WWT to continue wetland project with Nepal's flood hit communities
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust's (WWT) community wetland project in Koshi Tappu, Nepal, is continuing, despite the recent flooding in the area.
The flooded embankment, which became damaged earlier this month, has affected approximately 50,000 people who have been forced to leave their homes. This has resulted in communities taking shelter in refuge sites, and in some cases on the road.
WWT is working on a community project in Nepal in collaboration with five Nepalese and two British partner organisations. The project involves working with local community groups to identify barriers to making a sustainable livelihood from buffer zone wetlands, and train staff from local organisations to enable them to pass on best practice wetland management advice to local people.
WWT's main project activities here are not immediately affected by the flooding, but many of the villagers we have been working with have been.
Dr. Debbie Pain, director of conservation at WWT, explains: "The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve is the most important wetland for migratory waterbirds in Nepal and one of the most important in Asia. What has happened here is really tragic. What needs to happen once the flooding has receded is that we work harder with the local communities and organisations to educate and inform them of best practice wetland management.
Dr. Pain continues: "By providing the people of Koshi Tappu with the technical expertise and resources to make a sustainable livelihood for themselves, we will help to improve their way of life as well as their ability to contend with natural disasters like flooding in the future."
