site

  1. myWWF Sign in
  2. Sign up
  3. Help
  1. Home
  2. Who We Are
  3. What We Do
  4. About Our Earth
  5. How You Can Help
  6. News
  7. Climate
  1. Home
    1. What We Do
      1. Priority Places
        1. Himalayas
          1. Grants (CEPF)

Priority species and sites

Landscapes of the Eastern Himalayas

Priority sites

The presence of priority species within key biodiversity areas were used to identify 60 priority sites. Of these, 12 are in Bhutan, 38 are in northeastern India and 10 are in Nepal.

Not all the sites identified carry charismatic mega-fauna or rare birds. Seven of these sites were picked since they include threatened amphibian populations that have been poorly studied, and several priority sites were identified for globally threatened turtles. Important sites for plant biodiversity were also included.

Priority landscapes

Species in the region are confined to sites which are isolated and often too small to support large, viable populations. It is therefore important to connect these sites through corridors. Five priority landscapes where these corridors would be established have been identified.

The Kangchenjunga-Singalila Complex represents a complex of transboundary nature reserves in eastern Nepal and Sikkim and Darjeeling in India. The 17 mammal species in this landscape include red panda, tiger, clouded leopard and snow leopard. Birds in this landscape include the chestnut-breasted partridge and the rusty-bellied shortwing.

The Bhutan Biological Conservation Complex consists of nine national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Bhutan and supports 17 priority mammal, 10 bird and 4 reptile species.

The North Bank Landscape in northeast India shelters the world’s most important Asian elephant populations and supports a significant tiger population. It includes forests and alpine habitats in the Himalayan Mountains.

The Terai Arc Landscape in Nepal harbours several elephant populations, significant tiger population, rhinoceros, the globally threatened bird Bengal florican and the smaller bristled grass warbler.

The Kaziranga-Karbi Anlong Landscape in northeast India provides refuge to 9 priority mammal species, 26 bird and 7 reptile species. The Kaziranga National Park is a World Heritage site and holds the world’s largest population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

Priority species

Red Panda
Experts prioritized species at regional roundtables, and of the 163 species, 19 mammals, 28 birds, 17 reptiles and 12 amphibians were selected as priority. These are either globally important populations of species in the region or important focal species or ones that need specific actions for their conservation.

The greater one-horned rhinoceros, Asian elephant, takin, wild water buffalo, swamp deer, tiger, snow leopard, clouded leopard, red panda are among the priority species identified. The rufous-necked hornbill, chestnut-breasted partridge, Jerdon’s babbler, black-necked crane, Pallas’ fish eagle are also included.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence. RSS/Web Feeds

@import url('http://s3.amazonaws.com/getsatisfaction.com/feedback/feedback.css');