Eastern Himalayas

Reconnecting shared landscapes is crucial for wildlife and people to thrive.

Communities lead new effort to protect snow leopards in Nepal.

WWF’s Sabita Malla shares inspiring moments from the field.

Camera traps reveal a robust refuge for Himalayan wildlife.

WWF works to fight back against glacial lakes that threaten to wash away livestock and crush bridges and houses. Read more

WWF empowers communities in Nepal to adapt to climate change impacts, such as water shortages. Read more

Volunteers planted trees in Lumbini, Nepal, on September 11, 2011

A time to celebrate conservation successes and raise awareness about the many threats tigers still face.

In honor of Earth Day 2011, a team of 20 trekkers participated in the Green Hiker-Green Planet trek through the Langtang area in Nepal’s Sacred Himalayan Landscape.

Nepal began a national census to determine the status and distribution of the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

A new chapter in South Asian regional cooperation for strengthening wildlife law enforcement began with the formal launch of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, which was announced at an inter-governmental meeting in Bhutan in January 2011.

Namobuddha became Nepal’s first wild tiger to be fitted with a GPS-enabled satellite collar and translocated from Chitwan National Park to Bardia National Park in Nepal on January 22. WWF supported the translocation with technical expertise and financial aid, working closely with the Government of Nepal and the National Trust for Nature Conservation. The satellite collar will help scientists gain a better understanding of tiger ecology and improve conservation efforts like anti-poaching operations.

The female rhino and her calf were greeted with cheers and applause from the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) team of conservationists, local representatives, veterinarians and forest department officials as the two made an impatient entry into their new home at Manas National Park in India’s northeastern state of Assam on December 29.

Stamps emblazoned with tiger images and “Save the Tiger” messages are used in the Eastern Himalayas to help raise awareness about the need to double tiger numbers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger. The stamps, created under the leadership of WWF and other entities, also help show the commitment of Nepal, Bhutan and India to protecting wild tigers.

WWF welcomes the historic pledge by China and Nepal to work together to better protect nature in their countries.

What does WWF wildlife biologist Christy Williams do when he’s not monitoring wildlife or leading WWF’s Asian Rhino and Elephant conservation program? He watches wildlife of course, and, fortunately for the rest of us, he also photographs what he sees.

This combination of passion and profession recently produced a series of stunning photographs which resulted in Christy being named Sanctuary magazine’s RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) 2009 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. 

A first-time workshop in Bhutan today is bringing together religious leaders, government officials and conservationists to discuss how to better protect sacred natural sites in the region.

A WWF sponsored documentary film titled “The Cost of Climate Change” won the best award in the environment category during the country’s 2nd National Annual Journalism Award. Six print and four broadcast journalists were awarded cash prizes and certificates at the award ceremony. The award ceremony was organised to coincide with world press freedom day on May 3.

Recently WWF and partners undertook a risky operation to drain Thorthormi Glacial Lake in Bhutan. Thorthormi lake is perched at 14,527 feet above sea level in the remote Lunana area of northern Bhutan. Because of climate change, melt water has swollen this glacial lake. Rated as one of Bhutan’s likeliest future catastrophes, an outburst flood through Thorthormi’s unstable walls would release up to 14 million gallons of water and debris into the upper catchment of the Po Chu river and surrounding communities.

Kathmandu, Nepal- The Government of Nepal announced today an expansion of Bardia National Park in the Terai Arc Landscape by 900 sq km, which will increase critical habitat for tigers.

China received praise here today from the International Tiger Coalition (ITC) for promising to work with its neighbors to end tiger trade and bring back wild tigers.

Tiger experts, government officials, scientists and conservationists are gathering in Kathmandu, Nepal this week to start a new global dialogue on how to save wild tigers as the world prepares to celebrate the Year of the Tiger in 2010. The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop is the first in a series of high profile political negotiations culminating in a Tiger Summit in 2010.

WWF has enjoyed many significant conservation achievements across the past year. Below are a few success stories highlighting exciting results, but also emphasizing our continuous commitment to confront the ongoing challenges faced by our planet. 

A new WWF report reveals more than 350 new species – such as the world’s smallest deer, a “flying frog” and a 100 million-year old gecko – that have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, a biological treasure trove now threatened by climate change.

The preliminary population estimate of snow leopards in the Nepal Himalayas conducted by WWF in collaboration with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) has shown the presence of about 300-400 animals. The figures were recently released by the Government of Nepal. The study was undertaken with funding from WWF-US, WWF-UK and WWF-Finland.

WWF stressed the need to renew tiger conservation efforts in response to the government of Nepal’s announcement of an estimated 121 breeding tigers in four protected areas in the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal.

I was on the frontier of India’s remotest wildness, where few humans have treaded before and fewer to study wildlife. Kargil, among largest districts of India, is best known in recent history for the major military conflict that occurred here in 1999. This unfortunately overshadowed the region’s rich wildlife. For, it is here that one of world’s most elusive creatures- the Snow Leopard, roams wild and free. To highlight this wildlife, I chose the district with Drass sector as the site of my project, despite the fact that I had to scour through 12,000 sq km of cold desert, which is frozen for much of the year. During my interaction with locals, I learnt about the tremendous decline in their (locals’) wildlife sightings, post-1999. They claimed even the common local resident birds had disappeared. Fortunately the situation was improving these days, they added.

To call attention to the imminent dangers of the Imja Lake Outburst to their way of life, the Sherpa communities in Nepal’s Khumbu region organized a “Beat the GLOF” action run. The dramatic increase in the size of the Himalayan Mountains’ glacial lakes is a direct consequence of climate change, which is melting Himalayan glaciers into lakes at an unprecedented pace. This has created the threat of potentially deadly GLOFs – Glacial Lake Outburst Floods – to the people living in the Himalayas.

In the campaign’s dramatic opening event, veteran Everest summiteer Apa Sherpa carried a climate change banner to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. After a grueling 6 weeks, Apa completed his 19th ascent to the top of the world on May 21, 2009, where he placed the message “Stop climate change – let the Himalayas live.”

A sherpa set off to climb Mount Everest for a record 19th time to take an anti-climate change message to the world’s highest peak.

In December 2008 the government of Bhutan declared Wangchuck Centennial Park, the country’s tenth and second-largest park. Bhutan is the only place on Earth where the habitat of the snow leopard and mighty tiger intersect.

Nepal’s Suklaphanta (Sook-lah-fahn-tah) Wildlife Reserve was once considered prime tiger habitat because of abundant prey and the relative scarcity of competing predators. A sustainable population in this protected area is crucial for maintaining the genetic diversity of tigers in the region. Because of concerns that Suklaphanta’s tiger population was shrinking due to illegal poaching, WWF and partners began conducting more frequent and comprehensive surveys of the tigers.

September 23, 2007, marked the year anniversary of the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of 24 WWF friends and colleagues. On that day, WWF celebrated their achievements and highlighted the successes of Nepalese conservationists at the local and national levels. In Nepal WWF-US President Carter Roberts was joined by Jim Leape, director general of WWF International, officials from the government of Nepal, and the families and friends of those lost. Among other events, a ceremony was held at the base of Kangchenjunga Mountain - the site of the crash - and WWF is urging the government of Nepal to declare September 23 "National Conservation Day."

Only 31 rhinoceros were counted during a 10-day survey, from May 17-27, 2007 conducted in Bardia National Park, according to the national authority, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in Nepal. The previous rhino census, carried out in 2000 in this park found a total of 67 rhinos - 37 in the Geruwa River floodplain, and 30 in the Babai River floodplain.