......Title................................Short.............................Project Description

151

264

With the support of Global Forest Coalition (GFC), ICA Nepal carried out activities that promoted the rights of indigenous communities access to and use of forest resources. It organized orientation, training, and the development of case studies for its national level workshop on indigenous communities and their often complex relationship to forests. During its workshop, ICA Nepal produced 12 recommendations to present to the Nepalese government for immediate consideration. The workshop identified political instability as one of the main underlying causes of rampant deforestation in Nepal. Other resolutions considered giving special care to the culture, skills, and traditions of indigenous populations, providing better education opportunities to local communities, compensating indigenous and ethnic communities for their products, guaranteeing free alternative energy for indigenous and ethnic communities residing in or near forest areas, and new government-led arrangements for cattle raising and grazing. ICA Nepal understands that Nepals rapidly growing population puts great pressure on natural resources. Through Eco-clubs and sustainable agricultural programs, children and adults respectively are encouraged to think about ways to use their environment in a sustainable way. Trees have been planted, and nurseries and kitchen gardens started as a result of this program. Furthermore, through training and facilitation, ICA Nepal has motivated thousands of people towards protecting the environment. - Nepal