Cultivating Resilience: How ISA Helped Scale a Regenerative Vision in Nepal
When I arrived at the International Sustainability Academy (ISA) as a 2024 Fellow, I carried with me both the struggles and hopes of Nepal’s smallholder farmers. The fellowship became a transformative space where my years of hands-on experience in regenerative agriculture met global perspectives and innovative approaches to sustainability. Returning home, I immediately began implementing the lessons learned. My family farm became a living lab, where we integrated agroforestry systems among our 500+ citrus trees and conducted trials of locally produced biofertilizers. These practical experiments quickly attracted neighbouring farmers, creating unexpected opportunities for knowledge exchange and collective problem solving.
However, the scale of Nepal’s environmental challenges – with agricultural soils containing less than 1.1% organic matter and wildfires consuming over 40,000 hectares annually – demanded more ambitious solutions. Drawing inspiration from ISA’s global network, we turned to biochar as a multipurpose solution. Starting with simple Kon-Tiki kilns, we demonstrated how agricultural waste could be transformed into a powerful soil amendment while sequestering carbon and reducing risks of wildfires. The potential quickly became apparent.
Our feasibility study of the pilot project in eastern Nepal showed that biochar could:
- Sequester significant amounts of carbon (1,782 tons CO₂e in Year 1, 4,158 tons of CO₂e by Year 5)
- Improving water retention in drought-prone soils while improving the soil health
- Reduce farmers’ dependence on expensive chemical inputs .
The ISA experience was crucial in helping me frame this local innovation within global climate solutions and connect with potential partners. This journey has reinforced my belief that the most powerful solutions emerge when traditional knowledge meets scientific innovation and when local action connects to global movements. I’m grateful to ISA for providing the platform to grow this vision and invite fellow sustainability practitioners to join me in scaling these solutions.
To learn more or explore collaborations, check our website bhumi.earth and reach out to madan@bhumi.earth.
