KATHMANDU, JANUARY 2
As 2025 draws to a close, WWF Nepal has underscored major conservation achievements alongside growing climate and biodiversity challenges, calling for stronger dialogue and collaboration with the media and stakeholders.
At a year-end press meet and interaction programme held on December 30, WWF Nepal shared a comprehensive overview of the country's conservation status, key milestones achieved in 2025, and priority areas for 2026. The programme featured a presentation by Dr Kanchan Thapa, outlining WWF Nepal's programmatic outlook amid increasingly complex environmental pressures.
For the first time, Nepal has officially estimated its snow leopard population at 397, with the highest densities recorded in Shey Phoksundo National Park and the Manaslu Conservation Area.
In rhino conservation, WWF Nepal said the country has gone 774 consecutive days without rhino poaching, achieving a "Zero Poaching Year" for the 10th time since 2011. To address population imbalance, 10 rhinos were translocated internally from high-density areas of Chitwan National Park to other protected habitats.
According to Dr Thapa, the rhino conservation success has been significantly aided by an innovative approach: Nepal's first independent dog squad dedicated to wildlife crime investigation. "While the Nepali Army and Nepal Police have maintained their own canine units for years, this is the first time we've established a squad specifically for conservation purposes, operating outside these traditional agencies," he explained. "This is the second batch of the dog squad due to the relatively short working life of the dogs," he added.
"Raising and training these dogs requires long-term investment and sustained effort," Dr Thapa noted. "Currently, we're operating only in Chitwan, but we have plans to expand to Bardia and other tiger conservation zones."
Tiger conservation also showed strong gains. WWF Nepal reported that Nepal's tiger population increased from 121 in 2009 to 355 by 2022, with notable recovery in Parsa and Chitwan national parks.
Dr Thapa highlighted efforts to secure new habitats in the eastern Terai under the Central Terai Arc Landscape initiative. "We're not just protecting existing populations-we're actively working to reconnect fragmented habitats and establish new territories for tigers to expand naturally," he said.
Dr Thapa also highlighted the growing use of technology-driven conservation, including artificial intelligence-based wildlife corridor design and the testing of repellents to manage human–tiger conflict."Technology is becoming an essential tool," Dr Thapa explained. "Recently, drones were used for gharial census operation, and now we are conducting a feasibility study in Dolpa to census blue sheep populations the same way."
In an acknowledgement of the psychological toll that wildlife conflict takes on affected communities, WWF Nepal has begun piloting post-traumatic stress care systems, including in snow leopard landscapes where livestock predation creates economic and emotional hardship for herding families.
On biodiversity governance, WWF Nepal said Nepal has adopted national guidelines to recognise Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) as part of its commitment to the global "30 by 30" target, which aims to conserve 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030. Pilot consultations are currently underway at selected sites.
The organisation also underscored progress in climate and environmental policy, noting that Nepal became the first South Asian country to submit its NDC 3.0 under the Paris Agreement. Renewable energy projects are being expanded into remote districts such as Dolpa. Meanwhile, WWF Nepal played a key role in establishing the operational status of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) digital portal on the Ministry of Forest and Environment's website.
In the Himalayan region, WWF Nepal said waste management efforts under the Swachya Sagarmatha initiative are being strengthened in coordination with local governments and the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, focusing on waste and e-waste management in the Everest region.
In the lowlands, the Devghat area has been officially declared a plastic-restricted zone following coordination between the Devghat Area Development Committee, Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Gaindakot Municipality, and Devghat Rural Municipality. The "Narayani Conclave on Narayani River Conservation" held during the year called for declaring the Narayani River a Heritage River and launched the "Clean Narayani River" advocacy campaign. WWF Nepal is also working on wetland restoration under the Central Asian Flyways Initiative to protect critical habitats for migratory birds that traverse the subcontinent.
Dr Thapa emphasised the growing role of corporate partnerships in funding conservation work. "We're seeing increased engagement through CSR programmes," he said, citing collaborations with Global IME Bank on forest corridor restoration and with eSewa on addressing human-wildlife conflict. "These partnerships allow us to scale up interventions," he added.
WWF Nepal is also strengthening transboundary conservation initiatives across the Greater Himalaya, involving coordination with Bhutan and India on shared ecosystems and migratory species that don't recognise political boundaries.
WWF Nepal said that while conservation outcomes have improved, human–wildlife conflict, climate stress, and habitat pressure remain key challenges requiring continued community engagement and policy support.