Program Summary

This program supports an integrated forest landscape management approach to: 1) help shift the forest sector from conservation and subsistence towards conservation and sustainable use; and 2) manage land use dynamics impacting and benefiting from forests, with the objective of increasing socio-economic benefits, protecting ecosystem services, and becoming more climate resilient.

Challenge

Despite forests covering 44% of Nepal’s land area, forest productivity remains much lower than its potential. While the Government of Nepal (GoN) has committed to the global environment agenda and aims to economically spur the country to become a middle-income country by 2044, it has encountered challenges with addressing the key direct and indirect drivers of degradation to its natural capital. This trend has been further exaggerated during the federalization process that started in 2015. This process resulted in roles and responsibilities for natural resources management being concurrent across the three levels of government, which has led to conflicting or lack of management decisions on natural resources. Collaboration across sector entities has been limited and coordination among development partner activities in the forest/natural resources space could be further improved.

Approach

PROGREEN activities will contribute towards existing sustainable natural resource management efforts, help clarify roles and responsibilities across government tiers, and foster collaboration among sector entities and development partners with the overarching goal to sustain Nepal’s forests. The program will establish a national-level forum to deepen knowledge and build multi-sector engagement and participation of relevant stakeholders. The program is in line with development objectives and activities of the GoN and the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework and provides concrete opportunities for a strategic collaboration with development partners, including FAO, GIZ and the European Commission.

[Expected] Results

The proposed forest landscape engagement in Nepal will address all PROGREEN pillars and cross-cutting themes, and contribute to the following overall program outcomes over five years:

• Area of targeted landscapes under sustainable use (ha, desegregated by land use)    
• Key infrastructure climate-resilient (number by infrastructure type)
• Area of degraded land restored and managed (ha)
• GHG emissions reduced (tons of CO2 equivalent)