Cedar Forests of Nepal

red panda

Cedar Forests of Nepal

Nepal's primary forests are home to the iconic Red Panda

Primary forests are essential to the survival of the Red Panda, but they are also used by local communities for subsistence. Griffith University, University of Southern Queensland, Kathmandu Forestry College and the red Panda Network (RPN) are collaborating with community forest user groups to protect Red panda habitat and create sustainable livelihoods.

Red Panda Project

The Red Panda Network is a world leader in efforts to protect red pandas and their habitat. It uses an integrated, landscape-level approach to conservation that is built on the support and participation of local communities. Their conservation programs extend to over one million acres of forest and 50% of Nepal’s red panda range.
Red Panda Network logo

About the Nepal cedar forests

Red Panda habitat, Nepal

Extent of Red Panda habitat, Nepal.

Nepal's forests cover over 5 million hectares and more than 40% of the land areas of the country. Some areas provide key timber exports, mainly to India. They are also important sources of collective resources for local communities. In addition to logging, forest loss and degradation Nepal’s forests are under threat from human resettlement and expansion, uncontrolled forest fires, overgrazing, and illegal extraction of forest products.

Nepal is notable for its focus in community-based forest management. Government policy has sought to decentralise management to communities since the1980s, and currently around 34% of the country's forests are managed by more than 22,000 community-forest user groups. The Primary Forests and Climate Program has focused on supporting these community forest user groups, especially by building governance capacity.

What's at stake

In total, there are 2500 red panda in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. Among them, 500 are in Nepal and are distributed in 24 districts. They an ‘apex’ indicator species of forest health. Between 1990 and 2010 Nepal lost almost one quarter of its forest cover.

Red pandas rely on primary broadleaf and evergreen forests. Bamboo regeneration is critical to their survival, and habitat fragmentation is a major threatening process. Across the region, the red panda is under threat from poaching, particularly in China, where its tail is used as a headdress.

Three eastern Nepalese districts are highly important for connectivity to India and Bhutan.

Current activity

Building on ten years’ research, the team is working with multi-stakeholders in Nepal and beyond to develop quality-of-governance standards and benefit-sharing mechanisms for forest-based goods and services.

These include payments for ecosystem services, eco-tourism (homestays and guided walks), and ‘Red Panda’ eco-labelling of tea and other sustainable products for international markets.

The team is currently reaching out to the 68 community forest user groups across eastern and western Nepal and will shortly deploy an online survey of more than 1500 national, and international stakeholders as the preliminary stage in a three-year collaborative ‘action research’ partnership (pre-tested survey method not impacted by COVID-19).

Up-scaling protection

The case study has the potential to be applied across the entire region and will encourage local communities to understand the value of protecting the red panda and conserving its habitat as a sustainable income source.

Governance standards created by stakeholders will enable a consistent approach to forest management and sustainable development, and provide domestic and international markets with assurance that the goods they are purchasing are environmentally friendly (homestays, guided walks, ‘Red Panda’ leaf tea, etc.). In turn, the benefits from economic activities will be equitably distributed amongst participating forest users.

Costs to keep the programme running in Nepal until it is expected to be self-funding are $1.25 million ($250k per year for five years). Extending the programme to the other relevant countries would cost $3.75 m ($750K a year for 5 years).

Research articles from case study

Red panda in forest - Unsplash

Forest governance for sustainable communities and red panda conservation

17/02/2023
Building the capacity of marginalised groups by increasing their skills and raising awareness about sustainable forest management could have tangible impacts on the ground, including the protection and conservation of Nepal’s unique flora and fauna into an uncertain and difficult future.
Red panda in the forests of Himalaya

Historical trends in and status of red panda research

10/08/2022
The red panda is a unique species known for its distinct biological and ecological characteristics, and its captivating appearance but its future remains uncertain. This study assessed the history of conservation studies over 193 years.