An overview of the biodiversity in Nepal

Abstract

Nepal is a mountainous country in the central Himalayas, which occupies about one third of (800 km) of the entire length of the Himalayan mountain range. Nepal alone claims eight out of the top ten tallest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest (8,848 m). Apart from the mountains, deep gorges, river valleys and the flat lands it provides a unique assemblage of very different habitats and a great biodiversity within a small geographical area. The 147 181 km2that make up Nepal is slightly less than 0.1% of the global land mass, but contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals. The country’s 118 ecosystems harbour over 2% of the flowering plants, 3% of the pteridophytes and 6% of the bryophytes in the world’s flora. Similarly, the country harbours 3.9% of the mammals, 8.9% of the birds and 3.7% of the world’s fauna of butterflies (Table 1.1).