Some 100,000 refugees and asylum seekers from southern Bhutan are accommodated in seven camps in two of the most densely populated districts of eastern Nepal. The refugees are of Nepalese origin having Bhutanese citizenship and/or long term residence in Bhutan. The influx of asylum seekers began arriving in Nepal since the beginning of 1991, peaked in 1992, then almost stopped from 1993 onwards. The majority of the refugees are residing in the camps, while the remainders are believed to have settled elsewhere in Nepal.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees. The provision of adequate systematic baseline data on the socio-economic and natural resource condition of the refugee camps helps improve management effectiveness. Considering this, United Nations Environment Programme, Environment Assessment Programme for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP/EAP.AP) and the Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Association (AITAA)- Nepal Chapter are jointly implementing the above mentioned project in collaboration with UNHCR.

Goals/Objectives

The broad goal of the project as outlined in the project proposal is:

• To assess the environmental degradation in and around the refugee camps before and after the arrival of refugees using remote sensing and GIS technology; and
• To develop a GIS database focusing on particular components such as: deforestation, flood, road rehabilitation and features of interest to UNHCR.