ANSAB presents in the ASEIC Global Innovation Forum

Sudarshan Khanal, ANSAB’s Research, Planning and Communication Manager presented on the enterprise-oriented community-based natural resource management approach for inclusive and sustainable rural development in the Global Innovation Forum organized by the ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Center (ASEIC) in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 4-5 September 2018.

While a great deal of effort has been taken in the past, both in terms of environmental conservation and rural development, the results are far from satisfactory towards addressing rural poverty among the natural resource dependent people, inclusiveness in participation, including women and marginalized groups, fairness in the distribution of benefits and burdens, and effectiveness in providing sustainable resource management. The innovative enterprise-oriented, community-based resource management and value chain development approach developed by ANSAB and implemented in Nepal and some other parts of South Asia gives special emphasis on ecological sustainability, social justice and equity, and economic efficiency, and has been designed and applied in a range of natural products including handmade paper, briquette, essential oils and a variety of other natural products. With program interventions in these sectors, esp. through community empowerment and capacity building, creation of economic incentives with inclusive growth strategy and provision of appropriate tools for sustainable management of ecosystems, facilitation for enabling environment, there are positive conservation and economic impacts at community level. For example, 1,181 economic entities were developed and strengthened by 2018, that involved 84,553 economic participants generating US $7.31 million revenue in a year. Similarly, 12,700 hectares of forest and meadow areas are brought under the improved community management. It suggests that the enterprise-oriented community-based conservation approach can be viable with proof of the community level farm and forest enterprises contributing more to local economies, diversifying income streams and generating multiple social benefits.

The 2018 ASEIC Global Innovation Forum on “Strengthening SME Eco-Innovation for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”, brought together 35 international experts, policymakers and researchers from Asia and Europe, and discussed on the strategies to strengthen eco-innovation in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector for inclusive and sustainable growth.