New Delhi, June 25 -- At a time when women are bearing the brunt of climate change across all sectors, more than 20,000 Community Forest User Groups (CFUG) in Nepal are raising funds from a wide array of sources to support climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives.

Many of these women-led forest groups are restoring degraded lands through plantations, adopting agroforestry practices, preparing climate-smart operational plans, promoting forest foods, conserving water bodies, preventing forest fires, implementing soil conservation measures to combat erosion and introducing sustainable forest management strategies, among other efforts.

The main source of revenue for CFUGs is mainly the sale of goods and services derived from for...