Conservation Efforts in the Himalayan Region: Are They Making an Impact?
In 2005, the MacArthur Foundation, a large, Chicago-based private foundation, put up 12 grants for a total of over $3.6 million dollars towards conservation efforts in the Eastern Himalayan region.
The Himalayas is one of the most remote mountain ranges in the world, home to over 240 million individuals. Thanks to climate change, temperatures have been rising, glaciers retreating and erratic weather patterns are occuring, disrupting once reliable water sources. The rich biodiversity and habitats to some rare species like the Red Panda are being threatened.
A call to advocacy and environmental conservation of the Himalayan region has over hundreds of individuals, both scientist and the like, collaborating on efforts to maintain the mountain range.
The grants awarded by the Macarthur Foundation were put towards numerous non-profit organizations both US-based and worldwide, such as ICIMOD, TMI and Resources Himalaya. Each of these non-profit organizations surround Himalayan conservation efforts, all with different goals in mind but still hoping to make a positive impact in order to stop or at least slow the negative effects of climate change.
After more than a decade since the grants were awarded to these organizations, each of them have developed some kind of effort towards aiding the conservation efforts of the Himalayan region.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, also known as ICIMOD, had received a grant worth $315,000 from the Macarthur Foundation. The grant’s goal was to fund policy innovations, working with local and national institutions towards conservation efforts on transboundary landscapes, with a focus on the Kangchenjunga landscape as their case study.
After a decade since the grant was awarded to ICIMOD, the Kangchenjunga Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KLCDI) was implemented in summer of 2016. The basis of the implementation was after long term collaboration between the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC), ICIMOD, and the Research Center for Science and Technology (RECAST) and their shared agreement to enhance the well-being for the target population in the landscape, improve the ecosystem, and strengthen regional cooperation for transboundary landscape management. The focus of their intervention is on three pilot sites in Bhutan, Nepal and India.
The World Wildlife Funds Bhutan Programme (WWF) also received a grant for $700,000 from the Macarthur Foundation, to help the Bhutan government upgrade the management structure of a new protected area called the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. The Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is a 650 square kilometers national park, home of rare species and unique cultures. In 2010, the villages Sakteng and Merak were opened to tourism, which created a mass waste displacement issue. Thanks to the grant money WWF was able to set up an environmental awareness campaign to be taught in the villages of Merak, Sakteng and Joenkha, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the landscape and each village’s rich culture, while still entertaining tourism opportunities. While tourism still poses it’s challenges on the protected landscape, the community was inspired and got involved in order to counteract these issues caused by tourism, while WWF continues to mainly focus on the big picture of conservation.
Among these non-profit organizations, the Mountain Institute (TMI) was also awarded a grant worth $300,000 by the Macarthur Foundation. The Mountain Institute is the only non-governmental organization that focuses on the, “challenges faced by remote mountain communities and the fragile environments that surround them.” Also known as TMI, the organization has been around for the past 47 years. They assist impoverished high-mountain farmers with supporting their families, they work closely with remote communities throughout climate change and support indigenous people’s efforts to preserve their sacred land through their Medicinal and Aromatic Plants.
Each of these non-profits, along with many others, are working on specific projects that as a whole will hopefully continue to benefit the Himalayan region. However, with such aggressive efforts to maintain and preserve a landscape, repercussions are bound to occur.
At the Centre of Science and Environment in India, Sunita Narain, Director General, talks about the future of “reclaiming the Himalayas.” It’s not about just conserving the rich biodiversity and culture of the region, but expanding potential for the landscape so there can be economic growth for the local villages and people. Narain addresses current threats, some induced by climate change, but she also discusses the potential issues they’ll face if they continue on the path they’re on with their aggressive conservation efforts.
Narain knows as well as many others that initiating global collaboration and backing conservation efforts is only half the battle. The other half is finding a balance between protecting the natural landscape and fostering cultural and economic growth within the local communities.
Non-profit organizations and local residents continue to work towards the preservation of the Himalayan landscape in order to combat the detrimental effects of climate change and solidify a future for the Himalayan species and people. As work continues to progress, they will have to adapt to the side effects of both climate change and conservation work in order to sustain a healthy balance between preservation and positive transformation.