1. Places
  2. Eastern Himalayas

Eastern Himalayas

  1. Places
  2. Eastern Himalayas
Eastern Himalayas
Adopt a Snow Leopard

Facts

This biodiversity hotspot stretches across Nepal, Bhutan, northeast India, southeast Tibet and northern Myanmar. The region is home to iconic species such as the snow leopard, Bengal tiger and one-horned rhino, as well as millions of people.

  • Continent
    Asia
  • Species
    Asian elephant, Snow leopard, Ganges River dolphin, Red panda, Continental tiger, Greater one-horned rhino

The Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world and has nine out of 10 of the world’s highest peaks, including Mount Everest. These mountains, sometimes referred to as the third pole, cover central and South Asia, are the source of some of Asia’s major rivers and help to regulate our planet’s climate. These mountains are the home of many WWF priority species, including snow leopard, red panda, golden langur, black-necked crane, rufous-necked hornbill, golden and chocolate mahseer and high-altitude populations of tiger. The larger Asian Water Tower, of which the Eastern Himalayas is a part, feeds Asia’s great rivers and provides water to over 1 billion people  

For centuries people here have developed a unique culture that weaves nature and people together into the same fabric of life. The region is the birthplace of the Buddha and is full of sacred natural sites such as secret valleys and high mountain lakes that predate ancient Hinduism. 

The Himalayas face many challenges, and governments are under increasing pressure to enhance their economies and secure their natural heritage. Forests are strained as demand continues to grow for timber, infrastructure expansion and food crops. Protected areas are becoming isolated pockets, and international criminal networks are emptying forests of rare wildlife to feed the voracious illegal market in the region and beyond. The impact of global climate change is melting the once mighty Himalayas at a rate faster than ever recorded in human history, jeopardizing a vital source of freshwater for billions of people in Asia. 

WWF has worked in the Eastern Himalayan region since the start of the conservation movement and the founding of our organization in 1961. By joining hands with governments, local communities and supporters around the world, we have made progress for wild species and natural landscapes. But more needs to be done to forge a sustainable future for the Eastern Himalayas. 

Browse Photos & Videos

In Nepal, new snow leopard numbers show stable population

Nepal has announced its national estimate of the elusive snow leopard population, marking a major milestone in the conservation of this iconic Himalayan species. This landmark assessment, which compiled data from seven study regions, estimates Nepal’s snow leopard population at 397 individuals, a relatively stable population for the region. It’s the first robust estimate of the country’s snow leopard population, which until now, were only guestimates based on sign surveys—surveys of snow leopard tracks, scat, and tree scrapes—and habitat modeling. This information will be vital for informing future conservation strategies to conserve this threatened species.

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A snow leopard perched on a rock

Species

The Eastern Himalayas harbor an amazing diversity of life. There are 163 globally threatened species found in the Himalayas, including Asia’s three largest herbivores—Asian elephant, greater one-horned rhinoceros and wild water buffalo—and its largest carnivore, the tiger. The region is home to:

  • 10,000 types of plants
  • 300 mammals
  • 977 birds
  • 176 reptiles
  • 105 amphibians
  • 269 freshwater fish

The Himalayan grasslands have the densest population of Bengal tigers, which live alongside Asian elephants and one-horned rhinos. The mountains offer refuge for red pandas, golden langurs and takins. This is the only known location in the world where Bengal tigers and snow leopards share habitat.

People & Communities

Eastern Himalayas People and communities

WWF works closely with communities across the Eastern Himalayas because they are the true stewards of nature. Local ownership, alternative sources of income, women's empowerment, and long-term sustainable livelihoods are all elements of our work.

Adapting to a Changing Environment

The region faces serious threats from poverty and an increasing population. Almost half of India’s immense population lives within 310 miles of the Himalayan range along the Gangetic plains. The need for food, shelter and industries to support modern lifestyles is exerting tremendous pressure on nature. Localized cutting and clearing of wood for agriculture is depleting large areas of forest and stripping steep slopes of trees. Intensive livestock grazing damages sensitive alpine meadows. Climate change is melting the mighty mountain glaciers, which jeopardizes the source of freshwater for more than 700 million people in the region.

Power for the People

WWF celebrated a major milestone in 2006 when the government of Nepal handed over the management of Kangchenjunga Conservation Area to the local communities. This historic action was an important landmark in the Eastern Himalayas. It demonstrated the government’s commitment to the delegation of power to local communities. This continues to be a model for community-led conservation. There is less pressure on local forests and people have a positive attitude toward wildlife conservation. Wildlife poaching and illegal harvesting of valuable medicinal plants have decreased. The people actively monitor wildlife and stop illegal activities.

In 2024, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council of the local tribal community entered into a landmark partnership with WWF-India by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. This collaboration aims to protect and conserve the environment of Karbi Anglong through sustainable and equitable development initiatives.

The partnership focuses on addressing environmental challenges and fostering eco-friendly practices, with the ultimate goal of preserving the region’s natural resources to enhance the well-being of local communities and safeguard their environment.

Culture of Conservation

Culture of Conservation

The breadth of natural biodiversity in the Eastern Himalayas is complemented by a rich mosaic of cultures, traditions and people. Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and animists have lived closely with nature for centuries and have created a culture of conservation. Ancient traditions and livelihoods of many communities remain woven into the balanced use of natural resources. They depend on these resources for their livelihoods, and value ecosystem services such as freshwater, erosion control, and agricultural and subsistence harvests. The people ensure that their traditional activities are sustainable by practicing small-scale agriculture and effective community management.

Threats

Eastern Himalayas

Habitat Loss and Degradation

Deforestation, unsustainable land use practices, and infrastructure development are fragmenting habitats, reducing biodiversity, increasing soil erosion, and contaminating water resources. Climate change further intensifies these threats which impact wildlife, habitats, and communities. Some of the biggest climate change impacts in the Eastern Himalayas region will stem from melting glaciers, which impact river flow and degrade the important wetland habitat.

Eastern Himalayas Habitat Loss

Local farmers use stall feeders to feed water buffalo and keep them from grazing on grasslands and forests.

Unsustainable and Illegal Use of Natural Resources

Unsustainable and illegal extraction of timber, wildlife, and other resources is driving depletion and degradation in the Eastern Himalayas. This is driven by the high demand for fuel wood and construction timber, and wildlife that is fueling the illegal wildlife trade. Because of the demand from the pet market and traditional medicine industry in China and Southeast Asia, the region has become a significant source and supply route for organized wildlife crime. Although many of the countries in the Eastern Himalayas strongly regulate and restrict wildlife trade, challenges associated with rising youth unemployment, poverty and easy access to information and markets are drawing youth to this trade at an alarming rate.

Human-Wildlife Conflict

Conflicts with tigers, elephants, snow leopards, and other species are becoming more acute in Bhutan, India, and Nepal. People and wildlife are increasingly sharing space in the Eastern Himalayas due to growing human populations and escalating habitat loss, resulting in increased conflict. Low awareness of how to handle human-wildlife conflict and limited livelihood options among communities in conflict-prone areas further compounds negative perceptions of wildlife and reduced support for conservation.

Human-wildlife conflict is closely linked to other conservation threats, including habitat fragmentation and loss of connectivity, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, vulnerability to climate change, and the possibility of zoonotic disease spillover.

What WWF Is Doing

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WWF also focuses on building an informed and empowered generation of young conservationists in Nepal.

WWF helps to protect, restore and reconnect natural landscapes across the Eastern Himalayas. Our goal is to make sure plant and animal species can thrive and at the same time local communities are able to maintain and improve their livelihoods. This includes the sustainable use of natural resources from forests, grasslands and freshwater systems. We work with the governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal, as well as local communities, to protect forests, animal habitats and freshwater sources. We also work to empower communities to protect sacred lands.

Greater Himalayan Transboundary Conservation Landscape

WWF aims to expand the impact our conservation initiatives and investments by promoting transboundary cooperation for conservation across Bhutan, India, and Nepal. At the core of this effort is re-establishing connectivity and creating biological corridors that link priority conservation areas both within each country and across borders. Establishing protected areas will bolster the effectiveness of efforts to conserve these corridors and other effective area-based conservation measures.

The Freshwater Challenge

The Freshwater Challenge is a country-led initiative, created and supported by global organizations including WWF, that aims to support the restoration of almost 200,000 miles of degraded rivers and over 860 million acres of degraded wetlands by 2030, as well as conserve intact freshwater ecosystems. Nepal, along with 48 countries and the European Union, has joined the Freshwater Challenge.

The Freshwater Challenge will accelerate national plans, strategies, and overall investment into the restoration and conservation of freshwater ecosystems and substantially increase the social and economic returns on those investments. By doing so, it will support countries to reach their international commitments on climate, biodiversity, restoration, land degradation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development goals

Restoring the Terai Arc Landscape

Nepal’s Terai Arc region is home to endangered rhinos and elephants, and the world’s highest concentration of tigers. WWF is connecting 11 protected areas by restoring the forests between them, which provides habitat corridors needed for species survival. We also support local communities and improve livelihoods by establishing community forestry groups that enable communities to benefit from forests by managing and restoring them.

Safeguarding Bhutan’s Natural Landscape

More than 70 percent of Bhutan’s land is covered by intact forests. Bhutan has an ambitious plan to maintain almost 400,000 acres of ‘wildlife highways’ that connect protected areas across the country. As the only international conservation organization with a permanent presence in Bhutan, WWF collaborates with the royal government to address Bhutan’s economic and environmental needs. We also engage and raise the technical capacity of the local people through education.

Preserving the Sacred Himalayan Landscape

Eastern Himalayan Landscape

The Himalayas are an important source of fresh water for millions of people in South Asia. Its alpine meadows and conifer forests harbor an array of rare plant life and endangered species. WWF’s Sacred Himalayan Landscape taps into the spiritual beliefs and conservation ethics of local communities to restore essential habitats and protect endangered species such as the snow leopard. We help local communities and local governments manage their forests, streams, soils and wildlife more sustainably. We also directly improve people’s lives through activities such as the establishment of women’s groups that focus on literacy and sustainable income generation skills.

Protecting Northeast India’s Forests

Old-growth forests extend from Bhutan into northeast India, where a growing population and infrastructure projects are increasingly impacting the connectivity and quality of some of the largest forests of the Eastern Himalayas. Drawing from its community based conservation experience and knowledge in the Terai Arc and Bhutan, WWF works to protect the forests of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, restore vital elephant habitats, and reduce human-elephant conflict.

“Our work in the Himalayas ensures the well-being of people and species through the conservation of entire ecosystem processes.” 

Jon Miceler WWF Managing Director, Eastern Himalayas

Projects

  • Paani Program: Supporting Energy Planning & River Conservation in Nepal

    Nepal is a country rich in water resources. Many of Nepal’s rivers have been developed and many more have hydropower dams and irrigation infrastructure projects proposed on them. While these projects can bring certain services, they can also impact the cultural, environmental, and economic values that natural rivers provide. WWF and partners conducted a series of analyses to inform system-scale energy planning for safe development and river conservation.

  • Bhutan: Committed to Conservation

    Bhutan is at the heart of the Eastern Himalayas, which supplies one-third of the world’s freshwater. And the country’s forests help keep climate change at bay by absorbing carbon dioxide. Bhutan is one of the world’s 10 most biodiverse countries. But Bhutan’s natural resources are on the brink of being more threatened now than ever before, despite the government’s political will and conservation milestones. Why? The country has changed more in the last 50 years than the past 500 years combined.

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