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Poor rural people manage vast areas of land and forest. They have the potential to be important players in protecting natural resources and providing important environmental services. An IFAD-supported project has helped build momentum and public interest in rewards for environmental services and has developed ways to offer incentives to poor farmers who protect ecosystems at the national level in China, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

In the Middle Hills district of Nepal, an IFAD-funded project has helped reverse environmental degradation and bring people out of poverty. As a result of the project’s impressive impact, the government adopted a leasehold forest policy in 2002 and integrated the approach in its poverty strategy. Now a new project is building on the success of the first, introducing livestock and microfinance components.

The country's first ever Community Seed Bank (CSB) was established in 2004 in Kachorwa village of Bara district with the support of the Agricultural Development and Conservation Society (ADCS) and the Loca Initiatives for Biodiversity Research and Development (LI BIRD).

Nepal is the tenth poorest country in the world. The project targeted 16,000 rural women living below the poverty line and facing strong social barriers such as gender bias, caste and ethnic divisions. Women also lacked access to the means by which they could improve their living standard. In the project design, the importance of rural women’s contribution to production and family income was recognized.

"Empowering women in irrigation and water resources management for improved household food security, nutrition and health", known as WIN, is an innovative project, funded by United Nations Fund (UNF) and executed by FAO. It is 'people centred' and seeks to develop an original participatory approach that integrates gender, nutrition and health issues in irrigation and rural water management and development. During the last three years, the project has been implemented in three countries: Nepal, Zambia and Cambodia.

The case of Nepal : fighting HIV-AIDS

As an issue related to poverty alleviation. Dealing with HIV/AIDS in Nepal has come very fast since the past 2 or 3 years as a key issue to poverty alleviation in the rural areas. Mrs. Niru Dahal Pandey describes the problems related to the HIV-AIDS disease in the field work.

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Focus on rural women

In Nepal the WIN project has targeted the food insecure households, especially women farmers. Mrs. Niru Dahal Pandey is an Agronomist (Department of Agriculture, in Nepal) and one of the responsible experts of the WIN project in the field. In an interview with FAO Radio, she underlines women's central role in agriculture and explains how the WIN project helps to improve their quality of life.

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The farm families of Bhaktapur district in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley know they have something special in their traditional spice crop. Centuries ago the spices were so highly prized by Nepal's northern neighbour that the valley was known as the "Chilli Garden of Tibet". But the farmers also know that at harvest time, with 1 000 tonnes of fresh chilli, garlic, ginger and turmeric on their hands, they are only offered low prices by outside mills, which dry, grind and sell the spices -- and keep the profit.

The tapstand in the village of Sulikhola in central Nepal was installed by WaterAid and its partner Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) in 1991.

For many communities living in the hills of Nepal, collecting water is a full time occupation. Having settled high on ridgelines above suitable fresh water sources, many women and children spend up to six hours a day carrying water from springs at lower elevations.

WaterAid partner organisation Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) have been working to improve the living standard of communities in Nepal's rural Eastern Region through delivery of safe water, health and sanitation services.

After 6 years of steady work, the Jajarkot Permaculture Programme (JPP), in the mid-western Himalayan Hills of Nepal, grew from one acre of land to over fifty villages in four districts, employing some 120 staff and having 12,000 members.

Chris Evans, designer, advisor and teacher to this programme, shows us that, in Nepal, permaculture has become a mature innovative approach to participatory community based development of sustainable land use.

Sona Sada walks one hour to get to the government school. The 15-year-old gladly makes the long trek from her village in Dumraha, Nepal. She is a Mushahar , a member of the landless tribe considered ‘untouchable’ in her country. She never dreamed that she would go to school. Her family is poor, and like most Mushahars , she seemed destined to remain illiterate.

For decades, Thali village women have been collecting Jatamansi root, also known as spikenard, and other natural products yielding essential oils. They sold the raw materials to traders who transported them to India, where they were distilled. The EnterpriseWorks project formed community forest user groups (CFUGs) that were able to gain legal economic control over the resources from the Nepalese government.