Introduction

Recognizing Nepal's susceptibility to ecological risks as early as the 1960s, by mid 1970s, His Majesty's Government took the first initiative to establish national parks and reserves in areas of biological and natural significance. Within two decades, Nepal had set aside nearly 15% of the total land area as protected areas under various categories. However, the earlier efforts in conservation were identical to the western system where protected areas or national parks and reserves were considered as islands of wilderness amidst the sea of people. Once demarcated, the people were forfeited from their traditional rights to use the resources, which they had been doing for generations, inside parks and reserves. In other words, the concerns of people living in the park periphery were completely ignored. This raised intense park-people conflicts negating the achievements made in terms of conservation.

 These realities pointed to the need for Nepal to come up with alternative approaches to address the needs of the local people. The underlying objectives were to fulfill the basic requirements of the local people while maintaining a balance between nature conservation and sustainable development. This also called for the involvement of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) such as the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) to supplement and complement the Government's efforts in nature conservation and sustainable development.

The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) was established in 1982 by a Legislative Act, mandated as an autonomous, non-profit and non-governmental organization, to work in the field of nature conservation. It is honored to receive the august patronage of His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, and is privileged to have His Royal Highness Prince Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah as the Chairman since its inception. The Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees comprising of prominent national and international personalities in nature conservation and sustainable development. KMTNC is supported by a network of international chapters in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Japan.

For the past one and a half decade, KMTNC has successfully undertaken over 80 small and large projects on nature conservation, bio-diversity protection, natural resource management and sustainable rural development. Currently, the projects of the Trust are located in three geographical areas - the Terai Environment Program focusing on the lowland, the Mountain Environment Program focusing on the mid-hills and high mountains and the Kathmandu Valley. The Trust's activities in the lowland are based in and around the Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) and the Royal Bardia National Park (RBNP) located in the central and western regions of Nepal, respectively. Similarly, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and the Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP) are two major projects in the mountain environment. The management of the Central Zoo is the only project of the Trust in the Kathmandu Valley.

[Introduction] [Mission and Guiding Principles] [Governing board]
[Ongoing projects] [Project Update] [Newsline] [Focus] [Green Watch] 

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