Sagarmatha National Park

History

Sagarmatha National Park is a National Park northeastern of Nepal, and was established on July 19, 1976. In 1979, it became the country's first national park that was inscribed as a Natural World Heritage Site. In January 2002, a Buffer Zone comprising 275 km2 was added. Tourism in the area began in the early 1960s. In 2003, about 19,000 tourists arrived. As of 2005, about 3,500 Sherpa people lived in villages and seasonal settlements situated along the main tourist trails.

Landscape

Sagarmatha National Park contains the upper catchment areas of the Dudh Kosi and Bhotekoshi rivers and the Gokyo Lakes. It ranges in elevation from 2845 m at Monjo to the top of Mount Everest at 8848 m. Other peaks above 6000 m are Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Thamserku, Nuptse, Amadablam and Pumori. Barren land above 5000 m comprises 69% of the park while 28% is grazing land and the remaining 3% is forested. Climatic zones span from temperate and subalpine above 3000 m to alpine above 4000 m, which is the upper limit of vegetation growth. The nival zone begins at 5000 m.

Wildlife

Flora

The forests in the subalpine belt consist of fir, Himalayan birch and rhododendron. Juniper and rhododendron prevail at elevations of 4000-5000 m. Mosses and lichens grow above 5000 m. More than 1,000 floral species were recorded in the national park.

Fauna

Sagarmatha National Park hosts 208 bird species including Impeyan pheasant, bearded vulture, snowcock and alpine chough. Ungulates include Himalayan tahr, Himalayan serow and musk deer. The snow leopard inhabits elevations above 3500 m, and the Indian leopard roams forests in lower elevations.

References

References

1. (2007). "Nepal Biodiversity Resource Book. Protected Areas, Ramsar Sites, and World Heritage Sites". International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, in cooperation with United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
2. (2006). "Conservation Biology in Asia". Nepal Society for Conservation Biology, Asia Section and Resources Himalaya Foundation.
3. Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Sagarmatha National Park".
4. (2000). "Emerging Issues in Legal and Procedural Aspects of Buffer Zone Management with Case Studies from Nepal". Journal of Environment and Development.
5. Byers, A.. (2005). "Contemporary human impacts on Alpine ecosystems in the Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, Khumbu, Nepal". Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
6. Buffa, G.. (1998). "Top of the World environmental research: Mount Everest–Himalayan ecosystem". Backhuys Publishers.
7. (2009). "Restoring a keystone predator may endanger a prey species in a human-altered ecosystem: the return of the snow leopard to Sagarmatha National Park". Animal Conservation.