Message from the Country Rep

NOVEMBER
Vol 6 | No. 1 | November 2011
2011
WWF Nepal newsletter
© WWF Nepal
2
Message from the Country Rep
4
First camera-trap image
of Nepal’s Snow Leopard
released
7
The Great Escape Crossing
the landslide in Langtang
Inside
Remembering our Conservation
Heroes
With each passing year WWF Nepal's commitment towards biodiversity
conservation is becoming more profound. The recent launch of the Hariyo Ban
Program heralds a new era of partnerships and synergies that complement our
overarching goal of creating a world in which humans live in harmony with
nature.
Community-led snow leopard monitoring in the Himalayas is being further
strengthened with our maiden project using camera traps in Kangchenjunga.
The fact that we could capture an image of a snow leopard on the first day of the
installation of the camera traps itself is a major landmark.
In this issue of ‘Inside the Himalayas’ these are two of the many stories I would
like to share with you; a fitting tribute to our Conservation Heroes whose
memories we celebrated during the 3rd National Conservation Day.
I take this opportunity to thank all our conservation partners, stakeholders
at the national and international levels and most importantly the local
communities working on the ground.
Happy reading!
Anil Manandhar
Country Representative
LEAD STORY
Remembering our
Conservation Heroes
© WWF
Nepal
© WWF Nepal
l
© WWF Nepa
© WWF Nepal
In memory of Nepal's Conservation Heroes, the
3rd National Conservation Day was celebrated in
Kathmandu under the leadership of the Government
of Nepal and the support of the Conservation
Consortium on 24th September 2011. To coincide
with the International Year of Forests 2011, the
theme for this year’s event was ‘Celebrating Forests
for People’ in recognition of the central role of
people in the sustainable management, conservation
and sustainable development of the world’s forests.
Vice President of Nepal, Rt. Honorable Parmanand
Jha was the Chief Guest of the event and Mr.
Mohhamad Wakil Musalman, Minister for Forests
and Soil Conservation, chaired the function.
On the occasion of National Conservation Day,
WWF-Nepal felicitates leading organizations
and individuals who have excelled in biodiversity
conservation in Nepal each year through the
Abraham Conservation Awards and Scholarship
programs.
This year, the Abraham Conservation Awards were
awarded to three individuals and two organizations
in recognition of their contribution to grassroots
level conservation. The award recipients were
Mr. Bed Bahadur Khadka, Mr. Rajendra Singh
Bhandari and Ms. Kalawati Chudhary in the
individual category, and Shiv Community Forest
and Alternatives Herbal Products Pvt. Ltd in the
organization category.
Mr.Raj Bahadur Air received the Matthew Preece
and Yeshi Lama Young Conservation Leader
Award awarded in honor of Matthew Preece and
Yeshi Lama for their life-long contribution to
conservation.
Similarly, WWF Media in Conservation Awards,
founded to recognize the transformational role of
media persons or organizations in highlighting
conservation issues in Nepal, were awarded to Ms.
2
November 2011
“For the sake of the lives we’ve lost…
but a legacy that lives on"
Pragati Shahi, reporter with The Kathmandu Post,
Mr. Pramod Kumar Tandan, reporter with Naya
Patrika Daily, and Hamro Sampada, a monthly
magazine.
The Nepal Memorial Scholarships were awarded
to John Lhomi Nuppa and Salina Rai while Bharat
Prasad Bhatta and Kabita Poudyal received the
Chandra Gurung Memorial Scholarships. Likewise,
the Jill Bowling Schlaepfer Memorial Scholarships
were awarded to Bal Kumar Nepali and Deepak
Tharu Dahit while the Jennifer Headley Memorial
Scholarships were awarded to Sabina Rijal and
Yashodhara Chaudhary.
Two video documentaries of WWF-Nepal
showcasing conservation impacts in the Sacred
Himalayan Landscape and Terai Arc Landscape and
five publications including a book on Late Dr. Tirtha
Man Maskey titled Tirtha Man Maskey: The Tiger
Warden of Chitwan were also formally launched at
the event.
Speaking at the event, Jha stressed on the
significance of biodiversity conservation which has
been rapidly degraded in recent times due to human
activities. He said human existence is directly linked
with environment and it is our duty to preserve it.
the day. The performance blended music, motion
and messaging to celebrate the importance of
forests for people, for wildlife, and for a living planet
The Government of Nepal declared Asoj 7 (23
September) as National Conservation Day in 2008
in memory of the Conservation Heroes who lost
their lives in the tragic helicopter accident on 23
September 2006 at Ghunsa, Kangchenjunga..
National Conservation Day is led by a Conservation
Consortium comprising WWF Nepal, Bird
Conservation Nepal, Environmental Camps for
Conservation Awareness, The International Centre
for Integrated Mountain Development, IUCN–
The World Conservation Union, Nepal Forum
of Environmental Journalists, National Trust
for Nature Conservation, Wildlife Conservation
Nepal, and The Mountain Institute and Wildlife
Watch Group under the leadership of the Ministry
of Forests and Soil Conservation, Government of
Nepal.
© WWF Ne
pal
Similarly, Rt. Honorable Minister for Forests and
Soil Conservation Mr. Mohhamad Wakil Musalman,
expressed sincere gratitude to the Government
of Nepal and consortium members for their
commitment towards biodiversity conservation.
Anil Manandhar, Country Representative, WWF
Nepal said that we have been able to follow the path
which were envisioned by our conservation heroes
and I believe all our conservation heroes looking at
us from above are proud of us.
The program concluded with a contemporary
performance 'The Tree of Life’ presented by EarthBeat Nepali Theatre, in keeping with the theme of
l
© WWF Nepa
© WWF Nepal
A Climate Witness from the Himalayas
Kathmandu, Nepal – I had never thought I would get an opportunity
like this to represent my country in such a big platform expressed Chungda
Sherpa, popularly known as Himali Chungda who recently returned to Nepal
after attending the Climate Witness Symposium organized by WWF-Japan in
Japan. Mr. Sherpa, hotelier and a farmer from a remote village, Ghunsa, in
Kanchenjunga, represented Nepal alongside Kenya and Mongolia in the Climate
Witness Symposium organized in two different cities of Japan, Tokyo and Osaka,
on 8th and 10th November respectively.
Sharing his excitement and experience with the WWF Nepal team Mr. Sherpa
says, "On the symposium I was able to portray how remote communities like
ours live with the impacts of climate change on a day-to-day basis and how we
need help to adapt. I am hopeful that the government of Japan would provide
us some financial assistance to initiate the adaptation work in Kanchenjunga"
Sherpa added.
Sujeet Shrestha, Project Manager-Kanchanjunga Conservation Area at WWF
Nepal, who accompanied Mr Sherpa at the symposium stated, “for native people
like Chungda, watching and studying the climate is a matter of survival as their
lives are strictly interwoven with the climate and the symposium was a platform
to bring about the core problems as the speakers were the real climate witness
themselves.
"It was highly significant for Japanese audience to have a testimony of climate
impacts direct from its witness like Mr Sherpa", said Mr Takamasa HIGUCHI,
Chief Executive Officer, WWF Japan. I believe his urging message would also
contribute to building up momentum toward more support from Japan to
developing countries like Nepal for their adaptation to the climate change"
Mr. HIGUCHI added.
© WWF Nepal
Chitwan, Nepal – The first complete chain of criminals involved in poaching
and trading of the one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal has been detained by
Chitwan National Park (CNP) authority.
Organizing a press meet at the Parks’ headquarter in Kasara on 25 October 2011,
the CNP authority made public the 17 people held on the charge of poaching the
endangered species and smuggling their derivatives. Rs. 900,000 ($11,465) was
also confiscated from some members of this group.
The success of this operation, which lasted for ten days, is attributed to the
close coordination among the authorities of Chitwan National Park, Criminal
Investigation Bureau, Nepal Army and the local administration. WWF Nepal
also played a vital role to achieve this success.
This arrest is being seen as a significant achievement since it has led to the
complete breakdown of a network of poachers and smugglers right from the
grassroots to the international level. A more interesting facet brought out by this
operation was that one of those arrested, TanjingNima Lama, who runs an illegal
trade network was legally declared dead in 2003; his family had submitted a
false death certificate to the government then. Lama’s arrest is expected to lead
the CNP authorities towards valuable information on the gamut of the poaching
and illegal trade network in Nepal.
The CNP authorities are now carrying out a series of interrogations with the
arrested criminals so as to acquire new and critical information on the network’s
links both within the country and outside which could lead to fresh arrests in the
future. The smuggling ring is believed to be part of a larger network involving
Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Kathmandu in Nepal.
Eastern Himalayan nations reach base
camp on regional climate deal
Thimphu, Bhutan – The nations of Bhutan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh
have signed a regional climate change adaptation declaration that will see wideranging collaboration on energy, water, food and biodiversity issues, a deal that
could lead the way to similar climate adaptation plans being implemented to
cover other threatened ecosystems.
“The success of our initiative will not only have direct and immediate benefits for
our own people, but we could be setting a worthy precedent for other countries
that share similar conditions,” said Bhutan’s Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi
Y. Thinley.
The declaration was signed at the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas –
Bhutan 2011, a two-day summit that brought high-level government officials,
NGOs, leaders of civil society, and youth ambassadors from the four Eastern
Himalayan nations to Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu to work out a deal on energy
security, natural freshwater systems, food security, and biodiversity across the
region.
November 2011
3
In the News
Network of wildlife criminals arrested
in Chitwan for poaching and smuggling
Rhino horns
SPECIAL FEATURE
Climate-Vulnerable Nepal to Benefit from Ambitious New Initiative
Kathmandu, Nepal – Hariyo Ban, a five-year program to
reduce the adverse impacts of climate change and threats to
biodiversity in Nepal, was officially launched at a ceremony in
the capital on November 8, 2011.
The Hariyo Ban program is a new investment in biodiversity
conservation and climate change in Nepal, funded by the U. S.
Agency for International Development (USAID). The program
will be implemented by a consortium comprised of four leading
conservation organizations in Nepal –WWF, the Cooperative
for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), the Federation
of Community Forestry Users in Nepal (FECOFUN) and the
National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) – with WWF
serving as the managing partner.
Climate change is emerging as a major threat to people and
biodiversity of Nepal. More than 1.9 million people are highly
climate vulnerable and 10 million are increasingly at risk.
Biodiversity has also been affected by increased intensity
and frequency of forest fires, floods and landslides. Glacier
retreat in the Himalayas has increased the risk of glacier lake
outburst floods, which could have devastating consequences for
downstream communities, infrastructure, property and wild
species.
© WWF Nepal
“Nepal, being a Himalayan country, is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world and the Government of Nepal welcomes the efforts being made
by Hariyo Ban,” said chief guest Mr. Deependra Bahadur Kshetry, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission. “The year 2011 is being celebrated as the
International Year of Forests and the theme ‘Forests for People’ also complements the goals of Hariyo Ban, which is expected to bring positive results to the people
and environment of Nepal.”
Meaning “green forests” in Nepali, this program will help to build resilience to climate change in communities and ecosystems by restoring and conserving Nepal’s
forests. It will also improve the livelihoods of some Nepal’s most impoverished communities.
Hariyo Ban will build on the successes of past conservation initiatives like the Terai Arc Landscape in southern Nepal, which is the biggest and most ambitious
landscape level conservation site in Nepal, and the new Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape, which links the high Himalayas to the Terai.
“Recognizing the inseparable link between climate change and development, USAID is proud to lead President Obama’s vision for global development that includes
the Global Climate Change Initiative,” said Ms. Patricia Mahoney, Chargé d’affaires, U.S. Embassy. “This initiative promotes strategic efforts to build lasting
resilience against climate impacts, reduce deforestation and land degradation, foster low-carbon growth, and promote sustainable societies, thus, meeting the
adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries like Nepal.”
“This ambitious project recognizes that forests are the true wealth of Nepal as forests not only support the livelihoods of millions of people and provide a safe haven
for endangered species but also are vital to combat the impacts of climate change,” said Judy Oglethorpe, Chief of Party, Hariyo Ban. “For WWF, this project also
marks a return to the world famous Annapurna Conservation Area, which was created through the pioneering efforts of the late Mingma Sherpa and Dr. Chandra
Gurung, both of WWF.”
Hariyo Ban program aims to reduce emissions/sequester over 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in the target landscapes. It also aims to provide
direct capacity building and livelihoods support to 180,000 people; bring 50,000 hectares of forest areas under improved management; and generate vital revenue
from successful payments for environment services systems.
© WWF Nepal
First camera-trap image of Nepal’s Snow
Leopard released
Kathmandu, Nepal – WWF Nepal released the first picture of a snow leopard taken by a
camera trap on 24 October 2011 in Khambachen valley of Kangchenjungaon 23 November 2011.
Ten camera traps (Moultrie D- 40) were installed in various parts of Kangchenjunga
Conservation Area in October 2011 under a pioneering initiative to monitor snow leopards in
Nepal’s Himalayas. The monitoring is being led by local communities through the Kangchenjunga
Conservation Area Management Council and the Snow Leopard Conservation CommitteeGhunsa. It is expected that the camera traps will guide the estimation of snow leopard
populations in the future.
“The camera traps are a means to empower local communities to lead conservation efforts of
snow leopards,” stated Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF-Nepal. “With
habitat loss, poaching and retaliatory killing by herders posing as major threats to snow leopards,
community stewardship in conservation is key to the protection of snow leopards,” he added.
The camera traps were installed with the support of WWF-Nepal and Department of National
Parks and Wildlife Conservation through financial assistance received from WWF.
4
November 2011
© WWF Nepal
Development of Demonstration
Plot at Pankhu Catchment
Gone are the days when vegetable farming was a luxury for the locals of Panku
Catchment. Until few years back, the inhabitants had to rely solely on the
nearby market for vegetables for their daily consumption. The situation has
however changed now. The locals’ dependence on the market products has
significantly reduced as most of them have started cultivating seasonal and
off-seasonal vegetable in their own farms. Their produce has not only catered to
their daily needs but has also allowed them to earn additional income by selling
the surplus vegetables in the local market.
Farming of seasonal and off-seasonal vegetables has become a new trend
at Pankhu catchment in Okhaldhunga thanks to the support provided by
Dudhkoshi Sub-Basin Project (DKSBP). DKSBP has helped in improving the
lifestyle of local communities by implementing activities related to conservation
and management of water resources and its proper use.
As a first step in the implementation of the Green Economic Corridor program to
showcase the world's first Himalayan Conservation and economic development
zone, around 1500 saplings of broom grass, Salix species, Bakaino and Lapsi
species have been planted in Syaphrubeshi.
24 water promotion groups or “water smart communities” have been formed
in this area for the sustenance of the vegetable farming. The communities have
been supported through cost effective technologies such as conservation ponds
and micro irrigation facilities like sprinklers and drip irrigation system for
multiple uses of water (household use, irrigation and water for livestock). The
conservation ponds help store water during dry periods and provide irrigation
facilities to approximately 21 hectares of rainfed farmland, benefiting 926 local
people from 202 households. Pankhukhola Integrated Resource Management
Committee (IRMC) is playing a leading role in promoting and mobilizing the
water smart communities.
© WWF Nepal
The plantation which was carried out under the leadership of the Ministry of
Forest and Soil Conservation saw the active representation from park office,
armed force, Janapad, youths, mother group members, Suryakunda Community
Forest users group and project staffs . WWF provided technical and financial
support to the government and partners in the implementation process.
"Along with maintaining the greenery and stabilizing the soil in the bordering
area, the friendship plantation is a symbol of having a long lasting friendship
between countries", opinedMr. Kamal Kanta Regmi, the Chief District Officer of
Rasuwa district.
The friendship plantation is one of the key factors instrengthening
thetransboundary cooperation on sustainable forest management and
biodiversity conservation. The Suryakunda Community Forest User Group has
been given the responsibility of managing the plantation.
The Syabrubensi-Rasuwagadhi Road runs along the Bhote koshi River
originating from the Tibetan Autonomous Region. SinceChina is heralding
the new avenue to boost economic activities, it is estimated that more than
50 settlements of approximately 50,000 populations residing within Rasuwa
district willbenefit from the new opportunity.
© WWF Nepal
Besides this, DKSBP has continued empowering the IRMC, enabling them
to formulate and implement natural resource management plans with the
coordination of district government line agencies such as District Agricultural
Development Office (DADO) for the conservation and management of existing
water resources. In this regard, DADO, Okhaldhunga leveraged a total amount
of NRs 199,000 for Pankhu IRMC for the promotion of four water smart
communities in Pankhu catchment. 45 households are benefitting from this
support. Other local users are also benefitting from the regular technical
facilities provided by the DADO. DADO, Okhaldhunga has formally recognized
Pankhu Catchment as a ‘’Demonstration Plot’’ in managing and wisely using
existing water resources for agricultural development. According to IRMC
from Pankhu catchment, both DADO and IRMC are actively engaged in
formulating strategies and action plans to build the basic infrastructure for the
development of the demonstration plot at Pankhu catchment. DKSBP has, in
effect, strengthened the IRMC to ensure greater participation from different
sectors and stakeholders in formulating and implementing programs/activities
of DKSBP in line with Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and
Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) initiative of Koshi River Basin
Management. Moreover, Pankhu IRMC and water smart communities are
continuing their efforts to streamline and strengthen their institutional set-up
at the grassroots level so as to build linkages with government line agencies for
implementing IWRM/IRBM activities in the project areas in a more coordinated
manner. This is also expected to ensure the long-term programmatic and
financial sustainability of the IRMC in Pankhu catchment.
November 2011
5
SPECIAL FEATURE
Friendship plantation at Green
Economic Corridor
HR 3rd quarter 2011
WWF growing
Prajana Waiba Pradhan
BIGGER
Human Resources Officer
The award of the Hariyo Ban program brought with it a lot of excitement for
who made sure that the event was well organized and that everyone went off for
WWF-Nepal. For the Operations unit, especially HR, it also meant a lot of
the holidays with a happy heart!
work. This quarter was the busiest for the HR unit in the history of WWF Nepal
probably, be it in organizing the annual Dashain party or the mammoth task
of recruiting new staff for the Hariyo Ban program. This quarter was indeed a
major rush coupled with excitement and anxiety.
As with every year, a Dashain party was organized at WWF-Nepal office on 30
September. The festival of Dashain encapsulates cultural as well as social aspects
of Nepal. Understanding and keeping this in view, WWF celebrated the onset of
the festival by inviting staff’s family members and making sure that there was
something for everyone to take part in and enjoy – game stalls, balloons and face
painting, bingo and a lucky draw. Children and parents alike were seen to be
having a great time. The success of the Dashain celebrations goes to our interns
6
November 2011
Together with the excitement of Dashain, there was the more serious and
enormous responsibility of recruiting 16 positions, that too within a month.
With so much to do in so little time, we landed a record of completing the
recruitment process on time and with a good mix of skills, gender and ethnicity
in the new recruitments.
The growth of WWF-Nepal from a staff-strength of 54 to that of 76 in a span of
2 months has been phenomenal. And our interest is beyond the numbers and
rather on the bigger milestones that we can achieve with a larger WWF-Nepal
family.
prajana.pradhan@wwfnepal.org
Field Diary
© WWF
Nepal
© WWF
Nepal
© Simon de TREY-WHITE / WWF-UK
The Great Escape...
Crossing the landslide
in Langtang
Roshan Sherchan
Program Manager, Sacred Himalayan Landscape
Looking back, I can’t remember when I had a more frightful experience. Born
in the mid-mountains of Nepal and having worked in rural areas for almost a
decade, I was always confident that I could survive any challenging terrain, but
this incident in Langtang was a quite an eye-opener. It feels like yesterday that
the grounds beneath shook and my survival was about to be ambiguous.
Langtang is WWF Nepal’s pilot climate adaptation site and, more importantly
an example to the outside world of how mountain communities can devise their
own ways of facing the climate complexities. I was in Langtang in July 2011 to
attend stakeholders’ meetings on climate change adaptation initiative along with
my colleague, Moon, WWF’s Senior Climate Adaptation Officer. We were headed
to Dhunche, the district headquarter of Rasuwa district.
After driving for a few hours through the crowded little towns, with the beautiful
mountain landscape before us and the raging Trishuli River below, we stopped
at our usual halt for lunch in a small shanty town of Kalikasthan situated on the
south-facing hill slope en-route to Dhunche. During lunch, we chanced upon a
conversation of the local people there regarding the monsoon landslides that
had worsened since the last few days. We felt quite nervous listening to it since
our journey would in fact be taking us through the landslide area. We were
advised by the locals to exercise caution while driving through that area since it
was really risky. Somehow, it never crossed our minds that the landslide could
actually be life-threatening; for us it was just one of those many hurdles that
conservationists faced in their daily work.
Soon we were on the road again. We had to make it to Dhuncheon time for the
stakeholders’ meeting as our field manager, Ashok, had already informed the
relevant stakeholders about the venue, time and agenda of the meeting. After
an hour’s drive from Kalikasthan, we reached Mulkharka, the landslide-hit area
that the locals all over had been chatting about. To our sheer disappointment,
a section of the road ahead had been swept away by landslide and we our only
choice was to cross the landslide area on foot and catch another vehicle on the
other side to complete our journey to Dhunche. A number of eager village youth
offered to carry our bags across for a small sum of money. “Where some saw
misery, others of the entrepreneurial bent saw opportunity,” I thought to myself.
As we were approaching the landslide zone, all of a sudden, we were enveloped
in a thick blanket of mist. The mist also brought with it as light drizzle. The
visibility soon plunged and we couldn’t even see what lay a few meters ahead of
us. Suddenly the landscape around us took on a very eerie look as if filled with
a sense of foreboding. I was completely frightened though I tried not to show it
to Moon who was, in the meantime, trying to figure whether it would be a good
idea to wait or to continue walking. But we knew that the people were waiting for
us in Dhunche and that we had to get there fast.
Soon we came across some local people, including porters, who were hurrying
across the landslides from the opposite side while at the same time warning us of
falling rocks. The porters bluntly told us that if we were lucky, we would live to
see another day. This added all the more to our misery. Now and then we heard
rocks rolling down the hill in the dark, which only heightened our fear. We stood
transfixed in silence, not knowing what to do next. We didn’t mind waiting if
only we knew for how long, but there was absolutely no way of finding out. After
waiting for almost 15-20 minutes and with the mist absolutely refusing to clear
our, I asked Moon what our best alternative would be. To my surprise, Moon
had made up her mind. She had decided to cross the landslide no matter what
the consequence. I tied my shoe laces and prepared myself for a run. I suggested
to Moon to do the same while keeping an eye and ear out for falling rocks. We
then ran like crazy.
It took only five to seven minutes to cross the critical part of the landslideaffected zone. I heard more sounds of falling rocks as Moon and I safely made it
to the other side.
But while we took a moment’s sigh of relief, we also knew that we would have
to cross the landslide one more time on our way back. . We kept hoping and
praying for the weather to clear out but it just got worse. The night before our
return, it rained the whole night further aggravating the situation. When we got
to the landslide area, we found that it had gotten even worse. But both Moon and
I were mentally prepared for the worst and we took some relief in the fact that at
least the visibility that day was better.
We left our hired vehicle and started to walk. After two hours of walk, we
reached the landslide area. We saw bulldozers there to clear the path. The soil
was sliding slowing due to heavy rain. At certain intervals, rocks were also
falling. The locals waited for the rocks to fall and once it stopped, they ran to the
other side. We could see everyone saying their prayers and we decided it was
the only thing that would give us courage to run to the other side. As we began
our descent to the muddy ground, we realized it was not an easy escape as it
looked. The ground below was very muddy and our feet got stuck with every step
we took. As we crossed the half way, a roaring sound caught us completely off
guard…we stood there frozen. “This was it,” I thought when suddenly it dawned
on me that it was actually the sound of the bulldozer’s ignition from the other
side. I could not help laughing!
As the land slide slowly under us, and we were helplessly trying to find our way, I
suddenly saw the trail under Moon’s feet had given away. I immediately grabbed
her wrist while the local villager next to her held her arm instinctively. It was a
horrifying feeling to see Moon completely hanging on to our support; the section
she was walking on a second ago did not exist anymore. Nervous as we were,
Moon stayed completely frozen. The question that haunts me till this day is what
if we had missed her by a second?
Slowly and cautiously, we made it to the other side finally. Once on safer ground,
all we could do was breathe in relief and thank our lucky stars and guardian
angels for looking after us. We knew it was a risk we should perhaps have not
taken, but I guess that’s what conservationists are made for. We believe in taking
risk to fulfill the mission of conservation we believe in. For us the blanket of mist
was just among many hurdles we cross each day to materialize our work for the
benefit of the grassroots communities, for the sake of a living planet!
roshan.sherchan@wwfnepal.org
November 2011
7
ress
he P
Hot off t
Hariyo Ban
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Species and Climate Change
Snow Leopard Conservation
Staff Announcements
In the past months we welcomed new
staff...
 Judy Oglethorpe (WWF US)
Chief of Party, Hariyo Ban
 Dr. Shant Raj Jnawali
Coordinator - Biodiversity
Conservation , Hariyo Ban
 Keshav Prasad Khanal
Coordinator - Sustainable
Livelihoods, Hariyo Ban
 Pallavi Dhakal
 Manoj Kumar Chaudhary
 ChaturmanMahato
Communications Officer, Hariyo Ban
M&E Assistant, ChAL, Hariyo Ban
 RajeshreeBista
 Ram Bahadur Praja
F&A Officer, ChAL, Hariyo Ban
 Raju Kumar Khadka
Office Messenger, ChAL, Hariyo Ban
 Muna Thapa
 Luna Devi Ghimire
 SobhanaBista
 Prabita Shrestha
Grants & Compliance Officer, Hariyo
Ban
 Anil Kumar Rai
 Sanju Gurung
M&E Assistant, Hariyo Ban
 Ang Phuri Sherpa
M&E Assistant, TAL, Hariyo Ban
Front Office Assistant
Tsum Valley
Editor:
Marasini
Program Administrator, Hariyo Ban
Editorial Team:
 Salina Shrestha Pradhan
Administrative Assistant, Hariyo Ban
and we bid farewell to...
Akash Shrestha
Eliza Sthapit
Prajana Waiba Pradhan
On the Cover:
 Ajay Jha
F&A Officer TAL
Program Development Specialist –
For Living Himalayas
Simrika Sharma
 Jayendra Raj Koirala
Program Associate – Lumbini Project
Accounts Officer
 Purna Bahadur Kunwar
Coordinator, ChAL, Hariyo Ban
Project Co - Manager, TAL PABZ
 Yashaswi Shrestha
New positions in Hariyo Ban with existing staff:
Communications and Marketing
 Abdul Sahim Ansari
F&A Assistant
 Rajendra Lamichhane
M&E Specialist, Hariyo Ban
Associate
Driver, Hariyo Ban
 SangitaRamjali
Driver, ChAL, Hariyo Ban
 Mreedu Gyawali
Office Messenger, Hariyo Ban
 Haisuba Gurung
F&A Officer, TAL PABZ
Lhonak-Snow leopard
habitat, Kanchenjunga
Conservation Area.
Vol 6 | No. 1 | November 2011
WWF Nepal newsletter
WWF’s work in Nepal is part of WWF’s
Living Himalayas Initiative which aims
to bring the three governments of Nepal,
Bhutan and India together to effectively
manage and conserve the Eastern
Himalayan region for the sake of their
exceptional wildlife, breathtaking
environment and unique people.
WWF, the Global
Conservation Organization
Nepal Programme
Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: +977 1 4434820
info@wwfnepal.org
www.wwfnepal.org
Why we are here
To stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and
to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.