Nepal’s draft National REDD+ Strategy was translated into Nepali with UNREDD Programme support, and is now ready for wide dissemination among stakeholders. A financial assessment was carried out of the policies and measures proposed in Nepal’s strategy and an implementation plan for the strategy was developed. The UN-REDD Programme supported the finalization and submission of Nepal’s first FRL, the revision of the FRL through the technical assessment process under the UNFCCC and a regional South-South experience-sharing event, hosted by Nepal, for countries undergoing the FRL technical assistance process. The Programme also supported the development of a REDD+ training module that was delivered to stakeholders through two events to promote understanding and engagement.

REDD+ IMPLEMENTATION

UN-REDD Programme technical support also facilitated the implementation of a subnational REDD+ planning process in Chitwan district, and the replication of the planning process in Ilam district, as part of a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral approach to REDD+ strategy implementation.

GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

A total of 39 forestry professionals participated in the two REDD+ training events to test the newly drafted REDD+ training manual. Out of the 39 participants, 16 were female (41 per cent) forestry professionals from the Federation of Community Forestry Users (FECOFUN), the Himalayan Grassroots Women’s Natural Resource Management Association (HIMAWANTI), the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), the Rural Development Foundation (RDF), the Community-based Forestry Supporters’ Network (COFSON) and the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC). All of them contributed to the training manual’s elaboration and finalization. The implementation of Chitwan’s district REDD+ action plan involved the design of five-year business plans for four agroforestry cooperatives with a total of 1,048 individual members, of whom 51 per cent are women. In one cooperative indigenous peoples comprise the majority of members. The Ilam district REDD+ action plan design process involved 30 stakeholders, including 8 women. All processes involved representatives of civil society organizations and Dalits.

PARTNERSHIPS

Nepal’s REDD Implementation Centre is guiding the coordination of all REDD+ actions and funding sources in the country. This includes the UN-REDD Programme, a FCPF readiness grant and FCPF Carbon Fund and Forest Investment Programme (FIP) proposals. All funding sources are contributing to the implementation of Nepal’s National REDD+ Strategy.

(Update Annual Report 2017)