Naysa Ahuja

Solid waste management (SWM) is a vital responsibility of municipal governments worldwide and is one of the biggest challenges faced by urban authorities. Waste generation is increasing at a rapid pace, exceeding the financial and technical capacities of local governments to collect, treat, and dispose of this waste. In the South Asia region, India, Nepal, and Pakistan share one common geographic characteristic - the high peaks of the Himalayan mountain range. This unique mountain ecology presents an opportunity for these economies to leverage this natural asset for economic growth. The aim of this report is to showcase SWM practices: (1) currently underway in India, Nepal, and Pakistan that can be scaled-up and adopted across mountain communities, and (2) operational in other countries or in other sectors that can be applied to this region. In this way, mountain communities can learn of, and be inspired to adopt, innovations that can greatly improve service delivery and resource efficiency. Chapter one gives an introduction. Chapter two provides an overview and synthesis of the good practice options presented in this report. The good practices are presented as individual chapters from chapters 3 to 22.

The forest tenure assessment tool (FTAT) and user guide consist of an integrated set of methodologies and guidelines for assessing why it is important to secure community-based forest tenure in a specific national or sub-national context, and what needs to be done to strengthen forest tenure in that context. It is a companion piece to the analytical framework (AF), developed during phase one of the securing forest tenure rights for rural development initiative. The AF highlights the relevance of secure community-based forest tenure to sustainable development goals (SDG), and presents a set of key elements derived from evidence and best practice in securing community forest tenure. Community-based forest tenure is important because tenure security is key in achieving a range of SDGs. One part of the assessment methodology presented asks, why forest tenure reform? It focuses on consolidating country-specific evidence of the linkages between community-based forest tenure security and several, particularly relevant SDG. The methodology involves exploring opportunities to achieve development goals by strengthening tenure security, as well as risks to the achievement of development outcomes where tenure is insecure. This part of the methodology is aimed at developing policy rationales for dialogue with high-level decision-makers in governments and the World Bank. A second part of the methodology presented here examines how to secure collective forest tenure and focuses on assessing the current status of community tenure security in forest areas. The objective is to enable participatory diagnostic assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of current land and forest tenure frameworks, capacities, and implementation processes. This assessment tool is designed for anyone interested in understanding and strengthening community-based tenure security in forest landscapes in any country or region.
The following sections provide an overview of the two-part assessment methodology for understanding the why and how dimensions of community-based forest tenure in section two; step-by-step process guidelines for conducting assessments in section three; a final section that identifies five broad categories of Bank products and services that can benefit from the FTAT and a range of modalities of implementation that vary in cost and duration in section four.

Liberia is one of the most forested countries in West Africa, with more than two thirds of its land surface covered by forest. The National Forest Inventory, conducted by the Liberia Forestry Development Authority in 2018 and 2019, estimates the forest cover in Liberia to be 6.69 million hectares which is approximately 69 percent of the total landmass. Liberia’s formal (measured) forest contribution to the national economy runs between nine and 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Forestry is the fourth largest contributor to economy, after services, agriculture and fisheries, and mining and panning. According to the 2020 Forest Resources Assessment produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as of 2015, around 39,880 full time equivalent workers (of which about 35 percent women) were formally employed by the sector.2 However, the formal sector is just a small part of the story. Clearly, forest-related products and environmental services make significant contributions to the subsistence, incomes, employment and coping needs of poor rural households (HHs). Yet, in national income accounting, these contributions are often ignored, or are only partially measured.

... Our deep appreciation is owed to Dr. Pavarala, Dean and Staff of the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication at the University of ... Piush Antony and Mr. Vikas Verma for their sustained interest, and indispensable guidance and help in this project. ...

Bhutan’s national principle of Gross National Happiness (GNH) has led to a framework for assessing critical government decisions on policies, legislation and individual projects. Human well-being such as that envisaged through the pursuit of GNH can, in part at least, be achieved through the implementation of the rule of law relating to environmental protection. In recent years the concept of the ‘Environmental rule of law’ (ERoL) has evolved as a framework to consider the principle of the rule of law within the environmental context. It aims to link environmental governance and sustainability with fundamental rights and duties. It draws on a broad range of rights and duties relevant to the protection of the environment, and as such has relevance to the principle of GNH and its application. This article examines Bhutanese approaches to environmental governance inspired by GNH in order to better understand how they may coincide with those principles and concepts that are incorporated...

Solid waste management (SWM) is a vital responsibility of municipal governments worldwide and is one of the biggest challenges faced by urban authorities. Waste generation is increasing at a rapid pace, exceeding the financial and technical capacities of local governments to collect, treat, and dispose of this waste. In the South Asia region, India, Nepal, and Pakistan share one common geographic characteristic - the high peaks of the Himalayan mountain range. This unique mountain ecology presents an opportunity for these economies to leverage this natural asset for economic growth. The aim of this report is to showcase SWM practices: (1) currently underway in India, Nepal, and Pakistan that can be scaled-up and adopted across mountain communities, and (2) operational in other countries or in other sectors that can be applied to this region. In this way, mountain communities can learn of, and be inspired to adopt, innovations that can greatly improve service delivery and resource efficiency. Chapter one gives an introduction. Chapter two provides an overview and synthesis of the good practice options presented in this report. The good practices are presented as individual chapters from chapters 3 to 22.

John Spears, a visionary forest advisor to the World Bank in the 1970s, was an early advocate of the idea that communities could be good stewards of forest lands as well as providers of forest products and environmental services. At that time, most developing countries followed colonial policies claiming ownership and control of forests as national assets. The 1978 World Bank forest strategy stimulated a dialogue for a future where communities would have statutory rights over land and forests. Community-based forest management is now expanding, underpinned by a very different body of law, policy, and regulation. More developing countries now recognize locally-controlled forestry as an economic engine, providing multiple economic, social and environmental benefits. What has contributed to this policy shift and endorsement of collective rights? How has secure tenure contributed to make Community Forest Enterprises successful? What are the expectations on delivery of sustainable develo...

The chapter discusses the drivers that contribute to increasing vulnerability of the Himalayan communities in India (and other neighboring Himalayan countries) with global warming. Adaptation activities to reduce the burden of disproportionate impacts of climate change in fragile ecosystems like the Himalayas has been emphasized in this chapter.
The authors attempts to present the existing framework of governance- geographical, legal, institutional, and financial- to highlight the policy and institutional barriers, as well as lays down policy recommendations to build adaptive capacities and resilience Himalayan communities to govern their environment and natural resources through a place-based, culturally sensitive, and landscape approach.

The governance of forests and their resources has always been a contentious issue. It has created a divide between developing and developed countries, as well as within them. With the increasing recognition of forests as valuable commodities in the global market, the management of forests in developing countries is becoming a matter of constant concern for ecologists, economists, and politicians.

Part I of this article provides an overview of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach in the international context. Part II and III examine environmental governance in the forest sector of two rapidly emerging economies of the world, India and Brazil. Part IV analyzes the two regimes and proposes adoption of favorable practices from one another to supplement their PFM framework through policy recommendations. The discourse focuses on the development of participatory tools for forest governance, pinpointing the key legal instruments, executive actions, institutional arrangements, and public engagement initiatives in the context of the historical, political, and economic backdrop of both countries.

Presentation explores the concept of human rights and constitutional rights-based approaches to environmental protection, which is part of the first global report by the UN Environment on Environmental Rule of Law (2091).

The concepts are discussed along with case laws on how Rights-based approach works as a safety net to safeguards environmental rights of the people.

Key authors of Report: Carl Bruch, Scott Schang, John Pendergrass, Scott Fulton, Nora Moraga-Lewy, Merideth Wright, and Greta Swanson

Presented at a workshop on Strengthening of Participatory Forest Management in the State of Odisha: A Review of 25 years of JFM in India at CYSD, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
Workshop organized by Enviro Legal Defence Firm and funded project by USAID

Governance measures to be considered for drafting an integrated environmental policy for Indian Himalayan Region for effective climate change adaptation of the communities and institutions.
Presented at National Consultation of Himalayan Sustainable Development Forum, New Delhi

Presented at the First Regional Consultation on Himalayan Sustainable Development Forum held at Dehradun, Uttarakhand on August 4, 2015 sharing the law, policy, and institutional recommendation for effective environmental governance of the entire IHR with a special focus on climate change adaptation.

The harsh climate, remoteness, limited land availability for waste treatment and disposal, and relatively weak infrastructure in the mountain landscape are some of the factors that make waste collection and safe disposal more challenging than in the urban lowland.