Located in the shadow of the Himalayas, the trans-boundary Terai Arc belt stretches from Nepal’s Bagmati River in the east to India’s Yamuna River in the west covering an area of 51,000 sq.km. This transboundary landscape supports one of the most spectacular assemblages of large mammals in Asia such as the Bengal tiger and the Greater one-horned rhinoceros.It is home to  around 86 species of mammals, 600 species of birds, and over 2,100 species of flowering plants. 

In Nepal, over 7.5 million people live in the landscape and depend on its forests for food, fuel, and medicine. Meanwhile, the fertile floodplains that lie within India have long since been converted to agriculture, making it one of the most densely populated regions in India, with a population of nearly 50 million people. It is now a mosaic of villages, large cities, and fast-growing townships, road and rail networks as well as a diversity of ecosystems. Habitats in this region range from mountains to floodplains and dense forests to some of the last remaining riverine grasslands.

Maintaining and restoring connectivity is critical now and in the future for the Terai Arc as urban centres grow and more permeable agricultural lands diminish in some corridors.

The corridors of the Terai Arc Landscape in Nepal are a key characteristic of the landscape, consisting of seven corridors and three bottlenecks. Together, these were conceptualised to facilitate connectivity for wildlife between protected areas on either side of this transboundary landscape. WWF also provides alternate livelihood options for local communities within an enabling policy and institutional environment while engaging them in forest restoration to protect their amazing biodiversity.