Conservation Landscapes of Nepal Government of Nepal Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation Kathmandu Kathmandu 2016 2016 Conservation Landscapes of Nepal Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation Kathmandu 2016 Publisher Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal Citation Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation 2016. Conservation Landscapes of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal Cover photo credits © WWF Nepal/ Susheel Shrestha © Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation Conservation Landscapes of Nepal | iii Abbreviations and Acronyms ACAP Annapurna Conservation Area Project BZMC Buffer Zone Management Committee CAMC Conservation Area Management Committees CBS Central Bureau of Statistics CFUGs Community Forest User Groups CHAL Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora DNPWC Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation DoF Department of Forests ECTC Eastern Chure and Terai Complex GLOF Glacier Lake Outburst Flood HBP Hariyo Ban Program HDI Human Development Index IBA Important Bird Areas ICDP Integrated Conservation and Development Program IUCN The World Conservation Union KCA Kanchenjunga Conservation Area KCL Karnali Conservation Landscape KL Kanchenjunga Landscape KSL Kailash Sacred Landscape LRMP Land Resources Mapping Project LSU Landscape Support Unit MAP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants MoFSC Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation MoU Memorandum of Understanding NAPA National Adaptation Programme of Action NGO Non-Governmental Organization NPWC National Park and Wildlife Conservation NTFP Non-Timber Forest Product NTNC National Trust for Nature Conservation NTRP National Tiger Recovery Priorities SHL Sacred Himalayan Landscape TAL Terai Arc Landscape UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization WR Wildlife Reserve WTLCP Western Terai Landscape Complex Project WWF World Wildlife Fund Conservation Landscapes of Nepal | v Glossary Bottlenecks: fragmented habitat in a landscape, Hotspot: any area or place of known danger, intrigue, which causes low connectivity or too little habitat that dissension, or instability. For example, biodiversity prevents the appropriate spatial response of species for hotspots are geographic areas that contain high levels of migration or dispersal. (Pearson et al. 2002, Vos et al. diversity of species, which are threatened with extinction. 2008); Landscape i) a territory characterized by a particular Connectivity: connectivity is the measure of how configuration of topography, vegetation, land use, and connected or spatially continuous is a corridor, network, settlement pattern that delimits some coherence of or matrix (WWF, 2006). natural, historical, and cultural processes and activities. For assessment of landscape performance, a landscape Dispersal: movement of individuals that maintain is best delineated functionally, within the context of genetic and demographic connectivity among particular issues or goals (LMRC, 2014); populations. Landscape ii) refers to heterogeneous land area Eco-region: relatively large area of land or water composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems that is that shares a majority of species, dynamics, and repeated in similar form throughout. environmental conditions. These are the conservation units for this region-wide analysis because distribution Matrix: dominant component in the landscape, which of species and communities span national boundaries is the most extensive and connected landscape type (WWF, 1998) and plays the dominant role in landscape functioning. The characteristics of matrix structure are the density of Flagship species: popular, charismatic species that the patches (porosity), boundary shape, networks, and serve as symbols and rallying points to stimulate heterogeneity. conservation awareness and action. Meta-population: a network of semi-isolated Habitat fragmentation: a process that occurs when a populations with some level of regular or intermittent particular area is initially all one habitat type (a forest, migration and gene flow among them. for example) but the habitat is eventually decreased until only isolated patches remain. Fragmentation Network: Network is an interconnected system of corridors. ranges from the creation of small disturbance patches to widespread habitat loss and insularization. There are Patches: nonlinear surface areas that differ in two components to fragmentation – first, a decrease in vegetation and landscape from their surroundings. They the amount of interior habitat, and then a decrease in are units of land or habitat that are heterogeneous the connectivity between those habitat patches. when compared to the whole. Conservation Landscapes of Nepal | vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abbreviations and Acronyms v Glossary vii List of Tables x List of Figures x Executive summary xi 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 The Landscape Approach 2 1.3 The Landscape Approach in Nepal 3 1.4 Supporting Policies and Legislation 5 2. Existing Conservation Landscapes 7 2.1 Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) 7 2.2 Sacred Himalayan Landscape (SHL) 12 2.3 Kanchenjunga Landscape (KL) 17 2.4 Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) 20 2.5 Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) 23 3. Proposed Conservation Landscapes 29 3.1 Karnali Conservation Landscape (KCL) 29 3.2 Eastern-Chure-Terai Complex (ECTC) 34 4. Prioritization of the Landscapes and Lessons learned 39 5. Recommendations 41 References 43 Conservation Landscapes of Nepal | ix List of Tables Table 1. Status of protected areas in Nepal and their IUCN categories 2 Table 2. Physical features of TAL 8 Table 3. Protected areas in TAL Nepal 9 Table 4. Land use and land cover in TAL 10 Table 5. Population and major ethnic groups in TAL 11 Table 6: Overall climate change vulnerability ranking of TAL districts 12 Table 7. Physical features in SHL 13 Table 8. Protected areas in SHL 14 Table 9. Land use land cover in SHL 15 Table10. Population and dominant ethnic groups of SHL 16 Table 11. Overall climate change vulnerability ranking of SHL 17 Table 12. Physical features in KL 18 Table 13. Land use and land cover in KL 19 Table 14. Population and dominant ethnic groups in KL 20 Table 15. Overall climate change vulnerability rankings of the KL districts 20 Table 16. Physical features of KSL-Nepal 21 Table 17. Land cover and land use in KSL-Nepal 22 Table 18. Population and main ethnic groups in groups in KSL 22 Table 19. Overall climate change vulnerability ranking in KSL 23 Table 20. Physical features of CHAL 25 Table 21. Land use and land cover in CHAL 26 Table 22. Population and major ethnic groups in CHAL 27 Table 23. Overall climate vulnerability ranking in CHAL 28 Table 24. Physical features of KCL 30 Table 25. Population and major ethnic groups in KCL 33 Table 26. Overall climate change vulnerability ranking in KCL 34 Table 27. Population and major ethnic groups in proposed ECTC 37 Table 28. Overall climate change vulnerability ranking in ECTC 38 Table 29. Summary on existing and proposed landscapes with priority actions 41 List of Figures Figure 1. Network of protected areas and protection forests in Nepal 1 Figure 2. Location of five conservation landscapes in Nepal 3 Figure 3. TAL with district boundaries 7 Figure 4. Map of extended TAL 9 Figure 5. Types of forest cover in TAL 10 Figure 6. Map of SHL 13 Figure 7. Map of KL 18 Figure 8. Map of KSL 21 Figure 9. Map showing CHAL area 24 Figure 10. Proposed KCL land use land cover and protected area network 30 Figure 11. Land use-land cover of KCL 31 Figure 12. Map showing ECTC 34 Figure 13. Ecological regions of ECTC by watershed 35 Figure 14. Land use land cover in ECTC with KWR 36 Figure 15. VDCs and drainage area of ECTC by watersheds 38 x | Conservation Landscapes of Nepal Executive Summary The success of long-term conservation requires that and Kailash Sacred Landscape. A boundary revision interventions include entire landscapes because proposed for the Terai Arc Landscape would include designated protected areas (PAs) are often not climate resilient ecosystems and climate refugia on the complete ecological units. This document reviews the northern flanks of the Chure range. existing conservation landscapes in Nepal to analyze the gaps and propose new landscapes. Proposed conservation landscapes: Two potential conservation landscapes have been proposed, but As of 2016, the Government of Nepal (GoN) require further study and analysis before initiating any implements conservation programs in five landscapes: interventions. These are the Karnali Conservation Landscape Terai Arc Landscape, Sacred Himalayan Landscape, (KCL) and the Eastern Chure-Terai Complex (ECTC). Kailash Sacred Landscape, Chitwan Annapurna Landscape, and Kanchenjunga Landscape. However, The KCL delineation is based on the Karnali basin, scale, focus, priority, level of engagement, and which is important for hydrological flows. Forest resource input varies from one landscape to another. loss and degradation is threatening the ecological integrity of these watersheds, and thus, threatens the Designation of landscapes: The criteria used to hydrological flows in this large basin. Large hydrological designate landscapes also differ. For instance, GoN first projects planned along the rivers could further disrupt designed the Terai Arc Landscape for tiger conservation, environmental flows. Thus,