Abstract
Nepal has been relatively successful in conserving its wildlife by pioneering innovative approaches to conservation, such as benefit sharing in protected area buffer zones and landscape-level conservation approaches. However, compared to other areas of Nepal, the biodiversity of the southeast has received less attention, both in terms of research and conservation. The objective of this study was to use local knowledge as an indicator of wildlife presence and abundance across the forests of southeastern Nepal. Based on 114 focus group discussions with communities in eleven districts between March 2014 and January 2015, we identify potential wildlife hotspots, areas with more prey species to support tiger, areas of species loss, and areas with species of special interest (endangered and data deficient). Our results provide the contours for further study of the presence and distribution of wildlife across the eleven districts. For example, our results suggest that forests in the middle of the study area have higher levels of wildlife diversity, prey species for tiger, and species of interest, while the eastern side of the study area shows more species loss. We do not suggest that these results are an accurate or reliable representation of mammal diversity in southeastern Nepal. However, they can help to prioritize areas for conservation and for further research, as well as build a foundation for working with local communities to conserve wildlife of southeastern Nepal.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the community members, CFUG committee members, and forest guards who participated in this study and gave their time and expertise. We would like to thank Birendra Mahato and Shiva Mahato at Green Society Nepal for coordinating the survey and assisting with focus groups. We also thank Community Development & Advocacy Forum Nepal (CDAFN) for conducting the focus group discussions and collating the data. Thanks also to Shankar Luitel for assisting with focus groups on the eastern side of the study area and Baburam Mahato of the Nepal Tiger Trust for his help in the initial reconnaissance of the study area. We would like to acknowledge Dr. Rob Horwich, director and founder of Community Conservation, Inc., who had the vision for an eastern wildlife corridor and initiated and funded the survey but unfortunately passed away before the study’s completion.
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Communicated by David Hawksworth.
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Allendorf, T.D., Gurung, B., Poudel, S. et al. Using community knowledge to identify potential hotspots of mammal diversity in southeastern Nepal. Biodivers Conserv 29, 933–946 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01919-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01919-0
Keywords
- Local ecological knowledge
- Mammal conservation
- Wildlife management
- Nepal
- Terai
- Churia
- Landscape conservation