Protected areas of Nepal

The protected areas of Nepal cover mainly forested land and are located at various altitudes in the Terai, in the foothills of the Himalayas and in the mountains, thus encompassing a multitude of landscapes and preserving a vast biodiversity in the Palearctic and Indomalayan realms. Nepal covers 147,181 km² (56,827 sq mi) in the central part of the Himalayas. Altitudes range from 67 m (220 ft) in the south-eastern Terai to 8,848 m (29,029 ft) at Mount Everest within a short horizontal span. This extreme altitudinal gradient has resulted in 11 bio-climatic zones ranging from lower tropical below 500 m (1,600 ft) to nival above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in the High Himalayas, encompassing nine terrestrial ecoregions with 36 vegetation types.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Additionally, nine Ramsar sites were declared between 1988 and 2008.^[7] Two wildlife reserves were declared as national parks in 2017.^[8]

National parks

• Chitwan National Park – 952.63 km² (367.81 sq mi)
• Sagarmatha National Park – 1,148 km² (443 sq mi)
• Langtang National Park – 1,710 km² (660 sq mi)
• Rara National Park – 106 km² (41 sq mi)
• Khaptad National Park – 225 km² (87 sq mi)
• Shey Phoksundo National Park – 3,555 km² (1,373 sq mi)
• Bardiya National Park – 968 km² (374 sq mi)
• Makalu Barun National Park – 1,500 km² (580 sq mi)
• Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park – 159 km² (61 sq mi)
• Banke National Park – 550 km² (210 sq mi)
• Shuklaphanta National Park – 305 km² (118 sq mi)
• Parsa National Park – 637 km² (246 sq mi)

Wildlife reserves

• Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve – 175 km² (68 sq mi)

Conservation areas

• Annapurna Conservation Area – 7,629 km² (2,946 sq mi)
• Kanchenjunga Conservation Area – 2,035 km² (786 sq mi)
• Manaslu Conservation Area – 1,663 km² (642 sq mi)
• Blackbuck Conservation Area – 15.95 km² (6.16 sq mi)
• Api Nampa Conservation Area – 1,903 km² (735 sq mi)
• Gaurishankar Conservation Area – 2,179 km² (841 sq mi)

Hunting Reserve

• Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve – 1,325 km² (512 sq mi)

Ramsar Sites

The following Ramsar sites were declared between 1988 and 2008:^[7]

• Bishazari Tal – 3,200 ha (12 sq mi)
• Ghodaghodi Tal – 2,563 ha (9.90 sq mi)
• Gokyo Lake Complex – 7,770 ha (30.0 sq mi)
• Gosaikunda – 13.8 ha (34 acres)
• Jagdishpur Reservoir – 225 ha (0.87 sq mi)
• Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve – 17,500 ha (68 sq mi)
• Mai Pokhari – 90 ha (220 acres)
• Phoksundo Lake – 494 ha (1.91 sq mi)
• Rara Lake – 1,583 ha (6.11 sq mi)
• Lake Cluster of Pokhara Valley – 261.1 km² (100.8 sq mi)^[9]

References

External links

• Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal