Wildlife connectivity-conflict interfaces in the Himalaya: Designing a roadmap for coexistence

Organisers: ICIMOD, ATREE, NTNC, ITHCP

About the event

This workshop is part of a larger landscape initiative aimed at achieving human-wildlife coexistence in the Himalaya. The workshop will bring together stakeholders from diverse sectors whose actions impact wildlife habitat and connectivity, especially in transboundary corridor areas, with often dire consequences to both wildlife and human lives and assets. The outputs of this workshop will contribute to the design of a larger program to address these issues in the Himalaya, specifically within the Kangchenjunga Landscape (KL) in the Eastern Himalaya and High-Altitude Tiger (HAT) Landscape in the Western Himalaya. The Kangchenjunga Landscape, part of the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, covers an area of 25,080.8 sq. km. and includes parts of eastern Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal of India, and western and southwestern Bhutan. The HAT project focuses on high-altitude tiger habitats and corridors in Bhutan, India and Nepal, with the Western Himalaya Landscape focusing on Western Nepal and adjoining areas of the Indian Himalaya.

Objectives

• Share knowledge on status of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and wildlife habitat connectivity in the Kangchenjunga Landscape (Eastern Himalaya) and High-Altitude Tiger Landscape (Western Himalaya)
• Identify HWC hotspots and protected area linkages, including transboundary corridors, and recommend actions for coexistence
• Initiate process to design large-scale programmes in these two transboundary landscapes

Background

Changes in both natural and human-dominated ecosystems are resulting in increased encounters between humans and wildlife, many of which have negative consequences and termed as human-wildlife conflicts (HWC). Countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) have prioritized HWC and developed and implemented policy guidelines to address this issue. Moreover, addressing HWC is especially important towards achieving Target 4 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD, 2022), among other targets.

One of the causes of HWC is the disruption of wildlife habitat connectivity. Landscape connectivity is an important ecological function because it facilitates many processes including genetic exchange, nutrient flows, energy flows, pollination, and seed dispersal, among others. Connectivity can be achieved via corridors – both micro and macro using green and grey infrastructures such as forest connectivity, wildlife crossings, bridges/viaducts/overpasses, flight paths, and tunnels/culverts. Connectivity is especially critical for large mammals that range across long distances that often extend beyond national boundaries. Some such wildlife includes the Asian elephant and Bengal tiger in the lowlands, and snow leopard in the highlands.

Within the lowlands of the Eastern Himalaya, the Asian elephant is known to travel vast distances all the way from Assam, India, across Bangladesh and Bhutan and into eastern Nepal. This landscape is also one of the most human-dominated landscapes with extensive and rapid infrastructure and agriculture development. With elephant migratory pathways increasingly facing obstructions from human activities, there is also growing negative interactions between humans and elephants, most of which result in death or injury on both sides, and loss or damage of assets and infrastructure.

There are many wildlife species with north-south migratory pathways, but northward movements of the Bengal tiger are of particular concern for both wildlife managers and conservationists. While the Bengal tiger was recorded at high altitude. i.e. 4110 masl in the Eastern Himalaya (Bhutan) as far back as 2000, the highest recorded photographic evidence of a tiger in the Western Himalaya was from Askot Wildlife Sanctuary at 3274 masl in 2016. Tiger sightings at higher altitudes is not a new phenomenon, but the recent evidence suggests that there is good habitat connectivity enabling tigers to move northward even today.

Therefore, understanding the status of wildlife habitat connectivity in these two landscapes is crucial to addressing the connectivity-conflict interface. This workshop will bring together stakeholders related to wildlife habitat connectivity in the two landscapes – wildlife/forest managers, scientists – including citizen scientists, conservationists, infrastructure agencies, spatial planners, and relevant government agencies.

Organisers

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), based in Kathmandu, Nepal, is the leading institute for the study of the Hindu Kush Himalaya. An intergovernmental knowledge and development organization with a focus on climate and environmental risks, green economics, and sustainable collective action, ICIMOD has worked in eight regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan – since its foundation in 1982.

The National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization in Nepal focusing on nature and biodiversity conservation, clean energy, climate change, and cultural heritage protection. It has managed over 300 projects across various regions, working closely with local communities and the government to manage protected areas, including in the Himalaya and lowlands. NTNC addresses conservation through integrated approaches that consider local welfare.

The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), India, is a globally recognized non-profit focused on environmental conservation and sustainable development. It generates interdisciplinary knowledge for grassroots communities, policymakers, and the public, with an emphasis on capacity-building for future scholars. ATREE addresses biodiversity conservation, water security, sustainable livelihoods, and climate change. Over 25 years, it has become a leading institution in environmental research, recognized by the Indian government and ranked among the top 20 environmental think tanks globally.