Awareness Program in Sunabarsi, Morang.

Nepal is a country with rich Avian Diversity. Unfortunately, the survival of many avian species of the Nepal is threatened by habitat destruction, poaching as the ever-growing human population depends heavily on natural resources. One of the vulnerable species (according to IUCN), the Lesser Adjutant stork is a type of bird that is heavily dependent on the wetland found mainly in eastern lowlands of Nepal. This species of bird is facing high pressure due to poaching and habitat encroachment (Baral 2006, Karki 2010). As a result, they are threatened of their existence and highly endangered. It is unfortunate that the conservation activities focused on the species are limited in the country. Thus, this project has been designed to conduct and secure the conservation of this vulnerable bird and its habitat in eastern lowlands of Nepal.

In this project, a community based conservation strategy will be developed to carry out conservation initiatives. Furthermore, the project outputs will be proposed for integration into the collaborative conservation program of the NGOs/researchers and civil society’s in Nepal which should ensure the sustainability of the outcome of the intervention. The project will be implemented in eastern lowlands of Nepal (namely three district Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari). The baseline of the current population size will be measured using nest search method, which would determine the status of Lesser Adjutant Storks. Also, conservation campaign will be carried out in all the communities where the breeding sites of Lesser Adjutant Stork are located. It part of the Public awareness programme which is aimed at ensuring the community participation and ownership of the activities of the project to conserve habitat of Lesser Adjutant Stork.

This project has targeted to achieve following objectives:

- To formulate a community level conservation strategy

- To protect of the Lesser Adjutant Stork population from threats

- To locate new nesting sites of the species to ensure their safety and protection

- To identify total population of Lesser Adjutant Stork

In addition, these objectives the project is also aimed:

- To increase awareness among the people to save Lesser Adjutant storks, the endangered and vulnerable species, and their habitat.

- To strengthen advocacy measures for the protection of the species and their habitat.

- To formulate the GIS data base for the habitat and population of Lesser Adjutant Stork.