Analysing foregone costs of communities and carbon benefits in small scale community based forestry practice in Nepal

•Communities need additional efforts in forest land use practices for the REDD+.•Sacrifice benefits of communities is higher than possible REDD+ project incentives.•Sacrifice benefits of communities is different by dominant vegetation types.•Carbon gains, co-benefits and trade-offs are different in community forests types.•Conserving co-benefits of the REDD+ and respecting fundamental principles of CFUGs is needed.