Nepal to receive 1.06 billion rupees from carbon trade

KATHMANDU: According to the REDD Implementation Center under the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Nepal will receive 1.06 billion rupees from carbon trade to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its forests in 13 districts of the Terai region.

Nepal will receive this amount for storing 2.4 million tons of carbon from 2018 to 2024 in 13 districts of Terai from Bagmati River to the Mahakali River under the Terai Arc landscape program.

According to the Ministry, Nepal will receive 5 dollars for every tonne of carbon dioxide emission reduced and hence receive 1.06 billion rupees within October.

According to Badriraj Dhungana, the spokesperson and joint secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Environment, there is a provision that 80 percent of the money received from carbon trading should be spent on local beneficiary Indigenous and local communities. For this, the government has prepared a plan and will implement it accordingly.

Chief of REDD or “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation” Implementation Centre Nawaraj Pudasaini said an average of 167 tonnes of carbon has been accumulated per hectare from the forest area of Nepal.

Since, 2018, Nepal’s REDD+ Strategy and other policy and regulations were being implemented concerning carbon trading.

The REDD program has been implemented in 1.7 million hectares of area in 13 districts of the country and the target is to reduce about 34.2 million tons of carbon dioxide gas emissions by 2028. In the first phase, 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions are reduced when measured in 2023, Pudasaini said.