UNESCO- IUCN Enhancing Our Heritage Project: Monitoring and Managing for Success in Natural World Heritage Sites Final Management Effectiveness Evaluation Report Chitwan National Park, Nepal October 2007 Table of Content Project Background 1 Evaluation Process 2 The Project Workbook and Tool Kits 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION 4-10 2.0 CONTEXT ASSESSMENT 11-45 2.1 Major Site Values and Objectives 11 2.2. Identifying Threats 21 2.3 Relationship with Stakeholders/Partners 30 2.4 Review of National Context 43 3.0 PLANNING ASSESSMENT 46-57 3.1. Management Plan 46 3.2 Design Assessment 54 4.0 INPUTS AND PROCESS ASSESSMENT 58-62 4.1 Management Needs and Inputs for Staff 58 4.2 Equipments and Infrastructure 59 4.3 Management Needs and Inputs for Budget 61 5.0 ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT PROCESSES 63-78 5.1 Management Structures and Systems 63 5.2 Resource Management 63 5.3 Management and Tourism 64 5.4 Management and Communities/Neighbours 64 6.0 OUTPUTS 79-83 6.1 Assessment of Management Plan Implementation 79 6.2 Assessment of Work/Site Output Indicators 81 7. OUTCOMES 84-96 7.1 Assessing the Outcomes of Management – Ecological Integrity 84 7.2 Assessing the Outcomes of Management – Achievement of Principal Objectives 93 1 List of Boxes Box 1: Historical Events in the Chitwan National Park 9 Box 2: IUCN-WCPA framework for Management Effectiveness Evaluation 10 Box 3: Tourism in Chitwan National Park 18-19 Box 4: Impacts of Insurgency on Biodiversity Conservation in Chitwan National Park 28 Box 5: Rhino Conservation in Chitwan National Park 29 Box 6: Partnership in Conservation 32 Box 7: Peoples Participation in Biodiversity Conservation 40-41 Box 8: Alternative Forest Resource Development in the Buffer Zone 42 Box 9: Conservation Legislations, Policies and Action Plans 43 Box 10: Habitat Management 77-78 Box 11: Captive Breeding of Threatened Species 83 List of Figures Figure 1: Location Map of Chitwan National Park, Nepal 5 Figure 2: Distribution of Community Forest in the Buffer Zone of Chitwan National Park 42 List of Tables Table 1: Tourist and Revenue trends in Chitwan National Park 18 Table 2: Estimated population of rhinos in Chitwan National Park 29 2 PROJECT BACKGROUND Enhancing Our Heritage: Managing and Monitoring for Success in Natural World Heritage Sites is an UNESCO/IUCN project funded by the United Nations Foundation (UNF). The six year project (2002-2007) is being implemented in nine world heritage sites located in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. The three project sites in South Asia are Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Kaziranga National Park, Assam and Chitwan National Park, Nepal. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun has been selected as a Regional Partner Institution to provide technical backstopping for project implementation in South Asia. The principal objectives of the project are to promote the development of monitoring and evaluation systems and to facilitate adaptive management. Based on the lessons learnt, the project aims to enhance the periodic reporting process for the World Heritage Sites. An initial management effectiveness evaluation as per the project methodology was carried out in Chitwan National Park in the year 2002-03 and the findings and recommendations were presented in the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa in September, 2003. Based on the recommendations made in the report, capacity building and monitoring initiatives were taken up in the sites between 2003 and 2007. The final management effectiveness evaluation was carried out from February, 2007 to October, 2007 and the results are presented in this report. 3 EVALUATION PROCESS A number of stakeholder consultations and smaller meetings were held during the course of evaluation between February ’07 and October ’07. The core team comprised of the following: Site Managers : Mr. Megh Bahadur Pandey Mr. Kamal Jung Kunwar Mr. Ana Nath Baral Mr. Karun Pandit Mr. Lal Babu Yadav DNPWC Representative(s) : Dr. Shyam Bajimaya Mr. Jhamak Bahadur Karki WII Scientist and Coordinators : Dr. V.B. Mathur Mr. B.C. Choudhury Civil Society Representative : Mr. Ram Chandra Nepal Mr. Purna Kunwar Project Associates : Mr. Tej Bahadur Thapa Dr. Ashish David Dr. Ashok Verma WII UNESCO Project Leader : Mr. P.R. Sinha Notes on the layout of the Report For each of the six elements of the IUCN-WCPA framework viz. Context, Planning, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Outcomes the results of the final management effectiveness evaluation are presented in separate sub-sections. Key management issues and monitoring interventions are presented in the Boxes. 4 THE PROJECT WORKBOOK AND TOOL KITS The project workbook and worksheets were appropriately modified by the EoH Project Team, based on the lessons learnt during the project implementation across nine sites. The final Management Effectiveness Evaluation is based on these documents, which are available at project website http://www.enhancingheritage.net/docs_public.asp. 5 Section 1: Introduction The Chitwan National Park (CNP), established in 1973 as a first National Park of Nepal, is situated between 270 34' to 270 68' N and 830 87' to 840 74' E in the Dun valley of South- Central lowland, Nepal (Figure 1). CNP spans across four districts viz. Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Parsa and Makawanpur. The park covers an area of 932 km2 while the buffer zone (270 28' N to 270 70' N and 830 83' E to 840 77' E) extends 750 km2 area, but latest GPS survey of the park boundary and GIS digitization based on 1992 topo maps indicate that the park and buffer zone are 1182 km2 and 766 km2 respectively. The park established as the IUCN Category II of Protected Area for the conservation of indigenous Terai fauna particularly the endangered species (Rhinoceros, Tiger, Gaur, Gangetic dolphin, Gharial) in their natural habitat (CNP Management Plan 1975- 1979). The CNP is a World Natural Heritage property and it also contains a Ramsar Site - ‘Beeshazari and Associated Lake’ in its buffer zone. The park is renowned for its unique diversity of habitats, flora and fauna and outstanding natural features. UNESCO designated CNP as a World Natural Heritage Site in November 1984 under the World Heritage Convention recognizing its unique biological resources of outstanding universal value. The observations made by the UNESCO advisory body at the time of nomination includes (i) Chitwan is the largest and least disturbed example of natural Sal hill forest and associated communities of the Terai, (ii) Chitwan is managed to a high standard with professional staff and armed guards, (iii) thatch collection is well controlled and not seen as a negative impact, (iv) the national park office addresses the problems of crop damage by the wildlife through education programs, and (v) tourism provides a significant economic justification for the park and facilities developed. 6 Figure 1: Location Map of Chitwan National Park, Nepal 7 Approximately 70% of the park is covered by Sal forest; other habitat includes riverine forest, deciduous forest, Chir pine forest in the hills, grassland and wetlands. The biodiversity value of CNP is outstanding consisting of 7 ecosystem types (BPP 1995), 7 forest types, 6 grassland types, 3 main river systems, number of oxbow lakes and wetlands in Dun valley and Siwalik of Nepal. Among the wetlands, the Tamor Tal is surrounded by Sal forest and Lami Tal is one of the best habitats for Mugger Crocodile. The park harbours 993 species of flora including 234 species of vascular plants, 3 gymnosperms, 13 pteridophytes, 415 dicots, 137 monocots, 16 species of orchids (BPP 1995, Bhuju et al. 2007). CNP supports 58 species of mammals, 543 species of birds, 56 species of herpetofauna and 124 species of fishes (Baral and Upadhaya 2006; Bhuju et al. 2007). Many endangered plants; the Tree fern (Cyathea spinosa), Cycas (Cycas pectinata), Screw pine (Pandanus nepalensis), and animals; the Greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximas), gaur (Bos gaurus), Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica), Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis), Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), Gharials (Gavialis gangeticus), etc, and endemic species the Maskey’s burrowing frog (Tomopterna maskeyi) occur in the CNP. The Beeshazari and Associated Lake Ramsar Site in buffer zone add the significance of the park. CNP provides a natural linkage to the lesser Himalayas on its north through the Barandabhar, the Siwaliks hills and the Terai forests towards the south, the Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) in the east. The Terai of Chitwan boarding India makes the transboundary linkage with the Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Udaipur Sanctuary and Sohagibarwa Sanctuary. The contiguous surface area of these five protected areas and buffer zones of CNP and PWR makes it one of the largest protected landscapes in Indian sub-continent with over 3,000 km2 area. CNP as a national park is managed for ecosystem, species and genetic diversity; maintenance of environmental services; and sustainable tourism and recreation. The CNP has over 3 decades of experience in resolving conflicts between the park and people. Management of CNP is mainly focused on management of park, tourism and buffer zone. Due to sustained conservation efforts, the population of terrestrial endangered species has improved; the rhino population has significantly increased from below 100 in 1960s to peak number of 544 in 2000 (370 in 2005, decrease from 2000 is the result of heavy poaching during insurgency period, see Box 5), tiger from 46 individuals in 1977 to over 60 breeding adults in 2000. Similarly, Gaur population is 296 in 2007 and population of Sloth bear ranges between 200-250 excluding cubs (DNPWC/MoSC 2000). The Gharial population has been revived from close to extinction due to the captive breeding effort. Since 1981, a total of 671 captive bred Gharials have been released into various rivers of Nepal (Box 11).