Biodiversity Nepal

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Protected Areas of Nepal

From the lowlands of the Terai to the icy heights of the Himalaya, Nepal possesses biological diversity that is truly impressive. Nepal is one of the few countries in the world where the population of several keystone species have increased following the establishment of protected areas. The country has been highly successful in establishing an impressive network of protected areas as a means of protecting biodiversity. To date, from just 8% in 1980s, over 18% of the country’s surface area is now under protected area jurisdiction. The ratio of protected area to total land area of the country is one of the highest in Asia. With the introduction of the Buffer Zone concept, the area under conservation regime will increase further.

Although Nepal possesses an area of just 147,181 sq km (a mere 0.1% of the world’s total landmass), it nevertheless accounts for over 2% of the world’s flowering plants, about 8% of the world’s bird species and over 4% of the world’s mammal species. With such a vast biological repository of global significance, Nepal is undoubtedly a biological (as well as a cultural) hotspot that deserves special attention. And the fact that two of the protected areas Royal Chitwan and Sagarmatha National Parks are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, stands testimony to this.