Mugu, Nepal
An international team of experts this month completed a survey of 27 important bird areas in Nepal to see how conserving them doesn't just save nature, but can also provide income to local people.
The team included staff from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and the Cambridge-based BirdLife Secretariat, and they used a concept known as "eco-system service" to quantify the impact of conservation on local development.
The last of the selected sites to be surveyed was Rara National Park, where the lake is an important habitat for indigenous migratory birds. "Rara provides refuge for the globally threatened chir pheasant," explains Rara's warden, Durga Poudel, "and its pine and mixed forests are populated by red panda, musk deer and Himalayan thar."
BCN is working on a UK Government-funded Darwin Initiative project that assesses and quantifies the resources provided from nature by areas with rich birdlife. Field surveys are being carried out by the project at four sites: Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park and Phulchoki Community Forest in Kathmandu, Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and Rara National Park. The team is measuring how much carbon is being stored in the vegetation, the provision of clean water, harvesting of wild and cultivated products, and eco-tourism.
