सूचक

Nepal's legal framework, including obligations under relevant international conventions (such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR), supports access to information, including in relation to REDD+:

• The Constitution of Nepal (2015) recognises the rights of citizens to information, as well as freedom of speech and communication.

• The Right to Information Act (2007) provides the principal legal framework for access to information held by public bodies, requiring bodies to proactively disclose information of public interest and respond to requests, as well as to protect whistleblowers.

• The Good Governance (Management and Operation) Act (2008) integrates rights to information and allocates responsibilities to the government authorities to maintain good governance, including transparency, while carrying out programmatic or administrative functions.

• The Environment Protection Act (2019) provides for public participation and access to environmental information in environmental decision-making processes, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures.

• The National Forest Policy (2019) aims to improve forest sector governance and includes a strategic action to provide effective services by maintaining transparency, accountability, and fairness in all the forest sector institutions. Similalry the the Integrated Strategic Plan of the National Forest (2025-2043)  includes an objective on promoting good governance in the forestry sector for effective service delivery, and an action on delivering effective services by maintaining transparency, accountability, and impartiality in the forest sector.

• The Community Forest Guideline (2014, 2025) states that the participation of all social groups needs to be ensured during preparation of CFUG constitutions and operational plans, and every household should be informed while delineating the forest area and identifying user households/members.

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• Information Officers proactively provide and update relevant information online about development programs, their implementation status, budget allocation and fund disbursement. Every government office also has a designated nodal officer and a gender focal point to deliver information to the public, and a complaints box. 

• These provisions apply to government institutions involved in REDD+ implementation, including the Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoFE), the REDD Implementation Centre (RIC), Provincial Forest Ministries and Division Forest Offices (DFOs). Through Information Officers and mandatory disclosure provisions, these institutions are required to facilitate access to information relevant to REDD+ planning, implementation and monitoring.
  For example, the Planning, Monitoring and Coordination Division of MoFE submits periodic and annual progress reports on the work of the Ministry to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the National Planning Commission, and other designated bodies. The MoFE website (https://mofe.gov.np/) publishes the annual report, which includes progress on REDD+ actions. 

• The Right to Information Act (2007) established an independent National Information Commission to protect, promote, and practice the right to information, and sets out its dutues and functions. The Commission may discipline the Chief or Information Officer of a public body if it finds that they held back information without a valid reason, refused to provide information, provided partial or wrong information, or destroyed information. The Commission should submit an annual report to the Federal Parliament through the Prime Minister, which is also shared on the Commission’s website (www.nic.gov.np) for the information of the general public.  

• The Right to Information Rules (2009) provides the procedures for obtaining information from public institutions and cover aspects such as fees for providing information, exemptions, how to appeal to the Commission, etc. 

•  Under the Right to Information Act (2007), public bodies are required to designate Information Officers responsible for providing access to information held by their offices and responding to information requests within prescribed timeframes. The Act also requires proactive disclosure of key information by public institutions.

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