UK HELP FOR NEPALESE WILDLIFE

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CASH BOOST TO PROTECT ASIAN WILDLIFE HAVEN

 

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By Rosamond Hutt, Community Newswire

ENVIRONMENT Nepal Gloucestershire, 01 May 2006 - 08:40

 

A Gloucestershire-based conservation charity has today revealed it is to

lead an international effort to preserve one of Asia's most important

wildlife havens.

 

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), which has its headquarters in

Slimbridge, has received a £198,000 grant to finance a conservation drive in

the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in eastern Nepal.

 

Funding for the three-year project has come from the Government's UK Darwin

Initiative which helps developing countries meet their commitments under an

international conservation treaty called the Convention of Biological

Diversity.

 

It will be run by WWT Habitats and Ecosystems staff in partnership with

independent research organisation CABI Bioscience and the University of

Stirling's Institute of Aquaculture and five Nepalese groups.

 

The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve was declared a wetlands site of

international importance in 1987 and is home to many species of migrating

waterfowl, the last remaining wild Asiatic water buffalo in Nepal,

endangered gharial crocodiles and rare freshwater dolphins.

 

However around 80,000 people live in the " buffer zone " surrounding the

wetlands and depend on its natural resources to make a living.

 

Working with the Nepalese groups the WWT aims to help local communities

manage the wetlands to create sustainable livelihoods.

 

WWT's head project officer for Habitats and Ecosystems, Seb Buckton, said:

" This project is really about helping local communities to obtain a

sustainable livelihood without damaging their surrounding environment.

 

" We are thrilled that this grant from the UK Darwin Initiative will enable

us to achieve this. "

 

The WWT has nine centres around the UK offering visitors the opportunity to

learn about waterfowl including swans, geese, ducks and even pink flamingos.

 

The WWT undertakes a range of research, education and consultancy work into

wetland bird population monitoring, threatened species, land management and

wetland restoration.

 

The charity manages around 4,000 acres supporting over 150,000 water birds.

For more information visit www.wwt.org.uk or call 01453 891900.

 

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