The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

6. Landscape conservation initiatives in Nepal: opportunities and challenges
conservation to a more inclusive and engaging approach. This change will be key to
making landscape conservation initiatives successful.
Programmes with high conservation focus that are driven by conservation agencies
and involve less engagement of local people. Certain landscape conservation pro -
grammes focused exclusively on specific conservation goals are led by park and forestry
officials in collaboration with WWF and other conservation agencies. Programmes such
as forest conservation, wildlife protection and habitat restoration give high priority to the
eco logical dimensions, and communities often find these efforts less engaging and do not
tend to participate. In contrast, the success of the protected landscape concept depends on
serving both nature and people, and on cooperation and mutual commitment of people
and authorities (Lucas,1992). To achieve the objective of conservation beyond bound -
aries, according to Beresford (2003) conservation professionals should develop new
partnerships and think ‘out of the box.’
External rather than internal funding sources. Landscape conservation programmes
currently under implementation depend heavily, if not totally, on outside funding. The
sustainability of such programmes will be questionable if successful experiences have not
been internalized and institutionalized within the regular government structure and
programmes. Moreover, developing a “stewardship approach” that puts conservation in
the hands of people most affected by it, and thereby integrates people with nature, as
suggested by Brown and Mitchell (2000), could be an appropriate and sustainable
landscape conservation strategy.
Required policy and legislation are still not in place. For successful management of
protected landscapes, a supportive legal framework is essential (Phillips, 2002). Cur -
rently, Nepal does not have comprehensive legal and institutional frameworks to co -
ordinate diverse and complex conservation interventions at the landscape level. In the
absence of an umbrella policy framework and a coordinating institution, agencies work -
ing according to different and sometimes conflicting legal mandates and priorities may
compete or overlap with each other.
Conclusion
Conservation is essential and it happens only when people understand the reasons behind it and
are actively engaged. In Nepal there is a growing understanding that for biodiversity
conservation to be sustainable, appropriate socio-political as well as ecological landscapes are
necessary. It is important to note that 78% of the country’s protected areas have been adopting a
protected landscape approach to conservation and have tried to link people with resource
conservation by empowering local communities to manage their resources and receive benefits
from conservation.
However, at the landscape scale, successful biodiversity conservation will depend not only
on productive collaboration with local people but also on coordinated, integrated planning at
provincial, regional and national levels. Additionally, sustainable management of both pro -
tected and productive landscapes in collaboration with various interest groups is necessary for
the successful management of protected landscapes. Amid growing population and rampant
poverty, the successes of ecological linkages will largely depend on careful integration of
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