ABSTRACT
The biodiversity of Nepal encompasses 118 ecosystems harbouring 3.2 per cent of the world’s flora and 1.1 per cent of its fauna (GoN/MoFSC, 2014). Nepal hosts 125 caste and ethnic groups, 123 languages and ten religions (GoN/CBS, 2012: p. 4). The diversity and role of cultural practices, spiritual values and belief systems inside and outside official protected areas have been well documented (e.g. Jana and Paudel, 2010; Rai, 2012a; 2012b; Stevens, 2013). A trans-boundary conservation strategy deployed by the government such as the Sacred Himalayan Landscape, 70 per cent of which falls within Nepal’s borders, highlights the significance of traditional resource management practices sustained by spiritual beliefs and cultural practices of mountain people today (GoN/MoFSC, 2006). These cultural practices and beliefs demonstrate that conservation in Nepal predates the creation of modern protected areas that started in the early 1970s.
