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Site description (2005 baseline):
Site location and context
Rampur Valley (=Rampurphant) lies in Palpa district of west-central Nepal. The Kali Gandaki River borders Rampur valley on the northern side. Agricultural land covers about 41.85% of Palpa district area while forest land covers 39.6%. The district is thinly populated. Most of the communities consist of farmers who practice terraced agriculture on the lower slopes; the higher slopes remain vegetated in some form.
The IBA has been identified because of its important White-rumped Vulture nesting colony. Vulture nests are spread along the Kali Gandaki River in a 15 km stretch in patches of riverine forests. The most important of the nesting sites is located at Khaireni forest where over 30 nests have been located.
The riverine forests growing along the Kali Gandaki River have Silk-Cotton Tree Bombax ceiba, Trewia nudiflora, Acacia catechu and various other tree species. The Silk-Cotton is the main nesting tree in the area.
In 2003 the post-breeding population was 123 birds; a total of 70 active nests was found. These included 31 nests at Khaireni forest in an area of 0.25 km²; this is the highest concentration of White-rumped Vulture nests in the country. Half of the nests in Rampur valley were successful in 2003, a better breeding success than elsewhere in Nepal (Gautam et al. 2003a, b, Baral and Pain 2003, Gautam and Baral 2004). In 2004 the number of active nests had fallen a little to 64, although the observer did not consider that the vulture population had declined (Ramji Gautam in litt. May 2004).
Non-bird biodiversity: Golden Jackal Canis aureus, Bengal Fox Vulpes bengalensis, Indian Hare Lepus nigricollis, Bengal Fox Vulpes bengalensis have been seen here.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
The forests where vultures are nesting are primarily managed by local communities under agreement with the Department of Forest. Communities managing the forests are not aware of the significance of the nesting vultures. Use of diclofenac in the area is proved as a dead adult vulture collected here showed gout and traces of diclofenac were found (Andrew Cunningham verbally 2004, Shultz et al. 2004). Oaks et al. 2004 have shown a 100% correlation of gout associated birds and diclofenac contamination and therefore contamination of food is considered a major threat to these vultures.
Other major threats include cutting of trees, disturbance to birds, especially during the nesting period and food shortage. Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) was informed by the field researchers that all Silk-Cotton trees in the Khaireni area had been given licence to be cut by a contractor. In an attempt to stop the tree cutting, BCN informed the authorities and consequently no additional trees were cut in the area. However, the fear is that such a halt has only a temporary effect and it is likely that all the trees will be cut in the near future. Urbanisation is a potential threat as it may lead to a change in animal husbandry, which may seriously limit the vultures’ food supply. Other potential threats are the high amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilisers that are being used in Rampur which may pose a serious threat not only to the vultures but to the entire ecosystem.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Rampur valley (Nepal). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/rampur-valley-iba-nepal on 22/11/2024.
