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BT0010 Management of Royal Manas National Park

Forest guards on patrol in the Royal Manas NP

Project Summary: Royal Manas National Park is one of the oldest and richest among the protected areas of Bhutan. The project seeks to protect this park through a wide range of interventions such as the development and implementation of a sound park management based on scientific management principles. Main components of the project include conservation research, institutional and capacity development and ecosystem protection. Within the project period of five years, the project will establish a management system supported by trained staff to carry out various activities. Rural development form an important component in the project with the aim of addressing farmers needs to enable sustainable use of natural resources.

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Project Summary: Bhutan's existing protected areas system is a highly comprehensive conservation strategy in that it includes representational examples of the full range of the major ecosystems found in the country. Encompassing more than one-fourth of the nations total geographical area, the system consists of four national parks, four wildlife sanctuaries and one strict nature reserve, These protected areas are geographically very well located to protect a contiguous altitudinal spectrum of ecosystems as well as to capture west-to-east species variations across the country.

Project Summary: Bhutan's expansive forest cover and near-intact natural environment shelter some 160 species of mammals, 770 species of birds and 5,400 species of vascular plants. Many of these species are threatened and appear in the IUCN Red Data Book. Poaching of wild fauna and flora pose a serious conservation problem in Bhutan considering the lucrative trade in parts and products of wild animals and plants in the region. Based on field reports of incidents of poaching, the Forestry Services Division embarked upon a program to monitor and mitigate wildlife poaching and trade in Bhutan with financial support from WWF.

Project Summary: Transcending across the political boundaries of three districts (dzongkhags), namely Bumthang, Lhuentshe and Mongar, ThrumshingLa National Park occupies 768 km2 of mountain forest landscapes in the central region of Bhutan. It was notified a national park in 1993 and gazetted in 1998. The project seeks to implement a series of baseline surveys on the socio-economic situation of the resident communities and the biological composition of the area and, subsequently, develop a five-year conservation management plan based on the information derived from these surveys.

Project Summary: Stringent wildlife legislation, pro-conservation development policy and environmentally compassionate Buddhist ethics, have kept the tiger population in Bhutan relatively stable. However, given the lucrative trade in tiger poaching for its parts and products used in oriental medicines and fragmentation of habitats due to developmental activities, the threat to tiger survival is never completely eradicated. Although several ongoing conservation programs were indirectly connected to tiger conservation, no tiger-specific conservation initiatives were in place until 1995. The tiger conservation program in Bhutan was jointly launched in late 1995 by WWF Bhutan PO and the Royal Government's Forestry Services Division to carry out tiger status surveys and information-building, public education, professional capacity building for tiger conservation.