Back to news

Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI) begins in Nepal

1 min Read

70% Complete

The Kangchenjunga Landscape (KL) spreads over an area of 25,085.8 sq.km that is home to 7.2 million people. Nepal covers 21% of total KL area and is home to 11% of the total landscape population. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal partnered to achieve conservation and development goals in the landscape. A letter of agreement was signed on 6 June 2016 by David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD and Ram Prasad Chaudhary, Executive Director of RECAST under the guidance of the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC).

The basis of the implementation phase in Nepal was a result of long term collaboration between MoFSC, ICIMOD and RECAST. The partners worked rigorously to assess the feasibility of the landscape, prepared conservation and development strategy, and endorsed Regional Cooperation Framework to achieve the mutual objective of improving livelihoods and enhanced ecological integrity, economic development, and socio-cultural resilience to environmental changes in Kangchenjunga Landscape-Nepal and in the region.

Three pilot sites in three districts — Panchthar, Ilam and Jhapa — were selected to start the work in the landscape. In Panchthar District, the focus is on conservation and development of Argeli for livelihood diversification and ecosystem conservation. Similarly, in Ilam district, the emphasis is on conserving the Mai Pokhari, the only Ramsar site in the KL, and scaling up its contribution to eco-tourism and related livelihood opportunities. Similarly, the team will work on Human Wildlife Management in the Bahundangi area of Jhapa district. In addition to these, the greater focus is also provided for corridor management where transboundary cooperation will be enhanced and mutual strategies will be adopted to achieve common transboundary goals.

The KLCDI team in Nepal are looking forward to an enhanced well-being for the target population in the landscape, improved ecosystem, and strengthened regional cooperation for transboundary landscape management in Bhutan, India and Nepal.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

Related Content

Continue exploring this topic

14 Dec 2016 HICAP
Researchers Discuss Wetland Research in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

Policy makers, experts, and practitioners from the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) converged at a symposium held on the side lines ...

27 Jul 2018 DFAT Brahmaputra
Synthesizing Knowledge on the Vanishing Springs of the Himalaya

Springs are the main source of water for millions of people in the mid-hills of the HKH and provide multiple ...

30 Sep 2016 News
HKH Researchers Convene “Writeshop” to Bring HIMAP Assessment to Reality

More than 50 researchers from institutions around the world convened in Dhulikhel, Nepal, this week to make a major push ...

28 Sep 2015 News
Investigating Lemthang Tsho (Lake) outburst in Bhutan

Early in the evening on 28 June 2015, a yak herder ...

23 Jun 2016 News
Cryosphere Data Release

Open access to high-elevation meteorological data and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) data from the Himalayas Meteorological data is scarce in high-elevation ...

25 May 2016 Himalica
Farmers Learn Beekeeping in Pilot Villages in Bhutan and Nepal

More than one-third of households have two to ten colonies of bees in traditional fixed-comb log-comb, wall-comb, or pitcher hives ...

31 Jan 2016 News
HKH Permafrost Distribution Maps Assessment

[caption id="attachment_8734" align="alignnone" width="211"] The cover image of the ‘Manual for Mapping Rock ...

17 Nov 2015 News
The Music in Ziro

  By 7am, we were in Ziro. Rubu got us on the road that crisscrossed the vast horizon of paddy fields. ...