सूचक

• A reversal in the REDD+ process occurs when previously achieved emission reductions or removals are ‘’undone’’ due to a natural disaster, a change in policy and/or other factors such as lack of sustained stakeholder support, lack of institutional capacities, or lack of long-term effectiveness in addressing underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation.

• Nepal has in place a number of policies, laws and regulations that contribute to reducing the risk of reversals, including:

  1. Nepal's international commitments through treaties and agreements such as ILO 169, the Paris Agreement, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance demonstrate long term strategies to address risks of environmental degradation and carbon emissions, and minimise climatic impacts by following sustainable development pathways. 
  2. The National Forest Policy (2019) mitigates risks through policy areas such as: enhancement of productivity, production and environmental services of forests; restoration of degraded forests and prohibiting reduction in the present area of forests; developing national standards for certification of Sustainable Forest Management; and improvement of forest governance.
  3. The Forest Act (2019) and Forest Regulation (2022) strictly prohibit the conversion of forest to other land uses and include provisions for establishing an armed forest guard for forest protection, handling forest offenses, and penalising offenders. 
  4. The National Land Use Act (2019) and Land Use Regulation (2022) also have provisions to safeguard land use classes making it difficult to change land use from forest to another.
  5. The Environment Protection Act (2019) and Environment Protection Regulation (2020) require environmental assessment procedures, including Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and other applicable assessments, which help identify and mitigate activities that could result in forest loss, degradation or other impacts affecting forest carbon stocks.

• In addition, Nepal has in place policies and procedures addressing specific types of reversal risks and their drivers, including:

  1.  Forest fire management through: the Forest Act (2019) which defines forest fire-related offences and punishments;  Community-based Forest management (CBFM) group forest management plans with special provisions for the fire management activities; the Forest Fire Management Strategy (2010) which emphasizes community-based approaches, public awareness, and capacity building for government and community institutions. Nepal also uses MODIS and VIIRS satellite sensors for forest fire monitoring through the SERVIR-HKH initiative at ICIMOD, which provides near real-time fire detection, tracks fire progression, assesses affected areas, and sends alerts to stakeholders. 
  2. Controlling illegal logging through: the Forest Act (2019) and the Forest Regulation (2022) which prohibit forest entry without District Forest office (DFO) approval and require CBFM group forest management plans to guide management and prevent illegal logging. Other measures include strengthening law enforcement and accountability, establishing buffer zones to provide access to basic forest products, and requiring due diligence for forest products during collection, transportation and marketing. 
  3.  Promoting land use planning, tenure rights and benefit sharing: the Forest Act (2019) and the Forest Regulation (2022) secure the collective tenure of CBFM groups over community-managed forest areas, empowering groups to manage their forest resources, and control natural forest conversion and other threats to forests. These allocate legal rights to CBFM groups, helping to incentivise sustainable management” of forests. The provision of channelling 80% of forestry sector benefits including carbon transactions through the Forest Development Fund is another strategy to develop strong local ownership of forest management, which contributes to mitigating risks of reversals.

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Nepal has established policies and procedures for assessment, mitigation and monitoring of risks of reversals through the National REDD+ Strategy (NRS) and ER programs:

• The Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) (2014) screened and assessed possible social impacts and issues related to strategic options for REDD+ in Nepal and propose measures to mitigate environmental and socio-economic .risks. While it did not consider reversal risks explicitly, it did consider the long-term sustainability of REDD+

• The National REDD+ Strategy (2018, 2025) aims to address the underlying drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and promote sustainable livelihoods, which will reduce the risks of reversals. Key strategies and actions with relevance to the long-term sustainability of REDD+ and reducing reversals include: improving management plans of all forest management regimes including monitoring methods and measures to control drivers of deforestation and forest degradation; strengthening fire control capabilities of DFOs, Protected Area Management Authorities and CBFM groups; and strengthening community-based monitoring systems. 

• The 2024 review of the NRS and its revision (NRS 2025-2034) included updating analysis of drivers of deforestation and degradation and policy/legal context, as well as consideration of the impacts of the previous NRS implementation. The review found that most of the actions are under implementation to varying degrees, and that the provision for compensatory plantation in the Forest Act (2019) and its Regulation (2022) is a key approach to avoid uncertainty and reduce risks of reversals. The next mid-term review of the NRS will be conducted in 2030, while a revised Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is provided in Annex 5 of the NRS.

• Nepal's National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) is established and contributes to tracking risks of reversals, comprising the National Land Cover Monitoring System (NLCMS), National Forest Inventory, National Forest Information System (NFIS) and the Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) portal.

• For the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) ER Program, reversal risks were considered during program design through analysis of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, the SESA, and development of the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF). To prevent and mitigate the risk of reversal through resettlement and infrastructure development in particular, the ER Program includes a cross-cutting component on land use planning in all districts, and training on improved sustainable forest management techniques, awareness raising programs, and planting of more climate-resilient tree species. For example, the NRS review (2024) notes that REDD IC facilitated the development of integrated land use plans for 44 local governments in 10 of the 13 FCPF ER Program districts in 2021-2023.

• The FCPF ER Program Document (2018) also assessed the risk of reversals, and in accordance with the requirements of the FCPF Carbon Fund, the  Program applies a reversal risk management approach that includes monitoring of forest cover and carbon stock changes, implementation of mitigation measures, and the application of a buffer withholding mechanism to address the risk of future reversals (a total buffer allocation of 19%). 

• The interventions in the Nepal LEAF ER Program are based on those of the NRS, which have been designed to consider the long-term sustainability of REDD+, and it integrates policies and provisions that address key drivers of reversals. For example,  interventions are implemented through participatory models, such as CBFM, and the Program ensures fair and transparent benefit sharing, which will help to reduce the risk of reversals. In addition, the draft BSP for the Program refers to Rule 117 of the Forest Regulations (2022) which provides a “negative list’’ or list of activities ineligible for the use of carbon finance. A portion of issued credits are to be allocated to the ART buffer pool in accordance with TREES requirement; based on ART-TREES reversal risk tool applied to the ER Program a 5% carbon accounting buffer will be set aside.

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