase forest cover to 45% of its area by 2030 when he along with the leaders of 124 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use pledging to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation.Presently just over 37% of Nepal's area is covered in forest, and the country's successful track record in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/will-nepal-ever-be-paid-for-saving-trees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reversing deforestation and championing community-based forestry</a> makes this an area where Nepal can leverage its past experience to achieve the new target in the next nine years.Killian Dumont and Rastraraj Bhandari spoke with Giri Raj Panta, a Forest Officer at the Sub-division Forest Office in Bardaghat, Nawalparasi West, about the opportunities, needs and challenges of forest conservation and water management in Nepal in light of the new targets.Nepali Times: How did your career in community forestry begin?  <figure><img width="300" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12269c7e80680e0a98bfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Giri Raj Panta: I grew up on a farm surrounded by trees and nature, and as I got older I was exposed to the movement for community forestry in Nepal. This inspired me to get into natural resource management as a career.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-now-owns-nepals-forests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community forestry</a> was just beginning when I was a young civil servant. I was initially stationed in Gulmi district, and my job was to just plant trees. Soon, I was sent to lead the forest department in the adjoining district of Baglung after their forest ranger was ousted for being corrupt.The working environment there was very hostile, and to address this issue, I worked extensively with the local stakeholders, developed user groups to listen to the needs of the villagers, and started distributing seedlings for free. This was a need-based, people-centric development model that ran counter to the more traditional forest-centric development in Nepal. But it was the right path forward for community forestry.Over the course of my career, I have helped <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/catching-children-young-in-green-schools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">plant thousands of tree saplings</a>, and I’m proud to see that these seedlings have now grown into lush forests across the country. That’s what I love about forests and this work. It is fascinating how quickly the trees you planted with your own hands grow into vast forests which will live for hundreds of years.What was the key to Nepal’s success in community forestry?When I first started out, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/taking-away-forests-from-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">community forestry</a> had a lot of support from international development partners and included a participatory and bottom-up approach by the local people crucial for those relying on forests for their livelihood.At that time, some deforestation was inevitable because many people relied on trees for fuel and income. But times have changed, and alternative fuel sources are available at cheaper prices now. Society relies more on electricity than firewood, and the government has also come up with stronger policies to regulate timber.Collaborative forest management approaches like forest watchers, fencing, rotational grazing and awareness campaigns are efficient, while <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">migration from rural to urban areas has eased pressure on Nepal’s forests</a>. The pledge by Prime Minister Deuba at COP26 is very promising, and we need to adopt an integrated approach for sustainable forest management. <figure><img width="426" height="320" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12289c7e80680e0a98c0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Tree samplings in Bardghat, Nepa.</figcaption></figure>What are some of the second generation problems community forestry is facing in Nepal now?Deforestation is declining and there is now a clear vision for what we must do to protect our forests. But there are still improvements to be made. The bureaucratic process, for example, is difficult to understand, slow and complicated.In the past, the Division Forest Office controlled monitoring and accountability, but now it is in the hands of the courts which involves more actors and allows for corruption. Moreover, the courts sometimes interpret forest laws differently, and the confusion on whether forestry or criminal law should take precedence opens a major loophole for those who wish to exploit our natural resources unsustainably.Similarly, policies are not well-designed to manage privately owned forests. Not all clauses in the regulations are equally implemented in all regions. And there is no assurance that policies are implemented in the way they were designed. Too many rules and regulations can be confusing and contradictory.What can we do to resolve these issues and meet the 2030 target?We can start by creating a clear roadmap that lays out the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. We need to streamline the legal process for holding <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17226#.YYohQ2BByUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">illegal fellers and timber poachers</a> accountable. The current process is cumbersome, costly and unreliable.As for privately owned forest, what we need for the owners is incentive, not just command and control. I hope that the target to achieve the 45% forest cover also includes privately owned forests in Nepal.In addition, it is also important to operationalise and liquidate forestry credit, and explore innovative performance-based financial products. This way, we can establish financial incentives to protect the forests and meet the target set at Glasgow.In March 2021, the Government of Nepal and the World Bank signed the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement for the Emission Reductions Program in the Tarai Arc Landscape which is a good example in this context. <figure><img width="480" height="361" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016110/636d12299c7e80680e0a98c1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Forestry Training Program conducted in Nawalparasi district. </figcaption></figure>Forestry is linked to water security in Nepal. What kind of approach do we need to reduce the impact of climate crisis?Forestry, watershed management, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodiversity conservation</a> are all interlinked in a delicate ecosystem. Deforestation leads to soil erosion, which leads to increased dangers of landslides and floods. Ponds and rivers are the lifeblood of forests, and the roots of trees -- including soil-binder species such as shrubs, ground flora -- prevent the rivers from carrying away the soil.When trees die out, there is a decline in water sources. This is because forests help recharge springs, which in turn provide drinking water for wildlife and humans. The effects are visible even in weather patterns and seasonal droughts.Though there is a growing understanding of the need for an integrated approach to forest management and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/women-and-water/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water security in Nepal</a>, the process remains ad-hoc. We need a more institutionalised approach to bringing these two crucial conservation goals together, as one cannot be achieved without the other. The forestry target pledged at COP26 is an opportunity look at these two issues carefully and take joint action.

Nepal can up forest cover to 45% by 2030

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Reviving Nepal's community forestry success story

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Nepal can up forest cover to 45% by 2030