Nepal:

Nepal is a land of extreme contrasts in climate and geography. It has a unique topography ranging from lowlands with sub-tropical jungles to arctic conditions in the Himalayan highlands. The monsoon rainfall along the south facing slopes has resulted in diverse climatic zones found on planet Earth. As a result, Nepal has been endowed with a great diversity of life-zones providing a habitat for a large variety of flora and fauna.

Nepal is incredibly diverse. It has the greatest range of altitudes of any nation on earth, ranging from the earth's highest mountains to subtropical river plains. And as the trading ground and meeting place among several cultures, dozens of different languages are spoken by even more ethnic groups. In general, Nepali parks are not "untouched" environments, but have a long history of use by humans. Many national parks incorporate grazing, farming, wood gathering, survival hunting, and human habitation into their boundaries, as well as tourism and trekking. These uses are not without their tensions and environmental stresses. But there's also something wonderful about this close association of humans and the natural environment a trip to a Nepali national park always involves interacting with other cultures as well as with the raw stuff of nature.

Protected areas of Nepal

Protected areas are widely held to be among the most effective means of conserving biological diversity in situ. The Convention on Biological Diversity defines protected areas as "a geographically defined area which is designated or regulated and managed to achieve specific conservation objectives."  IUCN the world conservation union defines protected areas as "an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity and of natural and associated cultural resources, managed through legal or other effective means". IUCN has categorised the protected areas into six categories, however Nepal has categorised biological protected areas into five main categories. The establishment of the protected areas in Nepal is guided by the national conservation spectrum of Nepal.

Protected area management in Nepal received a real thrust in the 1970s. Not only protected areas came to be added, but also action on both their protection and conservation was intensified. The first organized approach to managing protected areas in Nepal dates back to the year 1973 by establishing Chitwan National Park. Now, the protected areas in Nepal include 10 national parks, 3 wildlife reserves, 1 hunting reserve, 6 conservation areas and 12 buffer zones covering an area of 34,185.62 sq. km that is 23.23% of the total area of the country.

National Parks

Wildlife Reserve

Hunting Reserve

Conservation Area

Buffer Zones Areas