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]