Community Conserved Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale Conservation Area interaction meeting held in IUCN
22 January 2009

IUCN Nepal organized an interaction meeting to disscuss issues and options in managing the Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) Conservation Area with representatives of District Forest Officials of Sankhuwasabha, Tehrathum and Taplegung districts and FECOFUN at IUCN Nepal office.

Conservation of rhododendron in Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale area of north-east Nepal has been being implemented in 23 village development committees of the above three districts.The aim of the conservation initiatives in TMJ is to facilitate community management of this area that includes the largest diversity of rhododendron species in Nepal. IUCN has been working with  local NGOs and various community-based organizations and networks to impliment activities such as reducing fuel wood use through the use of improved cooking stoves and reducing acute dependence on forest
resources through green income generating activities like eco-tourism, beekeeping, and NTFP conservation.

IUCN Nepal has prepared a draft Five-Year Strategic Plan for TMJ Area, which has been facing tremendous environmental challenges including deforestation and forest degradation, social-cultural changes, and infrastructure development, that are directly related to livelihoods of local people. Globally, it has been realised that conservation of natural resources cannot succeed without the support of local people and economic development of their area. Nepal is the pioneer to develop and implement the concept of community-based conservation which has been proven in the
Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) and the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA). These two conservation areas have become good models of conservation.

The draft Strategic Plan of the TMJ area has identified several key issues leading to four major programmes including natural resource management, socio-cultural preservation, integrated conservation and community development (ICD), and tourism development. These programmes have helped generate a set of impact areas, which not only serve as guide for implementation but also provide a ground for monitoring and evaluation for sustainable conservation and sustainable community development of the TMJ area. These impact areas include biodiversity, socio-cultural integrity,
livelihood options, poverty alleviation, and community development and cooperation. The plan has four parts:
(i) background information, vision, mission and goals of the plan, and methods of its preparation, (ii) major factors and conservation issues, iii) management strategies, and (iv) implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the plan.

Based on various government decisions, recommendations of the task force formed by the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) under the coordination of Dr. U. R. Sharma, Secretary of the MoFSC, and ongoing programs and activities of IUCN Nepal in the area, the draft plan has been drawn by a consultative process by the IUCN team for the TMJ Strategic Plan. The team consulted with various government, and non-government organisations and experts at the central and local levels. In the central level, the team consulted with the secretary of the MoFSC, Department of
National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, WWF Nepal Programme, Trekking Association of Nepal, and so on. Several consultative meetings with local people including more than 49 community forest user groups, representatives of FECOFUN, government & non-government organizations, and political leaders (including Members of Legislative Parliament) of Tehrathum, Sankhuwasabha, and Taplejung districts were conducted in the field.

The interaction meeting with representatives of FECOFUN and District Forest Officers at IUCN Nepal office was focused on  a) issues and options in managing the TMJ as a CCCA, b) management roles, c) institutional set up and coordination, and d) future direction. The draft plan will be further reviewed and more consultation meetings will be organised with stakeholders to develop it as a community owned plan, which will be presented in allthree districts (Tehrathum, Sankhuwasabha, and Taplejung) in March 2009.

For more information, please contact:

 Email:rajendra@iucn.org.np