The main threats to Nepal's biodiversity are (Nepal Biodiversity Strategy, 2002):
While the above mentioned are direct threats, there is the number of indirect drivers and root causes that interact in complex ways to cause human-induced changes in biodiversity.
Indirect drivers including
- Encroachment/fragmentation and degradation of habitat
- Poaching and illegal trade of key wild animals and plants
- Unsustainable use of natural resources
- The spread of invasive alien plant species
- Human-wildlife conflict
- Climate change (direct impacts)
- Overgrazing by livestock
- Fire, flood, and landslide
- Pollution of aquatic environments and changes in river flows'
- Large infrastructure development
Indirect drivers including
- Inequitable access to forest benefits,
- Lack of economic alternatives,
- Population growth,
- Cultural and religious factors that influence local communities' behavior in ways that impact biodiversity, and
- Climate change is having increasing impacts on people and nature, in some cases exacerbating indirect drivers of biodiversity loss.