In developing countries, community involvement in forest conservation and management has proved to be the best among available alternatives. With 25 years of successful community forestry experience, Nepal now stands as a model of such approaches in resource management paradigm. The Kyoto Protocol under the UNFCCC framework has permitted afforestation and reforestation activities for the first commitment period (2008 - 2012) for carbon trading under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Studies show that sustainable forest management might be the most cost-effective way to mitigate climate change effects through atmospheric carbon dioxide, the principal anthropogenic GHG component, sequestration. The CDM is the only mechanism that forges partnership between the industrialised and developing countries in taking collective action for mitigating anthropogenic GHG emissions, while meeting the Sustainable Development objectives as stated in Article 12 of the Protocol. However, this flexible mechanism till date renders Community Forestry (CF) as ineligible, albeit the proven fact that CF is a sustainable practice in terms of enhancing livelihood, providing environmental services and promoting biodiversity conservation.

Studies have revealed that carbon stored in community forestry can also be considered as non-timber forest products, which when traded in emerging global carbon market, have the potential to bring additional benefits to the people in the form of income. Locally, the communities benefit through the income generated for making the community forest more financially sustainable, and globally, everyone benefits from the reduced CO2 from the atmosphere. This paper intends to share the existing information and status on prospects and challenges in bringing the Nepali CF under the CDM of the Kyoto Protocol regime. The research results are immensely valuable in initiating ground work for the negotiations for the global debate on inclusion of CF in the second commitment period beyond 2012.

Source: CommunityCarbonForestry.org (PDF link)