Covering nearly 23.4% of the total land area of the country, Nepal’s twenty protected areas (PAs) comprising of twelve national parks, six conservation areas, and one wildlife reserve and hunting reserve each, are home to an array of endangered and well-known flagship species like the Snow Leopard and Red Panda, and exotic habitats like the Rara Lake and Dhorpatan rangeland. These areas are national treasures that provide crucial environmental services underlying national water security, climate resilience and economic prosperity.
But not only are such services undervalued, the conventional sources of finance, such as international aids, government budgets and corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, for implementing the PA management plans and initiatives in Nepal are dwindling. In contrast, Nepal’s Protected Area Management Strategy 2022-2030, delineates sustainable financial mechanisms pivotal for the self-sustenance of the PAs in the country.
In this context, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in partnership with the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) under the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of Nepal, convened a high-profile national consultation workshop bringing together visionary leadership for innovation in PA conservation financing from within Nepalese public and private sectors and from among the country’s conservation experts.
The mandate of this workshop was to forge new alliances for securing sustainable financing for a resilient future of Nepal’s PAs. This marked the beginning of the much-needed thought leadership towards setting a new paradigm of valuation and governance of PAs, with newly defined or revised public and private sector leadership roles and initiatives around innovative incentives, especially for wildlife branding and ecolabelling.
From conservation-development trade-off to “green conservation”: Nudging a mindset shift
For decades, actions and interventions for PA conversation in Nepal have been focussed on treating the visible symptoms rather than addressing the root causes and striving for outcomes integrated into the holistic socio-economic wellbeing of the country. Public finances were directed to mitigating poaching incidents, regulate conservation habitats and building (cursory) awareness about Pas.
Motivated by evidence-based findings from across the world showing that every dollar invested in PAs returns at least six dollars in economic value through ecosystem services, tourism, and climate mitigation, this consultation forum emerged as a space for cross-sectoral synergy towards complementary and strategic investments in PA conservation. In this national consultation workshop the participants deep dived to examine the patterns, structures, and mental models1 underlying the path dependency of underfunding, and to break through the glass ceiling in sustainable financing for resilient PAs in Nepal.
Here the private and public sector stakeholders talked through brand value, species conservation and anti-poaching interventions as intersectional and interlinked issues; the tourism businesses outlined the prospect of nature-based tourism ventures as financial institutions highlighted the potential of green bonds in a shared vision for sustainability. What emerged out of these vibrant discussions, was the prospect of two innovative modalities for financing – namely, wildlife branding and ecolabelling – PA conservation, thereby elevating the understanding of conservation financing from charity to strategic investment.
While the private sector acknowledged that intrinsic brand value of the protected areas’ natural ecosystems and their services in making Nepal a premium tourism destination, in turn lending a foundation for the country’s economic growth and development, the public sector recognised the strategic role of strong public -private partnerships to harness the power of the long-term business investments for the sustainable future of the PAs.
Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, shared an insightful perspective on regional best practice with “Endowment Fund” towards sustainably finance PAs, using the example of Bhutan for Life. While recommending the possible replication of similar efforts in Nepal, he highlighted the importance of an independent body – formed through a coalition of public and private sector partners – in operationalising the funds with impact, transparency and integrity.
1 “An interrelated set of beliefs that shape how a person forms expectations for the future and understands the way the world works”. (Source: NIH)
The meeting concluded with a strong policy roundtable, noting that Nepal is ready to embrace co-investment innovation and cross-sectoral coordination for effective management of its PAs. The consultations helped us document our future course of action towards innovative financing, by:
1) Co-creating a framework guideline for
- Developing wildlife and landscape bonds: Establish a multi-stakeholder task force to design a credible and attractive thematic bond framework. This will enable institutional investors (banks, insurance companies, pension funds) to invest in PA infrastructure and community enterprises, earning a return while generating conservation outcomes.
- Operationalise a wildlife sponsorship program: Formalise a transparent platform for businesses to sponsor specific flagship species or core conservation activities (anti-poaching units, habitat restoration). In return, businesses gain verified branding rights and a powerful story for their clients.
- Expand ecolabeling initiatives: Scale up certification schemes where products and services (tourism packages, and landscape products) can earn a premium price by demonstrating they directly contribute to protected area management and the livelihoods of the local community.
2) Fostering an enabling policy environment through
- Clear guidelines on businesses in protected areas: Outline what is permissible and what is not, and what should be the relevant compliance and regulatory measures.
- Harmonisation of policies: for PA-related investments, there must be a single window policy to streamline the process.
- Develop a publicly assessable platform: to acknowledge funds and investments and track the source and conservation outcomes, documenting how collective financial partnership is making a difference.
3) Building durable / long-term cross-sectoral alliances for managing and financing PAs.
This event was supported by the United Kingdom International Development’s HI-REAP that aims to scale Nature-based Solutions and nature positive actions for climate resilience. To know more about the event, see
