Ecotourism in the Forests/Grasslands of Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

by King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation

Project Overview

Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) is one of Nepal's major international tourist destinations. Each year thousands of trekkers and tourists visit the park to observe, often on elephant-back, endangered rhinoceros, tigers, deer, and monkeys. Unfortunately, this increase in the number of tourists and lodges in and around the park has been so rapid that tourism itself now represents a threat to the park's environmental integrity. In addition, communities living in the park's buffer zone, have not benefited directly from the tourism revenues.

To address these problems, KMTNC, with BCN support, lead an effort to draft and pass national legislation establishing a mechanism by which 30 to 50 percent of revenue earned on tourism taxes will be shared with local communities. Village-based user groups will decide how the money earned from these taxes can be used to the communities' greatest benefit. KMTNC expects that the tourism revenue will serve as an incentive for local community members to reduce the external threats on the park and conserve its diverse biological resources.

In addition, KMTNC and its partners are using BCN funds to create woodlots in the parks' bufferzone. These woodlots will reduce long-term pressure to harvest fuelwood from the park and at the same time, extend the park's habitat, providing more territory for fauna including especially rhinos. Establishment and care of these woodlots is the responsibility of local village user groups, who will eventually derive the greatest benefit from them.

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