Nisha Onta, Knowledge Management Coordinator, attended the workshop, “Assessing Options for Community Forestry Climate Change Adaptation in Nepal,” at RECOFTC Bangkok office on 23-24 September 2014. The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness within RECOFTC on vulnerability assessment approach and replicability to other focal countries; present and validate vulnerability assessment report findings and begin development of plans of action for selected adaptation intervention options. Nisha commented on the process of gender analysis in the vulnerability assessment and inclusion of gender indicators in the validation and prioritization of potential adaptation interventions.
Regan Pairojmahakij, Senior Program Officer of RECOFTC, presented the RECOFTC’s Community Forestry-Climate Change Adaptation approach. Followed by the Vulnerability Assessment Process and Results conducted in the Bishunpur Village, Sarlahi District in Nepal. On the second day, the participants were grouped into three working groups and discussed the high priority option: NTFP enterprise processing and marketing, capacity building initiatives and revision and approval of new climate sensitive operations plan. Discussions focused on the following questions
– Is this adaptation?
– Consider risks, possible challenges?
– Validate/ affirm proposed options
– Further develop practical steps for
– implementation of each option (‘mini-proposals’)
– Discussion of potential financing options and sustainability of financing
– Identification of potential indicators to assess progress of each option
– Remaining questions to be asked in forthcoming missions
The workshop ended with the conclusion that there is a need to validate the adaptation options, in order develop the action plans for each of the adaptation intervention options.