Developing forested conservation corridors in the Kangchenjunga landscape, Eastern Himalaya

Abstract

The Kangchenjunga landscape in the transboundary region of Nepal, Bhutan, and India has rich forest resources offering a wide range of ecosystem services to local people and habitats for many rare plant and animal species. Despite conservation efforts in several fragmented protected areas in the past, forest ecosystems and their multiple functions have been affected by over-extraction of resources, haphazard land use practices, intensive agriculture, overgrazing, unmanaged tourism, and unplanned infrastructure development. We describe a multi-level and multi-stakeholder transboundary process initiated in 2002 with the overall objective of restoring fragmented and deteriorating forest resources through development of conservation corridors and adaptation of conservation measures, moving from a species approach to a landscape approach. In collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations, academics, and communities, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has been addressing the conservation issue by promoting participatory reforestation and transboundary collaboration, and linking conservation with sustainable use of resources by local communities.