EXECUTING AGENCY: CENTER FOR GREEN ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT NEPAL (CGED Nepal)

CLIENT: Division Forest office, Kapilvastu .

FINANCING AGENCY: Ministry of Forests, Environment and Soil Conservation, Lumbini Province, Butwal.

Project Summary

Project Agreement Date: 29 April, 2022

Project Completion Date:  31 July , 2022

Duration: 3 Months

Proposal Summary
Nepal’s wetlands cover around 5% of total landmass of the country that include permanently flowing rivers, seasonal streams, lowland oxbow lakes, high altitude glacial lakes, swamps and marshes, paddy fields, reservoirs and ponds (MFSC, 2014). In Nepal, a total of 10 wetlands with coverage of around 60,561 hectares are enlisted in the Ramsar site (MoFE, 2018). The Jagadishpur Reservoir, with an area of 225 ha, was declared a Ramsar site in 2003, in recognition of the fact that it supports vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered species as well as threatened ecological communities (MFSC, 2014). The reservoir is the largest man-made irrigation reservoir in Nepal constructed during 1972-1980. It provides irrigation facility to nearly 6,200 ha of land from which a total of 6,700 households are benefited (DFO, 2019). It supports four percent of the Asian population of Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) and one percent of the Lesser Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna javanica) population found in Nepal (MFSC, 2014). It is one of the 37 Important Bird Areas of Nepal .
The Jagadishpur Reservoir (27°37’N 83°06’E) is located in Kapilvastu Municipality (then Niglihawa Village Development Committee) of Kapilvastu District, Lumbini Province of Nepal. It is located 10 km north of Taulihawa, the district headquarter of Kapilvastu District; 40 km from Butwal (32 km west from Butwal on east west highway) and 8 km south of Banganga Bridge along the eastern embankment road. The reservoir lies at an elevation of 197 m (Baral and Inskipp, 2005).
Rationale
Wetlands offer provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services that generate economic value from their direct, indirect, or potential use (Lannas and Turpie, 2009). Jagadishpur Reservoir provides an irrigation services to a large command area measuring 6,200 ha. It provides a home for many species of migratory waterfowl, including endangered species like Sarus Crane. Of the 871 species of birds recorded in the country, 168 species belonging to 42 families are reported in the Reservoir. Furthermore, 28 species of bird are either globally or nationally threatened or included in the CITES Appendices and/or IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2015). Moreover, from the economic viewpoint, the Jagadishpur Reservoir provides a wide range of goods and services to the local communities accounting for an estimated NRs. 94.5 million per year (Baral et al., 2016). There is also a great potential of promoting tourism in this reservoir. The Sudoorpashchim Provincial Government has recently declared Ghodaghodi Lake as the first Bird Sanctuary of Nepal.
Looking at the ecological and economic benefits of Jagadishpur Reservoir, sustainable management and wise use of this important wetland resources is crucial. For the purpose, declaring the Reservoir as a Bird Sanctuary would add value towards this end. Prior to declaration, necessary information has to be generated so that activities can be implemented in future on a sustained basis. The study, hence, aims at developing a management plan that includes necessary information for declaring the Reservoir as a Bird Sanctuary.
Scope and objectives
The scope of the study will be to develop a management plan that includes background information, existing situation, management prescriptions, appropriate activities and responsible institutions. These information will be of great help in declaring a bird sanctuary for Jagadishpur Reservoir.
The study has an overall objective to prepare management plan that includes the necessary information for declaring Jagadishpur Reservoir as a Bird Sanctuary. Specifically, it aims to:
• identify bird-friendly livelihood activities after conducting physical, biological, socio-economic and cultural environment assessment of Jagadishpur Reservoir area;
• identify and propose suitable activities for the conservation and wise use of biodiversity and wetland resources;
• recommend appropriate measures for mitigating adverse impacts while carrying out different activities during implementation of management plan; and
• update the checklist of bird species and other wetland resources found in and around Jagadishpur Reservoir.