Ms.
Hi, I am Swastika Subedi from Nepal. I have completed my bachelor’s degree in Science in Forestry in 2025. I am especially interested in wildlife conservation, management and research. I have experience in working in high altitude mountain communities and research in mammal species.
Recent Comments
Hello Swastika,
Welcome to WildHub! It’s wonderful to meet someone so deeply invested in wildlife conservation, especially with your focus on ungulates and river dolphins, such fascinating and often underrepresented species.
Given your hands-on experience in Nepal’s high-altitude mountain communities, I’d be curious to know: what’s one challenge you've faced working in those landscapes, and how did local knowledge or culture shape your approach to conservation?
Looking forward to hearing more about your journey and learning from your perspective!
Warm regards from Kenya,
Simon
I am sorry for the spelling your name incorrectly , Simon.
Hi, Swastika! I saw you at the screening event of Balancing the Scales. I am delighted to see you joining here at WildHub. A warm welcome 🌻
You can explore the Rooms, Discussions, and Events sections of the website. I am sure you will find so many resources and opportunities relevant to your interests. Also, we hold a WildHub Socials Event every month on the last wednesday. It's a great way to connect to the conservationists around the world besides the member directory.
Thank you so much for being a part of WildHub community. We hope to see more of your impactful work! For any queries, reach out to me!
Hi Fairuse, I am delighted to be here.Thank you for your warm welcome. I look forward to connecting with members from around the world!!!
I look forward to exchanging meaningful knowledge with all the conservationist here and hopefully we might also get to collaborate in real life projects.
Hello Swastika,
Welcome to WildHub! It’s wonderful to meet someone so deeply invested in wildlife conservation, especially with your focus on ungulates and river dolphins, such fascinating and often underrepresented species.
Given your hands-on experience in Nepal’s high-altitude mountain communities, I’d be curious to know: what’s one challenge you've faced working in those landscapes, and how did local knowledge or culture shape your approach to conservation?
Looking forward to hearing more about your journey and learning from your perspective!
Warm regards from Kenya,
Simon
Hello Simone,
These are really important question. Thank you for asking. I will be sharing my views based on experiences gained from working in the Mustang region of Nepal which lies in a rain shadow zone beyond the Annapurna Mountains range.
Firstly, working in high altitude conditions poses numerous challenges and each of them affect you in different ways. One of the obvious and major challenges was the climate itself. Working in those low temperatures with extreme winds made fieldworks, mainly in the southern most part extremely difficult, so much that I used to feel unwell every time I returned from the field. Since the air is so thin and the oxygen levels are low, it really testes your body.
Another major challenge was the lack of human resources specifically during the winter season as most of the people migrate to major cities in warmer regions. Due to this many conservation programs need to be postponed for later months, the transportation service also completely stops at one point during the winter and it is extremely hard to find field guides or find many people who have knowledge of these ecosystems.
So, these were some of the major challenges that I faced and for which you need to be prepared for while working in most of the high altitude landscapes in Nepal.
The approach to conservation is deeply intertwined with the culture and the traditional knowledge as the lives of people here exist simultaneously with the biodiversity in such vulnerable and harsh climate. Being here taught me that the determining part in conservation is always played by the attitude of local people. Further, it provided me a better perspective on the nuisances of coexistence of wildlife, natural resources and livelihood people and how we as facilitators of conservation should always try to understand the needs of people and respect the valuable insight that the local knowledge provides.
I hope this answers your questions.
I would love to hear about your experiences in conversation!!