The UNEP-IEMP team visited Nepal during Sep 25-30th, 2023 for implementing the joint UNEP-NSFC project entitled “Developing Nature-based Solutions for Nepal following a Nexus Approach towards Sustaining Forestry, Water Resources and Livelihoods”. The project team surveyed the study area of Phewa watershed in Pokhara, and visited the local research partner-Nepal’s Institute of Forest, and successfully conducted the International Symposium on the Forests-Water-Livelihood Nexus in the Lesser Himalaya.

During this field survey on September 26-27^th, the social-economic and ecological baseline study of the Phewa watershed conducted by the Nepal’s Institute of Forest was shared and participants further explored on the coupled issues of forests, water and local livelihoods in the context of Nepal’s community forestry programme. There were also field investigations at the Pudi watershed, Shorea forest and abandoned agricultural land through discussions with local communities. An exchange seminar and field visit were organized at Nepal’s Institute of Forest and its restoration sites and spring sheds. 

Project team’s field survey in Pokhara, Nepal 

During the International Symposium on the Forests-Water-Livelihood Nexus in the Lesser Himalaya on September 28-30^th, about 50 experts, government officials, UNEP and International organization representatives participated. Its aims were to share research and exchange experiences and ideas, develop a synthesis of the state of knowledge on the forest-water-livelihood nexus in the Lesser Himalaya region, and further identify outstanding knowledge gaps on community forestry-water-livelihood interactions and define pathways and collaborations towards closing these gaps.

UNEP-IEMP Director, Ms. Linxiu Zhang, gave opening and closing remarks at this symposium, emphasizing the science for policy interface and importance of understanding livelihoods and social-economic drivers when understanding the natural changes. Ms. Zhang also requested the project team to act locally but think globally, enhance our work’s science-policy interface and make contributions to UN SDGs, carbon neutrality, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and UN Decade on Ecosystem restoration.

Through such exchange events, UNEP-IEMP’s partnership was strengthened, and a few follow-up actions on science for policy were identified to share these project results.

This joint project was led by the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and UNEP-IEMP, and participated by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal government, Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University of Nepal, USDA Forest Service, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.