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Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation
in the Eastern Himalaya
Program Area I Progam
Components I Accomplishments
The Himalayan mountains present a formidable physical and political boundary between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China despite close biological and cultural links. For centuries, the deep gorges, high passes, and open skies have provided corridors through which rivers flow, people trade, cultures mingle, and wildlife migrate. Until recently, however, the international border has served as a significant barrier to the kind of cooperative actions which would allow these interdependent ecosystems to be managed in coordination with each other.
The Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation Program of The Mountain Institute has helped facilitate cooperative management of over 42,000 square kilometers in contiguous protected areas of the Mount Everest extended ecosystem. Through an active program of government, scientific and NGO exchanges, cooperative methodologies are being put in place which are serving as models for the region. The combination of coordinated policies and actions, relatively standardized methodologies, and concurring priorities, is essential to adequately address issues such as transboundary wildlife trade and poaching, grazing management, non-timber forest products development and management, wildlife migration corridors, the harvesting of medicinal and rare plants, tourism and trade.
The program seeks to ensure long-term protection of the unique biological and cultural resources in the Eastern Himalaya through transboundary collaborative exchanges and agreements.
Program Area
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The extended Mount Everest ecosystem, including the Qomolangma Nature Preserve in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and the Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area, Langtang National Park, and Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal, forms the core program area. Together, these contiguous areas are designed to protect an extraordinary transect extending from 450 to 8,000 meters above sea level covering over 42,000 square kilometers -- an area almost the size of Switzerland.
Program Components
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The primary purpose of Transboundary Biodiversity Conservation Program is to implement and extend cooperative biodiversity conservation between contiguous protected areas in the Eastern Himalaya by building on the cooperative framework and exchanges developed over the last three years. By strengthening conservation cooperation across the Nepal - China border, the program is reducing the threats to biodiversity and is providing economic incentives for maintaining a close cooperative relationship. The program uses a combination of:
- High-level exchanges between
government officials and protected area managers;
- Joint training
workshops and exchanges for protected area managers and local communities;
and
- Collaborative research projects between
scientists and research institutions active in the region.
Program Accomplishments
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A pioneering model of transboundary conservation in the Himalaya has
been created.
- Conservation cooperation across an
international border which previously had not been crossed by park
or forestry
officials. This cooperation
has provided a means for local scientists and people to explore
the mutual benefits of conservation and enterprise development.
- New
models of community based conservation have been developed, applied,
and shared in the biologically rich region of the Eastern
Himalaya across a transect that extends from the tropical to nival.
- Officials and scientists of Nepal
and the Tibet Autonomous Region know each other and have set up a
framework of committees at the
local and central levels to move discussion more firmly into
action.
- While no formal protocols or treaties
have been signed the program has greatly increased policy coordination
in the region
through
a resolution of joint recommendations signed at the "Hands
around Mount Everest" exchange
visit.
- Increased ties between the private
sectors, especially in the tourism industry, have been formed and
are providing
economic
incentives to
maintain conservation cooperation.
- Discussions have begun
to develop new trans-border tourism routes and identify mechanisms
to capture some of the revenue
generated
and use it for trans-border cooperative conservation initiatives
- These exchanges have resulted in
a blueprint for a cooperative program called "Hands Around Mt. Everest" (Dan
- HOT Link this with the report)
- The Mountain Institute has become
the neutral, mutually
trusted, outside agency facilitating this cooperation
in a border area
where most officials do not share a common language,
and have never visited
each others' country.
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