BIODIVERSITY, PEOPLE AND CLIMATE CHANGE Final Technical Report of the Hariyo Ban Program, First Phase Volume One Main Report HARIYO BAN PROGRAM This final technical report for Hariyo Ban Program Phase One is submitted to the United States Agency for International Development Nepal Mission by World Wildlife Fund Nepal in partnership with CARE, the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal and the National Trust for Nature Conservation, under Cooperative Agreement Number AID-367-A-11-00003. © WWF Nepal 2017 All rights reserved Citation Please cite this report as: WWF Nepal. 2017. Biodiversity, People and Climate Change: Final Technical Report of the Hariyo Ban Program, First Phase. WWF Nepal, Hariyo Ban Program, Kathmandu, Nepal. Cover photo credit © Karine Aigner/WWF-US Disclaimer: This report is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of WWF and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. 7 April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank very many people who have played a wide range of roles in the Hariyo Ban Program during its first phase. Our deep appreciation goes to the many Nepal government officials who collaborated with the Program in several ministries and their departments, at central, regional, district and local level. They include the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC), Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE), Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), and Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare. While there are too many people to name individually, special thanks go to members of the Hariyo Ban Steering Committee and Working Group, and in particular to the Program’s Focal Points in MoFSC, Mr. Harihar Sigdel, Mr. Krishna Acharya and Dr. Pem Kandel. Hariyo Ban worked with a very large number of community based organizations (CBOs) and community members; this includes very many women, poor, and marginalized people. CBOs included community forest user groups, buffer zone user groups, conservation area management committees, leasehold forest user groups, cooperatives, community based anti-poaching units, water user groups, women’s groups, ecoclubs, farmers’ groups, and female community health volunteers. We also worked with networks and associations, including district chapters of the Federation of Community Forest Users Nepal (FECOFUN), community forest coordination committees, and the National Network of Community Disaster Management Committee (NCDMC). Local communities, CBOs and their networks were the backbone of the Program, and very many results in the field are due to their hard work, inspiration and resilience. We partnered with many local, national and international non-government organizations (NGOs) and private sector organizations, who played a major role in Program implementation in many different ways at different levels. Several universities and other academic, training and research institutions provided inputs in developing new knowledge and innovation, and building capacity in traditional and new approaches. Our special thanks go to the resource partners. We are grateful for the collaboration with several networks, including humanitarian clusters after the 2015 earthquake. Many consultants made important contributions including assessments, evaluation, capacity building, policy and field work. Other donor-funded projects in forestry, climate change, development and humanitarian assistance sectors were important collaborators. We are extremely grateful to the US Agency for International Development for funding Hariyo Ban, and for technical support. Special thanks go to Mr. Netra Sharma Sapkota, Ms. Bronwyn Llewellyn, Ms. Karolyn Upham, Dr Karl Wurster, and Ms. Tahalia Barrett. Hariyo Ban would not have been possible without the consortium partners, who over five years developed mutual trust and collaboration, working and learning together as we planned and produced Hariyo Ban’s results and achievements. While there are too many people to mention everyone individually, In WWF we are especially grateful to Dr. Ghana Gurung, who chaired the Program Management Committee and provided overall coordination for WWF’s part of the Program, to Shiv Raj Bhatta who provided field coordination, and to Ravi Singh for operational oversight. Many other WWF Nepal and WWF US staff undertook program implementation, and provided important technical and operational support. In CARE, Popular Gentle, Thakur Chauhan and Dev Raj Gautam played key roles in overseeing and implementing CARE’s activities. In FECOFUN Apsara Chapagain, Ganesh Karki and other members of the Central Committee provided valuable leadership, and Krishna and Suvas Devkota coordinated implementation of FECOFUN’s activities. In the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) Ganga Thapa, Shyam Thapa and Megh Adhikari played key roles. Many other staff of the consortium partners made very valuable contributions – we thank everyone for all the hard work and commitment. i Finally, very many thanks to Shant Jnawali, Keshav Khanal, Sunil Regmi, Deepak Rijal, Jagannath Joshi, Jagadish Kuikel, Sabitra Dhakal, Rajendra Lamichhane, Amit Pradhan, Shova Shilpakar and everyone else on the Hariyo Ban core staff, a very dedicated and visionary team who worked long hours and went the extra mile working with the consortium to achieve Hariyo Ban’s results. Judy Oglethorpe, Chief of Party, Hariyo Ban Program (Phase I) Sandesh Hamal, Deputy Chief of Party, Hariyo Ban Program ii TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ i ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................... iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 OVERVIEW OF PROGRAM LANDSCAPES ............................................................................................. 4 SUMMARY OF PROGRAM RESULTS................................................................................................... 13 PROGRAM STRATEGY AND IMPACTS ................................................................................................ 19 MAJOR LESSONS.............................................................................................................................. 101 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUCCESS OF THE PROGRAM ..................................................... 109 SUSTAINABILITY .............................................................................................................................. 113 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 117 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 123 ANNEX 1: BENEFICIARIES AND STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................. 127 Annex 2: RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND RESULTS CHAINS ................................................................ 129 ANNEX 3: POLICIES, STRATEGIES, DIRECTIVES AND GUIDELINES SUPPORTED ............................... 137 ANNEX 4: PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATION MATERIALS SUPPORTED BY HARIYO BAN ...... 138 VOLUME TWO ANNEX 5: HARIYO BAN PROGRAM WORKING AREAS ANNEX 6: LIST OF COMMUNITY BASED ANTI-POACHING UNITS FORMED/REFORMED ANNEX 7: SUPPORT FOR INTEGRATED SUB-WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLANS ANNEX 8: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES SCHEMES PILOTED ANNEX 9: COMMUNITY ADAPTATION PLANS OF ACTION PREPARED ANNEX 10: LOCAL ADAPTATION PLANS OF ACTION PREPARED ANNEX 11: NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT GROUPS WITH IMPROVED GOVERNANCE ANNEX 12: COMMUNITY LEARNING AND ACTION CENTERS SUPPORTED ANNEX 13: WOO PROJECTS SUPPORTED ANNEX 14: SUSTAINABILITY PLAN ANNEX 15: MAIN HARIYO BAN LEGACY ACTIVITIES ANNEX 16: PROGRESS ON ACTION POINTS OF THE MIDTERM EVALUATION iii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACA Annapurna Conservation Area BAFER Balchaur Forest and Environment Resource Development Centre BaNP Banke National Park BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCN Bird Conservation Nepal BIA Biodiversity Important Area BNP Bardia National Park BZCF Buffer Zone Community Forest BZCFUG Buffer Zone Community Forest User Group BZUC Buffer Zone User Committee CAMC Conservation Area Management Committee CAPA Community Adaptation Plan of Action CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere CBAPU Community-based Anti-Poaching Unit CBO Community-based Organization CCA Climate Change Adaptation CCN Chure Conservation Network CDMS Centre for Disaster Management Studies CF Community Forest CFCC Community Forest Coordination Committee CFDG Community Forest Development Guideline CFOP Community Forest Operational Plan CFUG Community Forest User Group CHAL Chitwan Annapurna Landscape CLAC Community Learning and Action Center CNP Chitwan National Park CO2 Carbon Dioxide CO-ACT Co-Action for Community Development CSO Civil Society Organization CTEVT Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training DADO District