KANCHENJUNGA LANDSCAPE

About:

• The Kanchenjunga Landscape is a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.
  
  
• The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga covers an area of 25,080 sq km spread across parts of
  • Eastern Nepal (21%),
    
    
  • Sikkim and West Bengal (56%) and
    
    
  • western & South-western Bhutan (23%).
    
    
  
  
  

Recent development:

• The developments comes up after forest officials and representatives of NGOs of the three countries visited parts of the landscape and later held a meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal earlier this month.
  
  
• Setting up of a joint task force was a key requirement to achieve the objectives of free movement of wildlife and checking smuggling of wildlife.
  
  
• According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 1,118 sq km of riverine grassland and tree cover were lost in the landscape between 2000 and 2010. 74 % of the area was converted into rangeland and 26% to agricultural land.