Effective Social Mobilization in Dumarwana

I was happened to visit Dumarwana Village Development Committee (VDC) in Bara District on December 1, 2013. During the visit, I had a chance to meet Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), Local Governance and Community Development Program (LGCDP) Social Mobiliser (SM) and Community Facilitators (CF) Ms. Lila Nepal and Mr. Nabaraj Dhungel respectively in the VDC premises. Having interest to know their initiatives and achievements, I spare a few minutes talking about their activities and achievements in Dumarwana VDC.

Dumarwana VDC is located just about 4 KM North from Simara Airport. There are 21,000 people and 3,500 household in Dumarwana VDC. The SM supports a total of 65 Saving and Credit Groups, which were formed through Decentralization Local Governance Program (DLGSP), preceded project of the LGCDP, nine Ward Citizen Forums (WCFs) and one Citizen Awareness Center (CAC). In addition, they together with the VDC Secretary undertake regular monitoring of various VDC supported development activities. Ms. Nepal was also involved in educating voters during the recently completed Constituent Assembly Election.

According to them, the VDC has extended support for the CAC with bridge construction, bio-gas installment and toilets construction thus far. However, space has been appeared as a major limiting factor for adopting biogas with attached toilets for many of the CAC members. Despite realization of the greater need of co-ordination and collaboration with sectoral offices mainly forest and agriculture to complement development demand of CAC members, no remarkable progress has been made so far to this end. Moreover, they were of the view that the proportion of beneficiary communities with respect to the given human resources capacity (One SM and one CF) was not matched.

Ms. Nepal with smiling face  said that with their s sincere efforts, a mandatory provision has been made in the VDC to bring local development plan in the VDC Council only through WCFs. Political parties are realizing higher importance of WCF in designing and implementing local level plans and programs and showing interest to be included in the WCF now. In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the local communities, the VDC has topped up with Rs. 2,000 in her monthly basic salary. With the concerted efforts, it has been realized that capacity of CAC members has been strengthened greatly through REFLECT Classes together with infrastructure development supports. An arrangement has also been made to introduce children and maternity health education to the CAC members through Village Women Health Workers.

Now, almost 100% CAC members have initiated timely registration of child birth in the VDC. Also, people are applying for certificate of citizenship immediately when they reach 18. Further, perception of local people has changed towards using common toilets by father-in-law and sister-in-law these days, which had been a cultural barrier since immemorial times. Because of the SM initiative, the VDC has done Council meeting last year within the stipulated time framework said, C.P. Sigdel, Hetaunda Cluster Coordinator of LGCDP.

I am sure that there must have many more similar successful initiatives across the country that needs to be captured in a book so that the lesson learn and best practices helps guiding successful implementation of social mobilization component of the LGCDP – II in the coming days. Further, role of CCU should be focused more towards reporting, monitoring and undertaking studies on how LGCDP interventions have been contributing towards deepening the democratic practices and strengthening the local governances.

Case Report Prepared

by

Ek Raj Sigdel

Investment in rural road in Nepal, how sustainable is it?

Investment in rural road in Nepal, how sustainable is it?

Background

Road construction has been the only development agenda of local government in Nepal for many years. Significant kilometers of rural roads are constructed at the costs of natural resources. Moreover, major proportions of the roads do not support plying vehicles all year around. Considerable proportion of deforestation in Nepal is linked with infrastructure development activities specifically rural road construction. Landslide and flood are causing deaths of 100s of people, especially poor, women and dalit every year. If the present pattern of constructing unsustainable road is continued without paying adequate attention to environment, then further loss of environment is inevitable on the one hand and on the other it will jeopardize the life of many rural poor. To address the issue, efforts are being made from different quarters, though which are not at satisfactory level.

Road in forefront of development agenda

While reviewing Annual Progress Report from 2009 to 2011 of Local Governance and Community Development Program (LGCDP) in Central Development Region of Nepal, it was revealed that compare to other infrastructure development projects, road sub-project carry higher proportion of the budgets. During the period, the region implemented a total of 19,428 sub-projects under heading infrastructure development that includes activities such as road, irrigation, water and sanitation, education, socio-economic development, health, environment and rural electrification. Of the total, 27% sub-projects were road. To carry out the road sub-project the region has invested 42% of the total infrastructure development costs i.e. Rs. 2,317 million. However, it has benefited only 27% of the total 63, 32,000 beneficiary people of the entire infrastructure development sub-projects. Similarly, only about 2% budgets are being invested in environmental development activities such as plantation, bio-engineering and alternative energy resources. In summary, development has given priority to the road sub-projects without keeping environment into account.

Every year each Village Development Committee spends about one million rupees for road construction. They implement the road project even without proper planning and designing. Since the early 1990s, when resources and authority began to be channeled through local government bodies, the use of heavy equipment for road construction such as bulldozers and excavators started to increase. Furthermore, the desire to establish road connections quickly also resulted in the increased use of unsustainable road construction approaches and methods. Unsustainable roads are those that have: (i) no drainage arrangements; (ii) high gradient; (iii) no protection structures in critical places; (iv)no biological protection; (v) no operation and maintenance arrangements or fund; etc.

Now 50,944 km length of rural road networks have been constructed (DOLIDAR, 2012). Of the total 68% road length is earthen road which is pliable during fair weather of 8 months only. Many of these roads are not operational during fairs weather too, due to incompleteness. Therefore people are deprived of year around road access (Shrestha, 2013). Hence, the aforementioned information justifies the fact that the investment in road infrastructure activities is neither environment friendly nor contributing the livelihood improvement of rural poor in Nepal. Therefore, it warrants immediate attention of development planner for formulating and implementing long term infrastructure development plan that benefits both people as well as environment.

What are the practices and implications?

Legal Framework:

The Interim Constitution of Nepal stresses on the need of maintaining a clean environment for good health of people. The Local Self-Governance Act of 1999 empowers District Development Committees (DDCs), Municipalities and Village Development Committees (VDCs) to collect revenues from local resources, including from natural resources, and called on each local government unit to draw up a development plan of its own. The Act authorizes local bodies to plan and implement various development activities including road construction.

The Environment Protection Act 1996 and Environmental Protection Regulation 1997 aims to ensure sustainable development through the integration of environment and development, the sustainable use of natural resources, and the creation of a clean and healthy environment for all people in Nepal. The Act provisions environment assessment, prevention and control of pollution, establishment and operation of environment management special fund, among others. Moreover, it contains rules pertaining to Initial Environment Examination (IEE) and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA). The Sustainable Development Agenda for Nepal (SDAN) envisages integrating environment and development in the national policymaking and planning framework by stressing public participation in ecosystem conservation at the landscape.

The Thirteenth Three-year Plan Approach Paper acknowledges the need of quality roads. In this regards, the plan provisions some criteria to be taken into accounts while constructing roads. According to the criteria road construction priority should be on maintenance, upgrading, and track opening following long term plan and programs instead of constructing new trails and roads in an ad hoc basis. Further, road construction should be guided by District Transportation Master Plans. The Three-year plan stress on the need of preparing and implementing Transportation Master Plans for Municipality and Village Development Committees too (GoV Nepal, 2013)

Institutional Framework

Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) is in the process of establishing Environment Energy and Climate Change Section in all District Development Committees (DEECCS). The Section will be managed by Environment Friendly Local Governance (EFLG) Coordination Committee. In this connection, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development is preparing DEECCS Management Guideline. Environment desk has been established in all the District Development Committees (DDCs) and Municipality for overall management of environmental issues. Environmental Focal Persons have also been deputed with job descriptions. To strengthen the district based environmental institutions MoFALD conducted series of training programs to District Facilitators/Municipal Facilitators and District/Municipal Environmental Focal Persons on Social and Environmental Safeguards Framework. District Facilitators and Environmental Focal Persons of District Environmental Desk from 66 districts and Municipal Facilitators and Municipal Environmental Focal Persons from 27 municipalities have already been trained so far.

Programs

Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development with Poverty Environment Initiatives (PEI) Program's support have carried out a study on Economic Analysis of Investment in Rural Roads in 2011.The report stress on the need of adopting balancing approach i.e. labor based and equipment based technology while constructing roads. Towards improving the quality of rural roads, as per the Environment Protection Rule, the Ministry has enforced the mandatory provision of preparing and implementing Initial Environmental Examination for all district roads. The Ministry has approved a total of 163 IEE reports of rural roads since 2005. To ease the IEE report preparation process for district development committees and municipalities the Ministry has also prepared Environment Examination Resource Book in Nepali as well.

To ensure effective implementation of the IEE approved reports, academic institutions such as Central Department of Environment, Tribhuvan University as well as Kathmandu University students have been mobilized as third party monitoring to monitor implementation status of IEE reports of various districts since 2011.

Most of the projects implemented by local bodies fall under Category ‘C’ as per ADB Environmental Guidelines and they do not require IEE/EIA study as per legislations of GoN. Environmental implications of these projects should also be addressed through developing environmental management plan considering it as an integral part of the infrastructure projects. To facilitate the process of preparing EMP, the MoFALD has prepared environmental checklists for various types of infrastructure projects during pre-construction, construction and operation and maintenance stages. With the support of LGCDP, all DDCs have started preparing Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the infrastructure development activities including road sub projects. In total, 14,498 infrastructure development projects were implemented by local bodies across the country in 2010. However, only a fraction of the entire projects have prepared Environment Management Plans in 2010 (Table 1).

Table 1 Social Environment Safeguard Framework Implementation Status – 2010

Region	Total Projects	Environment Projects	Environment Checklists	Environment Management Plan
Eastern Development Region	2,399	59	51	37
Central Development Region	3,642	154	NA	NA
Western Development Region	3,795	64	251	68
Mid Western Development Region	3,176	120	119	40
Far Western Development Region	1,486	74	74	NA

Source: Annual Progress Report of LGCDP, 2011

Challenges / Gaps

Despite putting concerted efforts from various levels, the road construction are appeared neither environment friendly nor economically viable. Policies and programs are yet to be implemented effectively. The mindset of the local government is that environment is not the part of roads. Referring the resources shortages, local bodies try to bypass the process of integrating environment into road construction. Moreover, the capacity, awareness and understanding towards environment is not adequate.

Recommendations

To ensure the sustainable road construction further efforts are necessary:

·         Enhance the capacity of local bodies to enforce and compliance with the provision of rules and regulations while planning and implementing rural roads

·         In addition to undertaking, IEE and EMP it is necessary to undertake strategic environment assessment

·         Roads must be planned in a participatory way and should be a part of the District Transport Master Plan (DTMP). No road should be financed by local bodies, unless it is included in the DTMP, VTMP and MTMP.

·         Discourage the use of heavy equipments specially bulldozers and rock-blasting materials. However, there are certain situations when equipment based technology can be efficient and less damaging. These situations are in (i) road widening; (ii) ridge alignments; and (iii) long alignments through unpopulated areas that require the establishment of labor camps under LB methodology.

·         LB technology should be encouraged and particularly emphasized in poverty-ridden areas. However, to harness some of the positive features of EB technology, the use of excavators and breaker attachments should be allowed in certain situations. Use of equipment should be complemented by water management structures (side and cross drains), other protection structures and bioengineering works in critical areas.

·         Local road maintenance skills should be developed through training and work during road construction.

·         All rural roads should have adequate operation and maintenance funds and such funds must be complemented by beneficiary contributions raised from the increased income resulting from the road. A system of reasonable taxing of vehicles and goods movement can also be developed for this purpose.

Reference

·         GoV, NPC 2013: Approach Paper, 13th Plan; 2013/14-2015/16

·         DoLIDAR 2069 (2012): "Gramin Sadak Abhilekh" DoLIDAR, Kathmandu.

·         Shrestha. H.R 2013: RURAL ROAD NETWORK IN NEPAL: A massive challenge ahead to improve and maintain. A Journal on Rural Infrastructure Development. Vol.4, Issues 4, Bhadra 2070. 

Minimum Condition and Performance Measures Guidelines includes Poverty Environment Linked Indicators

Background

Minimum Condition and Performance Measure (MCPM) system has been considered as an integral part of the overall governance reform system in Nepal. According to this system, the Government of Nepal annually adjusts the grants to be provided to local bodies (LB) based on their scoring in the MC/PM assessment. LB denotes to District Development Committee (DDC), Municipality and Village Development Committee (VDC). LBs that meet the MC and score high in PM are provided with an additional amount in the form of capital grants and vice versa. With an objective of improving LB performance through an incentive and penalty mechanism, adjusting the size of the grants to the expenditure and performance capacity in key functional areas of LBs and identifying the capacity gaps of LGs in different functional areas, the government of Nepal has adopted the MCPM system. Local Self Governance Regulation (LSGR) 1999 requires assessment of local bodies and permits subsidies to them to be expanded or reduced after having obtained recommendations from the Local Body Fiscal Commission and taking MCPM into considerations.

Environmental Consideration

MCPM Guidelines of DDC as well as Municipalities include a few environmental performance measure indicators. Moreover, number as well as marks allocated for environment performance measure indicators have increased over the years. The following sections compare the difference between DDC and Municipality Environmental MCPM indicators between 2009 and 2012. The MCPM of DDC comprises of 5 sectors and 46 indicators. The five category under performance measures include; i) Planning and program management, ii) Resource mobilization and fiscal management, iii) Budget release, expenses and program implementation, iv) Monitoring, evaluation, communication and transparency and v) Institutional management with clear roles and responsibilities.

Compare to 2008, DDC MCPM Guidelines - 2013 incorporates more performance indicators and marks related to environment. There were only two environmental performance indicators with a total mark of 2.25 in 2008 in DDC MCPM Guidelines. The environment related two indicators include ; i) Annual programs are to be designed based on sectoral development plan such as District Transportation Plan, District Agriculture Plan and ii) environment management fund needs to be established. The number of environmental performance measure indicators increased to four with a total of 8 marks in 2013. The indicators include; i) District Transportation Master Plan (DTMP) approved and implemented,  ii) Energy and environment management plan prepared for infrastructure development activities, micro hydro and energy development project formulated and implemented, local adaptation program planned and implemented, policy formulated from DDC council to use heavy equipments, iii) DDC has formulated policy for environment conservation, disaster risk reduction management and child friendly governance, budget allocated for implementing the policies and programs, and iv)Water, sanitation and health program plan, budget and declaration of open defecation free (ODF).

The MCPM of Municipality comprises of 5 sectors and 40 indicators. The five sectors include; i) Local Self Governance, ii) Financial management, iii) Planning and program management, iv) Institution and human resources development and v) Urban basic service management. While comparing Municipality MCPM Guideline of 2008 and 2012, it was revealed that there were only three environmental performance indicators with a total of 10 marks in Municipality MCPM Guidelines 2008. The environment related three indicators include ; 1) Sanitation and solid waste management following 3R principles - 4 marks, 2) Park, greenery and environment management - As per need of IEE/EIA and provisioned program, budget and human resources for environment management - 2 marks and 3) Disaster management plan developed and endorsed from Municipality Council - 4 marks.

Likewise, there are four environmental performance indicators with a total of 12 marks in Municipality MCPM Guidelines 2012. The indicators include i) Sanitation and solid waste management following 3R principles - 4 marks, ii) Environment management - As per need IEE/EIA implemented, road side plantation, environment awareness program, climate change adaptation activities, environment unit/section established, focal point with ToR identified, environment management fund developed and budget mobilized management - 4 marks, and iii) Emergency service/disaster management - Disaster management plan endorsed from Municipality Council, based on the plan annual plan formulated and approved from the council, fire brigade functional and disaster fund created and money deposited – 4 marks.

Findings  

·      Environmental performance measures indicators as well as marks have increased considerably over the years in both district and municipalities MCPM Guidelines.

·      DDC MCPM Guidelines introduced a few new environments friendly performance measure criteria such as climate change, local adaptation program, disaster risk management and policy for use of heavy equipment in 2012.

·       Municipality MCPM Guidelines 2012 introduced disaster management plan, environment awareness program, climate change adaptation activities, environment unit/section establishment and deputation of environmental focal point with terms and reference in energy and environment unit, establishment of environment management fund and budget mobilization criteria in performance measure.

Acknowledgement

Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development through Local Body Fiscal Commission has developed MCPM tool towards better mainstreaming poverty and environmental criteria in to local development plan and programs. The implementation effectiveness of the MCPM tools is yet to be assessed. Environmental and poverty linked criteria in the DDC and Municipality MCPM Guidelines were inserted with the support of Poverty Environment Initiatives.

 

 

References

·      GON,LBFC; 2013. Minimum Condition and Performance Measures (MCPM) Assessment Manual of District Development Committee (with revision and amendment)

·      GON,LBFC; 2008. Minimum Condition and Performance Measures (MCPM) Assessment Manual of District Development Committee

·      GON,LBFC; 2012. Manual for Assessment of Minimum Condition and Performance Measure (MCPM) of Municipalities

·      GON,LBFC; 2009. Manual for Assessment of Minimum Condition and Performance Measure (MCPM) of Municipalities with some revisions 

Tanahunsur: Emerging village tourism site in Nepal

Ek Raj Sigdel

Dhorphirdi 3, Tanahun

Tanahunsur village and adjoining areas are endowed with rich biodiversity, cultural and historical resources. The area has been emerged as a community based natural, cultural and historical tourism site in Nepal. Efforts are being made from local level towards safeguarding the natural, cultural and historical assets through promoting responsible tourism. To materialize the dream of conserving the highly valuable resources as well as alleviating the poverty, an integrated tourism plan is being prepared. It is believed that if tourism development takes places in a planned way no doubt this will be the only option for attaining the goal of conservation and development of this area.

Tanahunsur village and its adjoining tourism sites locate about 150 KM west from Kathmandu. It is placed at the middle of three major touristic areas of Nepal i.e Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan National Park. Tourist can have opportunities of observing the historical palace and enjoying majestic view of various snow capped Himalayas such as Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. It lies at the wildlife corridor between Annapurna Conservation Area in the north and Chitwan National Park in the South. Community forestry program has been successfully implemented in this area which has provided safe haven for wildlife species, a basis for promoting ecotourism.   

To ensure conservation and sustainable use of forestry resources, the local communities through forming community forests user groups have initiated community forestry and leasehold forestry management programs for over 15 years. Sustainable supply of firewood, fodder and leaf litters to local communities is the prime objective of managing community forests, said Bir Bahadur Rana, a community forest user committee chairperson as well as inhabitant of ward number 4 of Tanahunsur VDC. After putting concerted efforts from various quarters, once declined wildlife species such as leopard, deer, pheasant are gradually being appeared in the forests. The greenery forests along with charismatic wild life species could be a basis for attracting tourists in this area. However, there are some challenges too such as, forest fire, illegal logging, and existence of environment un-friendly rural roads and unplanned settlement that needs immediate attention for promoting sustainable tourism in this area.

Horticulture, livestock and cereal crops such as rice and wheat are being cultivated in upper, middle and lower altitudes respectively of the 4000 ft Tanahunsur peak. The higher altitudes especially north facing slopes are found very suitable for cultivating citrus mainly oranges. Similarly, a middle layer is suitable for undertaking agribusiness. Agricultural practice has been followed traditional methodology that helps addressing subsistence need of rural poor. In the absence of adequate labor and skilled manpower, the productivity of these crops is also being declined over the years. However, Kalyan Dhionoj Adhikari, and K.B Thapa from Ward number 4 and 8 respectively of Tanahunsur Village Development Committee are reaping handsome benefits from orange farming in their respective sites for few years. To address the need of scarce water resources in the entire VDC, the villagers have a plan of establishing big water reservoirs at three different altitudes of Tanahunsur VDC in near future. Once the ambitious plan comes into effect, this will be milestone activity for promoting market based agricultural system. The plan for creating and maintaining water reservoir ultimately helps addressing climate change issues in a long term as well. In a short run, the strategy will help practicing organic farming and that will be a hot cake for catering to tourists.

The area is endowed with rich cultural diversity too. Magar, Newar and Brahman are the major ethnic group of this area. The different ethnic groups posses different culture and hence the diverse culture could be a strong foundation for establishing culture based tourism in this site. As said by the local communities, Panche Baja, Kaura, Dohori, Ghaatu, Pamdure/Maaruni are some the key cultural programs that are unique to this site. Tanahunsur bound tourists can experiences the cultural show while staying already established 9-10 homestay in Chandanithok and Bhorthok of Tanahunsur. Local people offer heart touching hospitality to guests. The home stay is being managed by different women group called ama samuha. Tourists can enjoy local culture, organic foods mainly kodako roti, dhido and local chicken curry and sadheko gundruk, said Bindu Thapa Magar, an inhabitant of Tanahunsur and owner of a home stay. According to Ms. Thapa annually about 150 domestic and international tourist experiences home stay facilities in Tanahunsur. During Chaite Dashain, a second biggest of Festival of Hiindus, large numbers of people throng at Tanahunsur Ancient Palace for worshiping Goddesh Kalika. During the period of Chaite Dashain, local people organize cultural show and other entertainment activities.

The suggested route for tourism promotion in this village is following Kathmandu – Dumre – Chundi – Tanahunsur – Ghasikuwa – Damauli – Pokhara and vice versa. In order to make the route functional, it is higly recommended to make the existing rural road more environments friendly. In addition, the dream project of constructing water reservoirs and zoning based agricultural practiced needs to be followed in a planned way. In addition, conservation and economic development strategy should pay attention towards retaining local youth and engaging them in tourism development activities. The upcoming tourism master plan should take account of the aforementioned issues and actions timely. 

Local Governance and Community Development Program: Vehicle for Integrating cross –Sectoral Programs

Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development under Local Governance and Community Development Program (LGCDP) Framework have successfully implemented the Poverty Environment Initiatives (PEI) program. It has been found that PEI was "Small but very effective" tool for mainstreaming environment and climate change considerations into local development planning and budgeting framework. During the tenure of PEI, the government produced various knowledge documents following the principle of sustainable development such as i) Current Practices of Revenue Generation from Natural Resources in Nepali, ii) Policy Brief on Rural Road Management in Nepali and English, iii)  Video Documentary,  and iv) Conceptualized Environment Friendly Local Governance (EFLG) framework. 

Similarly, under the capacity enhancement front, the Ministry produced, i) Training of Trainers' Manual on Mainstreaming Environment into Local Development Planning for Social Mobilisers, VDC Secretary and VDC Technicians, and   ii)  A Resource Book on environmental impact assessment prepared. The book guides DDC and Municipalities in preparing Initial Environment Examination's Terms of References (IEE- TOR) and reporting procedures and Environment Impact Assessment's Terms of References (EIA – ToR) and Scoping Document. The book also annexes revised Social and Environment Safeguard Framework Checklists. Moreover, Various trainings were conductedincluding  i) Organised sensitization training on Mainstreaming Environment into Local Development Planning Process conducted for DDC and Municipality Officials of Far Western and Western Development Region and ii)  Training on effective management of sand, gravel and stones were conducted in five different districts, Sunsari, Makawanpur, Dhading, Rupandehi and Kailali

Now, to upscale the PEI approach to a more strategic level, MoFALD is preparing Environment Friendly Local Governance Framework. The EFLG concept empowers household and makes them more responsible through an  "incentive based volunteer approach". The framework is developed under the principles of equity, subsidiary, harmonization and alignment, participation and collaboration, mutual accountability, downward accountability and transparency and a Sector Wide Program Approach (SWAp).  Moreover, the Framework has been considered as a major cross cutting theme under LGCDP - II Framework.

It is believed that the EFLG concept accommodates all the programs and activities that are being implemented by the government with the support of various development partners. In addition, the concept strengthens the integrated bottom up planning process, coordination and collaboration amongst the various sectors. It helps crating demand from local communities for integrated environment friendly infrastructure development and also enhances capacity of local bodies and other service providers for effectively delivering the message of sustainable development to grass root level communities.

To respond to this demand, environment, climate change and disaster management criteria are added on the essential services areas of the local bodies.   To make this possible the Environment and Energy Sections of the Districts must play a more strategic role in also addressing climate and disaster risk reduction.    They must move from being seen as a project vehicle to being fully owned and utilized by the DDCs.    The Ministry has already started this process of strengthening these Environment, Energy and Climate Sections.  

Climate change policy 2011, demands investing upto 80% climate change earmarked budget into local level through the local bodies. While there are many donor programmes funding climate change, only a few of them use national and local planning and budgeting systems.   Having the mandate to coordinate and facilitate in developing and implementing guidelines, channeling block grants and monitoring local development activities, it is wise to channel climate funds to the local level through the Ministry of Federal Affairs.  Some DDCs have set up Environment Funds as one mechanism to make this possible.   

As part of the PEI, the Ministry has proposal to support this process through the UNCDF’s Local Climate Adaptation Living Facility or LoCAL.    This can demonstrate how earmarked environmental funds will benefit the local community by reducing their climate vulnerability.   One important area will be to make sure that local infrastructure, such as rural roads are environmentally friendly or climate proofed.

In this connection, UNDP, UNCDF, UNEP and MoFALD jointly organized a workshop in Kathmandu on reviewing the modalities for how LoCAL will initially be demonstrated.   And then if successful what steps MoFALD can take to upscale the approach through the LGCDP in line with the Environmentally Friendly Local Governance –and finally into the government’s own budget. 

Need Planned Development of Millennium Trekking Route

Millennium Trekking Route, one of the prominent tourist destinations in Nepal is a combined image of existing outstanding environment, socio-cultural and biodiversity asset of Dhor Area. In a true sense, if we want to upkeep the tourism image of this Route, Dhoreli should pay more attention towards maintaining its foundations such as socio-culture, environment and economic potentials.

The area is endowed with rich biodiversity and socio-cultural resources which are a basis of this Millennium Trekking Route. Dense community managed forests, scenic landscape, diverse ecosystem that range from lowland of Hiletar to the highest point upto Gurdhunm, sprouted water sources and forests are key biodiversity assets. In addition, the area can be considered as a part of the wildlife dispersal corridor between Annapurna Conservation Area towards North and Chitwan National Park towards South. Having globally significant biodiversity resources, the corridor is getting popularity across the world and drawing financial support from national and international development partners these days.

Prem Raja Mahat, Narendra Ale, Meera Rana Magar, Tanka Paudel, Phatta Thapa, Dharma Bahadur Bania, Pradeep Paudel, to name few is national and international figures, which are becoming "scent in the gold" of this area. Because of their outstanding performance in their respective field, the Dhor area together with these personalities is getting popularity across the country - nationally as well as internationally. Similarly, community managed Phulbari Hospital in Sakhe and Sahid Krishna Library in Patan of Dhorphirdi could be an additional asset for attracting more tourists in the Millennium Trekking Route. Dhorbarahi, Bajasthala Chhetri culture, Phirphire Gurung Culture, and Magar settlement all along the trekking routes are other cultural ingredients of the Millennium Trekking Route that deserve special attention for conservation. In recognition of the perfect blend of nature and culture, the Millennium Trekking Route is going to be linked with the Great Himalayan Trek towards North and Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha in South soon.

There are many challenges coming out to maintain the higher tourism value of this area. One can see ongoing unplanned infrastructure development activities such as road construction, mining, and picnic spot construction at the cost of the pristine ecosystem all along the route. Having unplanned construction, air pollution, deforestation and degradation, the Millennium Trekking Route is losing its beauty day after day. In addition, the historical Sahid Krishna Library in Patan is being misused which is exemplified from the fact that "books are being displaced by community utensils!". In fact these activities are tarnishing the image of the Millennium Trekking Routes.

Therefore, to maintain the route and to generate more economic and employment opportunities through promoting tourism, it is high time to think of the area and put concerted efforts from across the sectors. In this front, it is opportune time to develop a master plan of the trekking route considering socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and historical and infrastructure as major components of the Plan. To develop any infrastructures, it is essential to include environmental consideration in survey and designing of the development activities. Some activities, like drainage facilities, plantation and bioengineering should be included in each and every infrastructure development activities considering it as an integral part of the infrastructure. If development takes an account of environment, then the infrastructure become sustainable as well as helps maintaining image of the Trekking Route. Similarly, it is equally necessary to maintain sociao-cultural value of this area by maintaining existing libraries, schools and hospitals.

In nut shell, the existing unplanned socio-economic and infrastructure development activities in Dhor area are leading neither towards sustainable path nor going to support tourism, one of the key potential source of income of local people in the Millennium Trekking Routes. Therefore, any development activities in the route should be guided by a master plan that takes an account of environment as well as socio-cultural component of the Millennium Trekking Route. Now time has come for planned development. 

Reforming Investments by Local Government in Nepal

The government of Nepal has shifted investment towards environment friendly infrastructures development, increasing revenues without compromising environmental integrity of natural resources and green economy taking into account to climate proof infrastructures and adaptation activities. Context Since the early 1990s, when resources and authority began to be channeled through local government bodies, the use of heavy equipment for road construction such as bulldozers and excavators started to increase. Furthermore, the desire to establish road connections quickly also resulted in the increased use of unsustainable road construction approaches and methods. Development of road network is a consensus priority at local levels, which has expedited with promulgation of LSGA (1999). Nearly 40 Mill US$ is spent annually on rural roads and every VDC spends nearly 1 mill NRs annually. Sand, gravel and Stones (SG&S) are a new-found source of revenue for many local governments (District Development Committees/Village Development Committees and Municipalities) after the promulgation of Local Self-Governance Act (LSGA 1999) and Local Self-Governance Regulations (LSGR 2000). Through LSGA and LSGR, local bodies have been given important rights to tax sell and regulate SG&S exports, the revenues from which are expected to help finance poverty reduction and inclusive/participatory local development Nepal has an abundance of SG&S resources which, if utilized judiciously, could help to shape Nepal's development and affluence. However, a balanced outlook on Nepal's SG&S sub-sector seems to be lacking. There are two extreme outlooks – one group trying to accumulate wealth at the cost of the environment and the other group opting to keep the resources intact and untouched. It is estimated that, Nepal government collects revenue from tax about Rs.1072 million per year. The annual value of environmental losses due to SG&S extraction, processing and transport estimated is Rs.206 million, or about 19 percent of the revenue generated. The situation has now improved after the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has made mandatory to local bodies that they should prepare the IEE/EIA studies of the Source Rivers and formulate environment management plans based on IEE/EIA findings. In many districts, only taxes from the transport of SG&S is being collected at road toll points, but actual extraction of the resource from the river bed or terrace is free. In fact, the SG&S resources need to be priced in all districts and this will be one avenue for increasing the revenue of the districts from SG&S. Government is in line with introducing a resource pricing system at least for control in resource extraction technology and amount, which could be nominal to start with, in order not to distort the competitiveness in the export market. Moreover, the financial and economic analysis shows that the SG&S trade, both domestic and export, is highly remunerative and a small extra resource pricing will not reduce the profitability and competitiveness to a considerable extent. At least Rs. 1.6 million in additional revenues per district can be raised by charging Rs.0.50 per cu.ft as the price of the resource. For resource pricing, initiation will be taken to adopt a system of extraction permits for each extraction zone (location), identified and recommended by the respective district IEE/EIA reports. Rural road construction will continue to be a priority at the local levels in future. It was revealed that heavy equipment based construction have started to substitute the traditional labor based and green road construction technologies in Nepal. Both technologies have their respective plus and minus points. Labor based technologies are considered environment-friendly and pro-poor with economic returns of 30% more than equipment based technology, but the technology is awfully slow and expensive. On the other hand, the heavy equipment based technologies generally have exactly opposite characteristics. Equipment based roads, can give good results, if planned properly. Wherever possible a combination of both approaches should be used (equipment based technology are cheaper and faster while the labor based technology are more sustainable and pro-poor). Nepal is highly affected by climate change. Climate change policy was formulated in 2011 to minimize the existing effects and likely impacts in different ecological regions—from the Southern plains to the middle hills and to the high Himalayan Mountains in the north, and their peoples, livelihoods, and ecosystems. To address the issues, efforts have been made from policy to institutional levels. Prior to the 15th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UNFCCC, held in Copenhagen in 2009, the Government of Nepal organized a Cabinet Meeting at Kalapatthar, near the base camp of the Mount Everest, and issued the “Kalapatthar Declaration.” A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by 14 donors and development partners to support Nepal on climate change activities. The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) and Three-Year Interim Plan (2008-2010) have also addressed the issue of environmental management and climate change. Towards institutional front, the Government of Nepal established the Climate Change Management Division in the Ministry of Environment (MoE) in 2010. The MoE prepared the National Adaptation Programme of Action, which was endorsed by the Government on 28 September 2010. Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs) are being prepared to implement adaptation programmes. To coordinate climate change activities and implement collaborative programmes, a multi-stakeholder Climate Change Initiatives Coordination Committee (MCCICC) has been formed with representation from relevant ministries and institutions, international and national nongovernment organizations, academia, private sector, and donors. It is evident that institutional, collaborative and programmatic activities have been expanded to address the issue of climate change in recent years. Efforts to mobilise funds to implement the programmes on climate change are under way. Issues In the sand, gravel and stone sub sectors, declining pro-poor stance of the sand, gravel and stones (SG&S) sub-sector and no pricing administered for the most recently explored natural resources is considered as the major challenges for its effective management. The occurrence of spatial poverty is demonstrated by the fact that 30% of the country's 3915 VDC are yet to be linked to the road network and hence the development and expansion of road infrastructure in rural areas is obviously a consensus priority for local development across the country. In, Nepal, there are broadly two main road construction technologies in use for rural road construction, operation and maintenance: labor based and equipment based. Labor based technology (green road) has been gradually replaced by equipment based technology (non-engineered road) over the last 10-15 years with use of heavy equipments like bulldozers and excavators. Much of the climate change response within the Third Year Plan appears focused on Natural Resources Management including forests, agriculture, water and energy. However, there is no coherent definition and classification of climate change and climate change related expenditures. One of the most significant issues is how Nepal can meet the ambitious target of delivering and spending 80% of its adaptation finance at the local level. Strategies In order to increase the revenue from sand, gravel and stones, provision of environmental assessment tools like Initial Environment Examination and Environment Impact Assessment shall be employed strictly. In addition, mechanisms for SG&S resource pricing and permits for extraction shall be established. Moreover, part of the SG&S-derived revenues shall be plough back as investments in source river protection and addressing need of poor, women and impact communities. Whenever and wherever possible a blend of labor based and equipment based technologies shall be used for rural road construction to harness positive features of each technology. Cheaper and faster from equipment based technology and sustainable and poverty reducing from labor based technology. Climate change impacts the whole economy and broad range of sectors that needs to be taken into account. In this regard, climate resiliencies program shall be integrated into all aspects of national development through adopting integrated planning and budgeting schemes. Reform Process Policies are being formulated to enforce the provision of returning at least certain SG&S revenue to river ecosystem maintenance and investment in uplifting well being of SG&S impacted communities. Towards reforming investment in road sectors, local body's capacity and influences shall be strengthened to adopt environment friendly rural roads, pricing and ensuring benefits to deprived communities and deliver climate finance using a cross-sectoral approach. Similarly, reform process shall be initiated through strengthening capacity of local bodies to make them able to manage 80% of climate finance (currently estimated to be about 40%) and securing the right structures at the local level to ensure that the flow of climate finance reaches the most vulnerable communities. The government shall support inclusive green income and employment opportunities for poor and climate vulnerable groups whose health and livelihoods mostly depend on performance of natural resource management. In this regard, a possible starting point would be to integrate climate change, environment and poverty as an indicator of, or a component in, the Minimum Condition and Performance Measures (MCPM). Moreover, focus will be made to develop and implement integrated planning approaches for forestry, agriculture, irrigation, and energy and disaster mitigation as a means to adapt to climate change at the local level.