In 2018, Dabur Nepal and ICIMOD signed an MoU to implement an agroforestry project to address forest degradation, poverty, and climate change in the Kailash Sacred Landscape, Nepal. Based on consultations with the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment (MoITFE) and Regional Forest Directorate (RFD), Sudurpaschim Province, Baitadi was identified as the target district for 2019. For Baitadi, Dabur-Nepal and Divisional Forest Office (DFO) identified timmur (Zanthoxylum armatum) as the suitable species for plantation in both community forests and fallow lands (private or public).

In April 2019, representatives from Dabur Nepal and ICIMOD conducted a field scoping study during which they met with members of community forest user groups (CFUGs), cooperatives, farmers’ groups, private sector, and government officials. Further discussions with the DFO Baitadi and RFD Sudurpaschim helped identify modalities for providing financial and technical support to beneficiaries. Based on these consultations, an exposure visit and interaction with Dabur Nepal was prioritized to implement the public-private partnership model.

Exposure visit and interaction programme

For the past five years, Dabur Nepal has been successfully implementing the agroforestry project with two community forests in Surkhet District, Karnali Province. An exposure visit to these sites will assist in capacity building of KSL-Nepal stakeholders (members of CFUGs, farmers groups, cooperatives, Dabur Nepal, and DFO Baitadi) through in situ observation of the plantation sites and people-to-people exchange of knowledge and ideas. The field visit will be followed by an interaction programme with the RFD Dhangadhi to discuss the project implementation between Dabur Nepal and the CFUGs.

Objectives

The objectives of the exposure visit and interaction programme are to:

• Foster learning from in situ observations from the agro-forestry project implemented through public-private partnership modality
• Observe Dabur Nepal’s nursery and understand the process of producing timmur seedlings
• Consult on the agreement between communities and Dabur Nepal for the agroforestry project in Baitadi

Outputs

The following are the expected outputs of the programme:

• People-to-people exchange of knowledge and best practices to implement agro-forestry projects
• Ways forward from stakeholders for project implementation