Invest in the Communities Conserving Red Pandas

Our global team of passionate Panda Guardians is helping us lift livelihoods and foster sustainability among local communities.

At Red Panda Network (RPN), we take a holistic approach to red panda conservation, centering local communities in our efforts to protect and conserve wild red pandas. Through initiatives that improve livelihoods while promoting sustainable skill-building and employment for locals, we empower the people who live among the pandas.

The monthly giving program funds our empowerment initiatives, with Panda Guardians (our monthly donors) having a tremendous impact on community-based conservation across red panda habitat.

Programs like Stoves for Stewards, which protects the health of local people while preserving red panda habitat, are made possible through our monthly giving program. Panda Guardians support allowed us to provide local stakeholders, including Forest Guardians and homestay owners, with 60 improved, energy-efficient cookstoves to replace traditional open-fire stoves in 2023, totaling nearly 500 improved cookstoves distributed!

You can support an improved stove for a red panda steward for $25 a month here!

Last year our phenomenal monthly donors also supported red panda conservation scholarships for 221 local students from 30 community schools in Nepal! The Red Panda Conservation Scholarships for Education program supports motivated students from marginalized families while engaging local people in conserving red pandas.

Restoration & Nursery Guardians

The Plant A Red Panda Home campaign is restoring biological connectivity in Nepal, and our reforestation efforts are creating sustainable livelihood opportunities. Local people are involved and employed in all restoration activities. "Restoration Guardians" plant trees and protect the reforestation sites to earn a sustainable income, while "Nursery Guardians" work in our Forest Conservation Nurseries taking care of the saplings, making nursery beds, and nursery construction.

You can sponsor a Restoration Guardian for $15 a month here!

Sustainable Income

Many local people in Nepal rely on forest resources to survive, unsustainably extracting from the same forests where red pandas roam. The support of our Panda Guardians allows us to provide alternative income for the local communities.

We distribute seeds and provide greenhouses and polyhouses to help improve agricultural yields and increase food production for farmers and their families. The high-value crops can then be sold in local markets, providing a sustainable source of revenue while helping to reduce forest dependency and destruction. Last year, 26 families in Nepal's Panchthar district received almost 65,000 high-value wintergreen seedlings thanks to our Panda Guardians!

A local recipient of high-value wintergreen seedlings.

Our impact continues into 2024, with 16 local families in Nepal supported with polyhouses to grow organic vegetables. Alongside these polyhouses, we have established a Himalayan Nettle nursery in Phurumbu Kharka Community Forest with 18 beds that produce 1,061 seedlings!

Empowering Women

Unfortunately, poverty continues to be a problem for local communities and red panda conservation efforts in Nepal, disproportionately impacting women who have fewer opportunities for independent income. When people are impoverished, they will do what they can to survive, including extracting resources from the forests.

However, through our ecotourism programs, we have found an avenue for conserving red pandas that also enhances local livelihoods, especially for women who experience oppressive inequalities in rural Nepal. We are committed to helping foster gender equality and financial independence for these women. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, 43 women-led homestays were supported for registration and operation in 2023!

These women were empowered to take leadership in their homestay operations through expansive trainings and resources provided by RPN and our supporters. In April of 2024, twenty-six local people in Phalelung-3 of Nepal's Panchthar district received a five-day homestay management and cooking training. The participants were trained in the necessary skills to run a homestay effectively, including food safety, hygiene practices, and efficient kitchen workflow.

Participants of homestay management and cooking training.

Not all the women of Nepal are equipped for or interested in running a homestay, so we offer diverse skill-building opportunities, including our nettle-fiber production and rug-weaving trainings. In 2023, 17 local women participated in a 60-day rug weaving training to support sustainable income, and this year, 10 local women trained for one month in rug weaving! Participants learned about loom setup, wool/thread material selection, rug weaving techniques, and design.

To offer independence throughout all steps of the process, we have also offered a series of nettle-fiber production and processing training, including a 30-day nettle weaving training for 18 local women in 2023.

You can help women in Nepal find financial independence for $15 a month here!

A woman who attended the 30-day rug-weaving training we organized in Nepal shared that “participating in this training and producing rugs on my own has helped me earn income to pay rent and my children’s education costs.”

Your Impact

Thanks to the support of our monthly donors, we can make a difference for the local communities in red panda range. We are so grateful to have 530 Panda Guardians dedicated to helping the people who protect red pandas! We hope to reach 600 monthly donors this year, which will bolster our sustainable livelihood programs to alleviate poverty so people and pandas can thrive.

Want to join the movement to help people and pandas? Invest in sustainable livelihoods in Nepal by becoming a Panda Guardian today and receive a free patch with a $15 monthly donation! Donate $25 a month, and we'll send you a free Panda Guardian t-shirt.