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FRA Bulletin 

Forest Resource Assessment Nepal Newsletter 

Volume 2 Issue 2 December 2012 

CONTENTS 

Article: Institutionalization – 

How to Build Your Institutional Capacity ........................1 

Editor’s Note ......................................................2 

Article: In Pursue of Forest Soil Organic Carbon ..........3 

Article: Plants Used for Beverage Preparation in Terai ...6 

Article: Mapping Forests in Nepal – 

Standard Guidelines for FRA ...................................... 7 

FRA Highlights ....................................................9 

FRA Events ........................................................11 

Personal Profile ................................................11 

Copyright © 2012, FRA Nepal 

Editorial and Layout Team 

Tuija Suihkonen, Layout, Editing & Publication 

Ashwin Dhakal, Highlights, e-Newsletter & Publication 

Anish Joshi, Editing 

The views, ideas and interpretations in this publications are 

those of authors and do not whatsoever reflect those of FRA 

Nepal, the Government of Nepal, the Government of Finland 

or any partner organizations. 

Readers are requested to send their views and comments to 

FRA Nepal editorial team at editorial@franepal.org 

Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) Nepal Project 

MoFSC/Department of Forest Research and Survey 

Babarmahal, Kathmandu, Nepal 

Tel: +9771 4226944 Fax: +9771 4227583 

P.O. Box: GPO 23200 

email: editorial@franepal.org www.franepal.org 

Institutionalization – How to 

Build Your Institutional Capacity 

Tuomo Kotimäki, Chief Technical Advisor, FRA Nepal 

(homehill.solutions@welho.com) 

N 

epal has been very dependent on international 

development support for more than 50 years. However, 

quite often it seems that independent and self-sustained 

development is not intended at all, but instead anticipating 

for a new donor and new project to take care of further 

development. This reflects the fact that institutions are not 

ready to take independent and responsible actions. The 

reason for that might be an old-fashioned structure of 

institution or an insufficient level of human capacity. There 

is a huge change of greater specialization happening 

globally. This means that there is no space for “Old-time 

generalists” any more. Systems are getting more complicated 

to be managed easily. There is a great need to define 

systems in more detail, and respectively, requires definition 

of resources, skills and capacity in a new way. Hence, old 

job descriptions do not apply anymore. Continuous learning 

brings new challenges. Being trained to update general 

education and skills is not sufficient anymore. Instead, 

mastering in managing complicated systems and processes 

in order to take responsibility to develop and maintain 

them has become more important. 

In FRA Nepal Project, there has been a lot of discussion 

on Nepal Forest Information Service to be based on efficient 

Open Source Forest Information System (OSFIS), 

development and hosting of large forest related database, 

old (historical) and fresh data integration into the same 

system, and data sharing with various data users. This 

seems rather a normal framework of information 

management and provision of services. However, it is an 

enormous step from today’s reality in Nepal to the future. 

1

FRA Bulletin Vol 2 Issue2 December 2012 

Editor’s note 

FRA Nepal is glad to publish the second issue of the biannual 

FRA Bulletin in 2012. FRA Bulletin is published with an aim to 

disseminate information related to the National Forest Inventory, 

Forest Information, REDD+ and other relevant topics associated 

with the FRA Nepal project. This bulletin also presents the 

current activities and status of work of the FRA Nepal Project. 

In the first article FRA Nepal project’s CTA Mr. Tuomo Kotimäki 

talks about important issue of a process of institutionalization 

of international development support in a governmental 

organization in Nepal. In this edition we also bring out two 

technical articles of which Dr. Jukka Alm’s (Metla) and Mr. 

Teeka Pokhrel’s (DFRS) article presents FRA’s initiative of 

estimating soil organic carbon, and I and Mr. Anish Joshi’s 

(FRA) article briefs new stardard mapping guidelines of FRA 

Nepal project. Mr. Bhuvan Keshar Sharma’s (FRA) short article 

presents his study on the plants used for beverage preparation 

in Terai. 

Again, like on the previous issues, highlights and main events 

of the project during past half a year are listed. This issue 

continues also introducing key DFRS and FRA team members 

with short profiles of ecologists and GIS/RS team members. 

Editing team likes to thank all contributors for this issue. The 

next bulletin (volume 3 issue 1) will be published in spring 

2013. 

Tuija Suihkonen 

Do Nepalese governmental structures support this type of 

step 

I think, not too much. I find that the preparedness to such is 

rather poor. Old administrational regulations and present civil 

servant policies prevent efficiently these kinds of new approaches 

and intentions of capacity building in information service 

sector. 

What does institutionalization mean There are several elements 

to be defined and developed in a balanced way. Organisation 

should have a well-determined place in wider organisational 

structure, and clearly defined vision and mission to strive for 

a planned way. Strategy and strategic goals should be defined 

in detail, and the entire organisation should be committed to 

carry out all strategies efficiently and aim at targeted goals 

continuously. Output-orientation is needed in concrete and 

well-planned manner. When all these institution building 

elements are streamlined and developed, human capacity 

building could be directed to strengthen the institution, not 

only upgrading the individual human skills, but improving 

institutional capacity to cope with the targets and results at 

institutional level. Still, too often human capacity building 

means general educational improvements contributing only 

fairly to the organisational goals. 

Nowadays, institutional development means new working 

environments, services and tasks; and all these require new 

tools and applications. What does this mean Old job 

descriptions are not anymore valid, but they should be revised. 

New positions are also needed for experts having highly 

specialized academical background. One of such new 

specialized area is Information technology (IT), which cannot 

be taken care by “generalists”. To manage IT system 

requirements 3-4 years of basic IT education and plenty of 

practice to handle complicated information systems are needed. 

One part of information services is focusing on information 

management, but also information sharing in new working 

spheres, and paying attention to security issues, immaterial 

rights, legal matters, and all kinds of government regulations. 

All these require a wide understanding of newly developed 

information management structures. 

One of the ultimate targets, “Establishing Nepal Forest 

Information Service” as an efficiently running organisational 

unit within FRA Nepal Project, demands new attitude, tools 

and means for applying “Service Culture”. Government officers 

possess seldom such skills to serve a client. Poor services may 

ruin good ideas of new approaches in information services. 

Clients may have all kinds of needs and wishes, and service 

providers should be very flexible and rich in ideas to provide 

better and better services. 

The key words are “taking responsibility” and “being 

committed”. Too often we face the situation that people are 

interested in learning new skills and enhance their general 

education, but not aiming at or willing to take any responsibility 

to continue using the new skills in their everyday work. It is 

still too easy to go behind a curtain and claim having general 

knowledge on any subject, but usually this knowledge is not 

on such practical level to be able to commit taking care of 

new matters. Job descriptions mostly stay as they used to be, 

and therefore, there is no external mandate for a staff member 

to start taking any new responsibility. Nowadays, commitment 

equals too often to compensation. Unfortunately, the 

government has almost nothing to compensate. Projects do 

compensate, and this means they partly ruin the system at the 

same time. Commitment lasts only up to the moment the 

project is able to compensate. So called “national duty works” 

do not include developing or taking responsibility on 

complicated system that requires specialist’s full energy and 

focus, and full-time commitment to take care of the system in 

a responsible way without any additional compensation. 

The Civil Servant Policy of the Government of Nepal has 

created a bottleneck in establishing and implementing the 

envisioned “Nepal Forest Information Service”. Several talented 

and trained staff members seek for opportunities to get master’s 

or doctor’s education in Nepal or abroad. If a staff member 

of any government organization is successful in applying for 

any academic institution, they could have so called “study 

leave” from their government organization position for two 

to four years, and all this time, the government organization 

keeps their post vacanct without any replacement. This means 

2


that the governmental organization will continuously have a 

shortage of skilled staff members. Similar is the case within 

DFRS where there is a lack of such staff who can manage the 

forest information system to share data and prepare required 

data processes, computations and analysis for clients. Some 

type of “Replacement Policy” should be created. In addition 

to that, some type of “Bonus System” should be established 

to tempt skilled workers to stay in their posts and be committed 

to the various demanding tasks. 

FRA Nepal Project has still two years for improvements together 

with the Nepalese partners. In every case, institutional 

development demands new ideas and local commitment to 

revise the old systems and strive for improved institutional 

capacity and applying of service culture. 

In Pursue of Forest Soil Organic 

Carbon 

Dr. Jukka Alm, Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) 

(jukka.alm@metla.fi) 

Teeka Ram Pokhrel, Soil Laboratory Manager, DFRS 

(pokhrelteeka@gmail.com) 

O 

rganic matter in forest is found not only from the live 

biomass of trees, but also from soil. Actually, the largest 

proportion of organic carbon in a forest ecosystem may be 

found in soils. In broadleaved forests in the Middle Hills region 

Shrestha (2009) reported that from 55 to 74% of the total 

carbon store was in the 100 centimeter (cm) deep soil layer. 

In addition, live roots consisted of 6 to 10 % of carbon. 

fraction turned to soil organic matter may survive longer and 

accumulate in favorable conditions for millennia. About half 

of the organic matter consists of carbon. 

Over long term, soil carbon content is consumed by 

heterotrophic soil respiration, and leaching as particulate and 

dissolved organic substances. The balance of production and 

consumption dictates, whether a particular soil accumulates 

or gets depleted of carbon. A careless land use change can 

easily accelerate soil carbon losses, but good planning may 

also provide means to increase carbon removals from the 

atmosphere. 

Environmental conditions that support soil carbon accumulation 

may be high precipitation rate, low temperature, and prevailing 

hypoxic conditions in soil. Those factors depend on topography 

or soil physical properties. Therefore, large amounts of soil 

carbon can be expected to be found in Nepal from the Middle 

Mountain cloud forests (Shrestha 2009), wetland soils in Terai, 

or afforested former croplands, where the soil has been 

amended by adding organic matter. Since forest soils consist 

of a large proportion of the total carbon bound in forest 

ecosystems (Shrestha 2009, Oli & Strestha 2009), disturbance 

of soil may cause remarkable greenhouse gas emissions by 

means of oxidation. Soil carbon inventory gives imperative 

data for planners for preventing careless management in 

certain areas to liberate the major carbon reserves. 

Nation-wide forest carbon inventory 

An inventory of forest soil organic carbon (SOC) is a part of 

the FRA Nepal Project approach. Litter, debris and soil are 

sampled from soil surface down to 30 cm depth. The sampling 

scheme has been integrated as a part of the FRA forest 

inventory field work. The data will be a part of the FRA 

Vegetation binds atmospheric 

carbon dioxide (CO 2 

) in 

photosynthesis, after which carbon 

becomes a part of biomass. 

Maintenance respiration of plants 

returns much of the CO 2 

immediately back to the 

atmosphere. Some assimilated 

carbon fractions have a longer life 

span in biomass and soil. 

Litter fall and debris are the above 

ground sources of soil carbon, 

while root mortality and turnover 

release dead organic matter below 

ground. Depending on the 

conditions in soil, part of the dead 

organic matter gets a longer time 

span as part of soil. While much 

of the carbon in live biomass has 

a limited, typically decadal or 

centennial residence time until it 

is oxidized back to CO 2 

, the 

Figure 1. Compound sampling scheme for soil organic carbon, litter (and debris) in a FRA 

Nepal forest inventory plot. By default, soil pits are dug at the cardinal sampling points, just 

outside the forest stand perimeter. 

3


database, and soil parameters can be associated with data 

describing tree stand characteristics, biodiversity, slope, 

exposition and other ancillary site and stand properties. 

In order to obtain a proper estimate of the forest ecosystem 

carbon (C) store, inventory data must be accompanied by 

suitable biomass conversion factors for both above ground 

parts of trees and shrubs and below ground root systems. 

However, the roots were excluded from the FRA Nepal Project 

soil carbon analyses, because creating biomass conversion 

modeling was started by ancillary Institutional Cooperation 

Instrument (ICI) Project and later continued by the FRA Nepal 

Project. These models will provide better estimates for the 

root systems in the whole rooting zone, not only within the 

top 30 cm layer. 

The best way to produce a national baseline carbon inventory 

is to use a statistically sound sampling scheme. FRA Nepal 

sampling design provides such a framework and enough 

large sample size for baseline estimation, and it serves as an 

invaluable tool e.g. for REDD+ assessment. 

The FRA Nepal forest inventory started in winter 2010-2011 

from the Terai lowlands, continued up to the Siwaliks and 

later to the Middle Hills. Each cluster consisted of four sample 

plots in the inner Terai region and six sample plots in the hilly 

region. Till November 2012, altogether, 1,641 separate soil 

samples, 503 litter and 405 debris samples have been 

analyzed. They represent more than 540 individual forest 

plots in Nepal. 

Nepalese professionals involved in the development of 

laboratory facilities, methodology, and computation of the 

results are (in order of employment in DFRS) Mr. B.B. Pudasaini, 

Ms. P. Dongol, and the coauthor of this paper, Mr. T. R. Pokhrel, 

who runs the DFRS Soil Laboratory and has been responsible 

for the FRA Nepal related work since September 2011. Dr. 

Jukka Alm worked in the FRA Nepal as the International Soil 

Sampling and Analyzing Expert, and Mr. P. Sharma worked 

in FRA as Regional Soil Sampling Expert. 

Careful soil sampling is critical 

Soil, litter and debris were collected as 3-4 compound samples 

from each stand and soil layer (Fig. 1). The volumetric samples 

were characterized, fresh weighed, and analyzed 

calorimetrically on site, and transported to the Department 

of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS) Soil Laboratory in 

Kathmandu for further treatment and analysis. The site 

procedure included an estimation of soil stoniness by means 

of both soil pit wall visual estimate and 30 cm penetration 

depth measurements. The data will be used to prevent an 

over-estimation of the soil carbon content because the space 

occupied by stones in soil is void of organic carbon. 

The samples from the soil layers 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, and 

20-30 cm are kept separate. In the final calculation, the data 

from the three layers will be combined. In this work we had 

to restrict the soil sampling to the 30 cm top soil only in order 

to run other FRA Nepal measurements with the same personnel 

and time frame. From the layers analyzed separately, we can 

estimate, whether the soil carbon density diminishes already 

within the IPCC 30 cm default topsoil, or if the soil contains 

a significant amount of organic 

matter even deeper. In addition, 

litter and debris are collected from 

each site and their C content is 

estimated. 

Figure 2. Soil pit preparation in Sindhupalchok region, where the litter and debris collection 

ring is installed. After that, soil pit wall is prepared down to 40 cm depth, and stoniness and 

soil color are estimated. 

If the composite samples of litter 

and debris (Fig. 2) from the area 

of 4 m 2 area became too large 

for transport, the total sample was 

fresh weighed, and a smaller 

subsample was extracted and sent 

to the laboratory. Dry mass of litter 

and debris were then backcalculated 

to match the total 

sample. It was assumed that the 

moisture content of the materials 

did not significantly change during 

the transport period. This 

assumption may hold rather well 

during the dry winter season 

conditions. However, in few cases 

the laboratory dry mass result 

exceeded the field fresh mass 

sample figures invalidating the 

carbon content estimation in that 

fraction for the site. 

4


Our soil carbon estimate is most critically based on obtaining 

volumetric samples (Fig 3). This means that each time an 

accurately known quantity of soil has to be taken to the 

composite sample. Field personnel have been educated to 

pay a special attention to that. An error in soil volume data 

leads to an erratic estimate of bulk density, and accordingly, 

similarly erratic soil carbon value. In most of the cases, the 

field crews have performed very well in this critical measure. 

Laboratory results are reliable 

In the laboratory, the samples were air-dried, sieved and 

homogenized prior to oven-drying, bulk density determination 

and analysis for organic carbon. Sample management was 

supported by an Excel-based data input and result calculation 

application. Walkley-Black and titration procedures were 

adopted for SOC analyses, as they were familiar to the lab, 

and could be performed even during electricity fails. The 

analysis of carbon bound in litter and debris was based on 

dry biomass measurements and assumption of 50% of C in 

organic matter. 

Figure 4. Comparison of the soil organic carbon (%) results by 

two DFRS laboratory analysts with slightly different sample 

preparation procedures and the dry combustion HCN analysis 

(LECO) performed by the laboratory of Finnish Forest Research 

Institute, Metla. The green and red dashed lines indicate 

regressions that can be used to calibrate the data. 

Figure 3. Soil samples of precisely known volume are taken 

using a slightly conical corer. The corer’s inner diameter is 

larger at the top compared to the cutting lower edge. Thereby 

the sample compression during the coring is minimized. 

The laboratory practices were standardized as per the Standard 

Operating Procedures (SOP) for the Soil Analysis, 2011, was 

prepared for the FRA Nepal Project. Quality assessment was 

also planned. With that, a number of samples were first 

analyzed using Walkley-Black by two persons of the DFRS, 

and then sent to Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) for 

5


dry combustion hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen analysis. Many 

of the soil samples contained inorganic carbonates (limestone 

derived soil), which was revealed by quick acid tests, and that 

adds the SOC result in dry combustion analysis. Therefore, 

the carbonate C was liberated as CO 2 

by means of hydrogen 

chloride (HCl) treatment and the chlorides were carefully 

washed out prior to the dry combustion. The Walkley-Black 

procedure applied in the FRA Nepal is not sensitive to limestone 

carbon. Figure 4 illustrates the generally very good comparability 

between the both DFRS analysts and the accredited Metla 

laboratory using different analysis techniques. With continuous 

care in following the laboratory SOP, the FRA Nepal SOC 

results should appear reliable. 

Soil carbon results in sight 

First views on the collected soil organic carbon data showed 

that much higher SOC values were found in the soil sample 

from Middle Hills when compared to those from the Terai. 

However, it seems that there is a high variability in soil carbon 

stores within the Terai region. A quick perusal on maps 

suggested that the highest SOC values could be associated 

with river beds flooding during the monsoon. The databases 

of soil analysis results and other stand characteristics from the 

FRA Nepal Project are still waiting to be combined. That 

aggregate will definitely provide an interesting view to the 

total ecosystem carbon stores in the different forest types and 

physio-geographical regions of Nepal. 

The data collected in the FRA Nepal Project is an invaluable 

commodity, and the usability of which should be ensured at 

the national level. Supportive workshops and methodical 

capacity building for the local researchers to investigate the 

multi-dimensional database are necessary. The data allows 

a great potential for academic research, as well as specific, 

practical outputs in thematic cartography and particularly the 

development of forestry planning. Capacity for independent, 

repeated inventories would grow from increased research 

skills. One of the further tasks should be enhancement of 

international research collaboration that would support modern 

local researcher education. 

Plants Used for Beverage Preparation 

in Terai 

Bhuvan Keshar Sharma, Biodiversity Mapping Expert, FRA Nepal 

(bhuvan_keshars@hotmail.com) 

R 

egarded as marginal products, Non-Timber Forestry 

Products (NTFPs) are economically viable alternative use 

of tropical and sub-tropical forests. Through the holistic 

management of NTFPs, an attempt is made to conserve the 

resources to sustain their use; conserve forests and biodiversity, 

and to promote non-traditional enterprises to improve local 

economies and diversify the economic base of the rural poor. 

Although NTFPs are fulfilling the basic needs of the local 

people including additional nutrition for them, these are 

considered as secondary products (or minor products). 

NTFPs, which are used to prepare beverage, is one category 

of plant types. Beverages are categorized based on the alcohol 

content viz. alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Identifying 

NTFPs for beverages that are palatable and refreshing, is a 

continuous process. Aiming to document local knowledge on 

NTFPs of Nepal, a study was undertaken to incorporate two 

specific objectives: a) document local knowledge on the plants 

used for beverages, and 2) verify the documented plants from 

the field study. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and field 

verification methodologies were applied to fulfill the objectives. 

To collect information from local communities, 51 FGDs 

participated by total of 894 local people, and the events were 

organized in 15 districts. For the field verification, 519 plots 

References 

Oli, B.N. and Shrestha, K. 2009. Carbon Status in 

Forests of Nepal: An Overview. Journal of Forest 

and Livelihood,8(1):63-67. 

Shrestha, B.P. 2009. Carbon sequestration in broad leaved 

forests of Mid-Hills of Nepal: A case study from Palpa District. 

The Initiation 3:20-29. 

Figure 1. Plants parts used to prepare beverages in Terai region 

(Percentage indicate proportion of the total species) 

6


Mapping Forests in Nepal – Standard 

Guidelines for FRA Maps 

Figure 2. The commonly used plant ingredient for beverage 

in Terai is Elephantopus scaber. 

were surveyed. The study found that 195 different plant species 

are used to prepare beverage in the Terai region. These plants 

included climbers, ferns, grass, herbs/sedge, shrub, and tree. 

Among the total useful plant species (n = 195) local people 

mostly used tree species (50%) followed by shrubs (15%), 

herb/sedge (15%), climber (12%), grass (6%), and ferns (2%) 

to prepare beverages. Leaves are the most generally used 

part of the plant to prepare beverage (i.e. in 33% of the total 

plant species). The other preferred parts to prepare beverages 

are fruit, stem, branch, whole plant, bark, exudates, flower, 

seed, root, and wood and pod (Fig 1.). 

Some common non-alcoholic beverages used in the Terai 

regions are fruit juices. Commonly used fruit juices are prepared 

from Aegle marmelos and Carica papaya. Wild plants are 

mainly used as ingredient to prepare the alcoholic beverages. 

The commonly used plant ingredient in the Terai is Elephantopus 

scaber (Fig 2.). 

Out of 195 identified plant species used for beverage 122 

species of plants were verified from the field study. In total, 

107 tree species were reported to be used for beverage 

preparation. During field verification, 63.6% (n = 68) tree 

species were confirmed. Similarly, 60 species of understory 

layer and 76 species of ground vegetation were identified to 

be used for beverage preparation on the basis of focus group 

discussions. Similarily, during field verification 76.7% (n = 46) 

species of understory vegetation and 55.3% (n = 42) species 

of ground vegetation were confirmed. Further research 

regarding seasonal survey and economic valuation of the 

plant used for beverage are recommended for the future 

covering better and more profound produce of information 

of plants used for beverages. 

Tuija Suihkonen, Junior Technical Advisor, FRA Nepal 

(tuija.suihkonen@arbonaut.com) 

Anish Joshi, Senior GIS and Remote Sensing Advisor, FRA Nepal 

(anish.joshi@franepal.org) 

F 

orest cover and forest type mapping is one of the four 

components of Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) Nepal 

Project. The first component, namely the ‘Forest Resource 

Assessment’, which includes national forest inventory, gives 

the statistics of forest answering ‘how much area of Nepal is 

covered by forest’ This component is being undertaken with 

the technical support from the Finnish Forest Research Institute 

(Metla). The second component, namely the ‘forest cover 

mapping’, shows the spatial coverage of the forests, answering 

‘where are the forests in Nepal’ The forest cover mapping 

is done by the FRA Nepal experts in collaborations with a GIS 

and mapping team from the Department of Forest Research 

and Survey (DFRS). In order to standardize and formalize the 

definitions of forest and land cover types, a standard guideline 

for forest cover/ types and their mapping has been drafted 

by S.K. Gautam, A. Joshi and U. Nocker (Gautam S. K. et al 

2012). 

Mapping of forest in Nepal has always been a challenging 

task due to complexity of the terrain, bio-climatic regimes, 

diversity of vegetation in short altitudinal variations and other 

bio-physical attributes. Cartography, i.e. making maps is a 

subjective presentation of the truth, and therefore, a “correct” 

map cannot be presented because a singular truth does not 

exist. Maps are always an interpretation of the subject, and 

a cartographer has to make compromises in selections what 

to present on a map and what not. In maps both art and 

science meet, hence a forest cover map represents the forest 

coverage within a certain confidence level. For the 

standardization of the classification process a definitive guideline 

for forest coverage mapping has been prepared to minimize 

subjectivity. The forest cover mapping guideline specifies the 

definitions of the forest and other land cover classes for the 

purposes of representing them in standard maps in compliances 

with the national and international best practices. These 

definitions are in compliance with the FAO’s definitions and 

have been adopted for the Nepal’s landscape. 

Forest mapping before and in the future 

Different vegetation maps of Nepal exist from previous studies. 

Previous nationwide mapping of vegetation/forest cover and 

types and their definitions have been made by Stainton 1972, 

Dobremez 1976, Land Resources mapping Project (LRMP) 

1986, and Tree Improvement and Silviculture Component 

7


(TISC) 2002. Besides 

these projects, many 

smaller scale vegetation 

coverage projects have 

been conducted. The 

existing vegetation/forest 

classifications and 

mapping initiatives, 

however, have lacked 

consistent standards. As 

a result, vegetation/forest 

descriptions and maps 

are not consistent and 

have not been 

comparable in the types and across unit boundaries. When 

developing a guideline, it is necessary to consider the land 

and forest cover map definitions of previous studies for 

comparability. This is important also when considering 

requirements for future needs, especially, for 

national/international reporting and carbon accountings. 

Remote sensing based forest mapping 

Nepal as an observer of 

UNFCCC’s Reducing Emissions 

from Deforestation and Forest 

Degradation (REDD), requires a 

high accuracy maps of forests and 

biomass estimations. Other 

national initiatives such as Multistakeholder 

Forestry Programme 

(MSFP) is planning to adopt FRA’s 

forest inventory methodology as a 

standard for their district level 

forest management and continue 

it to the management regime levels. 

The FRA Nepal Project acquired high resolution RapidEye (5 

m) five-band multispectral satellite imagery of the year 2010 

and 2011, which is used as the primary remote 

sensing material for forest cover mapping. This 

is supplemented by forest inventory data and 

ground-truthing along with other ancillary GIS 

and imagery datasets. RapidEye Level 3A 

orthorectified product was acquired in 2010- 

2011, but due to planimetric inaccuracy of the 

images, a new set of raw Level 1B image products 

were received in spring 2012 and the 

orthorectification was done by the FRA Nepal 

Project using digital elevation model, roads and 

hydrology layers of the national topographical 

map as reference. The planimetric accuracy of 

the newly orthorectified images were obtained 

to be approximately 7 meters (approx. 1.5 pixels) 

RMSE. Besides RapidEye imagery, Landsat TM 

(30m) imagery of the year 2009-2010 was also 

used in forest cover mapping. It is easy to confirm 

some of the classification selections using Landsat 

TM,other than RapidEye imagery that cannot 

provide such information. 

from the field inventory is used for inventory 

calculations, as well as assigning sample sites – 

or as later on – sample segments to be used in Object-Based 

Image Analysis (OBIA) in eCognition software. The image 

object attributes that describe a segment is correlated with 

the land cover/forest types information from the inventory 

field plots. In other words, vegetation in plots reflects certain 

radiometric, textural, and contextual characteristics, which 

can be used in OBIA method to classify forest cover and types. 

The field inventory samples have been designed for the forest 

resource assessment, so those do not fulfill completely the 

requirements for wall-to-wall forest cover and types mapping. 

Therefore, the field inventory crews get maps with form to 

fulfill with criteria, which are relevant for the verification of 

mapping results (forest type, surrounding information, densit 

etc.). Additionally, mapping crews are sent out to verify forest 

cover mapping, as well as field surveys for collecting ground 

truth data required for forest types classification on additional 

locations. These verification works are executed since November 

2012 in the Terai and are planned to be started in 2013 in 

the Middle Hills and the Siwaliks. All the data acquired have 

their pros and cons, and combining the pros in different 

sources to minimize the cons is the main aim of the FRA Nepal 

Project, and this approach will lead us to high accuracy results 

in mapping. 

Table 1. Forest type classification nomenclature 

based on structure cover and floristic predominance 

in different physiographic regions. 

8


Forest thematic maps 

Under the mapping component, the FRA Nepal Project aims 

to produce three types of maps. First of the products will be 

a forest cover (forest/non-forest) map along with other land 

cover map as a secondary product. Secondary product will 

be a forest type map based on structure and floristic dominance 

technical groupings. Hierarchical forest type classification is 

done using structure to define cover types, which are evergreen, 

deciduous, coniferous and broadleaved at the first level. At 

the second level, floristic dominance is basis of the classification 

and is presented in the nomenclature in the table 1. And as 

a last product, FRA Nepal will make a map of the changes 

in forest stands using change detection. This will be a study 

for different test sites to detect forest cover changes between 

1990 and 2011, and that will be analyzed in January-March 

2013. 

The forest cover map is the first set of thematic maps being 

produced by the FRA Nepal Project. The mapping process 

was started in the month of July 2012, and is ongoing. At the 

first level, 3 classes of land cover types are mapped, which 

means forest, other wooded land and non-forest. The forest 

cover map of the Terai is at the field verification stage, and 

is planned to be published by the end of January 2013. Forest 

types mapping of the Terai and forest cover mapping of the 

Siwaliks are being done simultaneously, and the verified maps 

are planned to be published in the beginning of 2013. 

Mapping of the Middle Hills will be started in the fall 2013, 

while High Mountains and High Himal regions will be 

accomplished after completion of the field inventory work in 

these areas during the rainy season in 2013. Change detection 

and mapping will be done simultaneously, and the first results 

of the Terai area is expected by January 2013. 

Forest Mapping Method 

The FRA Nepal Project is developing the classification scheme 

and mapping methods that are interoperable, scalable, 

repeatable and replicable at the national, sub-national and 

management levels. The primary aim for developing such 

approach is to make the process adaptable and usable by 

the users for subsequent usage. The process will be documented 

with well-designed user guide. With the repeatable similar 

process, the subsequent forest cover/type map products can 

be compared to the map product of the base year. 

OBIA method is adopted for the forest cover and type mapping. 

Multi-resolution segmentation is done and the images objects 

are classified based on the vegetation indices, principal 

components, texture and contextual parameters. The classified 

image objects are visually checked and manually corrected 

to increase the accuracy level of the map up to 90%, as 

compared to fully automatically processed maps, which 

otherwise will have accuracy of 75-80%. 

Challenges in Satellite based Forest Mapping 

The topography of Nepal makes forest mapping a very difficult 

task. Due to the steep hills and deep gorges, shadows, shades, 

haze, and clouds in the imagery, image analysis becomes 

difficult and consequently reduce the accuracy of the map 

products. 

It is to be mentioned that the landscape has mainly two 

characteristics, which are relevant to the development of an 

adapted classification approach. These charasteristics are 1) 

small structured landscapes with floating transition and 

boundary zones between different forest units, and 2) hilly 

and mountainous surfaces with corresponding classification 

challenges (slope, shadows etc.). Therefore, some compromises 

are made to get a high accuracy in the classification results. 

Another challenging task is the creation of personal capacity 

for the interpretation of the data. A general problem is that 

people, who are capable and trained, are also occupied with 

other FRA-related tasks (e.g. field work), respectively, or they 

are leaving for scholarships abroad. 

Even though the FRA Nepal Project’s efforts to map Nepal’s 

forests are rigorous, there will be always critics towards to 

them. The maps will not be perfect, but they will be as accurate 

representation of the features as possible in given limitations 

of the project. Nepal is possibly the most challenging country 

in the World to apply remote sensing technology: it has 

landscapes which vary from low land plains to the highest 

mountains of the Earth. Nepal represents such a great diversity 

of forests that it might be impossible to represent in any single 

image. Despite many challenges in applying remote sensing, 

this overwhelming diversity of nature is considered as a 

treasure, and all efforts made by the FRA Nepal Project 

illustrate a grand respect to these unique landscapes. 

Reference 

Gautam, S. K., Anish Joshi & Ulrike Nocker. 2012. Standard 

Guidelines for Forest Cover and Types Mapping. Un-published. 

FRA Nepal Project, Babarmahal, Kathmandu. 

FRA Highlights 

Summary of major activities June - November 2012 

Field Inventory 

First Terai Zero-Forest Cluster (non-forest) inventory 

measurement left on the field on 5 June. 

Second Terai Zero-Forest Cluster team left for inventory 

7 June. 

The 15th Inventory Mission, consisting of 8 crews, completed 

the mission on 22 June. 

9


16th Field Inventory Mission was carried out during 2-19 

October. 

17th Field Inventory Mission started on 25 November and 

it will end on 22 December. 

So far, 56 clusters out of 56 have been measured in Terai, 

108 clusters out of 156 have been measured in the Middle 

Hills and 51 clusters out of 125 have been measured in 

the Siwaliks by 12th December 2012. The total number 

of measured clusters has reached 215 (48% of the total 

number of clusters). 

Meetings and Conferences 

June 2012 

A meeting was held on 8 June with IFAD representative, 

Mr. David De Silva, on FRA results and potential 

contributions to IFAD. 

A meeting was held on 21 June with REDD-Cell on FRA 

collaboration. 

On 22 June, a meeting was held at Survey Department 

on aerial photos. A technical document for recovering 

1994 NFl plot coordinates was drafted. 

A meeting was held between FRA Expert Team and Mr. 

Antti Rytkönen, Forest Adviser, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 

Finland on 27 June; 

July 2012 

Meeting on “Feedback and Reflections from the 15th Field 

Inventory Mission” was held on 6 July. 

On 11 July 2012, the Minister for Forests and Soil 

Conservation, Mr. Yadu Bansh Jha together with his 

delegation (six members) visited the FRA Nepal Project 

Office to learn about the FRA Nepal’s approach, 

partnerships and achieved results. 

Meeting was held with the representatives of the World 

Food Programme (WFP) on 3 July on potential mapping 

and satellite image collaboration; 

August 2012 

A meeting was held with USAID experts on 1 August on 

FRA and USAID works and potential collaboration; 

A meeting was held with the new Secretary, Dr. KC Paudel 

on 23 August on Mid-Term Review (MTR) and PSC issues; 

September 2012 

A meeting was held with Mrs. Irma Ylikoski about data 

sharing (ICI Project of Finnish Meteorological Institute) on 

2 September. 

On 19 September, a meeting was held with the National 

Forest Assessment (NFA) Vietnam Team on forest 

assessment & RS matters. Meeting held with Forest Inventory 

and Planning Institute (FIPI), Vietnam, on Training Course 

& Exchange of Experiences; 

October 2012 

A meeting was held with RESTEC Team on 1 October on 

DFRS/FRA collaboration focusing on GEO-FCT 

preparedness and its implementation. 

Meetings were held with Multi-Stakeholder Forestry 

programme (MSFP) on 10 and 12 October baseline study 

of MSFP, data requirements and collaboration with FRA 

and district level piloting initiative. 

Workshop entitled “Sensitization of Geo-Forest Carbon 

Tracking (Geo-FCT) Activities in Nepal” was organized 

with the support of FRA Nepal on 3rd October 2012. 

National and international participants presented their 

papers on Geo-FCT/GFOI. International participants were 

Mr. Jeremy Wallace from CSIRO Australia, Mr. Masatoshi 

Kamei and Mr. Tatsuyuki Sagawa from RESTEC Japan 

and Mr. Basanta Gautam from Arbonaut Finland. 

A meeting was held with US Forest Service (USFS) RS 

experts, Dr. Brian Schwind - Director, USFS Remote Sensing 

Applications Center – RSAC and Dr. Mark Finco - Senior 

Analyst, RSAC, on RS tools and methods on 18 October; 

November 2012 

Technical group meeting about Terai results was held 

talking about forest cover mapping, planning for inventory 

result tables, report writing training and district level pilot 

project on 27 November 2012. 

Human resource development 

DGPS post-processing training course was held on 27–28 

June. 

FRA Nepal Project organized one-day training on Quantum 

GIS for Ms. Puja Jha and Ms. Kaisa Niskala of the SEAM 

Project on 13 June. 

A training Course was organized on “Fundamentals of 

RS” during 16 July–1 August. 

A training course on “Basics of Programming” was 

organised during 6–14 August. 

A training course on NTFPs was organized during 8–10 

August. 

A training Course was organised on “Capacity 

enhancement for data collection and analysis about 

Biological Diversity” during 2–7 September. 

10


JAXA/AIT training course as part of the Mini-Project training 

activities was organised by AIT in Bangkok during 10–28 

September, two from DFRS/FRA participated in the training. 

A training course on “eCognition 8.7 Developer Tool” was 

organized during 11–21 September. The last part of the 

training was on-the-job-training. There were five 

participants, all from the DFRS, of which one was female 

participant. 

An orientation training was organised for new inventory 

crew members on “Using Field Inventory Manual” during 

13–14 September 2012, altogether three participants, of 

which no one was female. 

“Dendro-cronological training” was organised in Gokarna 

Forest on 21 September 2012 to learn more on tree ring 

measurements and use of increment borer. There were 

12 participants, of which one was female. 

A “Refresher training on Field Inventory” was held on 1 

October 2012 for all crew leaders, assistant crew leaders 

and technical assistants aiming to 16th Field Inventory 

Mission. 

Applications for FRA Research Grants was opened on 2 

October 2012. Altogether, 40 applications had been 

received for further screening and evaluation. 

A Short-term Training Course on “Tropical Forest Inventories 

in Mountainous Terrain Conditions”, GROUP 1 in Vietnam 

was carried out in Vietnam during 27 October–4 November. 

A Short-term Training Course on “Tropical Forest Inventories 

in Mountainous Terrain Conditions”, GROUP 2 was carried 

out in Vietnam during 3–11 November. 

FRA Events 

Summary of major events June - November 2012 

The 24th PMC Meeting was held on 20 June. 

Forestry Adviser in MFA, Mr. Antti Rytkönen, visited Nepal 

during 20–27 June having several meeting with FRA Nepal 

Project and DFRS, participated in the PSC Meeting to take 

up the MTR Report. 

The 13th Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting was 

held on 26 June 2012. 

The 25th Project Management Committee meeting was 

held on 7 August. 


held on 4 September. 

The 14th Project Steering Committee meeting was held 

on 24 September. 


held on 7 December. 

High-level Delegation (MFSC, EoF, DFRS, FRA) visited 

Bhutan to be acquainted with the newly started NFI Bhutan 

during 19-24 November. 

Pre-processing (ortorectification) of RapidEye imageries 

(High Mountains and High Himal) was completed in 

September 2012. 

Personal Profile 

Personal profile section presents a brief profiles of key 

DFRS and FRA team members involved in the FRA 

Nepal Project. 

Ms. Ulrike Nocker 

Ms. Ulrike Nocker is the senior technical 

advisor (STA) in the FRA Nepal Project. 

Her task is to support the Forest Cover 

Mapping based on RS and GIS methods. 

She is responsible for the component 2 - 

the Forest Cover Mapping - of the FRA 

project. 

experience in GIS and Remote Sensing 

in different Forest and Natural Resource 

Management projects mainly in Europe 

and Africa. She has a Diploma in Landscape Planning and Natural 

Resource Management from the Technical University of Berlin. 

Ms. Anu Rajbhandari Shrestha 

Ms. Anu Rajbhandari Shrestha is deputed 

to work in FRA Nepal Project from the 

DFRS. She works as a GIS and remote 

sensing technical officer in the FRA Nepal 

Project. She holds a Master’s Degree 

(MSc) in Geoinformation from the 

University of Twenty, ITC, the Netherlands. 

She is involved in different mapping 

processes in FRA, like satellite image 

orthorectification, field map making and 

printing, segmentation and forest cover mapping. 

Ms. Junu Shrestha 

Ms. Sangita Shakya 

Ms. Junu Shrestha is deputed to work as 

a GIS and remote sensing technical officer 

in the FRA Nepal Project from the DRFS. 

She holds a Certificate-Level Degree in 

Architectural Engineering from Nepal. 

She is involved in different mapping 

processes in FRA, like satellite image 

orthorectification, segmentation and forest 

cover mapping. 

Ms. Sangita Shakya is deputed to work 

as a GIS and remote sensing technical 

officer in the FRA Nepal Project from the 

DRFS. She holds a Post Graduate 

Diploma in GIS and Remote Sensing from 

the Wuhan Technical University Surveying 

and Mapping (WTSUM), China. She is 

involved in different mapping processes 

in FRA, like satellite image 

orthorectification, segmentation and forest cover mapping. 

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Mr. Thakur Subedi 

Mr. Thakur Subedi is Assistant Research 

Officer in DFRS. He holds a BSc Degree 

in Forestry from IoF, Tribhuvan University, 

Pokhara, Nepal, 2007. 

He has been working in the FRA Nepal 

Project since 2010 as a FRA field inventory 

crew leader. He was also involved in ICI 

project for biomass modeling. 

Mr. Teeka Ram Pokhrel 

Mr. Teeka Ram Pokharel is a soil laboratory 

manager, and he is deputed to FRA work 

from the DFRS. He has completed Master's 

Degree in Chemistry and Master's Degree 

in Public Administration from Tribhuvan 

University, Nepal. Likewise, he has 

completed European Masters in Quality 

in Analytical Laboratories (EMQAL) from 

Universidade do Algarve, Portugal and 

Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. 

His area of expertise is laboratory quality management, human 

resource development, public administration, water and 

environmental analysis. He is involved in the FRA Nepal Project for 

carrying out estimation of organic carbon and bulk density of soil 

samples, biomass estimation of litter and debris samples; and 

overall management of a soil laboratory. 

Ms. Gita Bista 

Gita Bista is studying Bachelor Business 

Studies for her final year in Public Youth 

Campus under Tribhuvan University. She 

is assigned as a lab assistant in the FRA 

Nepal Project’s soil laboratory, and she 

is involved in assisting daily laboratory 

works, like helping out on carrying out 

results on organic carbon and bulk density 

of soil samples, biomass estimation of 

litter and debris samples. 

Mr. Shalik Ram Sigdel 

Mr. Shalik Ram Sigdel is an ecologist in 

the FRA Nepal Project, where he is in 

responsible for non-forest timber product, 

biodiversity and soil data collection. He 

holds a M.Sc. Degree in Botany / Ecology 

from Central Department of Botany, 

Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He has 

more than six years of experience in plant 

ecology, medicinal plants and climate 

change. 

Mr. Puspa Pandey 

Mr. Puspa Pandey is an ecologist at Forest 

Resource Assessment Nepal Project. He 

is responsible for inventory works like 

observing non-timber forest products, 

measuring biodiversity, collecting soil 

samples, and arranging social group 

discussion. Mr. Puspa Pandey holds B.Sc. 

in Forestry from Dehradun, India and 

M.Sc. in Natural Resource Management 

from Pokhara University, Nepal. 

Ms. Lajmina Joshi 

Ms. Lajmina Joshi has worked at the 

Department of Plant Resources as a senior 

scientific officer for more than three 

decades. She is currently working as an 

ecologist/taxonomist expert in the FRA 

Nepal Project. Ms. Lajmina Joshi holds 

a Master’s Degree in Botany from Nepal. 

She has also done research in wood 

anatomy in Kanazawa University, Japan. 

She has received Dipendra Pragya 

Puruskar (award) from Royal Nepal Academy of Science and 

Technology in 1993. 

Mr. Shekhar Chandra Bhatt 

Mr. Shekhar Chandra Bhatt holds a 

Master of Science (MSc) Degree in 

Biodiversity and Environmental 

Management from University of Bergen, 

Norway / Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 

2010. He has also completed Master’s 

Degree in Botany (Ecology) with distinction 

standing first position (Gold Medal) from 

Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2006. 

In FRA, he has worked as an ecologist since April 2011. He is 

interested in biodiversity conservation, plant community ecology, 

species interaction, climate change, and natural resource 

conservation having more than six years of professional work 

experience. 

Mr. Ramesh Gautam 

Mr. Ramesh Gautam is an ecologist in 

the FRA Nepal Project. He holds a 

Master’s Degree in Environmental Science 

from the Central Department of 

Environmental Science, Tribhuvan 

University, Kirtipur 2010. 

In FRA Nepal project he is in responsible 

for collecting biodiversity information and 

soil samples in inventory crew. 

Ms. Bhawani Shrestha 

Ms. Bhawani Shrestha completed her 

Master in Environmental Science (MSc) 

with Mountain Environment as a special 

paper from the Central Department of 

Environment Science (CDES), Tribhuvan 

University, Kirtipur, Nepal. She has worked 

with the FRA Nepal Project as an ecologist 

for one and half year. Before being a 

part of the FRA Nepal Project, she was 

a research and documentation officer in Wild Earth Pvt Ltd. 

Mr. Santosh Kumar Labh 

Mr. Santosh Kumar Labh is an ecologist 

inthe FRA Nepal Project. He is responsible 

for field inventory works especially for 

observing non-timber forest products, 

measuring biodiversity, collecting soil 

samples, and arranging social group 

discussion. Mr. Labh holds a B.Sc. Degree 

in Forestry from Institute of Forestry, 

Hetauda, Nepal. 

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