Nepal to receive 1.06 billion rupees from carbon trade

KATHMANDU: Nepal is to receive 1.06 billion rupees from carbon trade.

Nepal is going to receive the amount for reducing carbon dioxide emission through its forests in 13 districts of the Tarai region, according to the REDD Implementation Center under the Ministry of Forest and Environment.

Nepal is going to get this amount for storing 2.4 million tons of carbon from 2018 to 2024 working in 13 districts of Tarai from Bagmati river to Mahakali river under the Tarai 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 this month of 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 in relation to 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 have been found to be reduced when measured in 2023, Pudasaini said.