Posted on November, 15 2017

The Hariyo Ban Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is implemented by a consortium of four partners: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), and the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN). This report covers the first phase of the Program which ran from August 2011 to December 2016 and aimed to reduce adverse impacts of climate change and threats to biodiversity in Nepal. Phase I had three core interwoven components – biodiversity conservation, sustainable landscapes and climate change adaptation, with livelihoods, governance, and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) as cross cutting themes. It operated in two landscapes: the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) and Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL). It works closely with a wide range of stakeholders and beneficiaries at different levels including Government; local communities and community based organizations; non-government organizations (NGOs); academia; other projects; and the private sector. During the first phase of Hariyo Ban, CHAL (covering the Gandaki river basin) was formally recognized by the Government of Nepal (GoN) as a new landscape in the country and prioritized for conservation. Hariyo Ban supported the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) to prepare a Strategy and Action Plan for the landscape taking a river basin approach. It also supported the preparation of the next TAL ten-year Strategy and Action Plan. Together these landscapes cover over five million hectares of biodiverse area. Both Strategies mainstream climate adaptation. They now guide Hariyo Ban’s work as it collaborates with GoN, communities and other stakeholders to help implement them, with a major focus on protected areas, corridors, biodiversity important areas, critical subwatersheds, and areas with high climate vulnerability.