Introductory Meeting of the Forest & Farm Facility (FFF) in Nepal

Hotel Everest, Katmandu, Nepal Saturday, 16 February 2013 (9:30 am – 12:30pm)

Objective of meeting :

To present and discuss the relevance of the FFF with Government institutions and forest/farm organizations and to identify the relationship of the FFF with the national public policies in Nepal before starting the implementation of the Facility.

Programme :

 Opening Remarks and Welcome – Dr.Yam Malla, Country Representative, IUCN Nepal

 Presentation of the Forest and Farm Facility: where does it come from and what is its purpose? – Sophie Grouwels, FAO-FFF

 Views of selected Steering Committee members of the FFF – Ghan Shyam Pandey, GACF and Peter De Marsh, IFFA

 Experiences from another FFF country: Guatemala – Alvaro Samayoa, INAB (National Forestry Institute)

 The benefit of organizing small producers: selected examples - Duncan Macqueen, IIED-FFF

 Open discussion about the ideas of the FFF and the need for it in Nepal and wrap up.

1  Remarks from Special Guest, Member Secretary of National Planning Commission – Mr. Yuba Raj Bhusal

 Closing remarks – Chair of Session, Dr. Krishna Chandra Paudel, Secretary MoFSC

Synthesis of participants’ discussion:

1. FFF Management Team needs to provide clearer information on exactly what activities are eligible for funding under the FFF and the process through which any call for proposals will take place. There are many different participatory management processes talking place in Nepal and it’s important to understand how FFF in Nepal can complement and add value to these.

2. There is a broad consensus on the need for a high-level policy dialogue convened by a high level FFF focal point with the power to convene meetings across different ministries (notably forestry and agriculture) in order to address some of the current constraints to planting cash crops on forest land, planting forest on agricultural land, and barriers to trade from both – so that a harmonised and enabling environment for small forest-based businesses emerges. The government of Nepal is invited to select a focal point for the Facility with this in view.

3. There is an opportunity to harmonize the four pillars of the new Nepali forest vision “Forestry for National Prosperity” with the four pillars of Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry. The four pillars of the Nepali forest vision are (i) sustainable and scientific (and social) management of forests and trees (enhancing capacity of stakeholders to demonstrate what works and what does not), (ii) sustainable use of forest resources (developing business model for half of the total land covered by trees, balancing between different ecological regions with different population size), (iii) forest sector governance (ensuring effective and equitable governance of the use of forest and tree resources), and (iv) policy process (linking forest biodiversity conservation and livelihoods).

4. The intention of the FFF management team to undertake a baseline study was felt to be useful in helping to clarify and prioritise activities to be funded such that they represent widespread consensus rather than the interests of particular actors. In addition there were calls from several participants to ensure that the marginalised groups (including amongst CFUGs, as well as women NGO/CSO’s, youth and indigenous peoples) are adequately included within the new FFF activities and that this could only be assured if a thorough baseline study was undertaken.

5. Questions were raised about the efficacy of the CFUGs as a vehicle for enterprise development given the fact that one third of current value added comes from this sector and two thirds from the private sector – leading to calls for heavy subsidised support to private sector tree planting. However the counterpoint was raised by several participants that it was rather the allocation of degraded forest land to communities and multiple policy barriers that restricted commercial production from CFUGs that really explained the comparative poor performance of community forest enterprises. In the light of these contradictory statements – it is evident that high level policy dialogue is needed.

2 6. From the discussions it was evident that there would need to be a balance of FFF funding between capacity building activities (to do with community forest enterprise development) and dialogue leading to policy reform.

7. Some felt that the focus of the FFF was still quite broad and needed to be kept tight (especially with limited resources available) in order to maximise impact.

8. Several participants had critical concerns regarding the lack of interest and action of the FAO national office. They however noted that FAO had been instrumental in the early days of community forestry, was currently quite active in agricultural sector, and could quickly turn these perceptions of invisibility around by engaging strongly with the FFF.

9. Participants noted that there was a need to work hard to educate three groups of actors (media; forest government officials, politicians) that commercial incentives to use the forest were compatible (indeed essential) to achieve sustainable forest management.

Remarks from Special Guest, Member Secretary of National Planning Commission – Mr. Yuba Raj Bhusal Forest and farm is not a new concept to Nepal, as we have been practicing it since ages. But, there are many issues in Nepal such as land abandonment, out migration from the rural villages, climate change affecting fragile ecological regions, quality control of agricultural produce and problems of insecurity that all require interest of the government in the agriculture sector; this sector concerns more than half of the country’s population and is also the action radius of the FFF. The NPC is about to produce a periodic plan (by mid July) with a particular focus on the policies related to forest, agriculture, farms, livestock facilities, etc. It would be great to see the FFF support complementary to this plan.

Closing remarks – Chair of Session, Dr. Krishna Chandra Paudel, Secretary MoFSC A new partnership is being built with the FFF to work on a common vision and mission related to the betterment of forestry, agriculture and livelihood related sectors. This is in fact a signal towards the transformation of the forestry sector in the process of the synchronization and visualization of a common goal.

We share the concerns of how to make the FFF partnership more meaningful. 1) SFM should be stimulated for different types of forests through enhancing the capacity of local people. 2) We need to stimulate different forestry business models, utilizing important forest and agriculture resources in a sustainable manner –taking away substantial barriers but keeping still some filters- as to make from Nepal a food secure country and make people more prosperous. SMFEs can be based on wood and NWFPs (based on natural products or domestication) preferably traded with

3 substantial value added. 3) There is need for good and timely information, data bases, etc as to act as informed stakeholders.

We need an enabling environment where we all feel we go in the same direction. For this to happen there is a need of clear roles and responsibilities. (“Feeling of people’s government and people feeling with the Government“)

Next steps

FFF management team commits - with the participants of the meeting - in the near future:

1. to share the minutes of the FFF introductory meeting,

2. to send the programme document to provide further information on the FFF process and modus operandi,

3. to developing though IUCN country office a baseline study,

4. to organize a follow up meeting to define further an action plan for 2013, and

5. to invite the Government to assign a high-level focal point for the FFF (meanwhile IUCN Nepal office will serve as temporary focal point in Nepal).

Katmandu, Nepal 16/02/13 / Duncan Macqueen, Yam Malla, Sophie Grouwels

4 Participants list of introductory meeting of the Forest & Farm Facility (FFF) in Nepal

Contact No. / Name Designation Organization Email Mobile No.

Mr. Dil Senior ForestAction 9841508334 [email protected] Bahadur Programme Nepal Khatri Officer

Mr. Yuba Raj Member National 9851015037 [email protected] Bhusal Secretary Planning Commission

Dr. Krishna Secretary Ministry of - [email protected] Chandra Forests and Soil Paudel Conservation

Ms. Kamala Vice-President Sathi Nepal 9841217477 [email protected] Sharma

Mr. Braj Director Department of 9851109653 [email protected] Kishore General Forest Yadav

Mr. Devi Under Secretary Community 9841951144 [email protected] Chandra Forest Division / Pokhrel DoF

Mr. Surya Under Secretary Ministry of 9841212893 [email protected] Prasad Agriculture Poudel Development (Agriculture Development Strategy Team)

Mr. Ganesh General FECOFUN 9851119561 [email protected] Karki Secretary

Dr. Bhisma Executive ANSAB - [email protected] Subedi Director

Mr. Pushpa Programme ANSAB - - Ghimire Manager

Mr. Krishna Joint Secretary Ministry of 9881131831 [email protected] Prasad Forests and Soil Acharya Conservation

Dr. Naya - ForestAction 9851015388 [email protected] Sharma Nepal

Mr. Ghan Member FFF Steering 9851002110 [email protected] Shyam Committee/ Pandey GACF

Mr. Ram B. Under Secretary Ministry of 9841293008 [email protected] Malla Forests and Soil Conservation

5 Ms. Bhima - NAPS, Nepal 9849529614 [email protected] Dhungana

Dr. Bharat Deputy Country HELVETAS 9851062002 [email protected] Pokharel Director Swiss Interco operation Nepal

Mr. Peter de Chair International - [email protected] Marsh Family Forestry Alliance

Ms. Apsara Chairperson FECOFUN 9851086515 [email protected] Chapagain

Mr. Duncan Forest, Team International +44 1312266860 [email protected] Macqueen Leader Institute for Environment and Development

Ms. Sophie Forest Officer, FAO - [email protected] Grouwels FAO-FFF

Ms. Bharati President Ashmita Nepal 9851113829 [email protected] Pathak

Mr. Alvaro - INAB/PFN +602050174478 [email protected] Samayoa

Mr. Ishwar DDG Department of 9841574505 [email protected] Prasad Rijal Agriculture

Ms. Rama Ale President Himawanti- 9851132808 [email protected] Magar Nepal

Dr. Yam Malla Country IUCN Nepal 9851136373 [email protected] Representative

Mr. Rajendra Program IUCN Nepal 9841787622 [email protected] Khanal Coordinator

Mr. Amit Communication IUCN Nepal 9851031213 [email protected] Poudyal s and Outreach Officer

Ms. Sony Consultant IUCN Nepal 9841469818 [email protected] Baral