Nepal Puts Indigenous Communities at Conservation's Center

For decades, Nepal has been hailed as a conservation miracle, bringing tigers and rhinos back from the brink of extinction through a network of national parks covering nearly a quarter of the country. Now, scientists say the secret to protecting nature long-term isn't more parks but empowering the people who've lived alongside wildlife for generations.

Around 40 researchers, conservationists, and community advocates gathered in Lalitpur on Friday to reimagine Nepal's conservation future. The roundtable, organized by the Society for Conservation Biology Nepal, centered on one transformative idea: indigenous communities should help shape environmental policy, not just follow it.

The case they made was compelling. Traditional knowledge from indigenous peoples has sustained biodiversity for centuries, yet current laws often ignore or even criminalize these practices while approving large infrastructure projects that threaten ecosystems.

Uttam Babu Shrestha, founding director of the Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies Nepal, highlighted the contradiction. Conservation strategies should distinguish between genuine threats and cultural practices that have coexisted with nature for generations, he argued.

Prakash Kumar Paudel, president of the conservation society, pointed to gaps in how Nepal addresses human-wildlife conflict and the relationship between forests and local communities. These social dimensions have been missing from conservation planning, leaving policies incomplete.

The discussion reflects a global debate playing out from the Amazon to Southeast Asia. Should conservation focus on keeping people out of protected areas, or should it recognize communities as nature's stewards?

Why This Inspires

Nepal's willingness to question its own success story shows real courage. The country isn't abandoning what worked but evolving to make it sustainable.

Former forestry secretary Pashupatinath Koirala called for more research to evaluate whether current models truly achieve their ecological and social goals. His plea for evidence-based policy suggests Nepal is serious about getting this right.

The consensus was clear: Nepal's conservation wins are genuine, but they'll only last if future policies empower the communities that call these landscapes home. As climate change and development pressures intensify, protecting nature will depend as much on inclusion and governance as on ecological science.

Nepal proved it could save its wildlife; now it's showing the world how to honor the people who helped keep that wildlife alive all along.