Nepal community action

Globally, Nepal is ranked fourth in terms of vulnerability to climate change. Floods spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and bring landslides, leaving tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. In the 2020 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, it was judged to be the ninth hardest-hit nation by climate calamities during the period 1999 to 2018. Nepal is a least developed country, with 28.6 percent of the population living in multidimensional poverty. Analysis of trends from 1971 to 2014 by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) shows that the average annual maximum temperature has been increasing by 0.056 °C per year. Precipitation extremes are found to be increasing. A national-level survey on the perception-based survey on climate change reported that locals accurately perceived the shifts in temperature but their perceptions of precipitation change did not converge with the instrumental records. Data reveals that more than 80 percent of property loss due to disasters is attributable to climate hazards, particularly water-related events such as floods, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

The floods of 2018 spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and brought landslides. They have left tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. Nepal experienced flash floods and landslides in August, 2018 across the southern border, amounting to US$600 million in damages. There are reports of land which was once used for growing vegetables, and has become barren. Yak herders struggle to find grazing patches for their animals. Scientists have found that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the Himalayas, where mosquitoes have started to appear in the highlands.

A climate trend analysis of Nepal (1971-2014) shows that the annual maximum temperature trend is significantly positive (0.056oC/yr). All Nepal annual minimum temperature trend is also positive (0.002oC/yr) but it is insignificant.

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on both drought and flooding events have been found, including severe winter drought and excessive monsoon flooding. Climate change has been alarming in the context of global warming. In Nepal, 95% of greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture and forestry sectors; of this, 77% was from the forestry sector only. The consequences of global warming have had the most impact in developing and mountainous countries like Nepal, which has high intensity rainfall during rainy season. It has resulted in heavy floods, landslides and soil erosion. It is also common to find drought in many parts of Nepal that comes from the impacts of climate change and it impacts sectors like forest, water resources, agriculture, human health and biodiversity.

Altogether 14 glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) occurred between 1935 and 1991. In total, 21 GLOFs have been identified as being potentially dangerous at present. In this way, CC and livelihoods integral part and have vice versa relationship. The low income and subsistence users are about 38% of total population. It is a great challenge to cope with climate change induced hazards and extreme events. The livelihoods of more than 80% of the local people of hilly region are heavily dependent on climate sensitive areas such as agriculture, forest and livestock and on other natural resources such as water and irrigation.

In 2010, the Government of Nepal approved the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). NAPA was developed as a requirement under the UNFCCC to access funding for the most urgent and immediate adaptation needs from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF).

In Nepal, NAPA was developed with three components: preparation and dissemination of NAPA documents, development and maintenance of the Nepal Climate Change Knowledge Management Centre (NCCKMC), and development of the Multi-Stakeholder Climate Change Initiative Coordination Committee (MCCICC).

In NAPA, nine integrated projects have been identified as the urgent and immediate national adaptation priority. They are:

1. Promoting community-based adaptation through integrated management of agriculture, water, forest and biodiversity sector
2. Building and enhancing adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities through improved system and access to services related to agriculture development
3. Community-based disaster management for facilitating climate adaptation
4. GLOF monitoring and disaster risk reduction, and forest and ecosystem management for supporting climate-led adaptation innovations
5. Adapting to climate challenges in public health and ecosystem management for climate adaptation
6. Empowering vulnerable communities through sustainable management of water resource and clean energy support, and promoting climate smart urban settlement

NAPA's implementation framework envisages that the operating costs will be kept to a minimum and at least 80% of the available financial resources will reach the local level to fund activities on the ground. Stakeholders in Nepal has also started discussing National Adaptation Plans(NAPs), which are medium and long term adaptation plans for the country as decided by UNFCCC.

Nepal's NAP process builds on past experience with adaptation planning, including through the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), developed in 2010, and the Framework on Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPA), developed in 2011, which has facilitated development of adaptation plans by Village Development Committees across the country. Nepal launched its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in September 2015. The two main objectives of the NAP are (i) to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts by improving resilience and adaptive capacity, and (ii) to integrate climate change adaptation into new and current policies, programs, activities, and development strategies across all sectors and levels of government.

At present, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is executing the NAP process through the project, “Building Capacity to Advance National Adaptation Plan Process in Nepal,” with financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Building on the NAPA formulation and implementation experiences, this project supports the Climate Change Management Division (CCMD) of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, in the NAP formulation process, through a participatory, country-driven, gender-sensitive and multi-sectoral working group approach, emphasizing “leave no one behind” as the guiding principle. To mainstream the interlinked climate change issues into the overall development process, the National Climate Change Policy that came into effect in 2019 identified eight thematic and four cross-cutting areas. Based on that, the NAP formulation process engages eight thematic working groups (TWGs) and four cross-cutting working groups (CWGs) to cover the climate-sensitive approach. In line with the National Climate Change Policy 2019, the project works through the seven Provincial Climate Change Coordination Committees (PC4), one in each province. The PC4 is a medium between the federal and provincial governments concerning climate change.

Response to climate change in Nepal has been growing in recent years with an effort to cope with the changing situation and build resilience capacity into adaptation to climate change. In climate induced vulnerability context, Nepal has developed policy level provision such as the National Adaptation Programme of Action to climate change (NAPA). The NAPA document opened the door to act adaptation activities into country. Under the provision of national level policy, the Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA) national framework was devised out by government. It only mentioned the provision of the implementation mechanism at district or village development committee level to act on climate change adaptation. However, this document is still silent on provision of implementation mechanism at community level. Although the framework does not mention adaptation implementation mechanisms at community level, some community level adaptive strategies are being implemented. These strategies are community based adaptation plans for poor and vulnerable communities with less capacity to cope with disasters and are more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods.

Adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector and allied sectors is a major current and future challenge for Nepal. The majority of the population is still dependent on highly climate-sensitive sector like agriculture. In recent years, long drought spells during the monsoon season and increased temperatures and unseasonal heavy rains during winter have caused serious distress to agriculture-dependent communities in many locations. If the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture are to be realized, climate change adaptation interventions need to be implemented in earnest.

After 3 decades of CF in Nepal, more than 1.652 million forest lands were handed over to 1.45 million households of 17,685 community forest user group (CFUG) for conservation, management and utilization. CFUG as a common property resource management program in Nepal have resulted in improving forest cover and condition. Institutionally, CFUG are autonomous, independent and accountable institution for conserving, managing and utilizing of natural resources in Nepal legitimized by Forest Act 1992 and Forest Regulation 1995 of Nepal. The additional advantages are, effective protection, wise use of resources, plantation, forest fire control, and more effective contribution to local development and economic generation. It enhanced biodiversity, water flow and soil stability. More than 90% of villagers report that their forests are in better condition than a decade ago. Furthermore, CFs are able to meet poor and vulnerable households' daily subsistence needs for forest products such as firewood, fodder and timber. Apart from this, growing forests capture and store carbon that are contributing to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Because of, user groups have institutionally developed after CF handed over. Furthermore, the landscape of hills of Nepal drastically transformed into greenery. Such types of changes have positive impact on carbon sequestration which has contributed in reducing effects of climate change.

It is not only the CF contributing in climate change adaptation by providing goods and services, the CFUGs have also been used as local institutions for adaptation planning.

A report on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Nepal has identified the major constraints to adaptation in Nepal are:

• Dependence on Subsistence Agriculture
• Challenging Geophysical Conditions
• Population Growth in Urban Centers
• Institutional Failures and Weaknesses
• Constantly Changing Organizational Structures
• High Turnover of Government Personnel
• Failures of Public Institutions
• Ineffective to Nonexistent Coordination
• Deficient Capacity

Traditional top-down decision-making processes have become inadequate, due to their inability to create appropriate solutions for local communities. Nepal's forest cover, condition and quality are being improved. This is the success of only through three way partnership such as communities from bottom-up function, government and donors from top-down function and NGOs, civil society network from outside-in. In this situation, CFUGs have to be involved in mainstreaming to implement climate change adaptation. It is due to they are playing the key role in proactive in investing their funds, climate change knowledge transfer and policy feedback to adopt to the impact of climate change. Policy shall be emphasized the establishing groups around the resources that are indispensable for the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups to access diversification opportunity. It is necessary to bridge this gap; bottom-up approaches may produce the best results by building on local experiences and knowledge. For this, building-up the capacity of groups and their poor and vulnerable communities on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pertinent. In addition to this, focus needs to be given on institutional development, capacity building and awarding CFUGs for their good work on forest development and bio-diversity protection which ultimately contributes to ecological and environment balance.

In Nepal, women are also responsible for the traditional daily household chores including food production, household water supply and energy for heating. However, these tasks are likely to become more time-consuming and difficult, as the impacts of climate change increase, if women have to travel farther to collect items. This proves to be an additional stressor for women, increasing their risk to health hazards and illnesses, and in turn increasing their vulnerability to climate change.

Globally, Nepal is ranked fourth in terms of vulnerability to climate change. Floods spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and bring landslides, leaving tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. In the 2020 edition of Germanwatch's Climate Risk Index, it was judged to be the ninth hardest-hit nation by climate calamities during the period 1999 to 2018. Nepal is a least developed country, with 28.6 percent of the population living in multidimensional poverty. Analysis of trends from 1971 to 2014 by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) shows that the average annual maximum temperature has been increasing by 0.056 °C per year. Precipitation extremes are found to be increasing. A national-level survey on the perception-based survey on climate change reported that locals accurately perceived the shifts in temperature but their perceptions of precipitation change did not converge with the instrumental records. Data reveals that more than 80 percent of property loss due to disasters is attributable to climate hazards, particularly water-related events such as floods, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).

The floods of 2018 spread across the foothills of the Himalayas and brought landslides. They have left tens of thousands of houses and vast areas of farmland and roads destroyed. Nepal experienced flash floods and landslides in August, 2018 across the southern border, amounting to US$600 million in damages. There are reports of land which was once used for growing vegetables, and has become barren. Yak herders struggle to find grazing patches for their animals. Scientists have found that rising temperatures could spread malaria and dengue to new areas of the Himalayas, where mosquitoes have started to appear in the highlands.

A climate trend analysis of Nepal (1971-2014) shows that the annual maximum temperature trend is significantly positive (0.056oC/yr). All Nepal annual minimum temperature trend is also positive (0.002oC/yr) but it is insignificant.

The effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on both drought and flooding events have been found, including severe winter drought and excessive monsoon flooding. Climate change has been alarming in the context of global warming. In Nepal, 95% of greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture and forestry sectors; of this, 77% was from the forestry sector only. The consequences of global warming have had the most impact in developing and mountainous countries like Nepal, which has high intensity rainfall during rainy season. It has resulted in heavy floods, landslides and soil erosion. It is also common to find drought in many parts of Nepal that comes from the impacts of climate change and it impacts sectors like forest, water resources, agriculture, human health and biodiversity.

Altogether 14 glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) occurred between 1935 and 1991. In total, 21 GLOFs have been identified as being potentially dangerous at present. In this way, CC and livelihoods integral part and have vice versa relationship. The low income and subsistence users are about 38% of total population. It is a great challenge to cope with climate change induced hazards and extreme events. The livelihoods of more than 80% of the local people of hilly region are heavily dependent on climate sensitive areas such as agriculture, forest and livestock and on other natural resources such as water and irrigation.

In 2010, the Government of Nepal approved the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). NAPA was developed as a requirement under the UNFCCC to access funding for the most urgent and immediate adaptation needs from the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF).

In Nepal, NAPA was developed with three components: preparation and dissemination of NAPA documents, development and maintenance of the Nepal Climate Change Knowledge Management Centre (NCCKMC), and development of the Multi-Stakeholder Climate Change Initiative Coordination Committee (MCCICC).

In NAPA, nine integrated projects have been identified as the urgent and immediate national adaptation priority. They are:

1. Promoting community-based adaptation through integrated management of agriculture, water, forest and biodiversity sector
2. Building and enhancing adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities through improved system and access to services related to agriculture development
3. Community-based disaster management for facilitating climate adaptation
4. GLOF monitoring and disaster risk reduction, and forest and ecosystem management for supporting climate-led adaptation innovations
5. Adapting to climate challenges in public health and ecosystem management for climate adaptation
6. Empowering vulnerable communities through sustainable management of water resource and clean energy support, and promoting climate smart urban settlement

NAPA's implementation framework envisages that the operating costs will be kept to a minimum and at least 80% of the available financial resources will reach the local level to fund activities on the ground. Stakeholders in Nepal has also started discussing National Adaptation Plans(NAPs), which are medium and long term adaptation plans for the country as decided by UNFCCC.

Nepal's NAP process builds on past experience with adaptation planning, including through the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), developed in 2010, and the Framework on Local Adaptation Plans for Action (LAPA), developed in 2011, which has facilitated development of adaptation plans by Village Development Committees across the country. Nepal launched its National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in September 2015. The two main objectives of the NAP are (i) to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts by improving resilience and adaptive capacity, and (ii) to integrate climate change adaptation into new and current policies, programs, activities, and development strategies across all sectors and levels of government.

At present, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is executing the NAP process through the project, “Building Capacity to Advance National Adaptation Plan Process in Nepal,” with financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Building on the NAPA formulation and implementation experiences, this project supports the Climate Change Management Division (CCMD) of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, in the NAP formulation process, through a participatory, country-driven, gender-sensitive and multi-sectoral working group approach, emphasizing “leave no one behind” as the guiding principle. To mainstream the interlinked climate change issues into the overall development process, the National Climate Change Policy that came into effect in 2019 identified eight thematic and four cross-cutting areas. Based on that, the NAP formulation process engages eight thematic working groups (TWGs) and four cross-cutting working groups (CWGs) to cover the climate-sensitive approach. In line with the National Climate Change Policy 2019, the project works through the seven Provincial Climate Change Coordination Committees (PC4), one in each province. The PC4 is a medium between the federal and provincial governments concerning climate change.

Response to climate change in Nepal has been growing in recent years with an effort to cope with the changing situation and build resilience capacity into adaptation to climate change. In climate induced vulnerability context, Nepal has developed policy level provision such as the National Adaptation Programme of Action to climate change (NAPA). The NAPA document opened the door to act adaptation activities into country. Under the provision of national level policy, the Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA) national framework was devised out by government. It only mentioned the provision of the implementation mechanism at district or village development committee level to act on climate change adaptation. However, this document is still silent on provision of implementation mechanism at community level. Although the framework does not mention adaptation implementation mechanisms at community level, some community level adaptive strategies are being implemented. These strategies are community based adaptation plans for poor and vulnerable communities with less capacity to cope with disasters and are more dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods.

Adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector and allied sectors is a major current and future challenge for Nepal. The majority of the population is still dependent on highly climate-sensitive sector like agriculture. In recent years, long drought spells during the monsoon season and increased temperatures and unseasonal heavy rains during winter have caused serious distress to agriculture-dependent communities in many locations. If the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending poverty, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture are to be realized, climate change adaptation interventions need to be implemented in earnest.

After 3 decades of CF in Nepal, more than 1.652 million forest lands were handed over to 1.45 million households of 17,685 community forest user group (CFUG) for conservation, management and utilization. CFUG as a common property resource management program in Nepal have resulted in improving forest cover and condition. Institutionally, CFUG are autonomous, independent and accountable institution for conserving, managing and utilizing of natural resources in Nepal legitimized by Forest Act 1992 and Forest Regulation 1995 of Nepal. The additional advantages are, effective protection, wise use of resources, plantation, forest fire control, and more effective contribution to local development and economic generation. It enhanced biodiversity, water flow and soil stability. More than 90% of villagers report that their forests are in better condition than a decade ago. Furthermore, CFs are able to meet poor and vulnerable households' daily subsistence needs for forest products such as firewood, fodder and timber. Apart from this, growing forests capture and store carbon that are contributing to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Because of, user groups have institutionally developed after CF handed over. Furthermore, the landscape of hills of Nepal drastically transformed into greenery. Such types of changes have positive impact on carbon sequestration which has contributed in reducing effects of climate change.

It is not only the CF contributing in climate change adaptation by providing goods and services, the CFUGs have also been used as local institutions for adaptation planning.

A report on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Nepal has identified the major constraints to adaptation in Nepal are:

• Dependence on Subsistence Agriculture
• Challenging Geophysical Conditions
• Population Growth in Urban Centers
• Institutional Failures and Weaknesses
• Constantly Changing Organizational Structures
• High Turnover of Government Personnel
• Failures of Public Institutions
• Ineffective to Nonexistent Coordination
• Deficient Capacity

Traditional top-down decision-making processes have become inadequate, due to their inability to create appropriate solutions for local communities. Nepal's forest cover, condition and quality are being improved. This is the success of only through three way partnership such as communities from bottom-up function, government and donors from top-down function and NGOs, civil society network from outside-in. In this situation, CFUGs have to be involved in mainstreaming to implement climate change adaptation. It is due to they are playing the key role in proactive in investing their funds, climate change knowledge transfer and policy feedback to adopt to the impact of climate change. Policy shall be emphasized the establishing groups around the resources that are indispensable for the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups to access diversification opportunity. It is necessary to bridge this gap; bottom-up approaches may produce the best results by building on local experiences and knowledge. For this, building-up the capacity of groups and their poor and vulnerable communities on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pertinent. In addition to this, focus needs to be given on institutional development, capacity building and awarding CFUGs for their good work on forest development and bio-diversity protection which ultimately contributes to ecological and environment balance.

In Nepal, women are also responsible for the traditional daily household chores including food production, household water supply and energy for heating. However, these tasks are likely to become more time-consuming and difficult, as the impacts of climate change increase, if women have to travel farther to collect items. This proves to be an additional stressor for women, increasing their risk to health hazards and illnesses, and in turn increasing their vulnerability to climate change.

Wildlife diversity is a notable feature of Nepal. Because of the variance in climate, from tropical to arctic, Nepal has a large variety of plants and animals. Wildlife tourism is a major source of tourism in the country. There are some animal species which are unique to Nepal, such as the spiny babbler. Nepal is also host to many rhododendron species. Nepal has numerous national parks and reserves to protect its diverse fauna. Nepal is a biodiversity hot spot with ecoregions broadly comprising the mountainous ecoregion, the savanna and grasslands ecoregion of the terai (foothills), and the Rara Lake ecoregion.

Wildlife diversity is a notable feature of Nepal. Because of the variance in climate, from tropical to arctic, Nepal has a large variety of plants and animals. Wildlife tourism is a major source of tourism in the country. There are some animal species which are unique to Nepal, such as the spiny babbler. Nepal is also host to many rhododendron species. Nepal has numerous national parks and reserves to protect its diverse fauna. Nepal is a biodiversity hot spot with ecoregions broadly comprising the mountainous ecoregion, the savanna and grasslands ecoregion of the terai (foothills), and the Rara Lake ecoregion.

With the 1973 passing of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029 BS, Nepal has established numerous national parks and reserves in order to protect its fauna. There are four different classes of protection, ranging from national parks and nature reserves to wildlife and hunting reserves. By 1992 Nepal had established seven national parks, protecting in total over 893,200 hectares (3,449 sq mi) of land. Under these classes as of 2002 there were 23 protected areas: nine national parks, three wildlife reserves, three conservation areas, one hunting reserve, three additional Ramsar sites, and four additional World Heritage Sites. The most noted world heritage sites are Sagarmatha National Park and Chitwan National Park. In addition, the World Heritage Site in the Kathmandu Valley covers zones of significant biodiversity.

There are 208 mammal species reported including 28 species outside the limits of the protected areas but excluding four known extinct species. Among the species of mammal found in Nepal, notable are the Bengal fox, Bengal tiger, clouded leopard, corsac fox, Asiatic lion, Asiatic elephant, marbled cat, Indian pangolin, Chinese pangolin, red panda, snow leopard, Tibetan fox and Tibetan wolf. Some of these, including the internationally recognized snow leopard are endangered and at risk of extinction. The wild yak, thought to be regionally extinct in the 1970s, was rediscovered in 2014.

The smooth-coated otter and Eurasian otter are present in the country, and there are historical records of the Asian small-clawed otter. These otters are threatened by the increasing pollution of the rivers they inhabit.

There are several types of reptile native to the country, ranging from pit vipers to monitor lizards. Some of the more prominent examples include the Bengal monitor, Gloydius himalayanus (a pit viper), the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), Trimeresurus septentrionalis, and the yellow monitor. Although the above are found elsewhere in southeast Asia, there are quite a few reptile species unique to the country, including Sitana fusca and Cyrtodactylus nepalensis. Sitana sivalensis, Japalura tricarinata, the Annapurna ground skink (Scincella capitanea), the lidless skink (Ablepharus nepalensis), geckos (Cyrtodactylus martinstolli), Shah's bamboo pit viper (Trimeresurus karanshahi) and the Tibetan pit viper (Gloydius strauchi) are also reptiles found in Nepal.

In 2019, the first successful gharial reproduction since 1982 was confirmed.

There are approximately 27 Important Bird Areas in the country and over 900 bird species (as of 2012) in Nepal of which 30 are globally threatened, 1 is endemic and 1 is introduced. The danphe, the national bird, is a type of pheasant. In addition, there are eight species of stork, five other species of pheasant, six minivets, seventeen cuckoos, thirty flycatchers, and sixty species of warblers. The spiny babbler is the only species endemic to Nepal.

The aquatic faunal species reported from the water bodies in Nepal are: pharping catfish (Myersglanis blythii), Psilorhynchus nepalensis, Nepalese minnow (Psilorhynchus pseudecheneis), Nepalese snowtrout (Schizothorax macrophthalmus), Turcinoemacheilus himalaya, erethistid catfishes (Erethistoides ascita and Erethistoides cavatura), bagrid catfish (Batasio macronotus) and sisorid catfishes (such as Pseudecheneis eddsi, Pseudecheneis crassicauda and Pseudecheneis serracula).

Some of the important insect species reported are: ground beetles (Cychropsis nepalensis), Nebria molendai, dung beetles (Caccobius scheuerni), longhorned beetles (Hesperoclytus katarinae), moths (Heterolocha mariailgeae), katydids (Isopsera caligula), mole crickets (Gryllotalpa pygmaea), grasshoppers (Nepalocaryanda latifrons), bees (Andrena kathmanduensis), ant-mimicking thrips (Franklinothrips strasseni) and damselflies (Calicnemia nipalica). Other invertebrates reported are tarantulas (Haplocosmia nepalensis), goblin spiders (Brignolia ankhu), jumping spiders (Euophrys omnisuperstes), scorpions (Heterometrus nepalensis), centipedes (Cryptops nepalensis), land snails (Darwininitium shiwalikianum and Laevozebrinus nepalensis), and freshwater snails (Tricula mahadevensis).

Research undertaken in the late 1970s and early 1980s documented 5,067 species of which 5041 were angiosperms and the remaining 26 species were gymnosperms. The Terai area has hardwood, bamboo, palm, and sal trees. Notable plants include the garden angelica, Luculia gratissima, Meconopsis villosa, and Persicaria affinis. However, according to ICOMOS checklist (as of 2006), in the protected sites, there are 2,532 species of vascular plants under 1,034 genera and 199 families. The variation in figures is attributed to inadequate floral coverage filed studies.

There are 400 species of vascular plants which are endemic to Nepal. Of these, two in particular are orchids Pleione coronaria and Oreorchis porphyranthes.

The most popular endemic plant of Nepal is rhododendron (arboreum) which in Nepali language is called guras. Lali guras (red rhododendron) is especially popular. It is grown extensively throughout Nepal, and particularly in the elevation range of 1,400–3,600 m. The flower is a national symbol and part of the cultural and religious ethos of the country. It symbolizes "national unity and people's sovereignty" and "reflects the spirit of Lok tantra (republic) marked by inclusiveness and gender parity." The red rhododendron flowers forms the decorative ring in the form of wreath around the national emblem of Nepal which comprise the flag of Nepal, Mount Everest, green mountains, yellow colour representing the fertile Terai region (foothills region of the Himalayas) and with hands of male and female joined representing gender equality, and with an outline of the map of Nepal in the background. Below this emblem there is an inscription in Sanskrit which reads jananī janmabhūmiśca svargādapi garīyasī, which means "Mother and the motherland are greater than heaven." It is also used in traditional medicine to cure dysentery.

There are 38 protected wildlife species of fauna including birds of which 50% are in various stages of threat. These are the following:

Vulnerable

• Antilope cervicapra (blackbuck)
• Bos gaurus (gaur)
• Canis lupus (Tibetan wolf)
• Neofelis nebulosa (clouded leopard)
• Platanista gangetica (Gangetic dolphin)
• Python molurus (Asiatic rock python)

Endangered

• Bos mutus (wild yak, rediscovered in 2014)
• Bubalus bubalis (wild water buffalo)
• Caprolagus hispidus (hispid hare)
• Cervus duvauceli (swamp deer)
• Elephas maximus (Asiatic elephant)
• Felis lynx (Eurasian lynx)
• Moschus chrysogaster (Himalayan musk deer)
• Panthera tigris (royal Bengal tiger)
• Panthera uncia (snow leopard)
• Catreus wallichii (cheer pheasant)
• Eupodotis bengalensis (Bengal florican)
• Gavialis gangeticus (gharial)

Extirpated

• Sus salvanius (pygmy hog)

Indeterminate species

• Ovis ammon (great Tibetan sheep)
• Varanus flavescens (golden monitor)

The community forestry program in Nepal is a government effort to reduce forest degradation and to promote sustainable forestry practices as well as to improve the livelihood of the community. It incorporates distinct policies, institutions and practices. The two main goals of the community forestry program is to empower local communities whilst encouraging environmental conservation benefits on the Himalayan forests.

Nepal has become one of the first developing nations to adopt a community forestry management program which gives authority to the community and groups to manage forest resources. As a result, Nepal now stands as one of the leaders in community based forest management as they have made direct progress in halting environmental degradation and by regenerating forests in barren areas. Studies have proven the potential benefits that community forestry will have in combating environmental degradation as well as utilizing resources in a sufficient manner.

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language.