Forest ecosystem services in Nepal: a retrospective synthesis, research gaps and implications in the context of climate change

Forest ecosystem services (forest ES) in Nepal help sustain livelihoods and strengthen the national economy. However, its flow is affected by human and environmental pressures. In the present study, a systematic review of literature published between 2000 and 2017 in the ISI Web of Science, Scopus, Nepjol, and Himaldocs was undertaken to (i) explore the current research status on forest ES and (ii) identify the likely effects of future climate change on forest ES and forest-based livelihoods and economy. A total of 140 papers were obtained from these publications, of which 46 papers (33%) directly focused on forest ES in Nepal. However, the publication trends have increased only in recent years, and the distribution is non-homogenous and clustered around the central and western regions. Many studies (62%) dealt with regulating services, especially estimating carbon stock. We have listed eight major implications of this synthesis while discussing the likely effects of climate change on forest ES in Nepal. Payment for ecosystem services (PES), a global policy design, appears to be a better option to tackle climatic impacts on forest ES through adaptation measures in Nepal, in addition to more collaborative research involving universities and research organizations and expanding in spatial scale and coverage of all ecosystem service categories.