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| National Assessment Report on SD 2002 |
World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10)
National Assessment Report 2002
Nepal
Introduction
Nepal is endowed with rich natural and cultural diversity. The country spans tropical plains in the South to the Himalayas in the North, within less than 200 km. This tremendous variation in altitude within a relatively short distance is what gives the country its varied ecological zones and the range of biological and cultural habitats it enjoys. The inhabitants comprise a mosaic of ethnic groups speaking more than 60 languages. Nepal is landlocked and lies between 80? 4'- 88? 12' East longitude and 26? 22'- 30? 27' North latitude with a total area of 147,181 sq. km.
The land resource mapping of the country has revealed that cultivated land covers about 20 percent of the total land, forest 29 percent grassland covers 12 percent, shrub lands 11 percent, and other categories like rocks, snow lands and settlements made up the rest. The country is broadly divided into the terai, hills and mountains covering 23 percent, 42 percent and 35 percent of the total area respectively. Of the total population of 23.15 million, 48.4 percent live in the terai, 44.3 percent in the middle hills and 7.3 percent in the high mountains. Such a geographical setting of the country brings both complexity and opportunity for natural resource management and sustainable development
Nepal covers 0.1percent of the world's land area but has high representation of biotic diversity. It claims 9.3 percent of bird, 4.5 percent of mammal, 2.6 percent of butterfly, 1.0 percent of fish and over 2.0 percent of the flowering plant species of the world. This richness of species can be attributed to the immense physical and climatic variation of the land.
With a population growth rate of 2.24 percent per annum, and a corresponding doubling rate of 31 years, Nepal's environmental resources are facing tremendous pressure. Economic growth has long been emphasized as the core element of Nepal's development strategy. Despite substantial efforts to build development infrastructure to stimulate economic growth, the country is still engulfed in a vicious cycle of poverty, underdevelopment and environmental degradation. Nepal is one of the least developed countries where 38 percent of the population is below the poverty line. The Nepalese economy is dualistic with a relatively modern non-agricultural sector and a largely subsistence-based agricultural sector. The pre-dominant traditional sector is characterized by a subsistence agrarian regime, high under employment (47 percent of the total population) and low agricultural productivity. About 86 percent of the population lives in rural areas with many people deprived of the minimum urban amenities necessary to fulfil their basic needs. On the other hand, urban management is becoming more complex and some urban poor are also deprived of basic amenities. The government faces a major challenge to provide an appropriate level of infrastructure to these remote and scattered settlements to support development and reduce poverty. Over 80 percent of the economically active population depends on agriculture for subsistence, which contributes to some 39 percent of its GDP (2000). Although the country has made significant strides in education, health and other social services, particularly within the last decade, the level of human development in Nepal remains among the lowest in the world.
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This report is prepared in line with the Earth Council Guidelines for the National Assessment. It reviews the progress and achievements in Nepal in the implementation of Agenda 21 since 1992. It identifies the main constraints encountered in implementing sustainable development strategies, and ensures forward-looking approaches to promote sustainable development in the country beyond the Johannesburg Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The methodology for national assessment is outlined below: 1.1 Methodology for National Assessment
Government of Nepal constituted the National Preparatory Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Population and Environment. The Preparatory Committee comprises of representatives of various ministries, civil society, private sector and local bodies including the major groups identified in the Agenda 21. The National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) have conducted regional and national consultative meetings and national workshops/forums for wider public participation with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal Programme, and Earth Council. The outcomes of regional and national workshops as well as Nepal's contributions during the sub-regional, regional and global Preparatory Committee meetings of WSSD have been used in the preparation of this report.
The National Report of Nepal prepared for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 was a benchmark for assessing Nepal's achievement for implementation of Agenda 21. The draft Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN) and Country Profile for Rio+10 were reviewed through consultative processes and the feedback was incorporated for this national assessment report. The draft SDAN and Country Profile were also shared through websites (www.mope.gov.np, www.scdp.org.np/sdan and www.scdp.org.np/wssd) and other media to solicit public views. The followings are the major stages in the preparation of the national assessment report:
- Formulation of WSSD National Preparatory Committee;
- Formulation of Working Committees and Resource Groups;
- National and Regional Preparatory Workshops;
- Participation in Sub-regional, Regional and Global Preparatory Committee Meetings; and
- National Forum to consolidate the WSSD process.
National Strategy for Sustainable Development
Nepal has not had one single national strategy for sustainable development till quite recently, when it formulated the Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN). However, it has been incorporating aspects of the sustainable development agenda into its planning process in multiple ways. The National Conservation Strategy (NCS), prepared in 1988, represents perhaps the first acknowledgment of the importance of addressing environmental issues alongside development challenges.
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The NCS has four objectives:
- Satisfy the basic material, spiritual and cultural needs of the people, both present and future generations;
- Ensure the sustainable use of land and renewable resources;
- Preserve the biological diversity in order to maintain and improve the variety of yields and the quality of crops and livestock, and to maintain the variety of wild species, both plant and animal; and
- Maintain essential ecological and life-support systems, such as soil regeneration, nutrient recycling and the protection and cleansing of water and air.
After the return of the high level delegation to the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) at Rio de Janeiro, Government of Nepal established the Environmental Protection Council (EPC), under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister in 1992. The EPC brought out the National Environmental Policy and Action Plan (NEPAP) in August 1993 with five main aims at:
- Managing efficiently and sustainably natural and physical resources;
- Balancing development efforts and environmental conservation for sustainable fulfilment of the basic needs of the people;
- Safeguarding national heritage;
- Mitigating the adverse environmental impacts of development projects; and
- Integrating environment and development through appropriate institutions, adequate legislation and economic incentives, and sufficient public resources.
NEPAP focused on the following five areas: sustainable management of natural resources (land, forests and rangeland, and water resources); population, health and sanitation, and poverty alleviation; safeguarding national heritage; mitigating adverse environmental impacts (from urban and industrial development, infrastructure development); and legislation, institutions, education and public awareness. NEPAP was followed up with sectoral action plans on water resources, forestry, and industry in 1998.
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The principles of sustainable development have formally been integrated into Nepal's national planning process, incorporating the spirit of Agenda 21, since the Eighth Plan (1992-1997) and continue through the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) and now on to the Tenth Plan (2002-2007) as well. These principles have since been incorporated in all the major Perspective Plans, Master Plans, Strategies, Acts, Regulations, and guidelines Rules formulated in the country since 1992 in different areas such as forestry, agriculture, water resources, environmental management, and local governance including the protection of rights of women and children. This commitment has also been reflected in a number of international conventions on environmental and human rights issues that Nepal has since been a Party.
The concern over environmental degradation and its close relationship with population resulted in the establishment of the Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) in September 1995. The Ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing policies, plans, and programmes; conducting study, survey, research, training, seminar and conferences; acting as a focal point for national and international organisations and promote coordination; controlling pollution, conserving and balancing the environment; conducting regular and periodic monitoring and evaluation of programmes; and developing human resources in the domain of population and environment. MOPE has been actively working in mainstreaming environmental aspects in socio-economic development plans and programmes.
Government of Nepal initiated a series of national and local level dialogues in 2000/01 on sustainable development in partnership with various organisations including The World Conservation Union (IUCN). This resulted in a review of a number of development sectors in the country incorporating the voices from the grassroots to the national level. During the course of the preparatory process for the WSSD including the formulation of the draft SDAN and preparation of the national assessment report, the government constituted a 20-member National Commission on Sustainable Development (NCSD) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to promote sustainable development and ensure inter-ministerial coordination. The Commission also has representation from civil society and local bodies. MOPE functions as the secretariats of the Environment Protection Council and this Commission. It is worth noting that Nepal is one of the first countries to produce a country report on its Millennium Development Goals.
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Formulation of the draft SDAN has been an important step to promote environmental management and sustainable development in Nepal. SDAN has integrated and articulated the economic, social, and environmental issues in a manner that will foster an improvement in the quality of life of Nepali people together with the ecosystem within which they dwell. SDAN provides practical guidance toward improving and expanding existing policies and strategies so that their impact may be more substantial. The Sustainable Development Agenda strongly calls for effective integration of sustainable development approaches in the planning process with people's participation. The features SDAN encompasses are: participation; building on existing plans and processes; paying clear attention to environmental and development priorities; and approaching the process from a cyclical rather than a linear perspective. The national strategies will:
- Promote environmental governance at the local level,
- Raise awareness on sustainable development issues,
- Enhance wide-ranging participation from government bodies, private sector, academia, media and grassroots organizations, including indigenous people,
- Integrate Local Agenda 21 at the local level in collaboration with local elected bodies to ensure maximum participation of concerned stakeholders,
A central component of Nepal's national strategy is to empower local bodies and user communities to manage themselves their natural resources and certain basic services related to them. Nepal is perhaps unique in the distance it has gone to give responsibility over management to users of forest resources (through community forestry, leasehold forestry, conservation areas, buffer zone, and community development groups for soil and water conservation) and water resources (through farmer-managed irrigation scheme). Communities are increasingly being empowered to invest in, install, and manage their own piped drinking water and energy through micro-hydropower. The government's role is restricted to providing technical support, information, and limited financial resources. A second crucial component of Nepal's strategy is the empowerment of local governments at the district and village level to play a central role in their own sustainable development. The Local Self-Governance Act (1999), which builds on the earlier Decentralization Act (1993), emphasises the local bodies to manage natural resources, and guides them to integrate forests, soil, biodiversity conservation, land use and environmental planning as integral parts of area development.
Government of Nepal accords high importance to women's rights and empowerment both from a human rights perspective and as key to slowing down population growth in the country, both key components of the sustainable development agenda. Government of NepalN ratified the CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) in 1991. The National Plan of Action for implementing the CEDAW is rooted in the government's commitment to protect, promote and fulfil women's human rights as outlined in the CEDAW. Nepal has also ratified the 1995 Beijing Declaration and the Beijing Platform for Action. Following commitment to the Beijing Platform of Action, Government of Nepal has embraced the 12-point agenda addressing the global commitment to the empowerment of women. The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWSW) was established in 1996, and was designated as the national focal point with prime responsibility and mandate to mainstream gender issues and work for the advancement of women in Nepal.
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At the political level, two strategic measures have been instrumental in mainstreaming gender in Nepal: (a) mandatory fielding of 5 percent women candidates by all political parties contesting all the 205 constituencies in the General Elections, and (b) 20 percent reservation for women at the Ward level in local elections. At the community level, it is a requirement of many User Groups that a certain percentage of their members are women, for example, the Government-Managed Conservation Area Regulation 2000 requires 33 percent participation of women in user committees within officially designated Conservation Areas. The Seventh and Eighth Plans of Government of NepalN have recognized and reflected Government of NepalN's commitment, launching various initiatives to address the advancement of women. The Ninth Plan (1997-2002) puts special emphasis on mainstreaming gender in the national development process and underscores the review and revision of existing legislation that explicitly discriminate against women. Population Census 2001 was designed based on the gender disaggregated data. Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme was launched in June 1998 to provide assistance to Government of Nepal in the critical area of mainstreaming gender consideration in national development, working within the framework of the CEDAW and Beijing Platform for Action. The Government has recently formed a National Commission on Women (NCW) with the mandate to advocate on behalf of women; to develop a framework to promote gender equity, protect women's human rights, and build up the capability of rural women; and to further sensitise the state machinery to the welfare of women and prevention of crime against women.
The government has recognized that indigenous communities (61 ethnic groups are identified as such) in Nepal have cultural, religious and spiritual values linked with the land and the conservation of its natural resources. They have a wide range of skills, knowledge, and technology that can play a positive role in the country's sustainable development. Their traditional resource management systems have many lessons for the management of protected areas in the country. The government has established the National Committee on Nationalities (Janajati) Development under the Ministry of Local Development (MLD) for further mainstreaming of indigenous communities into the country's sustainable development process. It has also committed itself to providing scholarships to school level students from indigenous communities, increasing the numbers of schools and health posts within indigenous communities, and giving priority to increasing access of students from these communities to higher education and technical training. Government of NepalN has set up the Remote Area Development Committee (RADC), under the Ministry of Local Development, to address the problems of the most remote and inaccessible districts along the country's Northern border.
Government of Nepal is committed to maintaining diversity and plurality in its approaches to sustainable development. Indigenous communities provide cultural diversity, which is not only valuable in itself but can also form the basis of alternative development approaches. One example is the initiative of the ethnic Gurung community in the village of Sirubari in Syangja district to organise themselves to promote "Village Tourism" together with cultural conservation. In this model, the economic benefits from tourism are shared among the villagers by having visitors stay in people's homes and local people supplying produce and providing guides and portering services. Sirubari has developed marketing tools where cultural values are promoted for sustenance of village tourism.
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The government is concerned about the very low social and economic status of certain segments of the society, particularly those known as the Dalits, who are considered low in the Hindu caste system, and the Kamaiyas (bonded labourers). The government recognizes that the skills and human potential of the Dalit community is far from adequately tapped and that the community is held back by traditional beliefs in the caste system and lack of education and other opportunities. The government has also committed itself to increasing access to education, health services, skills training, and alternative employment opportunities for the Dalit community. The government is committed to establishing, in the near future, an independent Commission that will look after the welfare of the Dalit community and be dedicated to its all round development. The existing Committee for the Upliftment of the Dalit and Downtrodden will be transformed to an organization that will effectively implement social and economic programmes for the Dalits. In 2001, the government took a bold step to abolish once and for all the system of bonded labourers, which were still being used as farm labourers in certain parts of the country. Ex-Kamaiya families are being given land and other support services for sustenance living.
Organizational and Management System
The National Development Council (NDC) chaired by the Prime Minister is the highest planning body that provides guidelines to the National Planning Commission (NPC) for periodic and annual planning. The NPC is entrusted with preparing long-term vision, periodic and annual plans, policy formulation, and monitoring and evaluation in coordination with sectoral ministries. The NDC, NPC, and the Prime Minister's office including sectoral ministries such as the Ministry of Population and Environment, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Local Development and so on are strongly committed to addressing the challenges of sustainable development. This is apparent in the way sustainable development has made its way into the country's main planning process, through the periodic five-year plans, a number of policies, acts, and regulations, and the establishment of the NCSD under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.
At the level of implementation, the sustainable development agenda falls within the purview of all the sectoral ministries of Government of NepalN. The sustainable development agenda is evident in their plans and activities. While each ministry carries out monitoring and evaluation of its own programmes, monitoring achievement towards overarching goals such as sustainable development falls under the purview of the National Planning Commission.
The Local Self-Governance Act (1999) has carved out a substantial role for local governments in planning and implementation of sustainable development activities at district and village level. Direct disbursement of financial resources to the District and Village Development Committees, especially since 1994, has resulted in prioritization of development investment by grassroots representatives. In the last decade, a number of Acts and Regulations such as the Forest Act (1993), National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (1973, amendment 1993), Water Resources Act (1992), Forest Regulations (1995), Buffer Zone Management Regulations (1996) have strengthened the role of user groups in conserving and using their natural resources. The role of the media has been much strengthened, with the advent of democracy in 1990, and journalists have reported extensively on issues at the intersection of environment and development. The establishment of the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ), followed by other societies of environmental journalists demonstrates the interest of the journalistic community on issues of environment. A large number of NGOs and other civil society organizations have also begun to play an important role in the fields of environment and sustainable development.
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Multi-stakeholder processes are ongoing in important areas such as forestry and water resource use where discussions over rights over resource use and discourse over the meaning of sustainable development have been most intense. The Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal (FECOFUN) and Federation of Irrigation Water Users are well represented at these discussions.
Institutional Capacity
Institutional capacity building and human resource development have been high priorities of the government. This responds to the belief that sustainable development can be achieved only through development and mobilization of capable human resources. Lack of sufficient institutional capacity continues to be a challenge, both inside and outside the government. Improvement is needed in the coordination between organisations particularly in incorporating goals of sustainable development. The newly constituted National Commission on Sustainable Development will improve the coordination.
In the last decade, Government of NepalN's focus has been to both limit the size of the government and to reorient it as a facilitator and regulator rather than an implementation role. The government will limit itself to provisioning, monitoring, and regulatory functions with the service production and delivery part left to other more efficient actors. Strengthened local government as well as the private sector and the non-profit non-governmental organisation (NGO) and community-based organisation (CBO) sector will be expected to provide many of the services that had historically been the responsibility of the central government. The emphasis has been to empower and strengthen local institutions such as local elected bodies, the private sector, NGOs, CBOs, and Community User Groups to provide for basic needs and deliver services while at the same time managing natural resources in a sustainable manner and providing stewardship of the environment.
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Although Nepal's efforts on sustainable development have been substantial, it is not easy to list out best practices in this broad area. However attempts have been made below to document Nepal's experiences on some areas and programmes that are reported to be replicable, sustainable and participatory in nature.
Best Practice 1
A Fund Board Approach to Water Supply and Sanitation
Dissatisfied with the failure of the traditional supply-driven approach of delivering water and sanitary services, the government designed a pilot project, People's Drinking Water and Sanitation Programme (Janata ko Khane Pani ra Safai Karyakram - JAKPAS), with assistance of the World Bank that would involve beneficiaries in all stages of the project. JAKPAS was implemented during March 1993 to June 1996. The success of this pilot project led to the establishment of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (The Fund Board). The Fund Board, established under the Development Board Act, 1956, is a semi-autonomous organization and is managed and supervised by a seven-members Board comprising four representatives of the Government, two professionals representing the non-governmental sector, and one representative of the private sector nominated by the Government for a three-year term. The Board members themselves elect a Chairman.
A central office, located in Kathmandu and headed by the Executive Director, administers the programme. The Board provides grants to support NGOs and communities to implement demand-based water supply and sanitation programmes. The beneficiary communities are required to make cash contribution of at least 2.5 percent of the construction cost of the project in the hills and 20 percent in the Terai. Different components of the programmes include: community mobilization; non-formal education; health, hygiene, and sanitation education; capacity building of support organizations and communities; water source protection; construction of family and institutional latrines; skill-based training; women's participation and capacity building; and other programmes to support sustainable and cost-effective water supply and sanitation programmes. The total number of schemes completed through the Fund Board support so far is 466 and the total number of beneficiaries is 364,276. Some 12,800 household toilets have also been constructed under this programme.
Best Practice 2
Scaling up renewable energy technologies - Nepal's Biogas Support Programme
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Some 100,000 families in Nepal are using methane from biogas digesters for cooking, with around a quarter of the users also using it for lighting. An additional 24,000 families are expected to purchase digesters in the coming year. Families need at least two heads of cattle to feed the biogas plants with manure. Plants range in size from 4m3 to 10 m3. The most popular size is 6 m3 and costs US$300. Of this, around $100 comes as subsidy support from Government of NepalN plus German and Dutch bilateral assistance. The users themselves invest the rest together with bank loans. Some 44 private companies are certified to construct plants. These companies provide a competitive market with the Biogas Support Programme (BSP) ensuring quality control. The plants have high reliability with almost 98% of them working well after three years of operation. Biogas provides substantial benefits to the users from reduced indoor air pollution, reduction in firewood collection and cooking times for women (estimated at 3 hours per household per day), and improved sanitation and hygiene to those plant owners who build toilets alongside and attach them to the biogas plant (some 45% of owners). There is benefit to the local environment through reduced pressure on forests. There is anecdotal evidence of regeneration of forests in areas where there is high penetration of biogas plants. In addition to this, biogas also provides significant global climate benefits by substituting for the burning of firewood. In the future, it would be possible to substitute for the government subsidy by selling the carbon credits from biogas plants in developing global carbon market.
Best Practice 3
Enhanced Decentralised Governance Coupled with Social Mobilisation Leads to Human Development
The Participatory District Development Programme (PDDP) and Local Governance Programme (LGP) implemented in sixty districts (out of Nepal's 75 districts) by the National Planning Commission and Ministry of Local Development focus on enhancing institutional and management capacity of the local bodies to be more responsive and accountable to the rural populace by making effective use of their mandated roles and responsibilities. It supplements this with Village Development Programme (VDP) to allow the rural poor to harness their own potentials and tap resources for sustainable local development. While the capacity of the local bodies is being enhanced through institutional development processes, VDP is helping to bring together all the sections of society including women, and the disadvantaged to work together for self-reliant community development.
Decentralization has provided elected local bodies an opportunity to build a concrete framework to develop the means and to achieve sustainable human development. The local bodies at the district and villages have risen to this challenge. They have increasingly made more productive use of the grants provided to them by the government and maintained higher standards of accountability and transparency. The grants provided to the local bodies account for a minimum share of the national budget. Resources meant for local development are now showing greater effectiveness, thus removing isolation of many areas. VDP that already covers more than 200,000 rural households has made it much easier for the line agencies as well to reach their target beneficiaries. The rural poor are no longer accepting their poverty as a fate, but are demanding their rights and are building up their skill and asset base for achieving sustainable human development. More needs to be done, however.
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The central role that civil society groups are expected to play in meeting sustainable development goals is emphasized in the Ninth Plan (1997-2002). In keeping with this objective, the government has decentralized the responsibility over natural resources to user groups especially in soil and water conservation, buffer zone management, and forests. Nepal has institutionalised users' participation in natural resource management and has continued to build local capacity in developing and implementing operational plans for community and leasehold forests, buffer zones in the protected areas, soil and water conservation, as well as for irrigation management. Government institutions and NGOs have continued to build the capacity of the local people and local institutions. Many NGOs and CBOs have focused their activities on community-based sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. Nepal realizes additional need for developing the capacities of local bodies, grass-roots institutions so that the country's forward-looking policies and legislative provisions are adequately translated into action.
Resourcing
Successful implementation of sustainable development strategies depends on the ability to mobilize local and external resources. Like any other least developed countries, one of the critical obstacles to Nepal's ability to implement sustainable development strategies is the lack of adequate financial and human resources. These resources are needed for transfer of knowledge and technology, training, social mobilization, and infrastructure development. These are also needed for capacity building and institutional strengthening in government, civil society, as well as in the private sector.
Despite limited resources, Government of NepalN has been allocating considerable a portion of its budget as a matching fund of donor support to achieve economic growth, poverty reduction, infrastructure development, resource management, and empowerment of women and children. Communities themselves have been the source of substantial resources, both financial and in kind, in initiatives where they have a substantial role. Social resources have been found to be surprisingly plentiful and are seen as the major factor behind successful initiatives where communities are managing their own forestry, water supply, and energy resources.
In the case of national parks and designated conservation areas, Government of Nepal has created mechanisms to transfer to local communities a certain percentage of the total revenues generated including from tourists and other visitors to the park. The fund generated from revenues from national parks including tourism entry fees is one example. Communities use the resources for meeting their sustainable development needs, decided in a participatory manner. In the irrigation sector, projects that have been handed over to farmer-management, user groups are allowed to use up to 90 percent of the fees they collect for the upkeep of their own systems. The Local Self-Governance Act also requires a certain percentage of the royalty generated from the use of hydropower development sites, by both private and public sector developers, to be transferred to the District Development Committees of the affected districts. According to the Hydropower Development Policy 2001, the government is required to transfer 1 percent of the royalty received from hydropower infrastructure to the affected VDC.
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A number of initiatives at the local level, carried out with the support of Government of NepalN and donors, such as the Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) (a pilot project designed in line with Agenda 21) have been successful in mobilizing resources within communities - both human and financial. SCDP has designed a strategic self-sustaining financial mechanism called the Sustainable Development Facility Fund as a revolving fund. Urban land development projects have proved to be a powerful tool for financing urban environmental infrastructure. These projects are self-financing.
Support is provided to Government of NepalN by a range of multilateral donors as well as by bilateral donors to meet its overall sustainable development needs. The support of International NGOs has been instrumental in financing specific programmes often through local NGOs in cooperation with local bodies and the central government.
Political and Legislative Support
The sustainable development strategy receives strong political support in Nepal as it overarches other sectoral development activities. The establishment of Environmental Protection Council and National Commission on Sustainable Development headed by the Prime Minister can be regarded as Nepal's political commitment in favour of sustainable development strategies. In the House of Representatives, the existence of two committees - Natural Resource Management Committee and Environment Protection Committee led by elected members of parliament is another area where political support is vetted in the formulation of appropriate legislation for environment and natural resource management plans and programmes. The manifestos of all major political parties represented in the Parliament include commitments to sustainable development: protection of the environment, economic growth, equitable distribution, poverty reduction, and human rights including those of women, with some specifically mentioning Agenda 21 in their statements.
Nepal has ratified or accessed 16 environment-related international treaties, agreement and conventions. The most important conventions under implementation are on biodiversity, climate change, desertification, ozone layer, endangered species, wetland, and hazardous wastes control. As per convention requirements, Nepal has endorsed its national biodiversity strategy and drafted its national action programme on land degradation and desertification in the spirit of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. A national communication on climate change is under preparation as per the requirements of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The government is currently considering ratifying the Kyoto Protocol keeping in mind that developing countries, like Nepal, can benefit from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which is also committed to sustainable development.
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Within the broad framework of sustainable development, various legal provisions have been made to minimize environmental degradation, regulate use of agro-chemicals and pesticides, and promote natural resource conservation. As the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal (1990) emphasizes protection of the environment, the laws enacted thereafter contain several provisions, which help to conserve the environment, flora and fauna and regulate human activities that impact on the environment. The government has enforced Environment Protection Act (1996) and Environment Protection Rules (1997) with the objective of maintaining a clean and healthy environment by minimizing adverse impacts in the pursuit of economic development. MOPE has the responsibility of approving Environmental Impact Assessment report of the prescribed industrial, infrastructure, and other development projects. This requires proponents to acknowledge the adverse environmental impacts that their projects will have to design mitigation activities for them before project implementation can begin. MOPE has also the responsibility for environmental monitoring and auditing including pollution control activities.
The government has taken a number of important steps to improve equitable distribution of resources in the country. In mid-2001, the Government of Nepal introduced its land reform programme, lowering the ceiling on land ownership from the existing 16.93 hectares to 7.45 ha per family in the terai, 4.07 ha to 2.04 ha in the hills, and 2.29 ha to 1.22 ha in the Kathmandu Valley. The land obtained from this mechanism is to be provided to the landless, ex-bonded labourers, indigenous peoples, and other disadvantaged groups of people. A recent amendment to the Civil Code now entitles women to ancestral property. This allows an unmarried woman a share of the family property at par with her brothers; however, there is a provision that the property is to be returned if she gets married. The new amendment also allows widows full rights to inheritance.
The Local Self-Governance Act has ensured a bottom-up and participatory planning process for District Development Committees and Village Development Committees and provided a clear definition of their roles. The involvement of Community-based Organizations (CBOs), local elected bodies, line agencies, and NGOs has been highly effective for strategic design of plans and programmes, information sharing, participatory decision-making, resource sharing and implementation.
Some of the targets of sustainable development that are achievable within 5-10 years (draft SDAN) are:
- Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy;
- Continuation of social mobilization together with enhancement of livelihoods of the poor;
- Preparation of national and local level land use maps and guidelines for sustainable land use;
- Implementation of policies and plans formulated under UNCCD, CBD, and UNFCCC;
- Strengthening sustainable development institutions;
- Capacity building and institutional strengthening to promote human resource development; and
- Promoting formal and non-formal environmental education.
Integration and Participation for Sustainable Development
Nepal has pioneered a number of innovative participatory approaches to sustainable rural development that integrate the social, economic, and ecological dimensions. Through their evolution, the approaches have demonstrated that integration of these multiple dimensions brings a synergy that is crucial to sustainable development. A few of the best known models are the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), the Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP), and the Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP) also known as the Agenda 21 Programme. While these models will sometimes use a single sector to initiate social mobilization, e.g. conservation in the case of ACAP and micro-hydropower in the case of REDP, their strength is in being able to integrate the other dimensions in response to the needs of the community in a holistic manner.
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Best Practice 4
Annapurna Conservation Area Project
The Annapurna region is by far the most popular tourist destination in Nepal and annually receives over 70,000 foreign trekkers. Trekking tourism here started in the early sixties but together with some positive effects also exacerbated problems of environmental degradation, mainly forest degradation and pollution. In response to this ecological crisis in the region the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) was created in 1986 under the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation. It has evolved today from an experimental Integrated Conservation and Development Project to the largest protected area (7,629 km2) in Nepal. The project serves as a model throughout Asia for integrating public participation in biodiversity conservation. The ACAP takes a grassroots approach where traditional rights and local institutions are respected and the activities rely heavily on local participation, and local management of natural resources including that of tourism impacts. ACAP has been able to integrate forest conservation and conservation education with alternative energy, eco- tourism, women's? development and a variety of other community development programmes. Conservation and development activities of the ACAP area are funded partially by the entry fee (presently $ 26 per trekker) to the conservation area. The ACAP model of integrating conservation and development through people's participation has been replicated in Manasalu, the Buffer Zone of the Royal Chitwan National Park and the Royal Bardia National Park and now after 16 years of its inception, KMTNC is embarking upon extending the replication to the Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve.
Best Practice 5
Rural Energy Development Project
The Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP) has approached micro-hydropower from a social mobilization perspective. The Programme's main objective is to reduce poverty and improve rural livelihoods through rural energy. When REDP supports a particular community to construct a micro-hydropower project, in addition to the project itself, it is also investing in building "social-capital". REDP is essentially recognizing the positive externalities of a strong community organization that is likely to result from carrying out a successful project. This same organization once strengthened through the process of carrying out the project will then be able to carry out other activities in the future, be it an irrigation project or a savings and loan project. This is a holistic approach to rural development. Together with micro-hydropower projects, which because of their suitability to community ownership provide an entr?into a community, REDP also promotes other renewable energy technologies such as biogas, solar PV, and improved cook stoves as well as non-energy activities such as adult literacy, afforestation, and income generating activities. The REDP approach has a strong gender component to it with men and women equally involved in the Community Organizations and Functional Groups, which are the basic organization blocks that carry out all energy and non-energy activities.
Best Practice 6
Sustainable Community Development Programme
Sustainable Community Development Programme (SCDP, also known as Nepal Capacity 21 Programme) is being implemented by the National Planning Commission as a pilot project. SCDP promotes integration of environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development with participation of and information sharing among all stakeholders. The SCDP model has been recognized as a successful model in Nepal: it is a demand driven programme that strives to meet the communities' livelihood needs. The programme has been piloted in six districts. NGOs, particularly working in Western Nepal, have started replicating the programme in some of the districts. SCDP has also supported establishment of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN). The Network's purpose is to bring together the government, NGOs, and CBOs who are following the concept of sustainable development. The network provides the actors and partners in sustainable development a forum to discuss progress and learn from each other's experiences.
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Extensive participation by local people in their own development has been enhanced in a number of ways in the last decade. In addition to their extensive role in forestry, protected areas, soil conservation and watershed management, and irrigation management, users have also become very active in building their own infrastructure. Most rural communities now build their own drinking water projects, and many communities have built their own micro-hydropower plants for motive power for milling and for electricity. With an increase in direct annual disbursement of funds to the Village Development Committees since the mid 1990s, users have begun to prioritise their own development investments. Communities have used this fund, which comes to around US$6,600 per VDC per year, to make a range of investments ranging from irrigation canals to distribution of electricity. With communities prepared to add their own labour to this cash outlay from the government, there is high leveraging of these funds.
The infrastructure that has received the most priority for investment, particularly from communities that are close to existing highways but which are not yet connected, is agricultural roads. Communities have concluded that their remoteness is linked to lack of access and by building rural roads to link with the highways, they will not only have access to cheaper goods but also be able to access markets for their own products: the vegetables, fruits, and animal products which they produce. In the hills, where road building is rather expensive and susceptible to landslides, one technology that has been found to be particularly appropriate is Green Roads. Green Roads use labour for construction, almost exclusively; they do not use dynamite; they are made by cutting and filling so they do not cause soil to spill into fields below them; they are built at a slow pace to allow the excavated surface to settle; and they are not paved with tar. This makes them relatively low cost and repairable by local labour. Plus, the labour intensiveness in construction means investment is turned into employment for the communities. While they cannot generally be used for vehicular transport during the monsoon months, Green Roads provide an excellent service for the remaining months. Today, Green Roads provide services to many communities including those in the districts of Palpa, Dhading, Pyuthan, and Sankhuwasawa. Transport infrastructure remains a major challenge for development, particularly of the hills and mountains. In district level comparisons, there is a direct relationship between the prevalence of poverty and lack of access to transport. The government has a policy of a mixed transport system to provide access to all parts of the country, including motorable roads, ropeways, and access to flights depending on what is appropriate for the particular region.
Nepal has also initiated a number of innovative programmes that integrate private and public sectors. These initiatives build on the respective comparative advantages of the government and community sector or private sector. The models presented below show how service provision and market development can successfully be carried out in partnership between government departments, local governments, communities, and the private sector.
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Best Practice 7
Community Management of Urban Water Supply Systems
Management by the beneficiary community itself of small-town water supply systems shows much promise in Nepal. A medium-sized water system serving some 15,000 people in the town of Dhulikhel, East of Kathmandu, built by a government agency has been successfully handed over to the users and has been functioning very well for over ten years. Involvement of the beneficiary communities from the very beginning construction stage to the completion stage of the project and carrying out successive measures of capacity building of the local Water Users Committees have both been important preconditions to this success. The government has a policy of handing over management of medium to large sized water supply projects with initial financial support for operation and maintenance for three years in a declining manner. This has attracted a number of other water users groups, such as Kakarbhitta drinking water supply in Jhapa, to come forward and take over the role of operation and management of built water systems. Some of the lessons learned are:
- Community organizations have been better able to convince users to pay for services by converting public taps into community-metered taps. This would have not been possible for the Government agency to do since people still believe it to be the moral obligation of the government to provide water free of charge.
- The level of service has been extremely good with 24 hours service and prompt repair and maintenance. Efficiency of the system is high with the percentage of leakage and water wastage being kept below 10 percent.
- The Users' Committee was able to fix the water tariff even higher than the normal water tariff set by the public water utilities and there was no complaint from the beneficiaries.
- The success of the water system has opened avenues for the Water Users' Committee to venture into other developmental and social activities such as promotion of sanitation and solid waste disposal in an organized manner.
- The Water Users' Committee has been very sound financially and has gained confidence to extend the services to the adjoining areas.
The success of the systems can be attributed to the following reasons:
- Strong local leadership,
- Autonomy enjoyed to the Water Users Group,
- People's willingness to pay higher tariff for better services,
- Local capacity building ( managerial, technical, and financial).
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Best Practice 8
Rural Urban Partnership Programme
RUPP is an urban based local development Programme implemented in 12 municipalities and 32 Rural Market Centres with a goal to strengthen urban governance for improving people's livelihoods and strengthen the local economies by taking advantages of the socio-economic development opportunities that can be obtained through strengthening rural urban linkages. It supports the municipality authorities by enhancing management capabilities, promoting linkage economic enterprises, and helping to formulate national policy guidelines. The RUPP model and process has been recognised as successful in Nepal. It embraces participatory community mobilisation approach organising them into Tole/Lane Organisations (TLOs). Through TLOs the poor and disadvantaged are empowered for socio-economic activities. Also the municipalities use TLO as a grassroots level institution for formulating its annual plan and budget. RUPP has promoted Public Private Partnership (PPP) to bring the public and private sectors together for sustainable urban environmental improvement and to meet the increasing demand for urban services. One of the examples is the establishment of a vegetable and fruit retail centre in Pokhara. In this case, the municipality provided the logistic and operational supports whereas the private sector invested NRs.2.5 million for the provision of this urban service. The operation of the retail centre has helped in rural - urban integration by linking rural products to the urban market.
The newly constituted NCSD, a very high-level government body committed to sustainable development will play a pivotal role in the sustainable development process in Nepal in the year to come. By having the Prime Minister as its Chair and the Minister for Finance as Vice Chair, NCSD has very high political status. As the Minister for Population and Environment heads the Secretariat, sustainable development will be ensured through the integration of environment into development. NCSD provides a central role for MOPE. The Commission has other ministers as the members from Industries Commerce and Supplies, Agriculture and Co-operatives, Forests and Soil Conservation, Health, Foreign Affairs, Water Resources, Science and Technology, Women Children and Social Welfare, and the Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission. In addition, NCSD will have representatives from 7 major groups of stakeholders representing major groups: Farmers; NGOs; Industry and Commerce; Women, Ethnic groups, and Youth; Labour Organizations; Science and Technology Community; and Local Elected Bodies.
It is envisioned that the natural resource committees of each of the country's 75 District Development Committees will eventually expand their capability into establishing an environment, energy and natural resources management unit, that will support the DDC and VDC planning and programming process. Districts are also expected to formulate their own sustainable development agenda (Local Agenda 21) - the six districts, which are part of the pilot SCDP programme, have already done so.
National Critical Issues
Nepal has rich biological resources and cultural heritage, is rich in hydropower potential, and has very attractive landscape for tourism. It is also a land-locked country with rugged topography with a relatively large and growing population for the arable land it has and a low Human Development Index. Two major critical issues that Nepal is facing are poverty and environmental degradation.
An immediate critical issue is the severe security problem the country is facing due to an ongoing insurgency carried out by a radical communist party (describing itself as Maoist). The insurgency began six years ago from remote villages in Mid-western Nepal. The insurgency is a major threat to all sustainable development activities being planned in the country.
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Poverty Reduction
The incidence of poverty has remained high in Nepal despite some important achievements over the past decade. This has been attributed to generally low agricultural growth rates, inadequate social service delivery, and limited coverage of successful targeted programmes. Political uncertainties, weak institutional capacity, weak public resource management, and high rates of population growth have fuelled its perpetuation.
The government initiated a substantial economic reform programme in 1991 after the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Real GDP grew by an average rate of 4.8 percent in the 1992-2000 period. While the growth of the non-agriculture sector was 6.5 percent during this time, agriculture grew by only 2.5 percent in the 1990s.Agriculture dominates the economy with large (41 percent) but declining contribution to GDP. It is a source of employment to over 80 percent of the economically active population. Because of the very poor state of agricultural development, annual per capita income of the Nepalese is estimated at US$ 230 with skewed distribution as nearly 38 percent population lives below the national poverty line. Moreover, about 17 percent of the population is classified as ultra-poor.
Poverty is primarily a rural and an agrarian phenomenon in Nepal (44 percent rural and 23 percent urban). Poverty levels are higher in mountain districts (56 percent) followed by terai (42 percent) and hills (41 percent).
Major reasons for the problem of acute incidence of poverty in Nepal are:
- High growth in population (about 2.24 percent per annum) causing continuous reduction in per capita natural resource availability;
- Skewed asset distribution;
- High rate of underemployment;
- Inadequate public services;
- Weak governance leading to poor project implementation;
- High indebtedness;
- Wasteful social expenditure in certain sectors;
- Natural calamities and epidemics; and
- Inadequate pro-poor government policies and implementation modalities.
While poverty has always been an overriding concern of development planning in Nepal, it was explicitly stated as an objective only since the 6th Plan in 1980. The Eighth (1992-1997) and Ninth (1997-2002) Plans have poverty reduction as their main objective. Unlike earlier plans, the 9th Plan established long-term targets for different development indicators for all sectors based on their potential for alleviating poverty. The target in the Ninth Plan was to reduce absolute poverty from 42 percent to 32 percent. There are indications that this has only partially been met. The Ninth Plan had included strategies for employment creation, human resource development, remote area development, implementation of directly targeted programmes and improvements in the institutional arrangements for achieving the poverty alleviation target. Many of these remain unfulfilled, however, and recent increase in security expenditure has drastically reduced the development budget.
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The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) has continued the trend of earlier plans describing poverty reduction as the overriding objectives of Nepal's development efforts. The Plan is structured around the following four overarching goals:
- Broad-based high economic growth;
- Social sector development;
- Targeted programmes and safety nets for the backward and vulnerable groups; and
- Good Governance.
The Plan recognizes that while economic growth and macroeconomic stability are necessary conditions, poverty reduction is a multidimensional issue.
Much of the success in this sector is expected to come about as a result of effective execution of the 20-year Agricultural Perspective Plan (APP) began in 1997, which seeks to expand from low-return subsistence farming into production for the market based on comparative advantage. Investment will focus on road and irrigation infrastructure, availability of fertilizer and other inputs, and research and extension services. Terai farmers will focus on food grains, oil seeds, pulses and other staples, hill farmers will be encouraged to produce fruits and vegetables, while high mountain farmers will produce animal products - cheese, wool, and meat. In addition to the APP, expansion of leasehold forestry is seen to have enormous scope to increase incomes of the poorest. Extensive experience with more than 1600 leasehold forestry user groups in the country show that providing degraded shrub land on long-term lease to marginal landless people for agro-forestry, can be a very effective poverty reduction measure for large numbers of the poorest people and be good for the environment at the same time.
Organizational and Management Structure
As a multidimensional issue, the task of poverty alleviation will of necessity involve a large number of government ministries. One of the challenges of executing a poverty alleviation strategy will be to set out clearly an organizational and management system to execute it. Since the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is the first of the Millennium Development Goals, the task of poverty alleviation will also receive oversight and guidance from the recently formed National Commission on Sustainable Development, which will clarify the responsibilities of the various ministries and government departments in the task of poverty alleviation.
Institutional Capacity
Since the early 1990s, various targeted and sectoral poverty alleviation programmes have been implemented in the country. However, the majority of these programmes, which were mostly centrally planned and implemented, ignored community preferences and their potential contribution and thus proved unsustainable. Furthermore, due to the lack of coordination, and particularly in the absence of monitoring and evaluation mechanism, these programmes do not appear to be as effective as planned.
Capacity building of institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, will be needed to meet the challenges of poverty alleviation as will the need for inter-institutional co-operation. Civil society and local governments have become active partners in sustainable development after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990. They will be expected to play a key role in the task of poverty alleviation. In the past decade, NGO have demonstrated effective delivery of goods and services.
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Resourcing
The government has established a Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) to strengthen target-oriented programmes aimed at specific groups of people who if left on their own, will either be unable to escape the poverty trap or take an unacceptably long time to do so. The PAF will, it is expected, be funded through resources from Government of Nepal and international donors.
The role of NGOs in poverty reduction is increasing significantly. Many NGOs are now involved in helping communities set up savings and credit schemes so that communities are able to save resources and make them available to their members to invest in productive activities on a rotating basis. Similarly a large number of micro-credit organizations are now making small loans available mainly to poor women to start small enterprises. Availability of small amounts of credit has been found to be a very effective way for large numbers of poor to escape poverty.
As a comprehensive framework the Tenth Plan, with its focus on poverty alleviation, will, it is expected, direct donor assistance in this direction. According to the Approach Paper on the 10th Plan, "The framework and strategies developed in the 10th Plan will help donors to develop their respective assistance strategies based on their comparative advantage and resource availability. However, on the other hand, it will discourage donors from producing separate country strategy papers of their own. They will instead be able to pick up the areas of their assistance from the prioritised programmes listed in the 10th Plan."
Political and Legislative Support
As poverty is the major acknowledged problem of the country, all the political parties have included its alleviation in their manifestoes. While there is some debate on the effectiveness of different approaches, there is strong commitment from all parties for poverty alleviation. The Tenth Plan being provides a general framework for poverty reduction strategy within which all stakeholders have a role. The Plan is being evolved through a participatory process and has the support of all political parties.
Land Degradation
Population growth and deforestation linked with it are serious problems in Nepal. People depend on forests for fuelwood, timber, fodder, medicinal plants, grazing livestock, and other forest resources necessary for subsistence. The loss of forestland for expanding agriculture makes it more and difficult for people to meet the basic needs from the remaining forests. Loss of forests has invited serious problems of environmental degradation and decline in agricultural productivity. Inappropriate farming practices, intensive agriculture, overgrazing also contribute substantially to land degradation, although the nationwide impact of this has not been quantified.
The deforestation in flat terai lands in the South has been high since the 1960s. Forest area that totaled 1.8 million hectares (ha) in 1963/64 in the terai was reduced to 0.4 million ha (having up to 50 percent crown cover) in 1978/79: an astonishing loss of 78 percent in 14 years. Most of these deforested lands were converted for cultivation. The decline of terai forest continues even today. The latest estimate from the Department of Forest Research and Survey is that terai forest decreased by an annual rate of 1.3 percent from 1978/79 until 1990/91. This estimate is for forests having a crown cover 10 percent or greater.
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In the hills, degradation of forests is a major problem. Forests are gradually being converted into shrub land due to overuse. This is exemplified by the fact that if forests and shrubs are put together, annual rate of decrease of forest is 0.5 percent but if only forests (crown cover 10% or greater) are considered the rate climbs to 2.3 percent. The annual forest loss in the terai is largest, 1.3 percent per year. In the country as a whole, it is estimated that the rate of deforestation averages at 1.7 percent per annum.
Deforestation is closely associated with the growth rate of population. Population growth in Nepal has remained well above 2 percent per year over the last three decades. Fifteen million people in 1981 grew to 23.2 millions in 2001. The growth itself has put enormous pressure on the forests, particularly in the terai. Rapid conversion of forest in the lowland is largely due to migration of hill people to the lowlands. The process of settlements on the plains accelerated after malaria eradication was introduced in early 1950s.
Soil erosion varies in different land uses. It ranges from 5-10 tonnes/ha/yr in well-managed forestland to about 200 tonnes/ha/yr in degraded hill slopes. In general, the topsoil is displaces at the rate of 1.63mm from the total land surface of Nepal every year. Landslide occurrence is also substantial and many of the landslides are accelerated through paddy cultivation and livestock grazing practices in the hills and mountains. Soil erosion, landslides and floods have affected the productive agricultural land every year. In nutshell, "too much water" and "too little water" is responsible for land degradation in different land uses in Nepal.
The Eighth and Ninth Plans have endorsed the policy provisions of Forestry Sector Master Plan and have given more thrust to people's participation in forest management practices. Forestry has been seen as an important sector to alleviate poverty as it can provide income-generating activities for poor and marginal families of the rural areas. The main policies of the Ninth Plan are:
- Facilitate local users in their effort to meet forest-related basic needs;
- Support poverty alleviation programme by encouraging participatory forest management and community-based initiatives;
- Conserve Siwaliks for giving priority to soil and watershed management programmes;
- Support management, marketing, industrial development, processing, and commercialisation of medicinal and aromatic plant products, and
- Encourage private sector in the management of potential government-owned forests.
Terai forests are mostly government managed and are vulnerable to illegal felling and smuggling because of their proximity to the international border. Churia hills, a fragile outer Himalayan range, have continued to lose forest cover and are becoming sites of soil erosion and landslides. Loss of forest in Churia has directly affected the productivity of agricultural lands of the terai because the ground water cannot be fully recharged and the increased sand deposits and raising of riverbeds have created an unfavourable situation for farming.
The experience of community forestry in the terai has not been as satisfying as in the hills. Many user groups managing terai forests have not been able to protect their forests from illegal felling. The District Forest offices could not effectively supervise FUG's activities and their community forestry experience from the hills was often not relevant in the terai. The government is looking at alternative models of management of the valuable terai forests, involving some form of collaborative management between the community and the government.
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Successful implementation of several programmes identified in the Forestry Sector Master Plan has given an important basis to continue these programmes in the future also. These programmes, especially the community forestry programme, participatory protected area management programme, soil conservation and watershed management programme, and leasehold forestry programme, are the basis for maintaining forests and reversing land degradation in Nepal. However, it would require enormous amount of money and trained manpower to extend this programme to the entire country. For example, handing over of community forest, if done in the present rate, could take another two decades to cover all the potential community forests in the hills. There is also a need to reassess potential community forestry area needs now that the topographic maps are available for all of Nepal. Protected area programmes, soil conservation and watershed management programme, and leasehold forestry programmes require substantial resources to launch. There is a new thrust on landscape-scale conservation as per Government of NepalN's priority. The Forest Policy notes that biodiversity conservation will receive high priority to ensure both security and a sustainable livelihood for people. A landscape planning approach to manage biodiversity on an ecological basis will be initiated.
Another basis for future action is the corrective measures to reverse the forest loss in the lowlands and Siwaliks. The policy decision of the government of 5 May 2000 has tried to address the problems of terai, inner terai and Siwalik region. The decision stipulates that the government will manage large blocks of forest in the lowlands by seeking support of the communities for its protection and management. The Siwaliks hills will be treated as protected forest with minimum and selective harvest of resources permitted. The terai forests will not be handed over as community forest if they are part of large blocks set aside and gazetted as block forest.
Organizational and Management System
The responsibility for checking land degradation lies clearly with the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation. The forestry sector has been opened up tremendously in the past decade to provide a role for users themselves and this has reversed a trend of declining forests particularly in the middle hills. Based on previous successes, the community forestry, participatory protected area management, soil conservation and watershed management, buffer zone, and leasehold forestry programmes are the basis for maintaining forests and reversing land degradation in Nepal. The Ministry needs to be able to adapt these models for the immediate problem areas of the terai and the Siwalik areas. The community forestry user groups have a network in almost all parts of the district while community development groups have been expanded in all priority soil conservation and watershed management activities.
Nepal's community forestry programme is one of the most often cited success stories in connection to decentralization and devolution of natural resource management responsibilities.
Best Practice 9
Community Forestry Programme
Nepal's community forestry approach has been highly successful. Although the idea of community forestry was introduced in the late 1970s, it was expanded after the enforcement of the Forest Act, 1993. The Community Forestry Programme, executed by the Department of Forests under the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation aims to protect, manage and use forests through local forest users' group (FUGs). Community forestry is a major component of the Master Plan for the Forestry Sector. Under this programme, all accessible hill forests will eventually be handed over to local communities. People within local communities that use the forest are legally recognized and authorized as primary agents of forest management. The coverage of the community forestry programme has been extended to all parts of the country.
Community Forestry has become a major vehicle of management of forest in the hills. It advocates for strong local participation, bottom up planning and sustainable use of forest resources. It has demonstrated that it is feasible to decentralize resource decision-making to the village level. By this mechanism, 859,000 ha of forestland mostly in the hills have been handed over to 11,147 user groups, representing 1,222,800 households covering almost 30 percent of the country's population in July 2002. It is noteworthy that there are more than 400 women-only user groups. The community forestry programme has given rural people a resource base to fulfil the basic needs for forest-products and provide opportunities to undertake income-generating activities while protecting the forests.
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Best Practice 10
Terrace Improvement: Traditional Knowledge Blended with Scientific Know-How
Terracing has been an integral part of land management in the uplands. Studies have shown that soil loss from outward sloping terraces is about three times higher than from level terraces. This has resulted to improve terracing in many parts of Nepal.
Farmers in the Bagmati Watershed Management Programme have started to construct diversion channel to protect land from surface water flow. As the farmhouse itself makes a significant catch area for concentrated runoff, the first few terraces below the house are levelled and supported by stone risers, if necessary, to dissipate water energy and to protect the housing complex from rill and gully formation. As a next step, the downslope contour bunds are constructed at appropriate intervals, and grasses and fodder trees are planted in riser and bunds to meet the fodder and manure requirements. The household wastewater provides moisture for vegetable farming during the dry season. A catch pond is also built to trap water from terraces below the house. This increases moisture and agricultural production and minimise washout of manure and fertilisers. The terrace improvement has contributed in reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss, protect houses from rill and gully formation, promote vegetable farming, generate income, produce more fodder and grass, and conserve soil and water. Farmers receive up to 80 percent of the total cost for terrace improvement in the late 1970s and about half of the total cost at present.
Institutional Capacity
Nepal has set a very good example internationally in protected area management with over 18 percent of land covered with national parks, conservation areas and wildlife reserves. Similarly, valuable experiences have been gained in community forestry and leasehold forestry. The country has the capability to demonstrate innovative ideas and concepts in conservation and protection area management to other developing countries. Nevertheless the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation does need to be developed to further expand the coverage of community and leasehold forestry and to take on serious challenges of arresting deforestation and land degradation in the terai and the Siwalik range as well as in the hills and mountains.
Communities continue to need assistance in managing their forests particularly to optimise benefits from harvesting timber and Non Timber Forest Products in a sustainable manner where markets can be found for these products. This assistance is often provided by NGOs as well as by the government.
Resourcing
A number of innovative models are in place in Nepal to transfer resources to communities that are in designated conservation areas or inside national parks, in the buffer zone just outside them. The NGO, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, is able to collect entrance fees into the Annapurna and Manasalu Conservation Areas from trekking tourists. KMTNC uses these resources to support communities to carry out conservation promotion and other development activities within the conservation areas. Under a different mechanism, communities living in buffer zones of national parks are entitled to receive 30-50 percent of revenue generated by a park or a reserve for community development purposes since 1996. Availability of resources makes it attractive for communities to invest in conservation since they see the direct returns.
Political and Legislative Support
The Constitution of Nepal (1990) has special provisions for fixing the responsibility of protecting natural resources on the State. A separate parliamentary committee exists with the objective of integrating environmental concerns in the national legal system. The Environmental Protection Council under the chairmanship of Prime Minister has been formed together with representation of government, private sector, academic institutions and national experts in order to coordinate at the highest decision making level.
A number of important measures have already been adopted with the objective of integrating the environmental concerns into development programmes since UNCED. The Environmental Protection Act (1996) and Environment Protection Regulations (1997) set the legal framework for the integration of environmental aspects into development projects and industrial investments.
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Nepal has joined the international community in its quest for global environmental management by being a Party to several conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, World Heritage Convention, Ramsar Convention, Basel Convention, Vienna Convention on Ozone Layer, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Action plans and strategies have been prepared or are under preparation to implement resolutions enshrined in these conventions. The Nepal Biodiversity Strategy has been prepared and was recently endorsed by the government. This will provide a broader framework for biodiversity conservation including agro- biodiversity in the country. Furthermore, national action programme on land degradation and desertification has also been drafted for the effective implementation of UNCCD.
Global Critical Issue: Education, Training and Public Awareness
Nepal's experiments with educational innovations over the past half a century have undergone distinct stages of development. Education is no longer seen as the prerogative of elites. It is now a means of hope for millions of people to get out of vicious circle of poverty. Although primary education is not yet compulsory in the country, efforts of both the government and the public at large have resulted in dramatic increase in school enrolment. In spite of all these attempts in favour of education, substantial gaps remain. The average annual rate of growth in primary enrolment between 1990 and 1999 was only 1.3 percent. If this trend continues, only about 89 percent of all appropriate-age children will enjoy access to primary schooling in 2015, a date by which the Millennium Development Goals ask for universal primary education.
Government of Nepal has given highest priority to develop the capability of manpower in the field of environment and to increase awareness among the general public about the sense of personal responsibility and commitment towards sustainable development and the environment. The Environment and Natural Resource Management Policy of Nepal (Ninth Plan, 1997-2002) states: environment will be protected, promoted and managed by using voluntary or participatory techniques, with joint collaboration of government organizations, local bodies, NGOs, user groups and private sectors, and creating awareness of people towards environment protection as their individual concern and common responsibility. NCS and NEPAP also give priority to environmental education, training and public awareness in order to deal with environmental concerns. The National Planning Commission, Ministry of Education and all the line ministries are the responsible central level authorities for launching environmental education, training and awareness programmes. In addition to these central level organizations, universities, schools, local bodies, NGOs have also made investments into environmental education. All these are aimed at reorienting education towards sustainable development to enable individuals to appreciate more environmental policies, legislations and standards and participate in the management of environmental and natural resource.
Most universities have bachelors and masters level programmes in the various disciplines of environment, natural resources management, gender and rural development. The government has an ongoing programme to incorporate environmental education within the school level education system. The Ministry of Population and Environment, Ministry of Education and all other line ministries have annual programmes on environmental training and awareness raising campaign. The Institute of Environment Management provides training to policy-makers and to the business community. Similarly, School of Environmental Management and Sustainable Development provides undergraduate and graduate degrees in environment and sustainable development.
In Nepal, environmental education is integrated into social science, and health and population studies at the primary, lower secondary and secondary levels. It is called Social and Environmental Education in grades 1-3, Environmental Science and Health Education in grades 4-5, Population and Environmental Education in lower secondary level (6-8) and Science and Environmental Education in high school (grade 9-10). Environmental Education represents some 14 percent of the curricula for children except at the lower secondary level where it is 7 percent. Tribhuvan University has recently started Masters Degree level education in Rural Development focusing the curriculum on sustainable development.
A number of NGOs and conservation groups have set high standards for increasing environmental awareness. Examples are the Annapurna Conservation Area Project of the KMTNC, which has used conservation awareness very effectively to reconcile the dual challenges of development and conservation among residents in the Conservation Area. Some NGOs are involved in educating high school students throughout the country about a wide range of environmental issues, rural and urban. By giving awards to innovative environmental conservation measures at the grassroots, the Jara Juri Kosh (a fund for the conservation of roots and rooting) and the Abraham Conservation Award have highlighted the efforts of individuals and communities in protecting their environment. Government of NepalN has established Supreme Leader Ganesh Man Singh Forest Conservation Award and Environmental Award to recognise the contribution of the forestry user groups, and institutions and individuals on environmental management respectively. Recently a number of advocacy groups have begun to increase awareness through public meetings about urban pollution issues arising from emissions from vehicles and industries like brick kilns.
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In the last 10 years, the role of the electronic media, particularly radio and television, has dramatically increased in carrying messages particularly on public health and soil conservation. In a country where almost half the population above 15 years of age remains illiterate, radio has emerged as the most effective medium to get across important messages of public importance and concern. This has been further helped by a dramatic increase in the number of FM radio stations throughout the country, in the last five years, many of them community-owned and run. It will be important to increase awareness of the general public about the so far neglected messages such as the impacts of health hazards of indoor smoke pollution and messages about emerging issues like climate change and its link with increased dangers from Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and possible change in monsoon patterns through this powerful medium.
The Way Ahead
Nepal's firm commitment to the implementation of the Agenda 21 has been reflected in a variety of ways. Since the 1992 UNCED, Nepal has revised its Five Year Plans, Policies, Acts, Strategies, and Programmes to accommodate the main principles of sustainable development, through vigorous participation of civil society. In effect, Nepal's national development agenda has indeed become synonymous with its sustainable development agenda.
The way ahead for Nepal will be to build on, adapt, and scale-up in numbers and coverage the many successful models to manage natural resources and provide basic services to its people that it has developed and tested over the past two decades. These models are based on the management of natural resources by empowering user groups and sharing benefits with local people; integrating the goals of economic development, social equity, and ecological sustainability; strengthening the role of local governance; and specifying the roles of the local and central government, private sector, NGOs, CBOs, in service provision based on their comparative advantage. Nepal's established experiences in community forestry, leasehold forestry, buffer zones, soil conservation and watershed management, farmer-managed irrigation; decentralized renewable energy development of biogas, solar energy, and micro-hydropower, and drinking water projects managed and in many cases built by the community itself; and integration of environmental and cultural conservation, village tourism management, and development all provide the country an extremely valuable base to take on the challenges of sustainable development.
Poverty remains widespread in Nepal and is the country's primary challenge to sustainable development. The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) has taken the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) as its major input document and emphasizes reduction of poverty as its overriding goal. Eradication of poverty and hunger is also one of eight major Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which Nepal has subscribed to. The PRSP proposes to reduce poverty in the country through economic reform and broad-based growth, maintaining macroeconomic stability, reforming the financial sector, strengthening trade, investment, and industrial policies, better targeting of public expenditure, improving the effectiveness of expenditure on social sectors and infrastructure development, and through the establishment and effective use of the Poverty Alleviation Fund.
Nepal is committed to addressing the challenges of sustainable development from a base that is rooted in the country's pluralistic democratic polity. Diversity in approaches and institutions, both governmental and non-governmental will be central to meeting this challenge. Nepal is committed to empower local bodies, women, indigenous people, and dalits to participate in the mainstream of development.
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Hills and mountains comprise over three-fourths of Nepal's area and harbour a little more than half of the population. There is an ecological and demographic linkage between the condition of mountain environment and resources, and the productivity of the resources of the plains. Development of mountain areas through tourism, hydropower, horticultural crops and medicinal plants and herbs and investment into grain production and industry in the plains will provide the basis for a complementary economic linkage between mountains and plains. Poverty is comparatively high in the mountains and there is need to harness the opportunities available in them. A mountain development strategy is being developed to sustain the environment and life of mountain people. This strategy will also address village tourism and eco-tourism development, based on Nepal's remarkable landscape and cultural heritage. Indigenous knowledge, skills, and technology of its indigenous mountain population will be promoted to achieve biodiversity conservation, soil and water conservation, rural development and heritage conservation.
Nepal has been giving high priority to the environment and its role in sustainable development since the last two decades but particularly so after Rio de Janeiro. Nepal is party to some 16 Multilateral Environmental Agreements in solidarity with the international community. Being a Party to these Conventions and Agreements carries certain obligations. Nepal has already completed or is working on putting in place strategies, actions plans, Acts and Regulations to meet these obligations.
The preparation of the Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal gives Nepal a framework for carrying out its development activities in the coming years. The National Commission on Sustainable Development (NCSD) with high-level representation from the Prime Minister and Ministers from nine key ministries, the Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission as well as representation from civil society will play a coordinating role that was lacking in the past. It is planned that environmental governance will increasingly be carried out at the local level. The natural resource committees of each of the District Development Committees will be strengthened to take on the responsibility of coordinating the management of forestry, water and energy resources within their district. Each district will eventually develop its own Agenda 21.
Sustainable development requires integration of its three pillars - economic development, social equity and environmental conservation - to further alleviate poverty, and promote access to basic needs of the people with provisions for benefits sharing and access to resources across the society. It could be achieved by conserving natural resources and minimising impacts on physical and biological resources. Operationalising sustainable development is a challenge, as it requires balancing the economic, social and environmental objectives. The national strategies relevant to sustainable development in Nepal offer a framework and opportunity to institutionalise the processes for consultation, negotiation, mediation, consensus building and improved decision-making to address complex socio-economic and environmental problems.
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Sustainable Development
Environmental Policies
Standards and Norms
Acts and Rules
Publications
EIA - Approved List and EIA on Progress
Projects and Programs
Air Quality Monitoring Result
Weather Report
Officials
Organization Chart
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