Presentation And Proceedings
Forest carbon assessment in community managed forest in the Nepal himalayas: Strengthening local communities to monitor carbon stocks under REDD+ initiatives
This research article presents the learnings of the REDD+ pilot project “Design and setting up of a governance and payment system for Nepal’s Community Forest Management under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” implemented by ANSAB, ICIMOD and FECOFUN with the funding of NORAD in three watersheds of Nepal. Community-based forest management in Nepal has effectively enhanced biomass stock and carbon sequestration, and thus could be a good contributor to a REDD+ program. Strengthening communities to own and monitor carbon stocks could provide a rapid and cost-effective way of estimating carbon dioxide emissions and contributing to local livelihoods and forest biodiversity conservation. The grouping of scattered community forests into a single unit, institutionalized community carbon registration and monitoring, and locally-based approach in monitoring may in fact provide a good way of addressing some of the social issues that have been raised in connection with the implementation of REDD+.