Assessment of carbon stock in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape for REDD+

Starting Date: February 2013
Ending Date: July 2014
Location: Nepal
Donor(s): USAID/ Hariyo Ban
Implementation Partner(s): ICIMOD and UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use

WWF Nepal with other partners, under the funding support from USAID, is implementing Hariyo Ban Program in the landscape. One of the objectives of the program was to build the structures, capacity and operations necessary for an effective sustainable landscape management, especially reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) readiness. To achieve the objective, WWF Nepal is working to establish the baseline for REDD+ initiatives in CHAL and ANSAB supported WWF Nepal in conducting detailed forest carbon assessment in CHAL.

The main objectives of the “Assessment of Carbon Stock in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape for REDD⁺” was to incorporate the following comprehensive study in CHAL landscape area: assessing carbon sequestration potentials, carbon capture, permanency, leakage and risks from the forest coverage in the Chitwan Annapurna Landscape which aims to initiate REDD Readiness activities for the benefit of communities and conservation.

The specific objectives were:

• Develop a sampling modality and methodology for quantifying net change in carbon stocks based on the work done in Sacred Himalayan Landscape (SHL).
• Conduct surveys and establish baselines of the forest coverage of CHAL and identify gaps.
• Assess carbon sequestration potentials, carbon capture, permanency, leakage, risks and degradation of the forests in CHAL.
• Capacitate local communities and academia on forest carbon inventory.