Forest Protection Area

1. The Roles Of Forest Protection Area
Management For Restoring The
Degraded Biological Corridors In Nepal
Presenter
Amit Chaudhary
Faculty, of Forestry, AFU
12 Nov 2022

2. Outline of Presentation
• Introduction
• Objective
• Methodology
• Findings
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Recommendations
• References

3. Introduction
Forest Protection Area (FPA); is the area declared under Section 15 of
the Forest Act, 2019 by demarcating any part of the national forest
and the concerned landscape area making a special work plan.
Besides, the protected forest declared under the previous Forest Act,
1993 has been converted to FPA.
One of the characteristics of the FPA is that- it is necessary to protect
and manage the forests, vegetation, and wildlife outside the
protected area. Section 16(4) of the act also makes provision for
declaring the FPA as a biological corridor, especially for wild fauna
(Forest Act, 2019).

4. Biological corridor is the safe passage for the wildlife connecting
different habitats in fragmented landscapes. These may include linear
patches such as streamside(riparian areas), shelterbelts, forest
remnants, etc. These corridors function as movement pathways and
habitats for resident animals (Rosenberg et al. 1997).
While these biological corridors are vital for the integrity of the
landscape; most of them are unprotected forests and also face
challenges due to conflict in human-wildlife interfaces such as with
Elephants (Ram et al., 2021), Tigers (Thapa, et al. 2017) and with
proper incentives the conservation of such corridors beyond the
protected areas needs to be ascertained.
Introduction

5. Objective
To explore the roles of FPA in the conservation of biological
corridors.
To explore the success stories of the restoration of degraded
biological corridors
 Desk Review of Literature (Reports on Forest Protection
Areas; Published scientific articles; Legal provisions; )
Methodology

6. Findings
 Wildlife movement is crucial for gene flow and
genetic diversity. The defined forested areas
intermixed with grasslands, and wetlands,
providing connectivity between the protected
areas are integral for the easy dispersal of
wildlife populations in conservation
landscapes (Ament, et al., 2014).
 In the case of Nepal such functional corridors
are present in the Terai Arc Landscape whose
functionality is measured by the tiger
dispersal. These protected forests were the
pioneer (declared in 2012 Feb. 27) in the
conservation of biodiversity outside protected
areas (Kafle, 2016).
Source: Thapa et al., 2021
Net Forest Cover change in the
last five years 2015-2020 (in ha)
in the biological corridors

7. There are in total 20 (10+1declared, 9 proposed) Forest Protection Areas in
Nepal out of which 4 are important from the viewpoint of connectivity
enhancement between the habitats within and in between Nepal and India.
These are namely, Khata, Barandhabar, Basanta, Laljhadi-Mohana; and
also Mahabharat, Madhane, and Shivagadi Surainaka FPAs (Gautam et al.,
2017; DoF, 2017, Baral et al., 2016, Chaudhary, et al. 2019).
Source: Thapa et al., 2021
Figure:
Biological Corridors in Terai Arc Landscape

8. Barandhabhar Corridor
• Barandhabhar FPA Area: 10466 ha forest cover 99.18 sq.km. The deforestation and
degradation in the corridor were acute in the 1990s. Its restoration was supported by
NTNC and has a gradual improvement in Forest cover. It has a Ramsar site-
Beeshazar and associated lakes which is also an Important Bird Area of Nepal
(Basnet, et al., 2016; Kafle et al. 2016; Thapa et al. 2021).
• There have been increasing records of the tiger and rhino, indicating the high
functionality in wildlife dispersal; movement, and also bird sightings- 372 species with
16 threatened (Lamichhane et al., 2021) with the efforts of habitat restoration.
Construction of new wetlands and restoration of degraded ones are averting the
conflict issues with wildlife and the community surrounding the corridor.
• It is also providing habitat for four Tigers while equally important for wildlife such as
leopards, and civets, crab-eating mongoose (Rayamajhi et al., 2019) along with their
prey species such as deer; while also important for Mugger crocodiles in the wetlands.
The unverified reports also show that it could act as microrefugia for the Gaur with
respect to disturbances in Chure foothills (Thapa et al., 2021).

9. Khata Corridor
• Khata FPA has area of 4504 ha while the corridor has an area of 202.39 sq.
km. with a forest cover of 96.57 s.km. comprising riverine forests, mixed
hardwood forest, and grasslands. Major wildlife species include, elephants,
tiger, leopard, Rhinoceros, Sambar deer, Leopard Cat, etc.
• It has a network of 74 community forests and mush restoration efforts has
improved connectivity with Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India of
Bardiya National Park (BNP) which is evident from the wild elephant
movement up to Babai valley. There is also significant movement of
Rhinoceros (Thapa, 2017).
• The increase in tiger population in the BNP can also be attributed to this
functional corridor as 46 individual tigers had been using the corridors
over the period of four years and study in 2014 shows four tigers common
across the borders.

10. Basanta Corridor
• Basanta protected forest has area of 69001ha. corridor has an area of
654.32sq.km. with forest cover of 393.6 sq.km.
• Major wildlife species include, tiger, leopard, Rhinoceros, Sambar deer, River
Dolphin, etc.
• In 2006 a female tiger cub was reported within the corridor, while there has
occasional records of rhinos.
• In 2018, a male satellite collared tiger from Dudhwa National Park was
tracked ranging out of the national park and venturing into Nepal side
through Basanta Corridor.
• Gangetic river dolphin population in the Mohana river while the Ghodaghodi
Ramsar site is also located within the corridor.

11. Laljhadi-Mohana Corridor
• Laljhadi-Mohana FPA is 29642 ha while the corridor has an area of
367.89sq.km. with a forest cover of 227.46 sq.km. comprising riverine
forest, mixed hardwood forest, and Chirpine forest.
• Major wildlife species include tiger, leopard, elephant, blue bull, and wild
boar with continuous use of the forest as a migratory route.
• The riverine areas along the Mohana river were restored to create a
corridor connecting Dhudhwa National park (DNP) in the south and Chure
in the north through improved forest management and community
stewardship.
• It is a re-established corridor of the Asiatic elephant between DNP in India
and Shuklaphanta National Park in Nepal.

12. Discussion
• Ram et al. 2021 in the study of the Elephas maximus attacks on humans in
Nepal, revealed, attacks were higher in Eastern Nepal despite of small
population. One of the major causes was found to be - a highly fragmented
habitat outside the protected area; and hence the severe disruption in the
historical migratory corridors of the elephants from West Bengal, India.
• It is imperative to restore the elephant movement corridors and bottlenecks
to enhance human-elephant coexistence (Ram, et al., 2021).
• These corridors are important in terms of the benefit that the communities
residing around them through different conservation-related activities-
financial, capacity building, and technology transfer.
• Developing ecotourism has prospered the people and also promoted their
cultural richness.

13. Discussion
• The majority of the FPAs located in Terai have been functioning as biological
corridors. While the mountainous landscape of the High Mountain region
becoming frequently disturbed with the infrastructural development; there is
a need of pre-sensitization of the stakeholders in the conservation of
corridors of the endangered and flagship mammalian species like snow
leopard (WWF, 2018) and red panda (Lama, et al. 2019).
• Conservation efforts should be continuous. This also involves developing and
practicing clear implementation guidelines of FPA based on a zonation-based
approach. While the approach of Sustainable Forest Management in the
utility zone would ensure sustained corridor functionality (Thapa et al.,
2021).

14. Conclusion
• The forest protection areas in these functional corridors have
enhanced the protection of the forest and wildlife residing in
such habitats and hence maintaining a viable population of
endangered mammals like Tigers and Elephants in the
Landscape.
• Community stewardship has been enhanced and also has
helped to reduce the conflict in two ways- by raising
awareness in the community and improving the habitat for
the wildlife in the region.

15. Recommendation
• There are other functional corridors from a biodiversity point
of view which is in dire need of protection hence, Forest
Protection Area modality is a suitable one and could also be
extended to the other prospective corridors.
• Better sensitization is needed among the communities to
acknowledge the benefit of the biological corridors in terms of
human-wildlife coexistence at the same time, prioritizing the
mitigating measures of human-wildlife conflict.
• The objective of biodiversity conservation should not be
compromised in any way that would threaten the functionality
of corridors.

16. References
• Thapa, K., Tuladhar, S. (Eds.) 2021. Connecting Corridors. WWF Nepal, Kathmandu,
Nepal.
• Rosenberg, D.K., Noon, B., Meslow, E.C. 1997 Biological Corridors: Form, Function, and
Efficacy. BioScience, Volume 47, Issue 10, November 1997, Pages 677–687,
https://doi.org/10.2307/1313208
• Kafle, M.R., Aryal, P., Baral, S.R. 2073.Nepal’s Protection Forest Program. In Protected
Forests of Nepal. DoF, Kathmandu.
• Gautam, A.P., Bhujel, K.B., Chhetri, R. 2017. Political Economy of Forest Tenure
Reform Implementation in Nepal: The Case of Protected Forests. Journal of Forest and
Livelihood. 15(1). Forest Action Nepal. Kathmandu
• Wegge, P., Yadav, S., & Lamichhane, B. (2018). Are corridors good for tigers Panthera
tigris but bad for people? An assessment of the Khata corridor in lowland Nepal. Oryx,
52(1), 35-45. doi:10.1017/S0030605316000661

17. Thank You!
for your attention
Any Queries are duly welcome


18. Additional References
• Chaudhary, Ram P; Uprety, Yadav; Devkota, Shiva; Adhikari, Shalu; Rai, Sanjeev Kumar; Joshi, Surya P. 2020. Plant
Biodiversity in Nepal: Status, Conservation, Approaches, and Legal Instruments under New Federal Structures.
Plant Diversity in Nepal. (167-206). Botanical Society of Nepal, Kathmandu.
• Lama, Anu & Kandel, Pratikshya & Chaudhary, Sunita & Dema, Kezang & Uprety, Yadav & Gaira, Kailash &
Pandey, Aseesh & Dorji, Tashi & Chettri, Nakul. (2019). Transboundary ecotourism in the Kangchenjunga
Landscape: Opportunities for sustainable development through regional cooperation.
• Ram, A. K., Mondol, S., Subedi, N., Lamichhane, B. R., Baral, H. S., Laxminarayanan, N., Amin, R., & Pandav, B.
(2021). Patterns and determinants of elephant attacks on humans in Nepal. Ecology and Evolution, 11, 11639–11650.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7796
• Rayamajhi, Trishna & Lamichhane, Saneer & Gurung, Ashish & Regmi, Pramod & Pokheral, Chiranjibi &
Lamichhane, Babu. (2019). First camera trap documentation of the Crab-eating Mongoose Herpestes urva (Hodgson,
1836) (Carnivora: Feliformia: Herpestidae) in Barandabhar Corridor Forest in Chitwan, Nepal. Journal of
Threatened Taxa. 11. 14051-14055. 10.11609/jott.4567.11.8.14051-14055.
• Thapa K, Wikramanayake E, Malla S, Acharya KP, Lamichhane BR, Subedi N, et al. (2017) Tigers in the Terai:
Strong evidence for meta-population dynamics contributing to tiger recovery and conservation in the Terai Arc
Landscape. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0177548. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177548