Nepal prepares for UN carbon scheme

Government research has found that forests in Nepal store more than 500 million tonnes of carbon, which is roughly equivalent to about two thirds of India’s total emissions in 2011.

It is the first nationwide survey of its kind, according to officials, and a key step towards preparing the country for trading carbon stored in forests, a mechanism which is under discussion by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Krishna Acharya, a spokesperson at Nepal’s Forest Ministry, said: “Now we are among the few countries that have solid scientific information about the status of its forest carbon.”

How to pay developing countries for the preservation of forests to store carbon has long been a subject of debate at UN climate negotiations.

As a developing country, Nepal is eligible to sell carbon to wealthier nations who want to offset their greenhouse gas emissions under the UN mechanism called Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).

An agreement is yet to be reached on how to verify and report emissions reductions and wrangling has stalled discussions since in 2005.

There are high expectations that a deal will be agreed at the upcoming UN climate meeting in Paris this December.

Ugan Manandhar, forest carbon expert at WWF Nepal, said: “Discussions over forest carbon trade are at the final stage so chances are very high that an agreement will be inked in Paris. This research data will help Nepal to immediately move towards implementation once countries sign the deal.”

Chudamani Joshi, special advisor to the Finnish embassy in Kathmandu, said: “This data could be used as baseline data for calculating increased carbon stock due to conservation efforts of the communities that could be traded.”

Acharya added: “Many questions raised about how much carbon we store have been solved, however the trade and benefits depend on what international mechanism is agreed.”

The government started the research in 2010 and the programme has been supported by the Finnish government.

The research has calculated the forest area of the Nepal and the LiDAR advanced remote sensing technology was used to map forests in low-lying areas including Terai and Chure.

The survey shows that the forest area in the Terai is decreasing, whereas the forest area in the middle mountains is increasing.

Total forest area increased by over 316,000 hectares in the middle mountains from 1995 to 2010, but decreased by 16,500 hectares in the Terai from 2001 to 2010, according to Joshi.

Research has found that growing pressures from rapid migration, human encroachment and illegal tree felling have led to forest loss in low lying areas bordering India.

In the highlands, large scale community forestry management has restored forest areas and the population pressure has fallen due to migration.

There is currently an estimated 16,000 community forest groups in Nepal engaged in protecting forests.

Forests cover approximately 40 per cent of Nepal and the success of its community forestry has won global recognition.

Donor agencies are supporting a number of pilot forest projects in Nepal in a bid to work out how money from the carbon market can be shared with local communities.