Forest and farm smallholders and their organizations, who supply at least one-third of the world’s food, are confronting increasingly difficult climatic conditions – such as extreme temperatures, more variable rainfall, prolonged droughts, storms and flooding. They also face policy uncertainties and sometimes wildly fluctuating markets, among other threats to their livelihoods. The mission of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is to strengthen forest and farm producer organizations (FFPOs) representing smallholders, rural women, forest communities and indigenous peoples as a means for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and responding to climate change. It has been operating since 2012 and is now in its second phase (2018–2025). 

The FFF, in its second phase, is working in ten countries: Bolivia, Ecuador, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, Tanzania, Togo, Vietnam and Zambia. In Nepal, the phase II FFF intervention is continuing in the central and western regions of the Churia landscape, focusing specifically on five districts (Makwanpur, Nawalpur, Nawalparasi, Kapilvastu and Dang) in the Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces. To track progress of the FFF efforts in Nepal, use of geospatial technologies for monitoring and assessment has high potential. One of the important inputs to operationalize such system is precise geospatial boundary data of the interventions. Recognizing the need to improve capacity of the FFPOs in preparing geospatial boundaries of FFF interventions in Nepal, a training was conducted in July 2022. Building on the previous training and as a part of ongoing efforts to strengthen capacities of relevant FFPOs in Nepal, a training workshop “Geospatial for carbon monitoring in community forests in Nepal: In support to strengthening smallholder forest and farm producer organizations” has been started from 27 November 2023. The workshop is aimed to further enhance technical capacity in the use of advanced geospatial technology for carbon assessment/monitoring techniques, with a focus on forest ecosystems. The training workshop follows a 'learning by doing' approach, enabling participants to acquire and immediately apply the knowledge and skills learned in real-world data preparation for carbon assessment in Nepal's community forests. Geospatial data developed from this process are expected to contribute to tracking progress of the FFF efforts in Nepal. A total of fourteen participants from several FFPOs, government and partner agencies in Nepal are attending the training workshop.