Environmental status of naturally blessed country: Nepalby | 03-07-2014 02:16 |
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Nepal is one of the world most naturally blessed country with vast variation in climatic parameter and ecosystem. Nepal consist even some spectacular natural areas and biodiversity in the world. The country's of Himalayas , Nepal, have 10 tallest peaks in the world which are Asia's water tower and feed 1.3 billion people of South Asia. . Asia's water tower Nepal's Himalayas. Source:Google. Similarly, Nepal has the largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar region, with 3808 glaciers and 1466 glacial lakes. This variability in environment possesses a vast diversity in flora and fauna at genetic, species and ecosystem level. These nature gifted sources have been the source of living for more than 80% of the Nepalese people. The Government of Nepal (GON) has demonstrated a strong commitment to sound environmental management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change negotiations by signing several international environmental conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Copenhagen Accord. In order to conserve diverse species and ecosystems, the GON has established 20 national parks and conservation areas that cover 23 percent of the country?s landmass. Protected areas of Nepal. Source:Google. Additionally, the GON has demonstrated a successful model of decentralized governance of forest resources by devolving over 1.7 million hectares of forest area to 18,000 community forest user groups (CFUG) representing 35 percent of the Nepali population. These CFUGs are responsible for sustainable management and productive use of their forests. Despite these positive trends, Nepal faces serious environmental threats to its biological resources. The main problems include ecosystem and species loss, environmental degradation due to over-exploitation, and a high dependency of poor and vulnerable people on forest resources such as timber, firewood and other non-timber forest products. These problems are further compounded by poor governance, political instability, social exclusion, poverty, illiteracy, and high demand for forested land to feed Nepal?s growing population. Forest fire. Source: Google. Climate change is a risk multiplier – drastically increasing the threats to biodiversity and people, particularly the most vulnerable. So ,there is a urgency of actions to be implemented from local, regional and national level for biodiversity preservation, mitigation of green house gas emission, adaption to scary consequences of climate change and ultimately for the sustainable management of natural resources. Some of the steps that can be followed for natural resources conservation includes:
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