Institutional application of ‘buffer zones’ around areas of importance for biological conservation has grown significantly since the 1980’s - perhaps nowhere as much as in Nepal, where 24% of the nation’s total land area is allocated under such a program. In practice, the intention of a buffer zone is to simultaneously alleviate the pressures from human development on conservation areas and to address the socio-economic requirements of affected populations. While the buffer zone concept has been hailed by many for its consideration of indigenous rights, it is far from the magic elixir that some would hope. We spent 3 months in Kathmandu, Nepal over the summer of 2016 interviewing members of government and local environmental organizations to glean insight into what has been learned from 20 years implementing the buffer zone concept. The timing of our study couldn't be more critical, as the Nepalese government in early 2016 declared a new buffer zone around Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park (SNNP), located less than 10 miles north of the nation’s capital, Kathmandu. SNNP protects many regionally and internationally important ecological and cultural assets, but its most significant purpose is as the source of Kathmandu’s primary water supply. We hypothesized that the urbanization of the Kathmandu Valley (KTMV) is going to present new and unprecedented challenges for sustainable and equitable land management in a buffer zone program. From the rapid, unplanned urbanization of the capital, in conjunction with strict rights on access of resources, we sought evidence to support the assumption that the government would rely on buffer zone communities for successful management and protection of the SNNP region. With the aid of a local translator, we spoke with dozens of community members living in the park and in the proposed buffer zone to get a sense for their ways of living and their perspectives on the conservation policies that have impacted them.
Research results ultimately confirmed the most pressing issues for SNNP-BZ communities today, and highlighted strengths for community support that could be built upon for greater future success. SNNP is falling quickly behind on land management due to limited staff numbers. Without local community support for strong BZ development, encroachment from the city on their most valuable ecological resource seems eminent.