MDI has been awarded with US $ 1,500 as a research grant from UNEP Eco-peace Leadership Center (EPLC) in partnership with Kwangon National University of South Korea to conduct research work on "Conservation Agriculture in Sloping Uplands affected through Shifting Cultivation Practices". This grant will be used for developing a sustainable farming system in the sloping hills. The research work will be carried out in Chuwarpkha village in Handikhola VDC-7 of Makawanpur district in the central region of Nepal.

The project entitled ‘Mitigation of the Effects of the Carbon dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases by Controlling Slash and- Burn Farming’, funded by UNDP/ Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme has won the ‘Ryutaro Hashimoto Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Award 2008’-a GOLD (1st) prize in recognition of the outstanding contribution done in promoting environmental management and sustainable development. Mr. Masayoshi Namiki, Vice Minister of the Environment, Government of Japan awarded the prize to Mr. Khop Narayan Shrestha,
Coordinator of the MDI-Nepal in the 4th Plenary Meeting (award giving ceremony) at Davao, Phillipines on 25 July 2008. This gold APFED Award established by the Asia Pacific Forum for Environment and Development in memory of former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto carries a purse of US$20,000. It also consists of 2 silver prizes of US$7,000 each and 5 incentive prizes of US$ 2,000 each..		Mr. Masayoshi Namiki, Vice Minister of the Environment, Government of Japan awarding the Gold Prize to Mr. Khop Narayan Shrestha, Coordinator of MDI Nepal on July 25, 2008 in Davao, Phillipines