Western Terai Landscape Complex Project
Landscape level conservation is a new paradigm in conservation arena crafted to address the issue of expanding human needs and their pressure on the ecosystem. In this initiation, conservation is extended beyond the boundary of protected area to cover larger landscape of different land-use patterns.With an aim to develop replicable landscape-level management model(s) to safeguard the biological wealth and vital ecological functions in Nepal, WTLCP was launched in August 2005 after signing an agreement between the Government of Nepal and the UNDP. The eight-year long project is a joint initiative of Government of Nepal and seven national and international organisations.
The project's landscape approach envisions integrated ecosystem management to achieve the multiple objectives of conservation, sustainable natural resource management and poverty alleviation by reorienting biodiversity management approaches and its institutional arrangements. The project was designed to address major biodiversity threats of agriculture encroachment and squatting in forestlands; high grazing pressure in the forests; overexploitation of forest resources; and the replacement of traditional agricultural crop varieties and landraces with modern cultivars.
Goal
The overall goal of WTLCP is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of globally significant biodiversity in Nepal's Western Terai Landscape Complex.
Objective
The immediate objective of WTLCP is to establish effective management systems and build capacity for the conservation and sustainable use of Nepal's Western Terai Landscape Complex.
Expected Project Outputs
- The national policy environment and legal framework for integrated landscape planning in the Western Terai Landscape Complex enabled;
- the institutional framework for integrated landscape management of biodiversity in the Western Terai Landscape Complex established;
- biodiversity assets in government managed lands are conserved and sustainably managed; and
- local communities empowered to practice sustainable, biodiversity friendly natural resource and land use management and pursue diversified livelihoods.
