Helping Community to Save Wildlife Since 2013

Join us restore nature and uplift people of Nepal.

Be part of the activities to strengthen capacity of local communities to ensure self-sustainable conservation through Community-based Conservation Approaches.

Founder's Statement

In Nepal, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) is the primary government agency responsible for wildlife conservation. However, the DNPWC’s operating area is limited by law to Protected Areas (PA), which means that wildlife living outside of these established zones has fewer safeguards. There have been attempts to bridge this gap through Divisional Forest Offices (DFOs) – localized authorities responsible for conservation outside of PA – but they are often under resourced, limiting the effectiveness of their efforts.

Several species-focused censuses in Nepal have shown that a large proportion of protected species are permanently residing outside of PA, in community-managed forests. This demonstrates the need for animal conservation through community-focused techniques. Mithila Wildlife Trust (MWT) supports and encourages communities to embed themselves in local conservation efforts.

MWT believes that conservation can be more sustainable if communities hold the responsibility for both wildlife and habitat conservation. Nepal’s community forest management has already become a global model for forest restoration efforts elsewhere.

After returning to Nepal from India in 2013, I began coordinating with like-minded people to protect wildlife, restore diminished forests, and to provide education to children of communities dependent on natural resources. I also began providing relief materials to people during natural calamities and started coordinating with CBO, CMO & Youth Clubs to restore Mother Nature. But, there is a lot to do which is possible if we all don’t join together.

So, I personally request you to join us in our conservation efforts. It is you, who, through coexistence, may assure the existence of human beings on this planet.

Thanking you!

Join Us for Restoring Nature!

We have been working closely with local communities and Community Forest User Groups to restore public land and unused river beds to create safe corridor for wildlife travelling through Shiwalik Chure and Terai region in Madhesh Province of Nepal. We have been using traditional plantation methods to restore river bed while pioneering Miyawaki Plantation Method in Nepal to restore waste public lands to create dense forest patches in rural area.

Providing education to the children of highly marginalized communities and creating alternative livelihoods for the financially marginalized families of Community Forest User Groups is the key to create sustainable conservation modules in our working area.

Volunteering Experience

Other Experiences

Our Mission

We aspire to uplift and empower local people and restore nature in the region by implementing a community-based approach to conservation. Through an assortment of programmes and projects focussed on a range of core areas identified by MWT as requiring action, such as education, restoration, community support, and rescue and rehabilitation, we hope to raise awareness of various issues and offer practical, sustainable, and inclusive solutions to them.

Wildlife

Forests

Education

Conservation

Empowerment

Community

1200 +

Animals Rescued

Reptile, Amphibian, Avian, Ungulate, and Mammal throughout Province No.-2.

$ 1200 M+

Project Implemented

Wildlife conservation, Habitat Restoration and Humanitarian job.

100 +

Conservation Education Program

Organized awareness-raising activities in the working area.

100 +

Hectors Habitat Restored

In collaboration with local community and Government agencies.

Part of the Achievements

– Dhanushadham Forest Conservation Area announced as Open Grazing and Illicit Felling Free Zone at Zeero budget.

– 2 Community Forests in Makawanpur district announced as World’s First Community Managed Pangolin Conservation Area. Replication of the same modality is going on in another 2 community forests of Dhanusha district.

– 360+ Alternative Livelihoods created for financially marginalized communities of 4 CFUGs.

– Bhatighari CFUG, Dhanusha ranked First position as best managed community forest in the nation, awarded by Ganeshman Singh Consrevation Award in the Year-2021.

– Restoration of 51 hectare river bank in Shiwalik Chure range with 93%+ survival rate through traditional plantation method.

– Created 3 numbers of dense forest patches using Miyawaki Plantation method in Mithila Bihari Municipality, Dhanusha, Madhesh Province.

Documentary

Glimpse of work, that makes a difference

Testimonials (June-2022)

"Mr. Dev Narayan Mandal and the MWT team are highly dedicated to biodiversity conservation. I have found that the team, under the leadership of Mr. Dev, is always taking innovative and proactive approaches to integrated conservation through community mobilization. The team has adopted a series of new and exemplary methods and pioneering actions which have been outstandingly inspiring and widespread and have become a model because of the way that they have shown positive impacts. I wish for their passion as a leading local community-based organization with the active role of targeting to preserve and restore the natural sites and ecological functions."

"Dev’s enthusiasm and passion for his work knows no bounds. Because of his tireless work and courage, he has emerged as one of the most vital voices in Nepal in recent years. "Through collaborating with other local organisations, a network of conservationists sharing key data and knowledge has emerged, which gives me hope we can work collectively to restore nature in this country."

"With Dev Narayan Mandal at the helm, Mithila Wildlife Trust is enacting change when it’s needed most. "He's constantly driving towards his goal of uplifting marginalised people and reinvigorating nature in the wake of the climate crisis. Dev and his MWT team are some of the hardest working individuals I have met- it's truly inspiring."

"Dev is not solely fighting hard against the climate crisis, his community centric approach is genuinely improving the lives of Nepal's most overlooked citizens in the process. He's a firebrand of community action and gives us all hope for the future."

You can Support us in many ways!

Madhesh Province of Nepal is very exposed to human-wildlife conflict in terms of community based conservation efforts. Having least volune of natural resources and most populated province of the Nation, every drop counts!