Nepal strengthens forest monitoring capacity through Open Foris Arena

02/10/2026

Nepal is strengthening its national forest monitoring capacity through the adoption of Open Foris Arena, supporting the country’s transition toward more integrated and transparent forest data management. As part of FAO’s ongoing support to Nepal on REDD+ and Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV), including registration and monitoring under the ART/TREES standard for its jurisdictional REDD+ programme for the LEAF Coalition, a six-day, country-specific Open Foris Arena training was held in Dhulikhel from 26 to 31 July 2026. 

Open Foris Arena is a cloud-based platform for survey design, data management, processing and reporting, complemented by Arena Mobile for offline field data collection and built-in data validation. The training was organized through the UN-REDD Programme under FAO Nepal, with technical support from the CBIT-Forest project for building global capacity to increase transparency in the forest sector. The training responded to a formal request from FRTC to strengthen national capacity for using Arena in forest monitoring and inventory processes.

Seventeen technical officers from FRTC and REDD IC Nepal participated in the training, with a strong focus on transitioning existing National Forest Inventory data and workflows from Open Foris Collect to Arena. Through hands-on exercises, participants worked with database normalization and design, data management, harmonization and migration to Arena, calculations, visualization and reporting, Arenanalytics while also gaining practical experience with Arena Mobile for field data collection and validation.

The training also broadened the potential use of Arena beyond national inventory applications. Selected personnel from the BRCRN project explored how the platform could support community forest inventory and operational planning, linking national-level forest monitoring needs with local-level applications.

Participants responded very positively to the training, with an overall satisfaction score of 4.76 out of 5 and a relevance-to-job score of 4.71. More than 88 percent indicated that they plan to apply the learning in their work, while all participants expressed interest in further Arena training.

The training marks an important step in strengthening Nepal’s capacity to manage forest information through a modern, integrated digital workflow. The skills developed are expected to support national forest monitoring and MRV processes, including ongoing LEAF ER and FCPF ER programmes, while contributing to data transparency, carbon accounting and national climate reporting.

By combining national capacity development with practical application, the training has laid a stronger foundation for the future use of Open Foris Arena across Nepal’s forest monitoring and inventory activities.