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

by King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation

What's at Stake?

Chitwan is in danger of being loved (and used) to death. Although Royal Chitwan National Park is one of Nepal's major tourist destinations, the increasing demands on the park by tourists, as well those who live on the edge of the park, jeopardize the park's environmental integrity.

A large part of the problem is that in the past, communities living in the park's buffer zone did not directly benefit from the park. In fact they felt they suffered because of it. The park's valuable resources are out of bounds, sometimes the park wildlife eat or trample their crops, few locals find employment in the park and the surrounding communities receive none of the tourism revenues.

King Mahendra Trust for Nature (KMTNC) with BCN support, led an effort to draft and pass legislation to share 30 to 50% of revenues earned on tourism taxes with local communities. Village user groups will decide how the money can be used to the communities' greatest benefits. In addition, the project involves the creation of woodlots in the park's buffer zone to reduce wood collection within the park and to provide more habitat for fauna including rhinos.

By benefiting from the park revenues, and having their needs for fuelwood met, hopefully local communities will realize the advantages of conserving the park's diverse biological resources and will participate in conservation.

	1997 Update
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

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