Eco-Peace Leadership Centre of Kangwon National University
“Maintaining Greenery in Urban Schools” project funded by the Eco-Peace Leadership Centre of Kangwon National University, The Republic of South Korea aims at building capacity of green clubs members on maintaining greenery through the plantation in yards and permaculture gardening using non-degradable waste like plastic bottles, tyres, etc. that could possibly be used for planting seasonal crops and ornamental plants at schools of urban areas. The project is being implemented in five schools of Dhulikhel Municipality, focusing three schools (Sanjiwani Model Secondary School, Devisthan Secondary School, and Shankheswor Secondary School) for plantation in yards and two schools (Hanuman Secondary School and Shrikhnandapur Secondary School) for permaculture school garden using the concept of vertical gardening. Technical assistance for green club members established by schools, along with in-kind support for greenery establishment, is the significant activity of this project.
Rufford Project
Harvesting of Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) by the Himalayan communities is widespread across the Himalayan region, including Nepal. Cordyceps is traded in large volumes in domestic as well as international markets, supplementing household income, as well as being a source of sustainable livelihoods (Upadhaya, 2018; Yadav et al., 2011). But due to the recent surge in demands, its price in the international market has surpassed all other natural medicinal products (Shrestha and Bawa, 2013), and due to the high price harvesters and traders received the high return (Shrestha and Bawa,2014)...
Rufford Project
The caterpillar mushroom (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) is an endemic species of high altitude ecosystems. It is one of the world’s highly paid medicinal herbs which plays a significant role in the local and national economy. Annually, thousands of people from different parts of Nepal travel to high altitude areas of Dolpa for mushrooms harvesting which has resulted in threats to it, which ended with the decline of its production over the years. The lure of easy money has resulted in the unsustainable harvesting of the species which has led to a sharp decline in its production and also the movement of people has possessed a high threat to fragile high altitude ecosystem...
Rufford Project
Elephants are a pervasive threat to Nepal, causing more than 40% of human-wildlife conflict and resulting in 70% of human casualties (Bajimaya, 2016). The Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) , listed as “endangered” by the IUCN’s CITIES Appendix I , is losing its population dramatically over the last century and the major cause of this decline is believed to be loss and fragmentation of its suitable habitat. Communities in Eastern Nepal have greatly impacted the habitat of Asian elephant through farming and settlements, a combination which results in high conflict between these two (Poudyal, 2013). Nepal’s Elephant Conservation Action Plan (2009-2018) has clearly stated human-elephant conflict minimization as one of its objectives, but in practice activities are concentrated in buffer zones and protected areas. This does little to mitigate human-elephant conflict in regions far from protected areas, such as the Jhapa District of eastern Nepal – an area of significant human-elephant conflict...
Rufford Project
The number of snow leopard is declining because of habitat degradation and fragmentation, reduction in natural prey due to illegal hunting as well as competition with livestock, retaliatory killing of snow leopard, lack of awareness and lack of trans-boundary efforts. Youth for Nature (YFN) local NGO from Dolpa is working for conservation of these endangered species through funding of MBZ. The objectives of this project are to actively engage upland communities as stewards for the snow leopard, its prey and habitat, provide veterinary training to local livestocks herders and create conservation awareness on local people...