The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

6. Landscape conservation initiatives in Nepal: opportunities and challenges
has sought a balance between short-term human needs and long-term ecological integrity.
Conservation approaches have shifted from a species focus to an ecosystem focus and are now
more participatory, rather than protective, as in the past (Table 1). Table 1 also suggests that
Nepal has adopted a more holistic, inclusive and decentralized conservation paradigm than in
the past. The country has been a leading innovator in the establishment of indigenously
inhabited and co-managed protected areas in the mountains (Stevens, 1997).
Table 1. Change in conservation paradigms in Nepal
Past
Strict protection
Species focus
Control in resource use
Island approach
Centralized and governmentcontrolled
Present
People’s participation
Ecosystem focus
Resource-and revenue-sharing
Landscape approach
Decentralized and open to NGO and private sector
involvement
Nepal has been trying to balance protective and participatory approaches to resource
conservation simultaneously. At one end of this continuum, there are strictly protected Terai
national parks and reserves with no, or minimal, people’s participation in park protection and
management. On the other hand, in the management of buffer zones (BZ) and conservation
areas a participatory conservation approach with community access to the forest resources has
been adopted. The Himalayan Parks, where local people are allowed to collect fuelwood,
fodder and leaf-litter for domestic use, fall in the middle of this continuum (Figure 1).
Fig. 1.
Conservation continuum
Recognising the role and importance of people and lived-in landscapes for the long-term
conservation of biodiversity, Nepal has been adopting new models for conservation over the
last decade and a half. Moreover, the country has been a leading innovator in the establishment
of indigenously inhabited and co-managed protected areas in the mountains (Stevens 1997).
The country uses a conservation area model (conservation with people) in creating new
protected areas, and a buffer zone approach (conservation through people) in managing
existing parks and reserves. Within three decades, Nepal’s protected area management
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