NEPAL

Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands in Nepal (CSUWN) promotes the conservation and sustainable use of wetland resources through the collaborative management of Nepal's wetlands.

Background
 

Wetland biodiversity conservation values integrated into national policy and planning framework.The five year project "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wetlands in Nepal" (CSUWN) was officially signed in March 2007 between UNDP and Government of Nepal. The project is a unique collaboration of the GoN, GEF/UNDP and IUCN Nepal. The Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MFSC) of the Government of Nepal (GoN) is the implementing agency of the project; whereas the World Conservation Union (IUCN) will provide technical assistance. The Project is the result of an extensive GEF's Project Development & formulation exercise (PDF-B) during the year 2000-2004. The project came into effect in January 2008 and was officially launched with the conduction of inception workshop in March 2008.

The project has two major demonstration sites; both included in the Ramsar status, reflecting their unique importance among global wetlands. The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, situated in eastern Nepal, covers together with its buffer zones an area of 348,000 ha, whereas the Ghodaghodi Lake Complex in Kailali district in Far Western Nepal covers 2,563 ha. Approximately 150,000 people from over 25,000 households live in project demonstration areas.

Project Objective

The overall goal of the project is to ensure maintenance and enhancement of wetland biodiversity and environmental goods and services for improved local livelihoods of Nepal. The project objectives are to strengthen national and local capacity in ecosystem management and sustainable use of wetland biodiversity in Nepal. The project aims to achieve these objectives through policy development and developing sustainable livelihood options for the local people. The project will ensure that national policies and planning frameworks identify and protect wetlands of global biodiversity significance and protect globally threatened species, including migratory species. Awareness on and capacity of Nepal to engage in and to promote international policies and collaborative efforts for wetlands conservation will be strengthened. The project has been designed to influence two cycles of national and local development plans and to allow adequate time to achieve visible results and proper stakeholder takeover of project activities. Partnerships and capacity will be developed at both national and local levels to effect long-term changes to the perception, value, and sustainable management of wetlands in Nepal to ensure sustainability and replication of project initiated actions even after the cessation of the project.

Project will work in close contact with local user groups, NGOs and government line agencies in the field, emphasizing the social inclusion in the decision making processes.

Project Outcomes

The project outcomes are;
 

1. Strengthened national institutional, technical and economic capacity and awareness for wetland biodiversity conservation and sustainable use
2. Enhanced collaborative management of wetland resources for conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

Project is contributing towards the UNDP's Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) outputs, namely

4.1.5 Capacities at the national and local level enhanced for increased access to and sustainable use of wetlands resources.

Total project budget is 2.4 m USD, out of which Global Environmental Facility (GEF) contributes 1.96 m USD and UNDP 1.4 m USD and in kind contribution of 1.14m USD from the Government of Nepal.

Achievements

In 2008, CSUWN has established office with a full-fledged PMU team at the centre, and recruitment of field staff will be completed by end of December 2008. PMU team has conducted the inception workshop, revised the project log-frame, prepared the five year activity plan, annual plan for 2008 & 2009 on the basis of revised log frame, finalized the project implementation modality, and established the field offices. In 2009 CSUWN will focus its activities towards policy review, capacity building at central & local levels, and collaborative management at two demo sites. In future, approximately 70% project budget will be spent for field level activities.

CSUWN at a Glance
 

Contact