Beyond boundaries:The landscape approach to biodiversity conservation
Ek Raj Sigdel
NTTR, April, 2007
Nepal has experienced various biodiversity conservation models over the last 30 years. Since the 2000s, the country has been testing a landscape level approach to biodiversity conservation. Some people argue that the landscape approach requires the establishment of more protected areas, while others believe that the approach neither demands additional protected areas nor excludes people from being mainstreamed in conservation. In fact, Nepal is adopting a participatory integrated ecosystem management approach, which espouses peoples' participation in conservation and sustainable use of biological resources.
Nepal has put a lot of effort to conserve its rich biological resources after the promulgation of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973. As per national and international commitments, Nepal has designated over 19% of its relatively small land mass as protected areas. Initially the management emphasis was given exclusively to conserving biodiversity resources in which local people were not included. There is no doubt that within a short span of time, the country succeeded in witnessing a growing number of the, once declining, wildlife, like the rhinoceros and the tiger in the Terai protected areas.
However, given the human and financial resource needs, the remarkable success resulting from a strict conservation policy could not sustain in the long run. Realizing the need of involving local communities in protected area management, the government introduced the concepts of conservation areas and buffer zones. In addition, provision for sharing protected area revenue with local communities was also made. As a result, the number of wildlife species in protected areas has been on the raise.
Based on the studies carried out by various researchers, particularly in the lowland Terai; it has been found that none of the protected area, is capable of sustaining a viable population of mega fauna, such as the tiger, rhino and elephant, on their own. Additionally, not all the ecosystems, flora and fauna of Nepal are represented in the existing protected area system. Because of the ever increasing population, poverty and local communities' dependency on forest resources for subsistence, the forests outside the protected areas are degraded and fragmented. Because of this rampant deforestation outside protected areas and the prevailing uncontrolled poaching activities, the survival of many migratory animals has emerged as a big question mark.
Given this backdrop, a new conservation modality, which can address the basic needs of local people and restore and maintain biodiversity in protected as well as productive lands is the need of the hour. Accordingly, policies and programme are being formulated and implemented in this direction. Nepal's Tenth Five Year development plan recognizes the landscape approach to conservation, as a practical tool for addressing the issues of conservation and sustainable use of biological resources as well as poverty reduction. The Nepal Biodiversity Strategy, Terai Arc Landscape Strategy and Implementation Plan have been formulated and gradually being implemented to support this broader landscape level conservation approach in Nepal.
As guided by these policy documents, various institutions are implementing conservation and development activities simultaneously. The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation has implemented the Rhino Tiger Project in Chitwan, while the World Wildlife Fund Nepal Program has implemented the Terai Arc Landscape Programme across the Indian and Nepali borders. The programme aims to restore and maintain critical corridors and bottlenecks between protected areas so as to facilitate free movement of wildlife species from protected areas to productive land and vice versa. To support this concept UNDP, with the support of various partners, has been implementing the Western Terai Landscape Project in three districts of the Western Terai - Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur.
It has been noted that resulting from the concerted efforts, within a short span of time, some of biodiversity outside of the protected area boundaries are being maintained and restored and have become a safe haven for wildlife species. Barandabhar in Chitwan and Basanta forest in Kailali has become home for rhinoceros and wild elephants respectively. Similarly, implementation of income generating activities, like Non Timber Forest Product management, ecotourism, vegetable farming program etc. local communities’ support for biodiversity conservation has been on raise. In fact, based on a few years' experiences, the landscape approach to conservation does not necessitate the establishment of additional protected areas. Instead, the concept takes people as an integral part of the ecosystem and, therefore, advocates community based management of biodiversity.
However, there are some challenges still to be overcome for the effective implementation of this novel concept in Nepal. The existing intervention has given more emphasis on species conservation, instead of giving due attention to the overall management of biodiversity resources, including ecosystem services, and floral and faunal assemblages in the landscape complexIn case if some umbrella species like the elephant and rhinoceros are declined by some unknown reasons, then the overall value of the landscape could be diminished.
Therefore, if the management interventions are not modified in a timely manner, then this new initiative could result in failure. Hence, it is recommended that local people be made aware of the overall value of biodiversity resources, instead of merely highlighting on the conservation of the rhino, tiger and elephant. If this were to be so, then all the efforts put in and the achievements made so far would have been in vain and the government’s conservation agenda likely to come back to square one!
Nepal has put a lot of effort to conserve its rich biological resources after the promulgation of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973. As per national and international commitments, Nepal has designated over 19% of its relatively small land mass as protected areas. Initially the management emphasis was given exclusively to conserving biodiversity resources in which local people were not included. There is no doubt that within a short span of time, the country succeeded in witnessing a growing number of the, once declining, wildlife, like the rhinoceros and the tiger in the Terai protected areas.
However, given the human and financial resource needs, the remarkable success resulting from a strict conservation policy could not sustain in the long run. Realizing the need of involving local communities in protected area management, the government introduced the concepts of conservation areas and buffer zones. In addition, provision for sharing protected area revenue with local communities was also made. As a result, the number of wildlife species in protected areas has been on the raise.
Based on the studies carried out by various researchers, particularly in the lowland Terai; it has been found that none of the protected area, is capable of sustaining a viable population of mega fauna, such as the tiger, rhino and elephant, on their own. Additionally, not all the ecosystems, flora and fauna of Nepal are represented in the existing protected area system. Because of the ever increasing population, poverty and local communities' dependency on forest resources for subsistence, the forests outside the protected areas are degraded and fragmented. Because of this rampant deforestation outside protected areas and the prevailing uncontrolled poaching activities, the survival of many migratory animals has emerged as a big question mark.
Given this backdrop, a new conservation modality, which can address the basic needs of local people and restore and maintain biodiversity in protected as well as productive lands is the need of the hour. Accordingly, policies and programme are being formulated and implemented in this direction. Nepal's Tenth Five Year development plan recognizes the landscape approach to conservation, as a practical tool for addressing the issues of conservation and sustainable use of biological resources as well as poverty reduction. The Nepal Biodiversity Strategy, Terai Arc Landscape Strategy and Implementation Plan have been formulated and gradually being implemented to support this broader landscape level conservation approach in Nepal.
As guided by these policy documents, various institutions are implementing conservation and development activities simultaneously. The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation has implemented the Rhino Tiger Project in Chitwan, while the World Wildlife Fund Nepal Program has implemented the Terai Arc Landscape Programme across the Indian and Nepali borders. The programme aims to restore and maintain critical corridors and bottlenecks between protected areas so as to facilitate free movement of wildlife species from protected areas to productive land and vice versa. To support this concept UNDP, with the support of various partners, has been implementing the Western Terai Landscape Project in three districts of the Western Terai - Bardia, Kailali and Kanchanpur.
It has been noted that resulting from the concerted efforts, within a short span of time, some of biodiversity outside of the protected area boundaries are being maintained and restored and have become a safe haven for wildlife species. Barandabhar in Chitwan and Basanta forest in Kailali has become home for rhinoceros and wild elephants respectively. Similarly, implementation of income generating activities, like Non Timber Forest Product management, ecotourism, vegetable farming program etc. local communities’ support for biodiversity conservation has been on raise. In fact, based on a few years' experiences, the landscape approach to conservation does not necessitate the establishment of additional protected areas. Instead, the concept takes people as an integral part of the ecosystem and, therefore, advocates community based management of biodiversity.
However, there are some challenges still to be overcome for the effective implementation of this novel concept in Nepal. The existing intervention has given more emphasis on species conservation, instead of giving due attention to the overall management of biodiversity resources, including ecosystem services, and floral and faunal assemblages in the landscape complexIn case if some umbrella species like the elephant and rhinoceros are declined by some unknown reasons, then the overall value of the landscape could be diminished.
Therefore, if the management interventions are not modified in a timely manner, then this new initiative could result in failure. Hence, it is recommended that local people be made aware of the overall value of biodiversity resources, instead of merely highlighting on the conservation of the rhino, tiger and elephant. If this were to be so, then all the efforts put in and the achievements made so far would have been in vain and the government’s conservation agenda likely to come back to square one!
posted by Ek Raj Sigdel at
January 06, 2009
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