Centre for Plant & Water Science - Central Queensland University

13.01.2015 Views
Centre for Plant & Water Science 2008 Annual Report INCREASING INTEREST IN CARBON TRADING RESEARCH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Summary Climate change, particularly global warming reputedly due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, constitutes a major threat to human well-being and survival. Forestry carbon-offsetting projects are now increasingly recognised as a cost-effective and practical solution to tackle these challenging problems. A study is being conducted in Nepal to look at the role of community-based forest management practice in climate mitigation and to look at its impacts on the well-being of local communities. The outcomes of the preliminary field study conducted in November/December 2008 show that community forestry user groups in Nepal are very keen to incorporate carbon projects into the participatory community forestry programme if it can positively impact on the livelihood of local communities and improve the forest condition. The principal investigator organised a preliminary field visit in Nepal from 28 th October to 8 th December 2008. The objective of the trip was to select appropriate research sites for the study. The trip was also conducted to understand the interests of forest-dependent rural communities and forestry stakeholders on participatory forest management and payment for ecosystem services, particularly carbon trading. During the field visit, the researcher organised three forestry stakeholder workshops at national and regional levels to select potential community forests and community forestry user groups (CFUGs) for the study. The major stakeholders who participated in the programme were: CFUGs, Federation of Community Forest Users of Nepal, Government of Nepal, particularly the Department of Forest, and civil society and non-governmental organisations working on community forestry, climate change and people’s livelihood. On the basis of recommendations of the workshops, nine CFUGs were proposed which represent all three physiographic regions of Nepal: Terai (flat plain-altitude below 1000 m), Hills (1000 m – 2000 m) and Mountains (above 2500 m). A field visit was then organised to each group to discuss community interests, their perceptions of carbon trading and to observe the forests conditions. The local were briefed about the aim of the research, expected role of local communities, duration of the study and finally they were asked whether they were willing to become partners in field research. Most of the CFUGs were very interested to participate in the carbon management and carbon trading project through community forest management, and they even offered their forest for the study. After the field visits in all CFUGs, a one-day stakeholder’s workshop was organised to select the best CFUGs for the research case studies on carbon trading impact. The workshop finally ranked the selected CFUGs on the basis of accessibility, willingness to participate on carbon trading, diversity of disadvantaged castes and ethnic groups, CFUG that is receiving some sort of ecosystem service payment and CFUG having a history of forest inventory and growing stock. The three CFUGs selected first included one from each physiographic zone within the Central Development Region of Nepal - Dudhkoshi CFUG from Chitwan, Mahila Ghumti from Kulekhani and Jamire Ambutar from Sindhupalchowk. 39

Centre for Plant & Water Science 2008 Annual Report Researcher speaking about carbon trading in the general assembly of Dudhkoshi CFUG, Chitwan, Nepal Meeting with forestry stakeholders about the study Meeting with Female CFUG, Kulekhani The researcher also had the opportunity to participate in the Fifth National Community Forestry Workshop from 9 th to 11 th November 2008 in Kathmandu, which was organised by Department of Forests, Government of Nepal. The main focus of the workshop was how to transform the forestry sector into new directions such as ecosystem service payments, governance and economic contributions. The workshop was very important to allow the researcher to meet and share information on the study with policymakers, specialists, government senior personnel and national and international forestry scientists. In the second day of the workshop, the researcher facilitated a session called - Environmental Service, particularly carbon trading in national and international scenarios. The researcher attending in the 5 th National Community Forestry Workshop: Transforming the forestry sector - Setting new directions for community forestry PROJECT STAFF Principal Investigator: Co-Principal Investigator: FUNDING CQUniversity INCOME $2,000 Thakur Bhattarai Prof David Midmore Prof Stewart Lockie 40

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