Conservation Enforcement in Nepal

Conservation Enforcement in Nepal: Exploring enforcement-based reposes to wildlife trade, a high-level policy event, was held on January 10, 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The event, organized by Greenhood Nepal and the Lancaster Environment Centre (UK), explored contemporary debates about enforcement-based approaches to conservation and illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

Globally, there is mounting debate about the benefits and limitations of increasingly enforcement-based approaches to conservation. For example, the militarization of protected areas, investments into new detection technologies, and calls for increased sanctions against perpetrators have, in some cases, resulted in positive conservation outcomes. However, they have also fueled concerns about long-term sustainability, unintended social impacts, and justice. These debates are important to Nepal, which has a uniquely strong conservation enforcement: protected areas are patrolled by thousands of military, it has wildlife crime enforcement efforts across several agencies, and domestic penalties for wildlife crimes are relatively high. This first of-its-kind event, sought reflection on, and lessons from Nepal’s conservation experiences.

The event was attended by more than 100 conservation stakeholders, including from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Department of Forest, Central Investigation Bureau, Nepal Police, Nepal Army, academicians from three universities, practitioners and media. The 3-hour program included presentations on the global debates about conservation enforcement, followed by a panel discussion with leading government agencies and conservation groups.