In October 2007 governments of Nepal and Finland agreed to expand the water and sanitation sector to cover the cooperation in water and sanitation, environment and forestry sectors. The new cooperation sector was labelled as "natural resources". Subsequently, an identification mission was conducted during 7 – 17 January 2008 in Kathmandu as a first step towards formulating a joint project/programme for forest sector development in Nepal.

The purpose of the mission was to study key forest sector challenges and problems in Nepal, and jointly with the Government of Nepal (GoN) and other potential stakeholders and partners to identify a number of priority concepts for future project formulation, including terms of reference for a project / programme preparation mission. The mission also explored climate change issue to the extent it links with forests and natural resources.

The team consisted of Mr Jussi Viitanen (Team Leader), Ms Kristiina Mikkola (International Consultant) and Mr Jamuna Krishna Tamrakar (Local Consultant).

This final report is the result of the identification mission.

Viitane, J., Mikkola, K., Tamrakar, J. K. Identification Mission of Finnish Support to Forest Sector Development in Nepal. Final Report, 6 April 2008