  In this paper we point out the existence of a remarkable nonlocal
transformation between the damped harmonic oscillator and a modified Emden type
nonlinear oscillator equation with linear forcing, $\ddot{x}+\alpha
x\dot{x}+\beta x^3+\gamma x=0,$ which preserves the form of the time
independent integral, conservative Hamiltonian and the equation of motion.
Generalizing this transformation we prove the existence of non-standard
conservative Hamiltonian structure for a general class of damped nonlinear
oscillators including Li\'enard type systems. Further, using the above
Hamiltonian structure for a specific example namely the generalized modified
Emden equation $\ddot{x}+\alpha x^q\dot{x}+\beta x^{2q+1}=0$, where $\alpha$,
$\beta$ and $q$ are arbitrary parameters, the general solution is obtained
through appropriate canonical transformations. We also present the conservative
Hamiltonian structure of the damped Mathews-Lakshmanan oscillator equation. The
associated Lagrangian description for all the above systems is also briefly
discussed.
