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Community members gather for a meeting in Sindhupalchok, Nepal.
Ensuring forest landscapes provide climate solutions

Community forest groups in Nepal invest in recharge ponds

In Nepal's mid-hills, communities are self-financing recharge ponds and taking ownership of their water future

In Sindhupalchok, Nepal, around 400 households from two community forest user groups are supporting the construction of recharge ponds to strengthen water security. These ponds collect rainwater, letting it slowly percolate into the ground to replenish aquifers that feed community springs and wells.

Nature-based solutions for water security

In 2024, RECOFTC provided support to the community forest user groups of Bimreni and Tamakhani to build one recharge pond each to show that these nature-based solutions help revive water sources. Ward 13 of Sindhupalchok's Chautara Sangachokgadhi Municipality even provided matching funds for this phase.

Both community forest user groups have since built community support and partnerships with local government and the Division Forest Office to construct two more ponds in Tamakhani and one more in Bimreni, bringing the total to five ponds in their ward.

An aerial view of one of the recharge ponds.
An aerial view of one of the recharge ponds.

From evidence to action

Our Forest Landscape Vulnerability Assessment to Action (FLVAA) approach played a key part in this. By combining 30-year climate records, GIS-based land-use mapping and structured community consultations, the FLVAA helped identify water scarcity as a defining challenge for Sindhupalchok.

Through the same process, communities and stakeholders endorsed the construction of recharge ponds across community forest areas to help revive local water sources. As Sabita Sundas, a community member put it, “The results are clear. With more recharge ponds, the soil stays moist further into the dry season. Our springs flow longer.”