Rara National Park is Nepal's smallest and most scenic national which covers an area of 106 sq.km. Situated in Mugu district, most of the park is at an altitude of about 3000 meters and is forested by conifers. The centerpiece is the pristine Lake Rara, the biggest lake in Nepal and is surrounded by richly forested hills, and the snow-capped peaks around it. On the other hand among the district Mugu has the lowest Human Development Index. Opportunities for income generation in this remote district (at least 4 days walk from the nearest road head!) are very scarce, except for some high alpine herbs. People rely on self reliant rain dependent agriculture, and suffered both from droughts and hailstorms in 2006. World Food Programme has for the first time in Nepal launched its Emergency Operations Programme for Mugu and other Karnali districts in 2006 and has been helicoptering rice in at enormous costs.
The project aimed to reduce the impact in the national park by enhancing livelihood via producing seabuckthorn (Hippophae salicifolia) juice in Ruga VDC and Pina VDC (Pina lies in the newly established bufferzone of the Park). These VDCs have considerable natural stocks of seabuckthorn.
Accouding the bufferzone regulation, although 30 to 50% of the revenues of national parks should be ploughed back into the buffer zone management but the Park has hardly any revenues due to its remoteness and inaccessibility.
People are still cutting away seabuckthorn trees to increase the area for agricultural production, leading to increased drying up of soils and increased landslide incidences. People are not aware of the advantages of agro-forestry and the fact that seabuckthorn is a valuable nitrogen fixer. Under the principle of ?use it or loose it?, this projects allows for income generation based on the NTFP seabuckthorn for the people of the poorest district of Nepal, while at the same time helps promoting bio-diversity, agro-forestry, community forestry and soil conservation.