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Countries, Communities
and
Conservation in Khangchendzonga
Project Area I Goals I Objectives I Activities
Project Area The project is focusing on the Khangchendzonga landscape complex,
linking the Nepal-India border regions. It includes the protected
areas of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR), especially the
core zone in Sikkim (1784 km2), and the Kanchenjunga Conservation
Area (KCA) in Nepal (approximately 2000 km2), where population
is very low, with 3000 persons in Nepal and only 90 persons in Sikkim.
The project is also working in key and threatened adjacent habitats
in the more heavily populated buffer zones of Sikkim’s Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve (KBR) (800 km2), and areas administered by four
Village Development Committees (VDCs) to the south and west of Nepal’s
Kanchenjunga Conservation Area boundaries (approximately 950 km2).
These areas have populations of 6,000-10,000 persons in Sikkim
and 3,000 persons in Nepal. These are areas outside and beyond
the present
WWF-Nepal Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (KCAP) working
area.
Goals return to top
The goal of the project is to promote effective conservation
management of the area in and around Khangchendzonga using TMI’s
well-tried and proven community-based conservation approach.
Objectives return
to top
The first objective is to promote community-based conservation
in areas outside each of the protected area boundaries. In Nepal,
the
project will work in village development committees that abut
the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, but fall outside the Kanchenjunga
Conservation Area boundaries. In Sikkim, the project will focus
on the communities located in the areas designated as buffer
zones
within
the existing Biosphere Reserve.
Secondly, the project seeks to diversify livelihood options, with
a pronounced shift from unsustainable activities to more sustainable
ones.
Thirdly, the project seeks to establish transboundary cooperation
mechanisms and promote conservation between Nepal’s Kanchenjunga
Conservation Area, plus surrounding areas and the adjacent Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve in Sikkim, working with authorities and communities
and within protected area boundaries.
Activities return
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Models of community-based management with biodiversity
elements and conflict resolution (building upon community forestry
and
joint
forest management frameworks), Regional exchange and cooperation
at national and community levels; and support for sustainable
livelihoods, with an underlying commitment to capacity growth.
The
project is also supporting community level programs including developing
alternative livelihood strategies, promoting complementary
veterinary programs to reduce livestock disease transmission, trans-boundary
eco-tourism planning, and developing community-based incentive systems
to control poaching and illegal trade of non-timber forest products.
Important outcomes include tested models of community-based conservation
that have replication potential across the Eastern Himalayan range
in India, Nepal and Bhutan, and a network of practitioners.
Currently
five village clusters in West Sikkim including Ribdi-Bhareng, Uttarey-Sopakha,
Simpheng-Nambu-Rimbick-Chonri, Yuksam and Karjee-Labdang
have been identified and community consultations carried out.
Based
on the community consultations organized in these villages, we have
started working towards promoting effective conservation management,
diversifying the livelihood options, skill development in ecotourism
enterprise, capacity building of local institutions and improving
the health and hygiene. This program is being implemented by our
local partners including Khangchendzonga Conservation Committee
(KCC), Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS), Sopakha
Samaj
Kalyan Samiti (SSKS), Sikkim Paryavaran Samrakshan Sangh (SPSS),
Mahadev Aama Samuha (MAS), Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim
(VHAS),
Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC), Ecodevelopment Committees
(EDC) and local clubs.
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