WWF completes 30 glorious years of conservation in Nepal

Kathmandu – WWF Nepal celebrated its 30th anniversary today. The two- hour long formal event held at Yak and Yeti highlighted WWF Nepal’s milestones and dedicated contribution towards biodiversity conservation over the past three decades in Nepal. The event, with the chief guest Rt. Honorable Vice President of Nepal Mr. Ramsahay Prasad Yadav was attended by over 400 participants including distinguished Government officials, ambassadors, international and national conservation and development partners, Senior Vice President of WWF US and others.

The event started off with welcome remarks by Dr. Ghana S. Gurung, Country Representative of WWF Nepal where he stated, “These achievements were possible only because of the government’s leadership with immense efforts, investment of development partners, our generous donors, innovative approaches and partnership with local people and likeminded institutions.”

He emphasized the impacts of climate change and the need to protect our forests, freshwater sources and wildlife. He further shared that WWF Nepal will continue landscape level conservation approach, wildlife friendly structure development and support the government to promote community led conservation approaches by giving priority to green, resilient and inclusive mode of actions to meet Nepal’s global commitment of 30% conservation by 2030.

The chief guest Rt. Honorable Vice President of Nepal Mr. Ramsahay Prasad Yadav in his keynote speech congratulated WWF Nepal on its 30th anniversary and appreciated WWF Nepal’s efforts in conserving endangered species and contributing to sustainable development. With great pride, he noted that the Government of Nepal’s role in conserving biodiversity is acknowledged even at a global level.

The event was followed by an award of recognition to Mr. B.N. Upreti and Ms. Maya Yogi for their remarkable contribution to conservation in Nepal. Subsequently, 10 students were awarded the Memorial Scholarship this year; and over 120 students have received the fund since 2007.

Mr. Bhoj Raj Shrestha from Kailali, Mr. Shankar Chettri Luitel from Jhapa and Mr. Tirtha Lama from Chitwan were felicitated with WWF Nepal Conservation Awards 2023. WWF instituted the WWF Nepal Conservation Awards in 1995 to recognize and honor individuals and organizations at the grassroots level that have made significant contributions to protect Nepal’s rich biodiversity. Mr. Bhoj Raj Shrestha is a farmer who has been active in conservation for over three decades. Currently a farmer, Mr. Shankar Chettri Luitel, has been striving in pursuit of environment and biodiversity conservation. Mr. Tirtha Lama is a wildlife technician who has been engaged in wildlife conservation, research and control and rescue of problematic wildlife since 2000. Since its inception, a total of 189 individuals and organizations have received the WWF Nepal Conservation Award.

Mr. Roberto Troya, Senior Vice President, WWF USA in the context of Nepal stated, “You have always set examples whether its species recovery (tripling the tiger number and almost taking rhinos to the historic range) or adopting the participatory conservation models.” He concluded the event with a vote of thanks and expressed his appreciation for WWF Nepal’s performance, “I am pleased to inform you that WWF Nepal is one of best performing offices of our network taking the journey towards excellence by example.”