Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies in Nepal’s Forest Sector: How Can Rural Communities Benefit?

This paper outlines options for rural communities to participate in climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in the forest sector in Nepal.

We look at the various institutional barriers that would need to be overcome, as well as the existing institutional opportunities, particularly in relation to tenure rights. The principle findings are threefold: 1. if rural communities in Nepal are going to benefit from climate change mitigation or adaptation activities in the forest sector, then improvements in forest sector governance will be necessary;

 2. there is still little documented evidence in Nepal of how mitigation or adaptation schemes could work in practice: the generation and documentation of practical experiences is a priority for informing the developing policy framework at the national and international levels;

3. if our primary concern is with “pro-poor” mitigation and adaptation, such that the livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged groups are improved, then we cannot allow our focus to concentrate on mitigation at the expense of neglecting adaptation.

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