Policy mainstreaming and local ownership of HWCx solutions in Eastern Nepal

Time: 9:45 – 14:30 (NST) 

Organisers: ICIMOD, Mechinagar Municipality

About the workshop

This workshop brings together local authorities, community representatives, Rapid Response Teams, and concerned stakeholders to consolidate lessons from human–elephant coexistence initiatives in Bahundangi, Jhapa. It will showcase piloted solutions, identify priority interventions for upscaling, and agree on sustainable arrangements for their operation, maintenance, and monitoring by local institutions.

Objectives:

1. To consolidate the learning and results of the human–elephant coexistence work in Bahundangi, Jhapa.
2. To identify practical pathways for policy mainstreaming so that relevant actions are reflected in local government plans, budgets, coordination mechanisms, and operational responsibilities.
3. To facilitate agreement on post-project arrangements for ownership, operation, maintenance, repair, budgeting, and technical backstopping of the piloted solutions.

Expected outcomes

1. A shared understanding among local stakeholders of the main results, lessons, remaining gaps from coexistence work.
2. A list of locally /prioritised solutions considered for selective upscaling.
3. A clear roadmap where key actions can be reflected in municipal or ward planning, budgeting, and coordination for human-elephant coexistence, including indicative roles for municipality, ward offices, forestry authorities, RRTs, user groups, and partners.

Background

Human–wildlife interactions in the Eastern Nepal are shaped by long‑standing elephant movement corridors intersecting with expanding settlements, agriculture, and infrastructure. Bahundangi and the wider Mechi corridor in Jhapa have long been one of Nepal’s most visible human-elephant conflict areas. The site has a longer programme history under the Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI), where Bahundangi was identified as a pilot site for human–wildlife conflict management.

An intervention on advancing human-elephant coexistence by International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in partnership with Ujyalo Nepal piloted low-cost seasonal electric fencing, Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), early warning support, elephant profiling, training and insurance, school outreach, and selected livelihood and product-branding efforts from 2024-2025. A review workshop in Chalsa in November 2025 assessed the effectiveness of the piloted solutions and similar solutions in Bhutan and India. The workshop underlined the need to explore sustainability beyond 2026 and an exit strategy for the project.

This workshop moves from implementation to consolidation by showcasing the effectiveness of the piloted solutions to local institutions and communities, identifying which solutions to retain or expand, and agreeing on who will finance, operate, repair, and monitor after the project. It is proposed as a structured local platform to bring together government, implementing partners, RRTs, community groups, schools, and other stakeholders to discuss uptake, upscaling, and legacy arrangements in Bahundangi and the surrounding Mechi corridor.

Participants

The participants include representatives from Mechinagar Municipality, ward offices of Bahundangi, Division Forest Office, and other local actors involved in early warning and responses, and ICIMOD, RRT representatives, and invited civil society stakeholders and Indigenous People and local communities affected.