WWF, Nepal government and other agencies recently received a three-year grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to address the central Churia range’s problems related to degraded land—usually land that is poorly managed, or damaged by floods and landslides.
“The project will help address what has become a ‘tragedy of the commons’ situation in Nepal,” said Shubash Lohani, deputy director of the WWF-US Eastern Himalayas Program. “It, too, is a testament to the importance of this region to the ecological and economic well-being of Nepal.”
Key to the strategy for the new GEF-funded project in the Nepal part of the Churia Range is empowering local communities to sustainably manage the forests of the range, as well as how to raise livestock and grow produce in a way that is not harmful to the environment. Project partners also hope to improve the development and implementation of Nepal’s policies related to land use, and identify sensitive forest areas for restoration and conservation.
This project will complement the USAID-funded Hariyo Ban project. Through that project, WWF and three other conservation partners are working with communities in the western part of the Terai Arc Landscape (which is part of the Churia Range) to reduce deforestation.
Source: GEF