3. Material and methods
3.1. Study area
The study area consists of three watersheds in Nepal, namely,
Kayarkhola (Chitwan district), Ludikhola (Ghorka district), and
Charnawati (Dolakha district). This area was selected for a pilot
project called Design and setting up of a governance and payment
system for Nepal’s Community Forest Management under Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) whose
aim was to demonstrate the feasibility of the REDD payment mechanism
in community forests. The REDD project is funded mainly by
the World Bank.