Nepal

IUCN has been working to raise awareness regarding the values of wetland ecosystems, the threats to wetlands, wetland dependent peoples and species, and to build capacity for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands in Nepal. This report is the result of a significant project development effort undertaken by IUCN Nepal over the last two years, which was to design a national project for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands in the country.

The National Register of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (NRMAP) was put together in the year 2000 to assist His Majesty’s Government of Nepal in building up a national register of biological diversity. It provided a format to integrate taxonomic information with details of medicinal properties and uses documented in Nepal’s Ayurvedic texts and ethnobotanical literature.

Deteriorating air quality is a growing concern in most countries, including Nepal. Many factors are responsible for changing air quality and this varies from one location to another. This monograph has attempted to undertake review of the experiences with different policies related with influencing air quality changes in Nepal and also to identify potential policy instruments for further improving air quality.

IUCN's 5th World Parks Congress (2003) concluded that parks should not exist as unique islands, but need to be planned and managed as an integral part of the broader landscape. Ecological networks provide an operational model for conserving biodiversity that is based on ecological principles and allow a degree of human use of the landscape.

This book draws on the papers presented and discussions held at two workshops of biodiversity planners from 15 Asian countries. It is, in essence, a snapshot of the NBSAP process in Asia, and although many practitioners may have moved on since this book was compiled, it serves as an important instrument to share experiences. As every NBSAP process is in a different stage of development, it is important to map the journey so that others may follow.

The Himal region - the Hindukush-Karakorum-Himlayas (HKH)- is the world's largest mountain region extending 3,500km from Myanmar in the east to Afghanistan in the west, from the Tibetan plateau in the north to the Indo-Ganges basin in the south. To develop an IUCN Bangladesh mountain programme for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in this region, a two-day workshop was organized.