KATHMANDU, July 28 -- The Tarai Arc Landscape, a shared transboundary protected zone between Nepal and India is spread across 25,000 sq km on the Nepal side, roughly 17% of the country's total area. It is home to 7 million people, half of them women, making their stake in conservation efforts significant.
In Nepal's agrarian society, rural women are often relegated to household roles and spend much of their time in the forest searching for fuelwood and fodder, or grazing livestock. This consequently places them at a higher risk of human-wildlife interactions, with research showing that more females than males have been injured or killed by tigers.
Women and marginalised communities are custodians of Nepal's natural heritage, and have pla...