|
|
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is a global initiative developed as part of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
. REDD+ aims to contribute to mitigating climate change by compensating developing countries for the cost of reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the forest sector. REDD+ National Strategies or Action Plans (NS/APs) can reduce GHG emissions by lowering the rate of deforestation and forest degradation (D&FD) and/or removing GHG from the atmosphere through ‘forest enhancement’ activities (the ‘+’ of REDD+)1, for example, by establishing plantations (reforestation and afforestation) and restoring degraded forest landscapes
Read More
|
|
|
Richards, M.; Bhattarai, N.; Karky, B.; Hicks, C.; Ravilious, C.; Timalsina, N.; Phan, G.; Swan, S.; Vickers, B.; Windhorst, K.; Roy, R.
This manual has been prepared for facilitators working with planners and multiple stakeholders in the development of sub-national plans for Reduced Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)
. It is based on idea that subnational REDD+ planning is essential for operationalising a REDD+ National Strategy. The manual is based on pilot Sub-national REDD+ Action Plan (SRAP) experiences in Vietnam and Nepal over the period 2014-2016. It is written in a prescriptive style, but the methodology is generic and can be adapted to the country context and requirements
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
Humla, situated in the north-western corner of Nepal on the border with China, is one of the poorest and least developed districts of Nepal
. Constraints are imposed by low agricultural productivity in mountainous terrain under harsh climatic conditions. Food subsidies and other forms of external support have created a state of dependency, stifling local initiative and reducing reliance on local resources. Development efforts were hampered until recently by the Maoist insurgency. It was under such conditions that "Humla Development Initiatives" was formed to identify problems by conducting a needs assessment and work out solutions in close cooperation with local communities. Introducing improved water mills, promoting local food to substitute for subsidized rice, and cultivating nontimber forest products (NTFPs) on marginal farmland are some of the activities recently carried out to increase food security while reducing dependency on external support. Future activities include the establishment of community-based monitoring systems and cooperatives as the basis for the sustainability of the programme as well as for transferring ownership to the villagers
Read More
|
|
|
The study was carried out in Annapurna Quarry Private Limited in Dhading district in the Central Development Region of Nepal
. The study focuses on carrying out comprehensive environmental audit with reference to forests resources. It was observed that the quarry has positive as well as negative impact on the forest resources. It is also realized that there is a lack of professionalism in the EIA practices
Read More
|
|
|
Nepal is the home of 59 indigenous nationalities distributed in four physiographic regions of Nepal viz
. mountain (himalaya), hilly, inner terai and terai. Among them, the Lapcha people live in the Hilly region of Eastern Nepal in the Ilam district. On March 31, 2004, Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) has classified indigenous nationalities into five major categories i.e. endangered, highly marginalized, marginalized, disadvantaged and advanced group/s. Accordingly, Lapcha community is the endangered one. The total population of the community is 2589 (53 percent male and 47 percent female) distributed over 15 VDCs. They are rich in biodiversity although they are economically poor. Their indigenous knowledge over natural resources is remarkable. The Lapcha of Ilam district prefers to call themselves Lapcha rather than Lepcha as has been customary in Nepal. Such information is incorporated in chapter one as the introduction.
Chapter two explains study area, methods of the data collection. The study was carried out in three VDCs of Ilam district namely, Shree Antu, Kolbong and Fikkal. They cover 33 percent of the total 499 households. The major objective of the study is to document indigenous knowledge on biodiversity of Lapcha community and further to make them aware of their knowledge and encourages them to preserve it for future generation and the humanity at large. Moreover, it also seeks to capacity building of Lapcha people through local research. Social research methods especially participant observation, semi-structure interview, focus group discussion and so on have been adopted for field study. Findings of the study were subjected to verify the information with local research partner/s as well as with key informant/s through a repeat visit.
The chapter three describes the findings of the study. The study documented indigenous foods items; they included: 12 species of wild edible foods (Giththa, Bhyakur, Tarul); 11 species of unconventional food grains (Kaguni, Sama, Ghaiya, Junelo, Tite Fapar etc); 17 species of wild vegetables (Patle Sisnu, Rani Sag, Kali Nigro, Tite karela etc.); and 11 species of mushroom (Chyau) have been documented (Gobre, Jhhari, Bagale etc.). A list of scientific name and rong name (Lapcha language) with English name of plants has been provided in Annex four. In addition, 50 varieties of medicinal plant species have been recorded for 14 diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery, rheumatic pain, jaundice and so on. In the same way, indigenous knowledge in agriculture and livestock and in making natural dye has also been documented. Further, Lapcha people believed that they originated together with Choya Bans (Bamboo) on this earth. Seven different species of Bamboo have been documented, which are directly linked with Lapcha s livelihood and culture. Lapcha people make use of bird s behavior such as singing and calling to interpret nature and environment. They even alter their agricultural practices with reference to bird s singing and calling. They take it as a good or bad omen as per specific sound and its timing. Ten bird species have been recorded in this matter. Six case studies are presented to elucidate specific indigenous knowledge.
The chapter four draws the conclusions and prescribes recommendations of the study. It is concluded that degradation of forests and practice of monoculture such as tea plantation accelerated in disappearing the indigenous foods items and medicinal plants. Chemical used for fertilizer, insecticide and pesticide further enhanced the same trends. Therefore, existing forest should be preserved to make enriched and revived the biodiversity. Likewise, organic farming has to be mandatory in the farming system.
Indigenous knowledge can be converted into monitory benefits by establishing their intellectual property rights (IPR) in the long run. Documentation of these knowledge plays crucial role in this regards as Nepal has already entered into the WTO treaty. Therefore, it is recommended that this useful knowledge should be further researched and tested scientifically, which will be useful to all human beings in days to come. Finally, Lapcha community will be able to establish patent rights over their knowledge. This will definitely bring economic benefits to the community and the entire nation in future.
Indigenous nationalities have to be made self-aware of their precious assets that have been passed down from generations. For this, local indigenous nationalities institution i.e. Rong Sejum Thi (Lapcah Uththan Manch) should play definitive role to create awareness among all Lapcha community. In addition, institutions working to uplift Nepalese indigenous nationalities like Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) and other agencies should develop strategies to work through concerned indigenous institution in these regards
Read More
|
|
|
The study was carried out in three selected development project sites i
.e. Chilime Hydroelectric Project in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, East Rapti Irrigation Project in Chitwan district and Annapurna Quarry Private Limited in Dhading district. All of them lie in the Central Development Region of Nepal.
The study focuses on carrying out comprehensive environmental audit of forest resources of selected three development projects and on assessing effectiveness of mitigation measures adopted, which are prescribed in EIA reports for improving social, economic and environmental conditions of the communities with reference to forests resources.
It was observed during the field visits that the development projects have somehow negative impact on the forest resources during the project implementation phase. The account of these negative impacts on forest resources is must to restore the in-situ conservation. The documentation has been carried out yet, it is insufficient to clearly carry out mitigation and compensatory measures in future.
Besides, it was observed that the proponents do not follow periodic reporting of mitigation measures prescribed in the EIA reports to the concerned government authorities i.e. District Forest Office, District Soil Conservation Office and National Parks. In addition, these government offices have also been less than serious in this regard. Consequently, the restoration of forest resources remains in dilemma. Every activity rendering the restoration of forest resources must be documented properly during the project implementation phase at field level. This will help environmental auditing more efficient and simple. In addition, available documents are also not properly organized. Therefore, the available documents need to be properly recorded for future consultation. Moreover, there is no regular coordination and communication between/among the concerned stakeholders of the project.
Although compensatory plantations comply with the prescription of mitigation measures, it does fail at implementation stage. This could happen in other development projects as well. Therefore, before compensatory plantation, there should be proper technical assessment on where, how, and when the compensatory plantation to be carried out and what needs to be given the preference as per the site condition and local people's demand and/or desire. In this matter, concerned DFO should take initiation with healthy consultation with Proponent and local people. In addition, the proponent should not ignore the DFO.
Any development project open up the market for employment opportunities. The three projects studied, employed the local people as per their knowledge and skills. This certainly enhances the socio-economic condition of the local people. It also helps to conserve the forest resources because; they are well aware of their local environment and forest resources. It is easy to convince them for conserving the local forest resources. Hence, the proponent should encourage employing the local people for the shake of conserving forest resources.
Although this study does not aim at this topic, I realized that there is lack of professionalism in the EIA practices. Anyone, without proper academic background, has been doing EIA as a consultant. This will not be useful for conserving local as well as national environment in the long run. As I perceive, this would be serious dilemma in days to come.
Read More
|
|
|
The ongoing debate on land and forest rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh adds to the growing empirical evidence of the intrinsic linkage between livelihoods, natural resources, and conflicts in mountain areas
. The unfortunate history of conflict, its outcome, and the decades of suffering borne by the indigenous people of this region in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas remain largely undocumented. This discussion paper provides a sharp focus on the competing claims on and differentiated interpretations of land and forest rights in the area. The paper provides a historical perspective of the fallout of armed conflict on people and natural resources, and moves to capture the opportunities made available by the peace accord of 1997 and the implications for competing interests related to livelihood-based resources that are manifested in the region in conflicts over land and forest rights. The author concludes that a comprehensive policy related to land and natural resources is imperative to ensure equitable and environmentally sound resource use practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Read More
|
|
|
The ongoing debate on land and forest rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh adds to the growing empirical evidence of the intrinsic linkage between livelihoods, natural resources, and conflicts in mountain areas
. The unfortunate history of conflict, its outcome, and the decades of suffering borne by the indigenous people of this region in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas remain largely undocumented. This discussion paper provides a sharp focus on the competing claims on and differentiated interpretations of land and forest rights in the area. The paper provides a historical perspective of the fallout of armed conflict on people and natural resources, and moves to capture the opportunities made available by the peace accord of 1997 and the implications for competing interests related to livelihood-based resources that are manifested in the region in conflicts over land and forest rights. The author concludes that a comprehensive policy related to land and natural resources is imperative to ensure equitable and environmentally sound resource use practices in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
Read More
|
|
|
Safa Tempos (Electrical Vehicles-EVs) have existed as a new phenomenon influencing the Kathmandu Valley in reducing the air pollution considerably
. Besides, the movement can be taken as a concrete initiative advanced as a campaign against air pollution in a way that was never done before. They are environmental friendly and the only operating vehicles having zero emission. The success story of Safa Tempo as we see today is _x0018_ by default and not by design_x0019_. The objective of the study is to examine the social dynamics on launching Safa Tempo in the Kathmandu Valley on the basis of the Cultural Theory. In the theory, the social actors who are involved in supporting, opposing, questioning and controlling on launching Safa Tempo in the Kathmandu Valley can be categorized into four groups: Individualist, Egalitarian, Hierarchic and Fatalist. It is clearly seen that the stand of the social actors are dynamics as they change their position according to the pressure from without
Read More
|
email alert
or subscribe to the 
RSS feed.
