Nepal - Grid IP

Overview

Roads are a top national priority in Nepal. As highways are widened and new corridors planned, they increasingly intersect with forests, wildlife habitats, and protected areas, especially in the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), one of South Asia’s most important biodiversity regions.

The TAL is home to national parks, wetlands, and wildlife corridors that support endangered species such as tigers, rhinos, and elephants, while providing livelihoods and ecosystem services for millions of people. Infrastructure development in this landscape brings real economic benefits, but it also creates risks: habitat fragmentation, wildlife mortality, and loss of ecological connectivity.

Through GRID, Nepal is working to ensure that transportation infrastructure supports development and conservation by embedding biodiversity, ecological connectivity, and community inclusion into early-stage planning and design.

Challenge

Nepal is rapidly expanding and upgrading its road network. Major highways, including sections of the East-West Highway, are being widened to meet growing trade and mobility needs. These projects are essential for development, but many pass directly through or alongside protected areas and wildlife corridors.

Conventional road design can fragment habitats, disrupt animal movement, and increase wildlife-vehicle collisions. Roadkill has become a growing concern, particularly where highways intersect national parks and buffer zones.

Biodiversity considerations are often treated as compliance measures rather than core design principles. Limited coordination across sectors, gaps in financing, and technical capacity constraints make it difficult to consistently deliver nature-positive transport infrastructure.

Opportunity

Nepal has a strong policy foundation for green, resilient, and inclusive development. National plans and strategies recognize the need to balance infrastructure growth with environmental protection, climate resilience, and social inclusion.

This creates an opportunity to rethink how transportation infrastructure is planned, moving toward designs that actively maintain ecological connectivity, reduce wildlife mortality, and protect ecosystem services.

By integrating nature-positive solutions early in the planning process, Nepal can demonstrate how transportation investments can support biodiversity conservation while delivering long-term economic and social benefits.

Approach

The Nepal project takes a two-pronged approach. At the national level, it strengthens policies, planning tools, and institutional capacity so biodiversity and ecological connectivity are considered from the earliest stages of transport infrastructure development.

At the site level, the project supports practical solutions along the Narayanghat-Hetauda section of the East-West Highway, where expansion intersects the buffer zones of Chitwan and Parsa National Parks. While core highway construction is financed through existing investments, GRID helps ensure surrounding habitats and wildlife corridors are well managed so wildlife crossings function effectively.

Across all activities, the project emphasizes community participation, gender and social inclusion, and knowledge sharing, ensuring solutions are locally grounded and equitable.

Results & Impact

The Nepal project aims to strengthen biodiversity conservation and ecological connectivity in transportation infrastructure planning and design. By improving habitat management and supporting wildlife-friendly infrastructure, the project seeks to reduce wildlife mortality and maintain critical movement corridors.

The project is expected to deliver benefits for communities living alongside major transport corridors by reducing human-wildlife conflict, protecting ecosystem services, and supporting inclusive participation in decision-making.

Partners & Local Team

This project is executed by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Forest and Environment of Nepal, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and the Global Environment Facility. Implementation is supported by national institutions, local partners, and communities in the Terai Arc Landscape.