Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different sources are the main cause of global warming. Deforestation and forest degradation are major sources of GHG. Nepal ranks eleventh in the world for GHG emissions from deforestation and other land uses (World Resources Institute, 2008). Forest and grassland conversion alone are estimated to represent 80% of national carbon emissions in Nepal (Initial National Communications Report 2004).

REDD+ stands for 'reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation' and carbon sequestration through conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. REDD+ is an important part of international policies to address climate change, maintaining biodiversity and improving the livelihoods of local communities. Recent developments in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) indicate that REDD+ presents an opportunity to promote forest conservation and sustainable landscapes, and enhance the well-being of forest-dependent communities in Nepal. It is a mechanism that provides an incentive to developing countries for protecting and using their forests wisely by paying them for carbon offsets.

The Hariyo Ban Program will support the Government of Nepal in developing national policies and strategies for REDD+ Readiness. It will initiate capacity building on GHG emission monitoring, and identify and address drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. It will support piloting of payments for ecosystem services (PES) mechanisms in REDD+ and other ecosystem services. Feasibility assessments will be carried out on PES and promising mechanisms will be tested and replicated. The Hariyo Ban Program will support developing a new biogas Verified Emission Reduction (VER) project in TAL using Gold Standard methodology to generate payments from carbon credits. National and local stakeholder consultations will be sought to discuss on carbon revenue generation in the near future.

Climate change is advancing more rapidly in the high Himalayas than in many other parts of the world, affecting both people and natural systems (Synthesis Report, IPCC, 2007). Climate-induced hazards that are expected to increase in the future include more erratic rainfall, flash flooding, drought, forest fire, and landslides. Nepal is more vulnerable than many countries to climate change because of factors such as high poverty and low adaptive capacity. If action is not taken now to build resilience and adaptive capacity, climate impacts are likely to be greatly exacerbated in the future.

Limited capacity and weak economy create great challenges to adapt to climate change. Human vulnerability to climate change is linked with poverty, exclusion, reliance on rain-fed agriculture, lack of basic services and limited alternative livelihoods. It is also linked with social inequalities, limited access to information, and exclusion from key decision-making process. Ecosystems and individual species are also vulnerable, and in Nepal this is likely to be exacerbated by rapidly rising temperatures and non-climate pressures. Adaptation is now recognized as an essential part of the global response to climate change. Development actors are increasingly promoting a community based approach that recognizes the unique risks faced by poor and marginalized people, and an ecosystem based approach that has evolved to use biodiversity and ecosystem services as a part of an overall adaptation strategy to help vulnerable people to adapt. CARE and WWF have been pioneering an integrated approach that combines both ecosystem- and community-based approaches to adaptation, and this is being piloted by the Hariyo Ban Program.

The Hariyo Ban Program will enable better understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation priorities for people, ecosystems and species; develop processes for community led adaptation that are rooted in local institutions; identify equitable, inclusive and cost effective actions for integrated adaptation approaches; and explore how best to link with bottom up and top down adaptation efforts in line with Nepal’s National Adaptation Plan for Action (NAPA) and Local Adaptation Plan for Action (LAPA).

Approximately half of Nepal’s population of 28 million people is female (Central Bureau of Statistics Nepal, 2010). A strongly patriarchal culture adversely affects women’s position in society. Yet many rural women need forest resources for the wellbeing and livelihoods of their families. In addition, Nepal's poorest and most disadvantaged people depend heavily on forest resources or rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. Inequitable distribution of rights, resources and power, and repressive cultural rules and norms constrain women, poor, Dalit, marginalized Janajatis and youth from fully engaging in and benefitting from natural resource management and climate adaptation.

In light of this, the Hariyo Ban Program has gender and social inclusion (GESI) as a key cross-cutting programmatic approach, helping empower both women and men to challenge and change deeply rooted inequalities and improve the policy environment. Systematic efforts will enhance the capacity of women and socially excluded groups in taking leadership to claim their rights to productive resources and services. This will help ensure their meaningful participation as power agents in sustaining conservation and climate change adaptation together with strengthening equitable benefit sharing mechanisms.

The Hariyo Ban Program’s three cross-cutting themes - Gender and Social Inclusion, Livelihood Improvement, and Governance - will ensure that the program focuses on poor and marginalized groups including women, Dalits, and Janajatis. The cross-cutting themes will contribute to addressing two prominent agendas of Nepal-in-transition: poverty alleviation and social justice.

The Hariyo Ban Program’s livelihoods approach is an essential and intrinsic cross-cutting element in all three thematic components (biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation/payments for ecosystem services and climate adaptation). The economic empowerment of poor and excluded people is vital to increase their power and participation in local governance institutions. It also increases their resilience to climate variability and climate change by building their capital and capacity to better withstand shocks. Hariyo Ban’s interventions in gender and social inclusion issues and improved governance of natural resource management groups will create a conducive environment for livelihood improvement activities.

The Hariyo Ban program will follow the Livelihood Improvement Planning (LIP) approach to promote forest-based small enterprises and allocation of community forest land to poor and marginalized people for non-timber forest product (NTFP) cultivation. In addition, ecotourism, piloting of an innovative payment scheme for wildlife presence in community-managed forests, and activities that build climate resilience such as community seed banks, rain-water harvesting and drip irrigation will also be supported to increase food security and reduce disaster risk. Where appropriate, the Hariyo Ban Program will work closely with the private sector, promoting sustainable activities in the two landscapes that contribute to the local economy and livelihood development.

The Hariyo Ban Program’s three cross-cutting themes - Gender and Social Inclusion, Livelihood Improvement, and Governance - will ensure that the program focuses on poor and marginalized groups including women, Dalits, and Janajatis. The cross-cutting themes will contribute to addressing two prominent agendas of Nepal-in-transition: poverty alleviation and social justice.

Strengthening internal governance of Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups and their networks is critically important, to enhance their role as custodians of natural resources and ensure equitable benefit sharing amongst the group members, particularly the most marginalized. The practice of good governance is also important in making the accountability of government line agencies (public authorities) more effective. Hariyo Ban sees the process of improving governance of both NRM groups and government line agencies as a state-citizen interface that promotes democratic practices.

Participatory Governance Assessment (PGA), Community Learning and Action Centers (CLACs), Participatory Well Being Ranking (PWBR), and Public Hearing and Public Auditing (PHPA) are a few of the planned activities the Hariyo Ban Program will undertake to strengthen governance of NRM groups and government line agencies. It will also support NRM groups to enhance their organizational capacity by providing training on group management and leadership, financial management and record keeping, and gender and social inclusion. It will facilitate coordination and interaction with district-level government line agencies.

The Hariyo Ban Program’s three cross-cutting themes - Gender and Social Inclusion, Livelihood Improvement, and Governance - will ensure that the program focuses on poor and marginalized groups including women, Dalits, and Janajatis. The cross-cutting themes will contribute to addressing two prominent agendas of Nepal-in-transition: poverty alleviation and social justice.