Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

Journal of Development Innovations

R&D, FDI, and Innovation: Examination of the Patent Applications in the OECD Countries

Shankar Ghimire1, Nawaraj Sharma Paudel2

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the effect of research and development expenditure (R&D) on innovation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries

over the period 1996-2015. Innovation, the dependent variable, is measured using two different proxies: patent applications by residents (PAR) and the patent applications by non- residents (PANR) in the host countries. R&D is the main variable of interest which is also

interacted with foreign direct investment (FDI) to see how the entry of foreign competitors influence the role of R&D on innovation in the host country. The findings show that R&D alone promotes innovation by residents but impedes innovation by non-residents. However, when FDI interacts with the R&D in the host country, it produces opposite results. Specifically, increasing FDI in the presence of certain level of R&D in host countries impacts

PAR negatively and the PANR positively. These results have important policy implications.

JEL Classification: F21, O30 Key Words: R&D, FDI, OECD, Innovation, Patents

1Shankar Ghimire, Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Decision Sciences, Western Illinois University. E-mail: [email protected]

2 Nawaraj Sharma Paudel, PhD Candidate, Department of Economics, Southern Illinois University. E-mail: [email protected] Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

1. Introduction

Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 commented that the “creative destruction refers to the incessant product and process of innovation mechanism by which new production units replace outdated ones” (Schumpeter, 1942). By innovation, he means the changes in the methods of production and transportation, production of a new product, change in the industrial organization, opening up of a new market, etc. In that sense, innovation refers to the applications of new technology, new material, new methods and new sources of energy. But, identifying the determinants of innovation is important from policy perspectives and for their economic significance. In that regard, this paper focuses on two sources that make technological expertise more prominent -- research and development expenditure (R&D) and foreign direct investment (FDI) -- and analyzes how they promote innovation, and, thus, help with the creative destruction.

To accomplish this objective, we use two different measures of innovation. A widely used proxy of innovation in the literature is the number of patents, or one of its variants, filed in the entity of interest (Katila, 2000; McAleer & Slottje, 2005; Gallini, 2002). Utilizing this proxy, we disaggregate the patent applications in to two categories: patent applications by residents (PAR) and those by non-residents (PANR) across the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This allows us to examine, first, how innovations by the two different groups of firms and individuals are associated with the individual country’s domestic R&D expenditure. Second, it also allows us to analyze if the impact of such domestic investment in research and development is altered by external influence, mainly the FDI. To boost innovation and to enhance their economic performance, many OECD member countries have implemented national strategic plans. According to the OECD (2019) data, the gross domestic spending on R&D in OECD countries was $1.42 trillion or about 2.37% of the close to $60 trillion GDP. This figure for the OECD countries alone is much higher compared to the global R&D expenditures, which was about $1.961 trillion in 2017. The OECD countries have generally refrained from active industrial policy in recent years and rather sought new ways to improve the environment for innovation in order to boost productivity and growth (OECD, 2007). An OECD report suggests that as global competition intensifies and innovation becomes riskier and more costly, the business sector internationalizes knowledge-intensive corporate functions, including R&D (Guinet & De Backer, 2008). The report shows more recent patterns of firms’ increasing practice of offshore R&D activities to other countries to tap the benefits of new market and technology trends worldwide. The statistics presented above reflect only one side of the story. FDI has been traditionally considered to be a vital source in the dissemination of technology. It tends to involve establishing more of a substantial, long-term impact in the host country’s economic performance. FDI is usually undertaken by multinational companies, large institutions, or venture capital firms for their R&D activity. And, such FDI is considered to have played an important role in the economic growth of OECD countries (Borensztein, et al., 1998; Liu, 2008). The main reason for such case is because the internationalization of production helps exploit the advantages of enterprises and countries, increase competitive pressures in OECD markets and stimulate technology transfer and innovative activity (OECD, 2002). So, there is an incentive for the member countries to promote FDI inflow in their respective economies. As a result, global FDI reached $1.76 trillion in 2015 and OECD countries were the major recipients (UNCTAD, 2016).

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

Given the background, it is appealing to analyze whether R&D impacts innovation and if FDI influences such impact. In that context, this paper specifically analyzes what happens to the innovation (as measured by patent applications) due to domestic R&D vis-a-vis FDI, and effect of their interactions using a panel data for the OECD member countries for the period 1996-2015. The findings show that R&D alone promotes innovation by residents but impedes the innovation by non-residents. However, when FDI interacts with the R&D in the host country, it produces opposite results. Specifically, increasing FDI in the presence of certain level of R&D impacts PAR negatively and the PANR positively. That is, R&D and FDI have a substitution effect on innovation by residents whereas they have a complementary effect on innovation by non-residents.

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 provides a summary of the representative literature in the FDI-innovation nexus. Section 3 sets up the empirical model; Section 4 presents the data source and the summary statistics of the variables used in the estimation. Section 5 discusses the results with respect to patent applications of residence and that patent of non-residents. Section 6 concludes the paper. 2. Literature Review It is a widely held view that research and development (R&D) and innovative activities are difficult to finance in a freely competitive marketplace. R&D investment has a number of characteristics that make it different from ordinary investment. First and most importantly, 50% or more of R&D spending goes towards the wages and salaries of highly educated scientists and engineers (Hall & Lerner, 2010). Labor creates an intangible asset, the firm’s knowledge base, from which profits are generated. If workers leave or get fired before accomplishing a project, this is a loss to the firm’s output. Because of that, firms want to smooth their R&D spending over time, in order to avoid having to lay off knowledge workers. A second important feature of R&D investment is the degree of uncertainty associated with its output. R&D investment through venture capital does not always guarantee innovation in the early state. However, it promotes innovation in the development stage, and restrains innovation in the expansion stage (Lin et al., 2019). Thus, the impact of R&D on innovation may depend on the labor markets. FDI, on the other hand, has been a major area of research for a long time, especially focused on its impacts on a country’s macro economy. However, the question of whether it impacts innovation is relatively scant. Erdal and Gocer (2015) find that China has been the largest FDI recipient among developing countries since the 1990s. Similarly, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea provided tax incentives, monopoly rights, and cost advantages to multinational companies in order to increase FDI inflows to their countries. They have also internalized technical knowledge and technology brought in by foreign investors to produce high-tech and high value- added products and finally they have managed to export them. Chen (2007) studied about the impact of FDI on regional innovation capability in China. The analysis indicates that the spillover effect of FDI are not significant and the impact of FDI on innovation capability is weak. The FDI alone has no use for enhancing indigenous innovation capability. Rather, inward FDI might have the crowding out effect on innovation as well as domestic research and development activities. Research also shows that FDI inflow contributes to speed up R&D and innovation activities that enable host counties to produce value-added products and help increase the national income via export revenues from high-tech products (Erdal & Gocer, 2015). Inward FDI brings knowledge spillovers and new technologies and products into the host country and promotes domestic firms’

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 innovation capability (Sivalogathasan & Wu, 2014). FDI enables the less advanced economy to learn from the production activities in that country. Efficiency in the research labs in the country is thereby increased and innovation becomes profitable (Walz, 1997). Existing research also shows a positive and significant effect of FDI in the productivity growth in service sectors Fernandes and Paunov (2008). Similarly, Gorodnichenko et al. (2014) find that well established (old) firms and firms operating in a sector where methods and skills of production are relatively visible (i.e. services) benefit from the presence of foreign competitors and from supplying to foreign firms. The authors argue that FDI contributes to growth in the countries with strong financial system. A strong financial mechanism contributes positively to the process of technological diffusion associated with FDI (Hermes and Lensink, 2003). Thus, the impact of FDI depends on many domestic characteristics. Our goal in this paper is to see if FDI impacts innovation any differently in the presence of a certain level of R&D in the host country. Huang et al. (2012) use a data set on twenty-nine Chinese provinces for the period 1985– 2008, to analyze a threshold model and show the relationship between spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) and regional innovation in China. They show that the level of regional innovation reaches the minimum innovation threshold then FDI will begin to produce positive regional productivity spillovers. Furthermore, positive productivity spillovers from FDI are substantial only when the level of regional innovation attains a higher threshold. In a related paper, AlAzzawi, (2012) investigates how the flows of knowledge transmitted through FDI affect the production of knowledge in both source and recipient countries, as well as how these flows affect productivity. The paper finds that there are large differences in the way FDI affects innovation and productivity between countries that are technological leaders, and technological followers. The paper concludes that technological followers have much to gain from FDI-induced R&D spillovers, and therefore governments in these countries will find it worthwhile to attract foreign multinationals, while those in the more technologically advanced economies need to consider the costs and benefits of FDI carefully. In sum, most of the studies find a positive and significant effect of FDI on innovation. Very few studies show an insignificant result of FDI on innovation. This research is different from the existing literature in two ways. First, it focuses on the impact of R&D activity on the innovation by residents and non-residents, which provides us an insight that has not been explored in the literature. Second, very few studies exist in the literature investigate the interaction between FDI inflows and the research and development expenditure in the host country. This aspect is important from policy perspective. Additionally, we focus on the OECD countries that are considered to be the leading economies in terms of innovation. And the use 20 years of data immediately after the establishment of WTO to evaluate the impact of FDI inflows on innovation allows us to study how the innovation environment has changed since the shift in the policy that has resulted in a higher international capital flows across the globe. 3. Model and Estimation Technique To find the determinants of innovation, we specify an econometric model where patent application is a function of research and development expenditure (R&D), the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI), and the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Doing so allows us to isolate the effect of R&D and FDI separately, controlling for the macroeconomic performance of a country largely represented by its GDP. Following model represents the relationship among these variables.

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퐼푛푛표푣푎푡푖표푛 = 푓(퐺퐷푃, 푅&퐷, 퐹퐷퐼) (1) Estimating the above specification using a contemporaneous panel regression model exhibits potential endogeneity issues. Given the nature of the economic variables used in the model, there may exist a situation that the direction of causality runs both ways from R&D and FDI to innovation, and vice versa, i.e. there could be a reverse causality. There could also be a simultaneity bias if other macroeconomic variables impact R&D, FDI, and innovation in the same period. To address the potential endogeneity issues, we use two different approaches: lagged explanatory variables and an instrumental variable generalized method of moments, or the system- GMM. First, to subdue this problem, we use the lagged values of all the explanatory variables and explore their association with the current innovation. Since we have two different measures for the dependent variables (i.e., innovation = PAR and PANR), it produces two panel regression equations expressed as follows:

푘 푙푛(퐼푛푣푖푡) = 훼0 + 훽1푙푛(푅&퐷푖푡−1) + 훽2푙푛(퐹퐷퐼푖푡−1) + 훽3푙푛(퐺퐷푃푖푡−1) + 훽4푙푛(푅&퐷 ∗ 퐹퐷퐼)푖푡−1 + 휀푖푡 (2) Where, ln represents the natural logarithms of the variables, Inv is the innovation measure, R&D is the dollar value of domestic expenditure in research and development, FDI is the dollar value of FDI in the balance of payments accounts, GDP is the gross domestic product per capita, and ε is the error term; i = 1, 2, …, 35 representing the OECD member countries; t = 1995, 1996, … , 2015, the twenty years since the establishment of WTO. The key focus here is to test whether the marginal impact of R&D on innovation (훽1) and the interaction between FDI and the R&D measure (훽4) are statistically significant in the above model. In analyzing the data using the standard panel data model, we use the Hausman test to choose between the fixed effects (FE) versus the random effects (RE) model for the panel data. FE regression is an estimation technique employed in a panel data setting that allows one to control for time-invariant unobserved individual characteristics that can be correlated with the observed independent variables. Whereas, in the RE model, the individual-specific effects are uncorrelated with the independent variables. The Hausman test suggests random effect model being the more appropriate for the data used in this paper. Random effect models assist in controlling for unobserved heterogeneity when the heterogeneity is constant over time and not correlated with independent variables (Wooldridge, 2016). Next, we use a dynamic estimation technique - system generalized method of moments or the system-GMM. This technique uses internal instruments in producing consistent estimators. The system GMM not only produces consistent but also more efficient estimators (Ghimire et al., 2016). Thus, the results from the system GMM estimation allow us to check the robustness of the results obtained from the random effects model. The econometric model is expressed as below:

푘 푙푛(퐼푛푣푖푡) = 훽0푙푛(퐼푛푣푖푡−1) + 훽1푙푛(푅&퐷푖푡) + 훽2푙푛(퐹퐷퐼푖푡) + 훽3푙푛(퐺퐷푃푖푡) + 훽4푙푛(푅&퐷 ∗ 퐹퐷퐼)푖푡 + 훼푖 + 푣푖푡 (3)

where, we use country-specific fixed-effects (훼푖) to account for an unobserved country- specific fixed effect. The last term (푣it) in the model (4) indicates an independent and 푣푖푡 identically distributed error term. Again, the key focus is on testing whether the marginal impact of R&D on innovation (훽1) and the interaction between FDI and the measure of R&D (훽4) are statistically significant in the above model.

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4. Data To accomplish the main objective of this paper in isolating the effect of domestic R&D and FDI inflows on innovation in OECD countries, we use a panel of 35 countries for the period from 1996-2015.The annual data of patent applications are used in the model as a proxy for innovation. We use patent application of residents (PAR) and patent of non-residents (PANR) as dependent variables. Patent has some features that makes it the most popular way of measuring innovations despite its critique (Smith, 2005). Similarly, FDI inflows, research and development expenditure percentage of GDP (R&D), and nominal gross domestic product per capita (GDPPC) are the independent variables. All the data for both the dependent and independent variables from The World Bank Data (2016). Moreover, FDI is interacted with research and development expenditure (R&D*FDI). The summary statistics of all the variable used in the model is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics

Variable N Mean Var SD Min Max ln_PAR 654 7.38 4.82 2.195 2.485 12.859 ln_PANR 654 6.779 6.26 2.501 1.099 12.59 ln_R&D Exp 549 .538 0.22 0.466 0 1.386 ln_GDPPC 700 10.074 0.61 0.781 7.796 11.667 ln_FDIBOP 646 22.86 3.20 1.789 14.509 27.322

5. Empirical Results 5.1 Baseline Results: Random Effect Results This section presents the econometric results obtained by estimating the random effect model shown in Equation 2 as suggested by the Hausman test. Two alternative specifications are reported in Table 2: first column shows the results for the resident patent applications and the second column shows the results for the non-resident patent applications. As seen on Table 2, the first row shows that R&D alone has a positive association with the patent applications by resident but a negative association with the patents by non-residents. In particular, a 1% increase in R&D increases PAR by 2.9% but reduces PANR by 4.16%. From the second row, FDI alone has a positive significant association with PAR but a negative insignificant result on PANR. In particular, a 10% increase in FDI increases PAR by 9.7%. Based on the coefficients on the interaction term, we see opposite results. Especially, there is negative coefficient when we estimate the PAR but a positive coefficient when we estimate the PANR. The findings show that R&D and FDI alone have a positive association with PAR but a negative association with PANR. However, if FDI interacts with certain level of R&D in the host country, it produces opposite results.

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Table 2. Estimating the Impact of R&D and FDI on PAR and PANR

(1) (2) ln_PAR ln_PANR ln_R&D 2.906*** -4.161*** (6.27) (-4.10)

ln_FDI 0.0972*** -0.0369 (5.53) (-0.96)

ln_R&D*FDI -0.0863*** 0.201*** (-4.19) (4.47)

ln_GDP -0.0283 -1.557*** (-0.56) (-14.10)

_cons 5.159*** 23.12*** (9.56) (21.58) N 548 548 t statistics in parentheses; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

5.2 System-GMM Results

Below, we present the results obtained from the system-GMM estimation expressed in Equation 3. While the results are not as strong as observed in the random effects estimation in terms of the size of the coefficients and the statistical significance, they are consistent in terms of the direction of the association.

Table 3. System-GMM dynamic Panel data estimation. (1) (2) ln_PAR ln_PANR Inv_Lag 0.974*** 0.927*** (82.44) (39.97)

ln_R&D 0.489 -1.767* (1.30) (-2.10)

ln_FDI 0.0150 -0.0674* (1.19) (-2.37)

ln_R&D*FDI -0.0269 0.0948* (-1.59) (2.54)

ln_GDP 0.0687 -0.0562 (1.73) (-0.68)

_cons -0.756* 2.391** (-2.13) (2.91) N 520 520 t statistics in parentheses; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

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As seen on Table 3, the first row shows that innovation in the past periods have a positive association with the current level of innovation. This is true for both PAR and PANR as expected. From the second row, we see that R&D alone has a positive insignificant association with the patent applications by resident but a negative significant association with the patents by non- residents. From the third row, FDI alone has a positive insignificant association with PAR but a negative significant result on PANR. Based on the coefficients on the interaction term, we see opposite results. Especially, there is negative insignificant coefficient when we estimate the PAR but a positive significant coefficient when we estimate the PANR. The findings show that R&D and FDI alone have a positive association with PAR but a negative association with PANR. However, if FDI interacts with certain level of R&D in the host country, it produces positive results. 5.3 Discussion of the Results

We see that the results from both the random effects model and the system GMM estimation are consistent. This makes sense because residents would always try to invest in innovation when they are left alone, but when FDI comes foreign firms want to take advantage of a favorable environment in the host country and file more patent applications. This would crowd out the role of R&D on host country firms. Regardless, it’s good for the host country to increase total patent applications and help with overall innovation. In particular, it is the non-residents who are helping the country innovate.

Our results are consistent with existing research. Research shows that FDI can benefit innovation activity in the host country via spillover channels such as reverse engineering, skilled labor turnovers, demonstration effects, and supplier–customer relationships (Cheung and Ping, 2004). Similarly, Papaioannou (2004) claims that there is a positive innovation effects on productivity growth, generated by the adoption of FDI. The findings are also consistent with Kuemmerle (1999) who suggest that firms seek different types of spillovers from the national and local environment in which they invest that would influence other sectors in the economy. Foreign firms also create spillovers for the local environment because R&D sites provide employment and learning opportunities for local researchers. Liu and Buck, (2007) show that foreign R&D activities by multinational enterprises in a host country significantly affect the innovation performance of domestic firms only when absorptive ability is considered. Chen (2007) also found that the FDI can be an important channel for technology diffusion, however, the correlation between FDI and regional innovational capabilities (RIC) is statistically insignificant. Only when the volume of FDI matches the stock of human capital (researchers) and technological capabilities then the regional innovational capabilities be developed and enhanced. Similarly, Fu and Gond (2011) find that the collective indigenous R&D activities at the industry level are the major driver of technology upgrading of indigenous firms that push out the technology frontier. However, foreign investment appears to contribute to static industry capabilities, R&D activities of foreign-invested firms have exercised a significant negative effect on the technical change of local firms. Liu et al. (2010) also shows that FDI intensity in an industry has a negative impact on local innovation.

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6. Conclusions

The main objective of this study is to analyze how research and development expenditure (R&D) and foreign direct investment (FDI) impact innovation in a country. The paper analyzes data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries employing the random effect panel data model and the dynamic system GMM technique. The empirical study considers two different measures of the dependent variable: patent applications by residents (PAR) and the patent applications by non-residents (PANR) in the host countries. R&D is the main variable of interest which is also interacted with foreign direct investment (FDI) to see how the entry of foreign competitors influence the role of R&D on innovation in the host country. The analysis produces the following results: R&D alone promotes innovation by residents but impedes the innovation by non-residents. However, when FDI interacts with the R&D in the host country, it produces opposite results. Specifically, increasing FDI in the presence of certain level of R&D in host countries impacts PAR negatively and the PANR positively. That is, R&D and FDI have a substitution effect on innovation by residents whereas they have a complementary effect on innovation by non-residents. In other words, in a globally competitive environment, it is the FDI that leads to a higher level of innovation. It is an interesting result in the context of FDI being used in the literature as a proxy f for imitation (for example, Ghimire et al., 2018). In that sense, the increase in PANR may be a result of imitation of the technology carried into the country by the foreign firms and not necessarily an invention of a new idea or technology. It raises an important policy debate in the host countries. The foreign firms that bring in FDI are potentially more competitive than the domestic firms and this crowds out the role of R&D on host countries firms to innovate. Hence, to rescue the firms from crowding out effect, government may have to take necessary policies to strengthen the domestic firms.

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References AlAzzawi, S. (2012). Innovation, productivity and foreign direct investment-induced R&D spillovers. The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, 21(5), 615-653. Borensztein, E., De Gregorio, J., & Lee, J. W. (1998). How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth? Journal of international Economics, 45(1), 115-135. Chen, Y. (2007). Impact of foreign direct investment on regional innovation capability: a case of China. Journal of Data Science, 5(2), 577-596. Cheung, K. Y., & Ping, L. (2004). Spillover effects of FDI on innovation in China: Evidence from the provincial data. China Economic Review, 15(1), 25-44. Erdal, L., & Göçer, İ. (2015). The effects of foreign direct investment on R&D and innovations: panel data analysis for developing Asian countries. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, 749-758. Fernandes, A. M., & Paunov, C. (2008). Foreign direct investment in services and manufacturing productivity growth: evidence for Chile. The World Bank. Fu, X., & Gong, Y. (2011). Indigenous and foreign innovation efforts and drivers of technological upgrading: evidence from China. World development, 39(7), 1213-1225. Gallini, N. T. (2002). The economics of patents: Lessons from recent US patent reform. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(2), 131-154. Ghimire, S., Kapri, K., & Rahman, M. R. U. (2018). Imitate or Innovate? FDI, Technology, and Income Levels in Middle Income Countries. Journal of Development Innovations, 2(1), 1- 13. Ghimire, S., Mukherjee, D., & Alvi, E. (2016). Aid for Trade and export performance of developing countries. Applied Econometrics and International Development, 16(1), 23-34. Gorodnichenko, Y., Svejnar, J., & Terrell, K. (2014). When does FDI have positive spillovers? Evidence from 17 transition market economies. Journal of Comparative Economics, 42(4), 954-969. Guinet, J., & De Backer, K. (2008). The internationalisation of business R&D: evidence, impact and implications. Organization for Economic. OECD. Hall, B. H., & Lerner, J. (2010). The financing of R&D and innovation. In Handbook of the Economics of Innovation (Vol. 1, pp. 609-639). North-Holland. Hermes, N., & Lensink, R. (2003). Foreign direct investment, financial development and economic growth. The Journal of Development Studies, 40(1), 142-163. Huang, L., Liu, X., & Xu, L. (2012). Regional innovation and spillover effects of foreign direct investment in China: a threshold approach. Regional Studies, 46(5), 583-596. Katila, R. (2000). Using patent data to measure innovation performance. International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2(1/2/3), 180-193. Kuemmerle, W. (1999). The drivers of foreign direct investment into research and development: an empirical investigation. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(1), 1-24.

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Lin, X., Xu, W., Zhang, B., & Yang, F. (2019). Does venture capital spur innovation or the other way around? Evidence on the significance of investment timing from China. Growth and Change, 50(1), 90-113. Liu, Z. (2008). Foreign direct investment and technology spillovers: Theory and evidence, Journal of Development Economics, 85, 176-193. Liu, X., & Buck, T. (2007). Innovation performance and channels for international technology spillovers: Evidence from Chinese high-tech industries. Research Policy, 36(3), 355-366. Liu, X., Lu, J., Filatotchev, I., Buck, T., & Wright, M. (2010). Returnee entrepreneurs, knowledge spillovers and innovation in high-tech firms in emerging economies. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(7), 1183-1197. McAleer, M., & Slottje, D. (2005). A new measure of innovation: The patent success ratio. Scientometrics, 63(3), 421-429. OECD (2002). OECD Economic Outlook No. 71, Paris. OECD. (2007). Innovation and growth: Rationale for an innovation strategy. Available at https://bit.ly/2OWHGsh OECD (2019), FDI flows (indicator). doi: 10.1787/99f6e393-en (Accessed on 12 October 2019) Papaioannou, S. K. (2004). FDI and ICT Innovation Effect on productivity growth: A Comparison between developing and developed countries. Athens University of Economics and business, Athens, Greece. Schumpeter, J. (1942). Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York: Harper & Bros. Sivalogathasan, V., & Wu, X. (2014). The effect of foreign direct investment on innovation in south Asian emerging markets. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 33(3), 63- 76. Smith, K. H. (2005). Measuring innovation', in Jan Fagerberg and David C. Mowery and Richard R. Nelson (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, US, pp. 148-177. UNCTAD (2016) World Investment Report 2016. New York: United Nations Publication, Available online: http://unctad.org/en Walz, U. (1997). Innovation, foreign direct investment and growth. Economica, 64(253), 63-79. Wooldridge, J. M. (2016). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach. Nelson Education. World Bank (2016). World Development Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org

Journal of Development Innovations

Trace Element Concentrations in Arsenic (As) Contaminated Drinking Water in Nepal Reflect Sediment Surface-Ground Water Interactions Barbara Mueller1

ABSTRACT Since more than a decade it is known that in a variety of countries in South East Asia, arsenic (As) contamination of ground water used for drinking poses a serious health hazard. In ground

water of these countries, the concentrations of the highly toxic elements frequently exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water guideline of 10 μg/L. According to a widely accepted hypothesis, a reductive dissolution of Fe-bearing minerals releases As-oxyanions. As the concentrations of As and Fe in ground water in the lowlands (Terai) of Nepal are highly variable as a function of location and a clear de-coupling of As and Fe resulting in a loss of

correlation between these two elements, the mentioned hypothesis has to be questioned. Major trace element analysis of the ground water depicts a low concentration of Fe but substantial amount of Na, K, Li, B and Mo in these waters. All these elements are positively correlated with As; therefore, pointing to clayey sediments mainly consisting of micas and other clay minerals as the hosts of As. This specific pattern of trace element distribution is related to a

so far underestimated original source of As as the peraluminous leucogranites found ubiquitously in the Nepal Himalaya.

JEL Classification: Q25, Q53 Key Words: Arsenic, Clay minerals, Decoupling, Trace elements, Leucogranite Acknowledgment: I am grateful for the assistance of Dr. Stephan Hug and Thomas Rütimann, Eawag, Dübendorf for all analytical works. My great appreciation for all support is also expressed to Tommy Ngai and Candice Young-Rojanschi from CAWST, Calgary, Canada; Bipin Dangol and Hari Boudhatoki of ENPHO, Kathmandu, Nepal; Gyan Prakash Yadav, Parasi, Nepal and last but not least to Som Rai, my loyal expedition and trekking guide in Nepal and responsible for all logistics over many years.

1 University of Basel, Bernoullistrasse 32, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected] Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

1. Introduction Ground water extracted for the use as drinking water is long period ago known to be severely contaminated by arsenic in several countries of South East Asia (particularly Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia). The cause of this disaster is clearly geogenic and Arsenic (As) can readily reach concentrations hazardous to human health if geological and geochemical conditions favor the release of this highly toxic element. Adverse health effects are likely to occur as soon as a drinking water guideline with a value of 10 μg/L for arsenic (imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO)) is exceeded. Chronic arsenic exposure via groundwater causes skin lesions including pigmentation changes (melanosis, keratosis); various reproductive, neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular gastrointestinal and diabetic effects as well as cancers of skin, bladder, lung, kidney and liver (Smith et al., 2000; Adhikari and Ghimire, 2009; Maden et al., 2011, Thakur et al., 2011; Shrestha et al., 2014). Arsenic itself is less abundant than several of the “rare-earth” elements in the Earth's crust. However, arsenic is commonly concentrated in sulphide-bearing mineral deposits, and it shows a strong affinity for pyrite, one of the more ubiquitous iron-bearing phases in the Earth's crust. It is also concentrated in hydrous iron oxides and most importantly in clay minerals. Arsenic can be easily dissolved into groundwater depending on pH, redox conditions, temperature, and solution composition. Only a limited number of source materials are so far detected as significant contributors to arsenic in water supplies: organic-rich or black shales, Holocene alluvial sediments with slow flushing rates, mineralized and mined areas (most often gold deposits), volcanogenic sources, and thermal springs. Two more environments can lead to high arsenic in ground water: (i) closed basins in arid-to-semi-arid climates (especially in volcanogenic provinces) and (ii) strongly reducing aquifers, often composed of alluvial sediments but with low sulphate concentrations. Young sediments in deep-seated regions of low hydraulic gradient are characteristic of many arsenic-rich aquifers. Common sediments exhibiting 1 to 20 mg/kg (near crustal abundance) of arsenic can give rise to high dissolved arsenic (> 50 μg/L) if initiated by one or both of two possible “triggers” - an increase in pH above 8.5 or the onset of reductive mineral dissolution. Other important factors influencing arsenic solubility include high concentrations of phosphate, bicarbonate, silicate, and/or organic matter in the ground waters. These solutes can decrease or prevent the adsorption of arsenate and arsenite ions onto fine-grained clays and especially iron- hydroxides or -oxides. Arsenite tends to adsorb much less strongly than arsenate often causing arsenite to be present at higher concentrations. The geologic and groundwater conditions promoting high arsenic concentrations are now well known and help identify high-risk areas (Nordstrom, 2002; Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002). The water table within the IGB (Indo-Gangetic Basin, including the Terai, the lowlands of Nepal) alluvial aquifer is typically shallow (<5 m below ground level). Research concerning arsenic concentrations in the ground water in Nepal began only after the severity of the problem in the Bengal delta was recognized in 1998. First report of arsenic contamination in groundwater above toxic levels in Nepal was made from the Terai Basin (Sharma, 1999; BGS, 2001). Twenty-four percent of samples analyzed (n = 18,635) from the Terai Basin exceeded the WHO limit of 10 μg/L (Shrestha and Shrestha, 2004). Since the first overall survey conducted by the WHO (2001), only sporadic information on the situation has been published. In contrast, Bangladesh received much more international attention concerning the arsenic crisis (e. g. Hug et al., 2011 and references therein), whereas Nepal was more or less neglected, albeit the population of the southern lowlands of Nepal are directly affected by the same arsenic contamination of the groundwater (Nakano et al., 2014). Ground water is the principal source of water for drinking

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 and irrigation in the Terai area. Over 90 % of the Terai population draws ground water from tube wells for drinking, household use, and irrigation (Guillot et al., 2015). The most severe arsenic contamination concerns several districts of the Terai in Nepal namely Nawalparasi, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Rupandehi, and Kapalivastu (Shrestha et al., 2014). In Maharjan et al. (2005) the authors reported that 29% of more than 20,000 tube wells had arsenic concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline (10 μg/L), that the prevalence of arsenicosis varied between 1.3% and 5.1% (average of 2.6 %; see NRCS-ENPHO (Nepal Red Cross Society/Environment & Public Health Organization), 2002; Yadav et al., 2011). Meanwhile, the evident geogenic source of As is widely recognized and elevated concentrations in natural ground water, is considered to be caused by natural weathering of the Himalayan belt (Acharyya et al., 2000; Gurung et al., 2005; Guillot and Charlet, 2007; Guillot et al., 2015; Mueller, 2017; 2018). The sediments transported by the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system build up the Himalayan foreland basin and the Bengal fan - one of the largest modern fluvial deltas of the world (France-Lanord et al., 1993; Garzanti et al., 2004). In the recent years, more light has been shed on the precise mechanisms responsible for As dissolution from alluvial sediments as the iron concentration in the Terai ground water is much lower than e.g. in Bangladesh or Vietnam. In contrast to As occurrence in ground water in other countries than Nepal, As concentrations are very weakly negatively or not correlated at all with Fe concentration (decoupling of As) but positively correlated with lithophile elements like Na, and K. Decoupling between aqueous As and Fe has also been described by Dowling et al. (2002), van Geen et al. (2006), Diwakar et al. (2015) and Mueller and Hug (2018). Na and K are typically derived from alumosilicates such as clay minerals (including micas) during weathering, more immobile elements such as Fe and Al will be enriched in the remnants of these minerals. Fine-grained minerals like clay minerals are famous to be capable of adsorbing arsenic efficiently (Stanger, 2005; Chakraborty et al., 2007; Uddin, 2017) and can consequently release a substantial amount of arsenic depending on local and climatic conditions. A considerable debate about the initial source of the arsenic contaminating the ground water in the alluvial plains of Nepal and other countries in South East Asia is still open. Ignoring the fact, that As concentrations in ground water are very weakly negatively or not correlated, but Na, K and trace elements such as Li, B or Mo; some authors like Acharyya et al. (2000) suggested oxidation of pyrite in the sediments responsible for an increased concentration of As in the groundwater. Nonetheless, ophiolites were seen as the initial source of arsenic contained in arsenopyrite (e. g. Stanger, 2005; Guillot and Charlet, 2007). But so far no ophiolites were ever detected in the Nepalese Himalaya. The very low average molar Fe/As ratio from samples included in several studies adds up to 9.4 (post-monsoon) and to 6.0 (pre-monsoon) only. In opposition to this observations, the authors to Berg et al. (2008) report about an average molar Fe/As ratio between 60 and 68 in arsenic contaminated groundwater in the Hanoi area of Vietnam. The low ratio found for the Nepalese ground water and the overall low value of Fe is another good indicator for sediments representing a heterogenous mixture of parent rocks of felsic origin (Gurung et al., 2005; Guillot et al., 2015; Verma et al., 2016). 2. Geology of the Terai In the Nepalese Himalaya all four major Himalayan tectonic units are disclosed: (1) the Tethys Himalaya, delimited at the base by the South Tibetan Detachment System (STDS); (2) the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC) delimited at the base by the Main Central Thrust (MCT); (3)

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 the Lesser Himalaya (LH) divided into upper and lower Lesser Himalaya, is delimited at the base by the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT); and (4) the Siwaliks, delimitated at its base by the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) and the Quaternary foreland basin (Terai Plain) (Upreti, 1999). The Terai Plain is the northern edge of the alluvial foreland Gangetic Plain of northern India. The Gangetic Plain contains the sediments of the age of Pleistocene to Recent. Within a restricted area, all the Archean crystalline formations deep beneath the alluvium sediments of the Terai as well as the marine sedimentary deposits forming the high Himalayas, and the Siwalik formation built up by the then east-west flowing rivers are disclosed (Yadav et al., 2015). The aforementioned units include a wide range of various rocks of metamorphic, sedimentary, and igneous in origin. Their differential erosion type and rate directs some of the groundwater arsenic heterogeneity as seen in the foreland and delta (Gurung et al., 2005; Shah, 2008; van Geen et al., 2008; Guillot et al., 2015). Concerning the region of provenance of the typical Terai sediments, the Tethys Himalaya is formed by 10 km thick of various fossiliferous sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks (limestones, marls, sandstones, calc-schists, shales, phyllites, quartzites) from Cambrian to Jurassic in age. Miocene leucogranites like the Manaslu leucogranite are also found emplaced within the Tethyan rocks (Guillot and Le Fort, 1995). The Terai Plain (being on the whole comparable to the Bengal Delta Plain (BDP) and also being a continuation of Indo-Gangetic trough) is an active foreland basin built up of Quaternary sediments including molasse units consisting of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. The majority of the rivers in the Terai flow from north to south. The dominating rivers originate in the high Himalayas whereas minor rivers also emanate from the nearby Siwalik Hills, and therefore deposit sediments in the form of a fan along the flank of the Terai basin. Fine sediments and organic material are deposited in inter-fan lowlands, in wetlands and swamps (Sharma, 1995; Kansakar, 2004; Yadav et al., 2011). High monsoon precipitation (1,800 - 2,000 mm) and almost year-round snow-fed river systems recharge the Terai sediments, giving them a valuable potential for ground water resources. Shallow aquifers (<50 m) are generally unconfined or semi-confined, whereas the deep aquifers (>50 m) are mostly confined by impermeable clay layers. The aquifer system is highly sensitive to precipitation (Gurung et al., 2005). Concerning arsenic contaminated groundwater in Nepal, by far the most intensive studied Terai province is Nawalparasi District. The lithology of the Nawalparasi sedimentary basin belongs to Holocene alluvium including the present-day alluvial deposits, channel sand and gravel deposits as well as outwash deposits (Yadav et al., 2014). One major river, the Narayani/Gandaki, originating in the Higher Himalaya, flows along the eastern boundary of the Nawalparasi district and has had a major influence on the underlying unconsolidated Holocene fluvial deposits comprising the floodplain aquifer system. In the areas with fine-grained sediments, elevated concentrations of As are typically recorded (Brikowski et al., 2004, 2014; Diwakar et al., 2015). 3. Materials and Methods 3.1 Study site Ground water samples were directly taken from privately owned hand pumps within the urban area of Ramgram (capital of the Nawalparasi district) as well as in the surrounding villages such as Manari, Panchanagar, Sukauli and Tilakpur. The depth of the tube wells is in general 25 m and clayey sediments from the main part of the soil. So close to the frontal mountain chain, the Indo-Gangetic plain consists of boulder- to gravel- sized sediments, as well as of fine-grained sediments. Guillot et al. (2015) describe the lithology of

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 sledge core samples from five drill holes within the Narayani basin as consisting of various coarse (millimetric) to fine-grained (micrometric) sediments. They contain distinguished light-grey to dark grey sands; grey, greenish-grey to brown-grey and yellow - brown silts; and light-grey to black- grey, yellow - brown and black clay with occasional gravel layers. Sands, silts and clay sediments mainly include micas being occasionally massive to laminated, bioturbated, and/or also containing roots and plant debris. Binocular observations show that the detrital minerals in the silt fraction are dominated by quartz, biotite, muscovite, K-feldspar, calcite and dolomite as major phases and garnet, zircon, and monazite as heavy minerals. 3.2 Material and Methods Due to the growing concerns that a share of the installed arsenic-eliminating iron-assisted bio-sand filters (see Ngai et al., 2006; 2007) do not eliminate the arsenic from ground water adequately, co-workers from CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water Sanitation Technology) Calgary, Canada, in cooperation with ENPHO (Environment & Public Health Organization) Kathmandu, Nepal and Eawag, Switzerland, performed sampling campaigns for ground water in Nawalparasi district (Nepal) in October 2015 (post-monsoon) and in April 2017 (pre-monsoon). 35 water samples from hand pumps were collected in 2015 and again 2017. Pumps were well flushed (e.g. pumped for > 2 min) before sample collection to remove all standing water in the tube wells. 10 well water samples from Nawalparasi district were collected from hand pumps in April 2017 for the analysis of a wide range of trace elements in order to elucidate the geogenic origin of As. Measurements to improve the efficiency of the filters are in progress. Household for sample collections were chosen according to a register provided by ENPHO with filtered water exceeding the Nepal drinking water quality standard value (50 μg/L). Sample tubes were pre-acidified with HNO3 and sent to the laboratory in Switzerland for further examination. All trace elements in the groundwater samples were determined by ICP-MS (Agilent Technology, 7500 Series, Agilent Technologies, Waldbronn, Germany) at Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland, after 1 : 2 dilution with 0.5 M HNO3. Each measurement was conducted in triplicate. All ICP-MS determinations agreed to within 3 - 5% standard deviation (Wenk et al., 2014). Analysis of sediment samples (from drill cores) in order to help elucidating the immediate source of contamination are ongoing and will be part of a future publication. 4. Results Table 1 includes the range, average and median concentrations of As, Fe and P for 35 ground water samples collected in post-monsoon (2015) and pre-monsoon (2017) seasons in the district of Nawalparasi. Unfortunately, the WHO guideline of 10 µg/l for As concentrations was exceeded in all samples. An apparent and remarkable fact concerning the average molar Fe/As ratio for the 35 samples analyzed was realized soon. The geological situation in Nepal is entirely diverse compared to e. g. Vietnam or Bangladesh. The mentioned ratio adds up to 9.4 (post-monsoon) and to 6.0 (pre- monsoon) in Nepal. Oppositely, Berg et al. (2008) reported about an average molar Fe/As ratio between 60 and 68 for arsenic contaminated ground water in the Hanoi area of Vietnam. The molar Fe/As ratio in Bangladesh sums up to 14.88 or 90.49, respectively (Ahmed et al., 2010; Rahman et al., 2015). A second striking feature of trace element analysis of the ground water is the lack of correlation between As and Fe as shown in Figure 1. Analysis of ground water from post-monsoon 2015 reveal that As(III) was the dominating species suggesting a fairly reduced environment (81 % As(III) on average). The importance of this dominance of As(III) in the source water of the Nepali

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Terai is twofold: (i) As(III) is more mobile than As(V) and (ii) reductive processes are inherent concerning mobilization of As (Nickson et al., 2000; Bhattacharya et al., 2002; Smedley and Kinniburgh, 2002).

Table 1: Range, average and median concentrations of As (µg/l), Fe (mg/l), Mn (mg/l) and P (mg/l) in groundwater from tube wells in several municipalities in Nawalparasi district, Nepal. Samples collected in October 2015 (post-monsoon) and April 2017 (pre-monsoon). Average values of two determinations of concentrations by ICP-MS. Standard deviation 3-5 % (Wenk et al., 2014)

Element Range average median range average median 2015 2015 2015 2017 2017 2017 As 95.5 - 798.7 285.6 265.4 54.8 - 774.0 257.9 211.2 Fe 0.01 - 5.91 2.03 1.76 0.02 - 5.66 1.44 1.44 P <0.01 - 0.89 0.17 0.15 0.00 - 0.86 0.09 0.09

Figure 1a and b: Apparent decoupling between As (µg/l) and Fe (mg/l) from 35 ground water samples (source water only). Correlation coefficients (r) are included in the diagrams for illustration though they are not significant. A second striking feature concerning correlations between As and other major and trace elements is depicted in Figure 2. Particularly, lithophile elements like Na, K, Li, B, Sr and Mo are positively correlated with As. Mn, the companion element of Fe, however is explicitly negatively correlated with As. This specific pattern of correlation gave rise to the question where the arsenic is originally derived from (within the sediments as well as in the source rock) as described in the next section. To pursue this question, 10 ground water samples were analyzed for a wider variety of major and trace elements including Li, B, P, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Br, Sr, Mo, Cd, P and U which were among the most prominent elements detected beside As (average geochemical composition see Table 2). Obvious lithophile trace elements like Li, B, P, Mn, Br, Sr and U were found in noticeable concentrations in the ground water. Fe as well exhibits a significant concentration whereas Cu, Zn, Mo, Cd and Pb could be found in minor concentrations. Boron attracted attention in so far as it is very rarely found in significant amounts in common minerals like silicates. Tourmaline is among one of the very few minerals incorporating a significant portion of

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 boron in its structure whereas clay minerals are well known to absorb B in its structure or adsorb this element on their surface. Table 2: Average major and trace element concentrations in 10 groundwater samples from Nawalparasi district, Terai, Nepal. Standard deviation 3-5 % (Wenk et al., 2014) Li B Na Mg Al Si P Cl K Ca V Cr (µg/l) (µg/l) (mg/l (mg/l (µg/l) (mg/l (mg/l (mg/l) (mg/l (mg/l (µg/l (µg/l ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) averag 4.45 56.92 45.98 23.47 5.63 14.13 0.12 10.83 1.28 88.73 0.07 0.13 e averag Mn Fe Cu Zn As Se Br Sr Mo Cd Pb U e (mg/l (mg/l (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l) (µg/l (µg/l ) ) ) ) 0.06 1.34 0.38 10.12 226.9 0.01 0.04 453.8 7.44 0.02 0.07 0.06 7 0 Note: Only a limited number of analyses were feasible for S (3 samples). Therefore, these results are not included in the table. All other elements analyzed were below LOD. 5. Discussion The apparent lack of correlation (decoupling) between As and Fe (see Figure 1) was so far debated controversially: McArthur et al. (2001) describe the positive correlation between As and Fe in West Bengal (India) whereas Bhattacharya et al. (2003) mentioned that the same phenomenon occurs between As and Fe (r = 0.77) at some areas in the aquifer of the Nawalparasi district. In opposition to these findings, a clear decoupling between iron and arsenic has been confirmed (Dowling et al., 2002; van Geen et al., 2006; Diwakar et al., 2015). Horneman et al. (2004) proposed processes mobilizing As and Fe being decoupled as well, since Fe re-precipitates could be formed resurgently after reduction of Fe(III) oxyhydroxides, whereas the mobilized As would be remaining in solution. This undoubtful decoupling between Fe and As in the ground water of Nawalparasi district described herein depicts the importance of reconsidering the original mineral phases containing arsenic in the sediments as well as in the original host rocks. Beside the preferential incorporation of As into minerals like pyrite, arsenopyrite or iron (hydro)xides, As can as well be absorbed into the structure of clay minerals. The degree of As mobilization apparently depends on the affinity of the original and reworked minerals for arsenic species (e. g. Dixit and Hering, 2003). It is well known that Fe fits well in octahedral layer of clay minerals such as biotite (to a lower extent in muscovite) and much less in its interlayer; therefore preventing Fe to be exchanged against K and Na. Beyond this said, it was stated e. g. in (Stanger, 2005; Chakraborty et al., 2007; Uddin, 2017) that fine- grained minerals like clay minerals are prone of adsorbing As efficiently and can therefore also release a substantial portion arsenic depending on local and chemical conditions. In Nawalparasi district, high As concentration were mostly associated with fine-grained clay minerals as suggested by XRF analysis published (Yadav et al., 2015). Guillot et al. (2015) support these findings stating that As is primarily concentrated in clayey sediments in the entire Terai and is commonly associated with specific elements (Fe, Al, K and C). Clay minerals exhibiting larger surface areas and representing the fine grain-size fractions of the sediments are therefore capable to adsorb the major part of As. Taking into account that reducing conditions are dominating in the ground water from Nawalparasi district, identifying clay minerals as fundamental carriers of As does not mean to abandon the reduction hypothesis as the main source of As(III). Yet, clay minerals have to be considered as an essential carrier of arsenic and the dissolution and reduction of Fe and As can simultaneously proceed from alumosilicates (clay minerals) as well.

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Figure 2a-f: Concentration of As in dependence of some typical lithophile elements: Na, K, Mn, Li, B, and Mo. The correlation for Na with As is positively weak in post-monsoon (2015) and moderate in pre-monsoon season (2017). Whereas the correlation for K and Li is positively weak, the correlation for Mn is negative in both climatic seasons. B and Sr exhibit a different trend: weak correlation in post-monsoon and a change in correlation to more positive values in pre-monsoon. The correlation of Mo with As is strongly positive in both climatic season.

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Figure 2g-l (contd.): Concentration of As in dependence of some typical lithophile elements: Na, K, Mn, Li, B, and Mo. The correlation for Na with As is positively weak in post-monsoon (2015) and moderate in pre-monsoon season (2017). Whereas the correlation for K and Li is positively weak, the correlation for Mn is negative in both climatic seasons. B and Sr exhibit a different trend: weak correlation in post-monsoon and a change in correlation to more positive values in pre-monsoon. The correlation of Mo with As is strongly positive in both climatic season.

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Moreover, the diagrams in Figure 2 explicitly depict the correlation between As and the lithophile elements such as Na, K, Mn, Li, B, and Mo given as examples. Na and K can be easily be displaced from interlayers of clay minerals, or from alkali feldspars. The lithophile elements (Li, B and Mo) represent specific trace elements found in micas; Li and B moreover are major components of tourmaline. Tourmaline is one of the very rare minerals incorporating a significant portion of boron in its structure. Stueben et al. (2003) reported about tourmaline-containing aquifers enriched in As in West Bengal, India; Mueller (2018) linked trace element composition of ground water in the Terai to the origin of the sediments being derived from Tertiary leucogranites (rich in B) in the High Himalayas. Even though Fe is mostly integrated in the octahedral layer of clay minerals such as biotite and to a lesser degree in the interlayer, Fe cannot be exchanged against K or Na. The positive correlation between Na, K and As reveal silicate minerals as a likely source of As known to be readily adsorbed on the surface and edges of these minerals. Beyond that the clay mineral as muscovite is another potential source of Na, K and As. Beside Na and K, boron is commonly adsorbed or incorporated in clay minerals (e. g. Goldberg, 1993). Yousafzai et al. (2010) already mentioned boron in spring waters in the Peshawar basin and surroundings in the Himalayan foreland of Pakistan closely linked to igneous complexes (most probably tourmaline-rich Tertiary leucogranites). Ground water extracted e. g. in Bangladesh, Vietnam or Greece commonly contain boron as well (see Ravenscroft and McArthur, 2008; Winkel et al., 2011; Katsoyiannis et al., 2007). The influence of boron derived from an oceanic source can clearly be ruled out as Nepal presents a landlocked country having no link to the ocean. In the Himalayas of Nepal several thermal springs can be found but their influence is considered to be marginal taking the widespread occurrence of Tertiary leucogranites besides metapelites and black shales into account. Consequently, Rai (2003) mentioned elevated boron in metasedimentary rocks of the Lesser Himalaya (up to 322 ppm) as well in the Manaslu leucogranite (up to 950 ppm) in which tourmaline represents the boron containing mineral are mentioned. Even though sulphur was hardly detected in the ground water of the Terai; some authors like Acharyya et al. (2000) thought about oxidation of pyrite in the sediments leading to an increased concentration of SO4 as well as As in the groundwater. Even though pyrite was never found as a common constituent in the sediments of Nawalparasi district; ophiolites were suggested as the initial source of arsenic contained in arsenopyrite (e. g. Stanger 2005; Guillot and Charlet 2007). But there is no doubt: ophiolites do not exist in the Nepalese Himalaya. Moreover, the average molar Fe/As in Nepal is extremely low (9.4 in post-monsoon and 6.0 in pre-monsoon). In contrast, Berg et al. (2008) report about an average molar Fe/As ratio between 60 and 68 for arsenic contaminated ground water in the Hanoi area of Vietnam whereas the same molar ratio in Bangladesh sums up to 14.88 or 90.49, respectively (Ahmed et al., 2010; Rahman et al., 2015). The Nepalese ratio and the low value of Fe is another excellent indicator for sediments representing a heterogeneous mixture of parent rocks of felsic origin (Gurung et al., 2005; Guillot et al., 2015; Verma et al., 2016). Figure 3 clearly exhibits the most prominent trace elements found in ground water from Nawalparasi district linked to a few available data of the Macusani obsidian glass (peraluminous in composition, enriched in As-B-F-P). The data for this comparison are taken from Borisova et al. (2010). In this article the authors report for the first time about a remarkable enrichment of arsenic in a peraluminous glass from Macusani (SE Peru) representing anatectic melts derived from metasedimentary crustal protoliths. The glass examined by Borisova et al. (2010) exhibited elevated concentrations for As and other incompatible trace elements (e.g., Be, B, Rb, Sn, Sb, and Ta), in comparison with the mean continental crust values by factors of 10 to 100 as well by factors of 100

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 to 200 for Li, Cd, and Cs. In another article, Borisova et al. (2012) mention concentrations of Cd (up to ~300 ppm) found in quartz-hosted fluid and melt inclusions in hydrous peraluminous systems (pegmatites and leucogranites). At least some of the groundwater samples in Nawalparasi district show detectable amounts of Cd. In a fluid inclusion study of the Huanuni tin deposit in Bolivia (hosted in peraluminous granites with ASI ≥ 1.1), Mueller et al. (2001) report about Li, B, Zn, As and Pb in quartz-hosted inclusions. These indicative trace elements found in leucogranites (Li, B, P, Mn, Zn, As, Sr, Pb, U) are similarly detected in the ground water in Nawalparasi district. The high concentration of Sr in groundwater can be explained by frequent occurrence of calcium carbonates in the soil hosting the groundwater. Low-grade metapelites, often being regarded as protoliths of peraluminous granites (see e. g. Guillot and Le Fort, 1995; Godin et al., 2006; Searle et al., 2016) show on the other hand concentrations of As, Sb, Be, B, Ba and Rb by a factor of 5 to 10 higher than their average crustal abundances (2 - 5 ppm (Rudnick and Gao, 2003). Consequently, the mentioned enrichments warrant the use of arsenic as a geochemical tracer of subduction zone and collision zone environments (Borisova et al., 2010). The leucogranites found in the Himalayas of Nepal are apparently peraluminous in composition (Guillot and Le Fort, 1995; Guo and Wilson, 2012; Carosi et al., 2013) and therefore a comparison with the findings from Borisova et al. (2010) is clearly given. Most of the leucogranites analyzed by Guo and Wilson (2012) are peraluminous (ASI > 1) to strongly peraluminous (ASI ≥ 1.1).

Figure 3: The most noticeable trace elements in groundwater from Nawalparasi district (green squares) compared with the few available data of the Macusani obsidian glass (peraluminous in composition, enriched in As-B-F-P). The data for comparison (purple circles) are taken from Borisova et al. (2010). Note the logarithmic scale for comparison of concentrations. A detailed discussion about the previous and rather scarce work concerning arsenic in groundwater and related issues in the Terai of Nepal can be found in Mueller (2017) and cannot be part of this article again. 6. Conclusions The apparent decoupling of the concentrations of Fe and As and the positive correlation between concentrations of Na, K and As in the ground water from Nawaparasi district are among the most striking issues of the geochemical analysis. As can therefore be accumulated in clayey sediments in the Terai and is preferentially associated with specific elements (Fe, Al, K and C). Clay

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 minerals preferentially lose Na and K during chemical weathering and thus become enriched in immobile elements such as Fe and Al. Reconsidering clay minerals as a crucial host for sorption and release of As does not negate the prevailing iron-reduction hypothesis as the high amount of As(III) in the ground water samples unequivocally points to reducing conditions where As remains relatively mobile. Moreover, the low concentration of Fe as well as trace elements such as Li, B and Mo in the ground water clearly depicts a leucocratic source rock. Consistently, peraluminous leucogranites of the Nepal Himalaya represent the provenance as they can be clearly related to rocks enriched in As- B-F-P (as found in peraluminous obsidian glasses from Peru). Significant accumulations of arsenic in such peraluminous glasses are presentable of anatectic melts derived from metasedimentary crustal protoliths. The peraluminous leucogranites of the Nepal Himalayas are as well considered being derived by melting of metasedimentary crustal protoliths. Hence, a variety of trace elements including As found in peraluminous glasses and leucogranitic melts show up again in the ground water in the Terai of Nepal. Rock debris having been deposited as sediments by large rivers eroding the upper Himalayan crystalline rocks containing minerals with elevated As concentrations. 7. Summary and Future Perspectives As described by Mueller (2017a) a major part of the arsenic-eliminating iron-assisted biosand filters in the district of Nawalparasi district did not perform satisfactorily. Beside the rather low concentration of Fe, short residence time, high pH and high concentrations of As, Na, B, Mo and other trace elements other factors such as drying of the nail bed instead of a permanent immersion in ground water or poor maintenance pose serious issues to the proper performance of the filters. The often high concentrations of all mentioned trace elements as well as the obvious decoupling between the concentrations of Fe and As poses a severe problem concerning the performance of the As eliminating so called Kanchan filters installed in the district of Nawalparasi. The drop in performance over time by KAFs can furthermore be explained by the limited contact time between the oxygen free ground water and the nails in the nail bed. For the formation of As- adsorbing phases like Fe(III)hydr(oxides), black mixed Fe(II)-Fe(III)-phase solids and to magnetite (Fe3O4) the ground water has to be exposed to atmospheric oxygen. As long as oxygen free conditions persists, the formation of siderite (FeCO3) can take place - an undesirable reaction as siderite is hardly adsorbing arsenic. This clear and detailed understanding of the geological prerequistes is necessary to rethink the design of the biosand filters being used for elimination of arsenic from ground water as arsenic crisis has a pronounced socio-economic impact on the daily life of the inhabitants living in the Terai who are exposed to water contaminated by arsenic. Residents of the affected regions have to be instructed precisely on the use and maintenance of the filters and have furthermore to be instructed in basic knowledge of arsenic and related health issues as well as remediation strategies. Local inhabitants of the Terai are often unaware of the health impact of the long-term consumption of arsenic contaminated drinking water. Beside a proper instruction how to use the Kanchan filters members of the affected community has to be informed about this health risks clearly and unmistakably. The latter mission presents the most difficult to fulfill as it is a challenge to explain why the crystal-clear water is expected to be toxic and the health consequences of consuming this water is not intuitively tangible?

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Journal of Development Innovations

Religious Beliefs, Practices, and Living Condition among Tharu Ethnic Groups in Nepal

Ganga KC1

ABSTRACT This field-based research explores various facts relating to religious beliefs, practices, and resulting living conditions prevalent among Tharu ethnic groups living in Nepal. The research

reveals that the religious beliefs and practices adopted by Tharu people remain an inevitable component of their life cycle process and has significant bearing with their living conditions. While Tharu people uphold a strong faith on their religious beliefs and practices and perform

various rituals to make their present identity more visible, they are living in subsistence farming for a long period of time and the economic conditions are less than promising as compared to other groups in the society.

JEL Classification: I3, O1, R2, Z1 Keywords: Religious Beliefs and Practices, Tharu People, Economic Conditions

1 Associate Professor, Tribhuvan University, Patan Multiple Campus, Lalitpur, Nepal, E-mail: [email protected] , Tel: +977 9841281408 Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

1. Introduction Tharu ethnic minorities, like many other indigenous ethnic people in Nepal, believe in supernatural world comprising of a number of practices through which they aim to establish a close connection with divinities and spirits who are believed to influence the destiny of their livelihood. These beliefs are inherited from their ancestors and being practiced for long in the conviction that they affect their life style, security and prosperity. For Tharus, the world is an enormous sacred amphitheater in which people, spirits, and impersonal powers are attentively interconnected and this determines the way of life people live. Tharus are popularly known as guruwas in Nepal who play the role of a mediator between human and supernatural world in the form of exorcists and try to maintain harmony between two worlds intending to affect Tharu people’s work life balance. The relationships are mediated through obligations and sacrifices and their superstitions go to such an extent that any malady, physical weakness, and natural calamities like droughts, excessive rainfall, damage to crops are supposed to be the result of either the evil desire of the witches or evil spirits. Varya (1971) regards Tharus as believers of ghosts and spirits so the sole object of their worship is to avert disasters believing that when these spirits are pleased, they bring delight, prosperity, and happiness to their community2. The objective of this paper is to contribute to the deeper understanding of religious beliefs and practices of Tharus and their effects on their living conditions on the basis of empirical information gathered during the short field observation in two villages in Nepal. The study finds that Tharus practice a number of religious ceremonies and they believe in close connection between what they practice and the way they live their life. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 describes the methodology used in the study. Section 3 outlines various beliefs and practices among Tharu people. The economic condition of Tharus is discussed in Section 4. Section 5 concludes. 2. Methodology The study was conducted in Sewar Basbot and Bangau village in Dang district of mid- western Nepal in 2019. The study area is well known for Tharu's predominant area of residence with fertile low land where Tharus are mostly engaged in their preferred occupation of farming and animal husbandry. The Tharus settled in this area are known as Dangaura Tharus and are living together in the same communities with other caste groups such as Magar, Gurung, Bramhan and Kshetri. The study is mostly explorative in nature according to which the required information is collected through field observation and interviews. Among these, the approaches taken were formal and informal interviews, participant observation, key informants' interview, case study, and focus group discussion. Ethnographic and historical approaches were taken to examine the traditional and customary practices of the religious beliefs and practices among Tharu people in the study area. During the course of fieldwork, a flexible approach was taken in the interviews and observations where attempts were made to get the public-folk views of the ideas and issues that the Tharu people face in an conducing environment allowing them to express their views without hesitation. This approach was important because Tharu people were in minority with literacy

2 To understand more on Tharu culture, work, and life, see Bista (1996), Rajaure (1977), Regmi (1978), Srivastava (1958), Pyakurel (1982), McDonough (1984), and Guneratne (1994, 2002).

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 among them was at very low level and thus they were very much hesitant to express their views with people outside of their community. 3. Religious Beliefs and Practices This section discusses some of the deities and spirits prevalent among Tharus and how their beliefs and practices are related to their ceremonies, festivals, and way of life. Tharu's beliefs and practices are validated through dreams, visions or trances in which the deities and ancestral spirits instruct the ritual specialists in the practices and cult to be followed. There is a hierarchy of ritual specialists who manipulate the supernatural power and approach the gods and spirits on behalf of the people and are supposed to protect their people against the attacks of witches, chronic diseases, and natural disaster. 3.1 Religious Beliefs and Deities Tharu people worship a variety of deities. Their beliefs on them tend to reinforce each other and their core belief is animism. This kind of religious orientation, which is quite different from orthodox Hindu and other non-Tharu religious orientations, encourages them to pursue Tharuism, a feeling of being Tharu and different from non-Tharus. The religious and social organizations found in the study area was in line with all other Tharu practices prevalent in Nepal. The religion and worship practice is a complex system as the indigenous deities (with indigenous names), pan-Hindu deities (with Pan-Hindu names) and other spirits are worshipped by Tharus in combination. In course of discussions, some of the elders were even found to be confused with describing many varieties of deities they were worshiping. They held a strong faith though that deities and humans need each other no matter what category they belong to, in that the deities protect humans as long as they are worshipped in a proper way and at the right time. It is an important aspect of Tharu culture that deities are connected to certain areas, such as the village, the house and the forest. In that context, Tharus enshrined three levels of deities namely inside the house in the deity room, in front of the house in the courtyard, and outside the house at some particular location in the village. Regarding the Tharu Deities inside the House, there is a derurahar (deity room) where they place certain symbolic idols to represent specific deities. Deities are always enshrined in the north-west corner of the room, near and below the mani khamba (main pillar) of the house. Deities are common among all clans but some are specific to certain clans. Gurubaba, Maiya, Khekhri and Saura are common deities to all Tharus. Likewise, Byat, Jholi (cloth bag), Barhani (small broom of siru grass), Chaitik Pathya (small basket), Khadga (sword) or Barchi (spear), Saksaki (small bunch of peacock feather), and Churrya (bangles) are the main ritual objects. There are some other minor deities and ritual objects that are kept in the deurahar by some clans according to their family traditions. Lagubasu and Ban Gaidu are divinities and Bhagmarwa (kind spirit of ancestor), Ratanpurwa (same as Bhagmarwa) and Baidawa (a healer) are spirits. Hegri (small Y shaped iron piece called Trishul) and Jakhani (small round shaped object made by clay) are important ritual objects. These all deities and spirits are worshipped with different cultural offerings on the different occasions. On the occasion of Thanksgiving, deities are offered with sathyaura (sweet balls), liquor and water. For Tharu deities and spirits of the courtyard, they put Bhawani as a female goddess enshrined in the eastern side of the courtyard. The goddess has no physical figure; however, it is a symbolic presence often as a small stone concealed half on the ground. Likewise, Kolhu masan

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 is an evil spirit worshiped by Tharus and connected with Kol (oil crushing wooden traditional machine). Besides, Raksa is another malicious spirit located in courtyard and must be appeased with ritual offerings. The household chief conduct worships to all household and courtyard located deities. Tharu village level deities and spirits, on the other hand, are enshrined either inside a little shed and under a tree or in an open space. Tharu people assume that these deities protect the entire villagers and are known as Bhayar consisting of nine altogether and enshrined in the southern border of the village. Usually the village level deities are worshipped annually as well as on special occasions. These deities are worshipped with a sacrifice of animal. There are two annual ceremonies namely dhurrya and haraha gauri for worship conducted before the start and the end of the Dashya dance (described below). Similarly, Thurus worship deities of the cattle shed which are known as Bagar and Dhamraj. These two shrines are located in the bahari section of the cattle shed. Tharus worship Bagar and Dhamraj with a motive of bringing prosperity and security of their cattle and pets. 3.2 Life-Cycle Rituals Tharu life-cycle ceremonies have been influenced mostly by Hindu beliefs. Ghatwa Karaina (purification ritual of birth pollution), Mur Bhwaj (first hair cutting), Bhwaj (marriage) and death are the major life cycle rituals among Tharus. Ghatwa Karaina (Purifying Ritual of Birth Pollution) Birth is regarded a very blissful occasion in Tharu community. When a Tharu woman gets pregnant, she is expected not to go towards cremation site or a burial site or to step out alone in the dark nights or during the time of eclipse. The delivery should happen in bedroom and individuals other than Sorinya (traditional midwife) or those who have to care for the mother and the child, must not touch or enter into contact with a newborn baby and the mother. Those who have to have such contact must take a bath after the contact. For the purification of birth pollution Tharus perform the Ghatwa Karaina (introduction to the water source) ceremony according to which when the baby’s umbilical cord drops out, they perform this ceremony with mother and newborn baby taking a holy bath and then sprinkle swan pani (ritually purified water with gold) over the head of mother and newborn baby. After ghatwa karaina ceremony mother is freed from her confinement and become ready to participate in household chores. Traditionally, Tharus do not perform name-giving ceremony like the one practiced in Hindu custom. The name can be given at any time after the umbilical cord drops away from the naval and the name selected is used by all the family members and is later established as the real name of the new member in the family. For the purpose of daily use, Tharus mostly use names derived from their position in the sibling hierarchy of the family (such as, Barka for eldest, Manhla for the second, Sadla for the third, Chhotka for the youngest and so forth). Mur Bhwaj (Head Shaving Ceremony) Mur Bhwaj is a first hair cutting ceremony of male child. While it is mandatory for every male child among the high caste Hindus and is called Mundan (head shaving), among the Tharus it is performed only for that male child whose birth is considered as a great event for the family. Tharus observe this ceremony during the age of four or five years of male child, on Monday or Wednesday of Falgun month (mid-March to mid-April). On the occasion of this ceremony, homemade holy liquor is offered to the family deities first and then mama (maternal uncle) shaves

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 the hair of the child by Chhura (locally made iron knife by blacksmith). Some kin guests and the Mahaton of the village are invited and a feast is arranged in their honor. Marriage System Tharus regard marriage as their cultural and societal obligation. According to Tharu belief, happiness is the consequent of having a lot of children and then seeing these children married. Tharus aspire to see their houses full of children and grandchildren because these desires are quite natural for people living in difficult climatic and unsafe circumstances like Tharus which result in a large number of immature deaths. For marriage, Tharus follow caste endogamous marriage and within each group the clans are exogamous. Within Tharu group any clan can have matrimonial relations with any of the other clans from any sub-group. Polygamy, though not common, is socially recognized among Tharu communities. Polyandry, on the other hand, is neither recognized nor practiced. Similarly, polygyny is practiced generally in cases like the barrenness of wife, several deaths of children, and occasionally if the wife does not produce a male child. Sometimes a man disappointed with his first wife or having a serious love affair with other woman marriages a girl or woman as his second wife. Usually, marriage is performed in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) because Tharus are free at that time after harvesting. During the interview, one of the respondents said that it was the right time to easily digest all foods as well. Two types of marriage are most common among Thauru communities – choti bhwaj and barka bhwaj. Choti bhwaj is a very simple and conventional marriage system practiced by poor families. On the occasion, only kin deities and village shrines of both sides are offered holy liquor and a few relatives are invited for the feast. On the other side, Barka bhwaj is full-fledged marriage practice usually performed by rich families. This marriage ceremony requires big amount of money for grains and liquor. Mahaton, Gardhurrya, and relatives all participate in mediating for both boy and girl sides to arrange the marriage and economic status, age, educational level of boy and girl and moral reputation of both sides are duly considered. The final decision is made only when both sides agree in all of these aspects. There are numerous steps in the course of completion of marriage among Tharus. Doopdan Galna (Putting Doob Strands on the Head) is one of the important aspects of marriage which is performed just after the negotiation between bride and groom parties. It is a ritual of official declaration in front of the witnesses including the Mahaton of both sides and few other Tharu noble individuals. For this ritual, father of bride goes to groom’s home with some senior individuals including Mahaton and makes an agreement of marriage from both sides. Thokauni is another significant ritual of Tharu marriage ceremony following Doopdan in the groom’s house and is performed after settlement of jhaga (bride price). After thokauni ritual is finished, they perform a normal ritual called syawa lagna which means offering an appreciation for the bride’s side. A number of other rituals follow suit. Some of them are pachas pathi chamal phakna (delivery of 200 kilograms of husked rice) in the bride’s house in which a number of items are sent to the bride’s family. Another is karai dina (drinking from the karai) in which groom offers some golras (holy liquor in a pot decorated by family women) as bride’s mother request for it in front of the deities enshrined there properly.

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The main marriage ceremony continues for three or four days. Tasks are divided among different people during the event. Bhojuwa is one of the most important persons during the ceremony, usually the role filled by Ghardhurrya or groom’s father whose wife is alive. Bhojinnya (wife of Bhojuwa) is always busy in the ceremonies associated with the groom along with two Nenhariyas (two married girls whose parents are alive and are dressed in ceremonial attire). Surahwas are volunteers of the village and are responsible for supply of firewood and water needed for the marriage ceremony. Panheris are female water suppliers during the time. Likewise, bride’s side also appoint some special participants called Nokandi, a group of several girls who are friends of bride and accompany the bride during her first trip to groom's house and stay there with bride for some days. Cauthyars are the group of men from bride’s side going to the groom’s house along with the bride. They carry bride in a doli (chariot). The proper marriage ceremony is called bhwaj and starts on a Tuesday evening of the bright fortnight in any of the auspicious months of Magh, Fagun, Chait, and Baisakh (somewhere from February to May). In the morning of the bhwaj, a small procession goes to a nearby river which is led by local choirs, bhojinnya carrying an oil-lamp in her right hand, and two nenhariy carrying baskets. On the evening of the bhwaj day, the groom takes a meal and gets his hair shaved. Early in the morning next day, the groom takes a holy bath and the groom’s party enjoys an early morning meal called bhimsaria bhat and liquor. After putting formal dress, the groom and his party requested to go to the yard for gham tapuni (sun warming) ceremony. After a number of ceremonies following that, the procession with groom returns home in dwala without bride. On the same day evening, the bride is carried in a doli to groom's home with some nokandis. The bride is requested to come out from doli and placed beside the groom and they perform some rituals in deity room. This ritual mostly brings the main marriage ceremony into completion, yet some other peripheral rituals relating to marriage continue for months. 3.3 Death Rituals Tharu people categorize death in two types – natural and unnatural death – and the funeral rites are different for the different type of death. The individual dying with natural death can get full-fledged funeral rites whereas died from unnatural death do not get such privilege. According to Tharu belief system, the deceased soul takes rebirth. On the day of death, most of the elders of the village gather at the dead person’s house and participate in the funeral ritual. The dead body is kept in the bahari section on its back position and the head is in the north direction. The body is covered with Kaffan (white colored new cloth). Few folks collect satbihi (seven types of food grains) to use during the funeral procession. Some earthen vessels are also required for the funeral site and some of them are filled with mustard oil and ghee. They perform hiran khwaune (feeding hiran) ritual to the deceased person. Hiran is a mixture of rice with turmeric powder and the water purified with gold. At first chief mourner puts little amount of mixture in the mouth of the dead person doing some ritual performances and then other members do the same. After finishing a few rituals followed by this, lineage male members and other male members jointly organize the funeral procession. Tharus take the dead body always in the south of the village in the barren land or in the riverbed for the cremation where they burn the dead body. After the dead body completely burns, they all take a holy bath for purification and return home. Before entering the village, they perform a ritual called thap marna on the way (dig a small hole on the ground) to appease the spirit of the dead. On the same day, they organize a feast called dharam bhat. The mourning of the dead last

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 for several days until uddhar ceremony is performed. By tradition Thursday is supposed to be an auspicious day for uddhar. During this ceremony all male and female members of dead person’s family gather in the house and the chief mourner shaves his head completely including tupi (little bunch of hair left on the center of the head), beard, moustaches and eyebrow. Other male members of the family also shave their head. Then all of them take a bath and get purified with swan pani (holy water purified by gold). 3.4 Festivals and Feasts Tharu people perceive numerous festivals aiming to secure safety and affluence of a household or the village community. Many of Tharu festivals are similar to those of Hindus such as Krishna Astami, Dashain, Maghe Sakranti (Maghi) and so on. Maghi is the most important festival in Tharu community which is considered as their new year. Even all Tharus get government-announced national holiday during this occasion. This day also characterizes the end of all annual agreements between master and servants or landowners and tenants involving Thaurus and if needed they must be renewed during or after the festival. After the abolition of kamaiya (contract labor) system in Nepal in 2000, this practice has changed a bit. Astimki (Krishna Janmastami) is another festival which is the auspicious birthday of lord Krishna and falls on the eighth day of the dark fortnight (Krishna Pakshya) of Shrawan month (mid-July to mid-August). Among the Tharus, it is the women’s festival in which mostly Bathinyas (young girls) and other women participate. Bathinyas regard this festival with great importance and all except very young girl and weak women fast for the whole day without taking even water. On the occasion, Astimki mural are drawn in the house of Mahaton and painted over the surface of the big Dehri (earthen grain container) standing at the northern limit of the Bahari section of the house. Atwari festival, just after Astimki, happens on the first Sunday of the bright fortnight of Bhadau month (mid-August to mid-September), is the fasting festival of only males. On the eve of Atwari, all male members who are going to fast the next day take a heavy meal, called dar, consisting of many food varieties. On the fasting day after performing mandatory rites at the beginning, a senior person among the fasting people offers a small piece of Atwari roti with butter to the holy fire. Atwari roti is a fried bread made from rice floor. The holy fire is kept burning till next morning because they have to cook holy rice in this fire called pharahar which all fasting persons enjoy eating. During the festival Dasya (Dashain), which coincides with Hindu's greatest festival Vijaya Dashami, a number of rituals are performed for nine days starting from planting Jiura (early shoots of maize) to Tika (a mixture of rice grains and some holy pastes to put on forehead) on the ninth day. In the ninth day (Nawami), or main day of Dasya festival, women of the family prepare special meals for Pittar (ancestors). In the afternoon of this day, there is a Tika-giving ceremony in the every house and house of Mahaton. Ghardhurrya and other members go to the Mahaton’s house to get Tika carrying Jiura, Bebri (basil) and ordinary liquor. The Mahaton or senior member of the family puts Tika on their forehead. In the evening during the Dasya, a group dance, called Dasya Nach, is performed in every Tharu village with mostly participated by young women and single youngsters. The songs in most cases contain themes from Hindu epic Krishna Charitra (life history of lord Krishna). Dhureri (Hori) is another festival among Tharu community which is committed to the worship of Bhayar, a significant village shrine of Tharus. According to Hindus, Hori or Fagu

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Purnima falls on the full moon (bright fortnight) of Fagun (mid-March to mid-April) but Thaus are not strict concerning the date for this festival and celebrate Dhureri in or around that time with their Hindu neighbors. For the preparation of this festival they bring some branches of Dhairo tree and small trunk of Semar tree. On this occasion some of them take drums and others take cowbells, sing certain songs, and poke jokes at bathiniyas (young Tharu girls). 4. Economic Conditions This section provides a brief assessment on resulting effects of Tharu's religious beliefs and practices on their economic conditions projected towards their daily life. Like the economy in most other Nepalese villages, Tharu's economic activities in the study area are primarily agriculture-based and complimented by animal husbandry, yet signs of change are emerging in the context of changing economic landscape in the surroundings where they live. This is also in line with the revelation of one of the earlier scholars John Nesfield (quoted by Guneratne, 1994) who found that, when describing the economic life of Tharus in India, they were involved in hunting, fishing, and collecting forest fruits and roots as well, on top of agriculture and animal husbandry. Tharus in study area are living mostly in subsistence farming as opposed to the way people in their neighborhoods are living. The economic condition of other communities is improving due to growing trend in foreign employment and participation in formal sector jobs but it remains not so drastically different for Tharu communities since their economic activities are largely based on traditional methods. Tharus as of late, however, have started seeing benefits of other formal occupations and the prosperity coming in neighboring households and thus now have been attracted to the new occupations. As seen in Table 1, agriculture, supported by animal husbandry, was found to be the main source of living among Tharus in the study area. Almost all households are engaged in farming and most are dependent on agriculture-related activities, whether as a self-sufficient venture or with some outside income from working at farms. For example, out of 820 individuals, 84.4 percent (a total of 692) worked in agriculture in Bansbot village whereas it was 79.0 percent (a total of 541 out of 685) in Bangaun village. Most of the respondents were found to be saying that they were not satisfied with their occupation but were compelled to follow it (except a few said they were satisfied with it). Different causes were responsible for the dissatisfaction with the traditional occupation and the most common reasons were low social prestige of being engaged in this profession followed by low productivity and hard to work in the agriculture sector. During off season, when there was no agricultural work, the Tharus remained workless. It was observed that most of the Tharus had cattle in their homes such as pig, cow, buffalo, ox, goat, sheep and chicken, which made the family members a little busy in serving them and provided occasionally some incomes also. Pigs and chickens were considered important because of the practices of giving sacrifice to their deities, gods and goddesses which mandated them to be engaged in these activities and not easily being able to take other occupations. This religious and economic practice of Tharu people appears resembling with Harris’s (1968) theory of cultural materialism. Tharu people’s feasts and ceremonies are not completed without pork and taming pig provided them additional income as well at the same time when they were fulfilling their cultural obligations.

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Table 1: Major occupation and employment among Tharu people in the study area Bansbot Village Bangaun Village Major Occupation Female Male Total Major occupation Female Male Total Agriculture 350 342 692 Agriculture 311 230 541 Business 4 15 19 Business 5 12 17 Service 00 5 5 Service 2 4 6 Wage labor 22 45 67 Wage labor 19 42 61 Industry 0 5 5 Industry 0 4 4 Foreign job 7 25 2 Foreign job 5 51 56 (India and abroad) (India and abroad) Total 383 437 820 Total 342 343 685 Source: Field survey in the study area in 2019 Tharu's agriculture-based subsistence life in the study area has widened with the support of local wage earning opportunities available to them generating additional income. As the survey revealed, a 8.2 percent of Tharu population were found to be working as wage laborer in Bansbot village whereas it was 8.9 percent in Bangaun village. Foreign employment, though in small number, had been the area of attraction for many Tharus as they were seeing this happening among youngsters from other communities living aside with them. Those who were in foreign employment had been to India and gulf countries. Some in the village (2.3 percent in Bansbot and 2.5 percent in Bangaun) were also found to be engaged in agro-business ranging from basketry to rope-making and they were economically sound and were upgrading their economic life gradually as compared to those who were engaged in subsistence farming. 5. Conclusion This paper sheds light on some aspects of religious beliefs and practices of Tharu indigenous people living in Nepal. They believe that these practices make them resilient to forces of nature which is believed to bring security and prosperity in their communities. Their faith, rituals and rites keep them bold and fearless and help them harbor amiable connections with the deities, spirits, and other super natural powers deemed necessary for their existence and successful life. The festivals and ceremonies of the Tharus are occasions of community participation and reciprocity which supports in maintaining their social order and solidarity. Not only these beliefs are in their vindication and power to encounter the natural environment and protect themselves from disasters such as droughts and flood, they believe they also help meet their survival needs. This descriptive functionalist analysis of the religion of Tharus shows similarity with Malinowski’s (1948) theory of social functions of religion which posits that religion is a part of culture with certain functions for the fulfillment of human needs and for the provision of solutions to certain difficulties and problems. In line with this proposition, the evidence derived from this research shows that the religious life of Tharu people has shaped their economic life as well which predominantly relies on subsistence farming. Despite living in abject poverty for long as mandated by their cultural practices, their condition has begun to change over time with widening scope in terms of further economic opportunities available to them to improve their living conditions. The major attractions are to join foreign employment, work as wage laborers in formal job markets, start small businesses.

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References Bista, D. B. (1996). People of Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar. Guneratne, U. A. (2002). Many tongues one people: The making of Tharu identity in Nepal. New York: Cornell University Press. Guneratne, U. A. (1994). The Tharus of Chitwan: Ethnicity, class and the state in Nepal, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, The Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago. Harris, M. (1968). The rise of anthropological theory: A history of theories of culture. New York: Crowell. Malinowski, B. (1948). Magic, science, religion and other essays. Glencoe (Illinois): Free Press. McDonaugh, C. (1984). The Tharus of Dang: A study of social organization, myth and ritual in West Nepal. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Oxford. Pyakuryal, K. N. (1982). Ethnicity and rural development in Nepal; A sociological study of four Tharu villages in Chitwan, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Michigan State University, U.S.A. Rajaure, D.P. (1977). Anthropological study of the Tharus of Dang Deukhuri, Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), Kathmandu, Nepal. Regmi, M.C. (1978). Thatched huts and stucco palaces: Peasants and landlords in 19th century Nepal. New Delhi: Vikash Publishing House. Srivastava, S.K. (1958). The Tharus. A study in cultural dynamics. Agra; Agra University Press. Varya, T.V. (1971). Nepal seat of cultural heritage: Kathmandu: Educational Enterprise.

Journal of Development Innovations

Threats and Conservation of Red Panda in Nepal and their Socio-economic Impacts in the Local Community

Mahendra Bhattarai1

ABSTRACT Red panda, Ailurus fulgens is a unique animal of carnivora family with a single species and probably of monotypic family. Although they are found from Mugu to Ilam district in Nepal

inside eight different protected areas and one community forest, the total population is yet not known. Their preferred habitat is the bamboo-dominated vegetation of evergreen deciduous forest within an altitudinal range of 2,400 m to 3,600 m with abundant fallen logs and tree

stumps. The diet comprises 54-100% of bamboo leaves with others like bamboos shoots, Sorbus fruits and mushroom depending upon the seasons. This low-quality diet makes them active day and night making vulnerable to different anthropogenic factors and predators. Habitat fragmentation, deforestation, poaching, over grazing, exploitation of forest resources, feral dogs and other human disturbances are the major threats. National Park and Wildlife

Conservation Act, 1973 tries to protect red panda along with its habitat. A community-based conservation approach is also being practiced in Choyatar Community Forest, Ilam. Only Langtang National Park has a specific conservation plan for red panda. As the species is vulnerable to extinction with the low population density a focused conservation and management plan should be formulated and implemented with the active participation of local

people.

JEL Classification: Q57 Key Words: Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens, Pellets, Threats, Eastern Himalaya

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Email: [email protected] Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019

1. Introduction 1.1 Background The Red Panda Ailurus fulgens is a small arboreal mammal and the only species of genus Ailurus and family Ailuridae. It is a threatened mammal listed as vulnerable by the IUCN and is found in the bamboo dominated temperate forest of eastern Himalaya (Sharma and Belant, 2009). Although it has been interesting for many researchers and scientists; only little knowledge and research has been done so far. It is one of the favorite animals for the zoo visitors with its unique taxonomic features. It is still ambiguous whether it belongs to bears, procyonids or the giant panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca and may thus have obtained the status of monotypic subfamily (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991). Apart from the world’s zoo the status of red panda in the wild is poorly known. There were about 157 red pandas in 43 zoos in 1988 around the world (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991). The exact population of world’s wild red panda is unknown because of the difficulty of its study as their habitat occupies in the difficult rough remote terrains and has simply been estimated to be 13,000 to 16,000 individuals among which 3,800 to 5,000 are Ailurus fulgens styani and 9,200 to 11,000 Ailurus fulgens fulgens (Williams, 2004). Red pandas are the silent creatures, which are both diurnal and nocturnal. They are basically a bamboo eater with strong, curved and sharp semi- retractile claws (Roberts and Gittleman, 1984). The home range or the crude density of red panda may depend upon the age of an animal. The sub-adult female of 8 months old occupies 3.4 km2 whereas the adult female occupies 0.91 km2 and male 1.11 km2 in Wolong Reserve, China (Wei and Zhang, 2010). Habitat condition plays an important role in occurrence of red panda. Besides the dense bamboo forest, closeness to water may be the basic requirements for their habitat (Yonzon, 1989). The presence of pellet groups at 0 to 100 m range of water body or in different substrates like fallen logs, tree stumps, rocks, tree holes shows the habitat requisite of red pandas (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991; Pradhan et al., 2001; Wei and Zhang, 2010). Red pandas are the flagships for numerous species and even for the people sharing the mountain forests (Hunter Jr, 1991). The availability of red panda extends within a narrow band of Himalaya range, starting from Mugu district of western Nepal along with Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh of India, Bhutan, northern Burma, southeastern Tibet, to west Yunan, Sichuan and Shaanxi provision of China (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991; Zidar, 2008). This shows that the distribution limits between the Annapurna regions of Nepal in west to the Qingling mountains of China in east (Ziegler et al., 2010), as shown below in figure 1 and figure 2. Few of the studies have been conducted in Nepal; it is thus difficult to assess the status of pandas from the available literatures. The late Pralad Yonzon was the first conservation biologist to study red panda in the mid hills of Nepal (Yonzon, 1989; Appel et al., 2013). He has studied about the conservation of red pandas in Lantang National Park. Also, the study about the summer diet of red panda, habitat distribution and abundance of red panda has been conducted in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve and even the status of red panda outside the protected area in eastern Nepal has been studied. Recently there are few organizations like RPN, NCDC, ICIMOD working collaboratively with the local participation of the community for the conservation and protection of red panda and its habitat.

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1.2 Objectives The objective of the study is to understand the threats and conservation status of the red panda in Nepal. It even attempts to explore the basic ecology of the red panda that finally helps to know about the habitat and distribution pattern, diet and feeding habits as well as the population size. 1.3 Methods of research The study was completely based on secondary sources of data. Literature review was done to obtain the required information about the topic. Internet search engines like Google scholar, ISI web of knowledge were used to search the literatures. Websites and publications of different organization as Red Panda Network (RPN), ICIMOD, National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and others working in the sector of red panda, biodiversity and conservation, natural resource and environmental management were also reviewed during the study. Many different keywords like: Red Panda in Nepal, Ailurus fulgens, Ailurus fulgens fulgens, Red Panda and eastern Himalaya, Threats and Conservation of Red Panda were used while searching the literatures. 2. Results 2.1 Population Distribution and Habitats Red panda can be found in different habitats from evergreen forest to deciduous forest or coniferous forest that have the dominancy of bamboo species but they have the distinct preference of habitat that comprise of abundant fallen logs and tree stumps (Wei and Zhang, 2010). Red panda are found in eight different protected areas of Nepal viz: Annapurna Conservation Area, Kangchenjunga Conservation Area, Manaslu Conservation Area, Langtang National Park, Makalu-Barun National Park, Rara National Park, Sagarmatha National Park and Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve (Mahato, 2012; Yonzon, 1989). Apart from these protected area it is also found in community managed government forest of eastern Nepal, in the Jamuna and Mabhu VDCs of Ilam (Williams, 2004). The map shown below in figure 1 showed the habitat of Red Panda in Nepal. It is extremely infrequent to encounter or have a proper sighting of red panda in the wild, so must of the studies are done based on the availability of the pellets and walking along the trails. According to Yonzon and Hunter Jr (1991) among the habitats of red pandas with different vegetation types – fir-jhapra, rhododendron, broadleaved forests-raate, birch and alpine scrub; fir- jhapra with the narrow altitudinal range of 2,800 m to 3,900 m is the most preferred habitant in Langtang National Park, Nepal. Even the study conducted in Sikkim, India shows that the red panda is found within the short altitudinal range of 2,210 m to 3,570 m (Ghose et al., 2009). Though the population of red panda is distributed along the entire Singhalila National Park of India, the availability and density of pellet groups, red panda encounter rates showed that they are abundant in broad-leaf deciduous and sub-alpine forest within the altitudinal range of 2,800-3,600 m (Pradhan et al., 2001). The possible transboundary habitat is shown below in figure 2.

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Figure 1: Map showing Red Panda habitat in Nepal (Jnawali et al., 2012)

Figure 2: Map showing possible transboundary Red Panda habitat (Jnawali et al., 2012)

Yonzon and Hunter Jr (1991) explain the population status of red panda accordingly in Langtang National Park. The total adult population was 8 in October 1986 and 5 in October 1987. During the study, among five observed small litters one set of twins and four single births was

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 found. The proportion of fecund female was high, but the cub mortality was also high. In between September 1986 to December 1986 only one cub survives whereas 86% of cohort i.e. 5 or 6 cubs died. Similarly, in 1987; 67% of cohort i.e. 4 cubs died and only two survived by October. Also, the adult mortality was high, 4 out of 9 adults died only in year 1987. Leopard predated the 2 adults and one cub, while humans killed one adult and then a cub died due starvation and two other cubs were also killed due human disturbances. Finally, based on ecological density of one adult panda/2.9 km2 the total estimated population would be 37 adults. Similarly, the crude density of red panda estimated in Singhalila National Park was 1adult/1.67 km2, which was comparatively higher than that of Langtang National Park 1adult/2.9 km2 (Pradhan et al., 2001). The pellet groups were observed within the site with abundance of bamboos and available water resources from 3,000 m to 3,600 m with higher frequency of occurrence from 3,000 m to 3,500 m in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve (Sharma and Belant, 2009). Similarly, red panda pellet groups were observed from 3,117 m to 3,591 m with higher frequency of occurrence from 3,200 m to 3,350 m and then constant up to 3,400 m while there were no any pellets found above 3,591 m and below 3,100 m in Rara National Park (Sharma, 2011). In Jamuna and Mabhu community forests red panda signs were recorded from 2,500 m to 3,000 m with the rate of 0.56/km from 2,400-2,600 m, 2.44/km from 2,600-2,800 m and 5.1/km from 2,800-3,000 m (Williams, 2004). Apart from the ground the encounter of pellets or red panda was mostly seen on different tree species found on different physiographical or geographical regions. Some of those tree species are Pinus wallichina, Quercus semicarpefolia, Betula utilis, Juniperus indica, Sorbus cuspidate, Rhododendron sps, Sorbus microphylla, Schefflera impressa, Himalayacalamus falconeri, Thamnocalamus aristatus, Lindera pulcherrima, Arundinaria maling, Tsuga dumosa, with the higher frequency in Abies spectabilis (Sharma, 2011; Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991; Pradhan et al., 2001; Williams, 2004; Subedi and Thapa, 2011). 2.2 Diet and Feeding habit It is difficult to track red panda in the wild, so its food and feeding habits are analyzed from their fresh droppings as these are roughly digested and can be easily separated (Wei and Zhang, 2010). Being the member of carnivora they have an unusual diet that primarily comprise of bamboo shoots, Sorbus fruits and mushrooms and sometimes the eggs of birds (Yonzon, 1989; Pradhan et al., 2001; Dorji et al., 2012). The diet of red panda found in Langtang National Park includes mostly the leaves of single bamboo species jhapra (Himalayacalamus falconeri) almost about 54-100% around the year and even few other items depending upon the seasons like jhapra and raate shoots in spring and summer and Sorbus fruits and mushrooms in late summer and autumn and may be because of this low quality diet they are active 56% of total time throughout day and night (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991). Similarly, it has been found that the red panda in Singhalila National Park consumed the leaves of Arundinaria maling, Arundinaria aristata, fruits of Arundinaria strigosa and bamboo shoots in temperate region while Arundinaria aristata, bamboo shoots and berries of Sorbus microphylla (Pradhan et al., 2001). There were six different plant species identified and 2.5% of the diet was unidentifiable in the pellets of red panda in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve. The identified species were Arundinaria sps (81.7%), Acer sps (4.5%), Quercus semicarpifolia (3.3%), Berberis sps (2.1%) and lichens (2%) and among the consumption of Arundinaria sps 58% was the stem portion whereas 23.75% the leaf (Panthi et al., 2012).

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Red Panda have the short alimentary canal so defecate immediately after feeding. Since they feed on low calorie diet they usually spend most of their time feeding and feed a large amount of food. They usually use elevated objects like fallen logs, branches, small shrubs, tree stumps to get the bamboo leaves easily (Wei and Zhang, 2010). They run in the ground or in the trees searching for food and place foods in the mouth directly by mouth or with the help of forepaws (Roberts and Gittleman, 1984). 2.3 Threats The population of red panda does not have any reliable number (Ziegler et al., 2010). They are threatened and vulnerable to extinction (Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991) because of habitat fragmentation, deforestation and its natural habitat degradation and destruction, poaching for hats, fur or even for “good luck charm” and an illegal trading as pet or zoo animal, tourism and domestic dogs (Subedi and Thapa, 2011; Ghose et al., 2009; Dorji et al., 2012). The threat arising due to habitat fragmentation may also lead the species towards inbreeding and finally the loss of genetic variation (Mahato, 2012). Similar threats due to grazing, establishment of Goths and poaching were also seen in Sighalila National Park in the past but after 1993 the area was declared as national park and thus the exploitation is controlled now (Pradhan et al., 2001). The study of Yonzon and Hunter Jr (1991) in Langtang National Park shows that the red panda has low fecundity but high mortality. They reported that 57% of the deaths are due to humans either related to cattle herders, overgrazing or may be with their dogs. Though the competition of food may not be important as chauri (domestic yak- Bos grunniens) feeds on bamboo leaves at the lower heights than that of red pandas but they disturbed the abundance of bamboos by trampling and consuming the leaves at shorter stalk reducing its growth, which ultimately threats an existence to them with the scarcity of food. Also, as they depend on jhapra shoots, the low-quality diets they remain active most of the time either day or night so are more vulnerable to predation by leopards. According to the study of Subedi and Thapa (2011), one of the major threats in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve is the seasonal overgrazing of large numbers of livestock in the forested land that creates a disturbance and destruction of red panda habitat. Besides this illegal trapping of the animal, illegal logging of trees for firewood and timber are other problems associated with the threats of red panda. Even the collection of bamboo shoots for livestock’s calves creates a food competition between red panda and the domesticated animals (Sharma and Belant, 2010). As per the study a total of 3,500 buffaloes, 25,000 cows, 3,500 horses and 70,000 goats and sheep graze inside the reserve area that has the direct impact on the habitat of red panda. Similar results were shown from the study in Rara National Park. People were directly involved for the collection of tree twigs, illegal grazing inside park area, harvesting of nigalo (Drepanostachyum sps) as fodder or raw materials for the preparation of hat, tube of hukka, basket, etc. that creates a threat for red panda (Sharma, 2011). Not only in Rara National Park the killing of red panda by the dog is also problem in Jamuna and Mabhu VDCs, Ilam (Sharma, 2011; Williams, 2004). The workshop conducted by NTNC from 2 to 6 September, 2010 on “Red Panda in Nepal - A Population and Habitat Viability Assessment and Species Conservation Strategy” has finally grouped the threats on seven major categories (Jnawali et al., 2012). They were

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• Loss and degradation of habitat due to different human induced causes like forest fire, overgrazing, collection of firewoods, fodder, NTFPs, ineffective pastureland management system and the conflict between the species and transhuman pastoralists. • Trapping and poaching for fur, skin, meat and for adopting as zoo animals or pets. • Effect of infrastructural developmental activities like road, hydropower construction, encroachment for agriculture, different alien species, excess use of pesticides and even the eco-tourist or pilgrim visitors. • Weak governance, inadequate implementation and enforcement of rules and regulations, political instability. • Lack of awareness, education, funds and expertise. • Effect of climate change, landslides, floods, sudden outburst, irregular precipitation and snowfall with high intensity and diseases. • Other transboundary conflicts related to illegal harvesting of forest products, illegal trade and poaching. 2.4 Conservation approaches Nepal has established a number of protected areas that includes 10 national parks, 4 conservation area, 3 wildlife reserves, 1 hunting reserve and 13 buffer zones in the park. This includes almost 20 percent of total land i. e. 2 million hectares for biodiversity conservation (Jana and Paudel, 2010). National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 provides the protection of red panda in Nepal (Panthi et al., 2012). Also red panda being the protected species of Nepal, Bhutan, China has been enlisted in Appendix I of CITES (Pradhan et al., 2001). For the effective conservation approaches there should be a solid management plan as it is the road map that guides a conservation efforts with the desired future and recent approval of Red Panda Action Plan for Langtang National Park and Buffer zone 2010-2014 shows that Government of Nepal has been involved in preparation and implementation of long-term Species Conservation Action Plans (SCAP) (Poudel, 2011). Apart from establishing protected areas, Nepal has gained success in conservations through strong community participation, e. g. Community forestry program. Also, the conservation of red panda in Choyatar community forest, Jamuna VDC, Ilam by Choyatar CFUG is another example where 275 ha of forest has been conserved along with the species of red panda. The free movement inside the forest area has been completely restricted focusing on the reduction of human disturbance for red panda (Jana and Paudel, 2010). Other approaches and strategies are also applied for the conservation programs. The school outreach program was launched by RPN to develop future stewards. Habitat improvements by restoration of waterholes, plantation in forest area to maintain forest connectivity and direct involvement of locals to generate awareness and importance of species and its conservation were done in Choyatar. Also alternative livelihood strategies, use of alternative energies to reduce dependency on forest products were emphasized (Mahato et al., 2011). Recently Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (KCAP) has been established with joint cooperation between DNPWC and WWF, Nepal that focus on the protection of the pristine environment of Kanchenjunga Conservation Area and its unique biodiversity improving the livelihood standard of local people (Müller-Böker and Kollmair, 2000). Apart from this due to the

Journal of Development Innovations Vol. 3, No. 2, 2019 concern in loss of globally significant species the conservation approaches in Kanchenjunga landscape has been focused on transboundary conservation approaches maintaining the habitat corridors (Chettri et al., 2011). 3. Socio-economic Impacts The attitude towards conservation and satisfying its objectives are almost impossible to achieve through top-down approach of nature conservation failing to address the needs and expectations of local communities. Thus, conservationist recommended different strategies of bottom-up approach like incentive-based programs encouraging local stewardship (Spiteri and Nepal, 2008). Similarly, generating alternative livelihood schemes will improve the alternative sustainable means of livelihood minimizing the dependency of locals on the nearby protected areas. It was found that the engagement and involvement in alternative community based activities like organic farming, beekeeping, medicinal plant cultivation, growing high value-low volume cash crops, walnuts and hazelnuts, cultivation of ornamental plants as orchids, rhododendrons and the sale of local crafts to tourists had minimized the pressure on timber, bamboos and any other forest resources. That has improved the habitats of red panda as well as the rural socio-economic condition of rural Bhutan. Sequentially it has improved the village-based wildlife tourism and market for cottage industries (Dorji et al., 2012). The study based on both the environmental and anthropogenic variables showed that out of 13,781 km2 of suitable red panda habitat in Nepal, approximately 60%, i.e. 8,203 km2 were located outside the existing protected areas (Panthi et al., 2019). It clearly explained that the habitat is in direct contact with human settlement and other activities. Thus, the strict conservation strategies bring conflicts with humans if conservation activities do not address the human interest. Nepal being a famous international tourist destination with many recreational tourist treks and routes in hilly parts of Nepalese Himalayan region crossing red panda habitat, it is essential to develop conservation strategies involving local communities. The local community must take the leadership in conserving the habitat of red panda in the same time including the economic development of village through the tourism and empowering rural economy. 4. Discussion Different areas have the different conservation approaches but still the effective and long- term conservation and management plan for the conservation of red panda has been lacking. Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve does not have any management plan. There should be a strong management plan that includes policies, local involvement and even the quota for number of animals grazing in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve (Sharma and Belant, 2010). Similarly an updated and scientific management plan focusing on sustainable use of resources, capacity building and habitat management should be prepared for Rara National Park (Sharma, 2011). Conservation education, local people involvement are the basis for the effective conservation of red panda. Also, a lesson can be learned from Global Red Panda Management Programme and can be tried even in Kanchenjunga Conservation Area that has a similar climatic and ecological status. This finally helps to conserve the animal with transboundary approach which may be the best way to conserve in huge area rather than trying to conserve it within a specific location (Pradhan et al., 2001). As a Global Red Panda Management Programme a planned breeding program was initiated in India in early 90’s and in 2003 two females from the zoo was reintroduced in Singhalila National

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Park among which one was killed by predation and another start reproducing mating with wild panda (Krishnan et al., 2012). Kanchenjunga landscape is a home for many different globally threatened species that have low population densities, occupies greater territory and has regular conflicts with human (Chettri et al., 2008). They are highly affected by habitat fragmentation, illegal harvesting of bamboo shoots and NTPFs and poaching aroused due to greater incentives paid by elite people of either side, Nepal or India for the mobile traditional hunters to capture animals (Oli, 2008). This can only be controlled by the preservation of ecological corridors through transboundary approaches. Williams (2003) clarifies in his study that red panda needs water nearby its den; good and mature canopy for breeding and due to this habitat specialization they are regarded as the indicator species of Eastern Himalayan Broadleaf Coniferous Forest (EHBF) but still the understanding and study of red panda microhabitat is not widely done. Along with this current breeding population, red pandas are critically endangered and have a possible threat of extinction due to high mortality, predation from domestic as well as feral dogs, leopards, unsustainable forest resources harvesting and developmental activities. Thus, an intensive study on red panda and its micro habitat should be done leading to the development of conservation plan with the strong participation of local people will only help in conservation of red panda. 5. Conclusion Red panda is difficult to be observed and found in the wild, so the study is based on surveys, interviews and collecting, observing & analyzing the pellets (Pradhan et al., 2001; Wei and Zhang, 2010; Yonzon and Hunter Jr, 1991; Zidar, 2008). Yonzon and Hunter Jr (1991) found red panda within the altitude of 2800-3900 m inside Langtang National Park, central Nepal where the abundance of fir-jhapara is high. Similarly, William (2004) found within the altitudinal range of 2500-3000 m in Ilam, eastern Nepal. Though the animal is from carnivora family; it feeds upon the bamboo shoots, mushrooms and Sorbus fruits. Red panda is one of the keystone species with the narrow range of habitat prerequisite that occurs in the eastern Himalayan range (Chaudhary et al., 2009). Therefore, the proper management and conservation of this species is necessary not only for its own conservation but also for the conservation and protection of the entire biodiversity and wildlife species and even the local communities sharing the same habitat range. Still, red panda is poorly known because of its low population size and habitat distribution in remote and rough terrain (Sharma, 2011). The studies done so far show that the major threats as human encroachment, illegal hunting, overgrazing, over exploitation of forest products and thus red panda conservation and management plan should be formulated that will address current policies, habitat improvement strategies, alternative livelihood strategies, reintroduction of species and also abide people with strict rules and regulations in utilization of forest resources, control over livestock grazing and feral dogs (Ghose et al., 2009; Mahato et al., 2011). Although Nepal has initiated in preparing long-term Species Conservation Action Plan, only Red Panda Action Plan for Langtang National Park has been formulated (Poudel, 2011) and there is no any conservation plan in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, or in Rara National Park (Sharma and Belant, 2010). Thus, an intensive study about its habitat selection, behavior, population size and distribution, threats and conservation status is necessary. The conservation and management plan should be prepared along with the focused action plan, involving rural and village tourism guidelines, tourism and economic activities and local leadership in conservation.

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Zidar, J. (2008). Keeping red pandas in captivity. SLU, Dept. of Animal Environment and Health, Skara, Retrieved from https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/10802/. Ziegler, S., Gebauer, A., Melisch, R., Sharma, B. K., Ghose, P. S., Chakraborty, R., Shrestha, P., Ghose, D., Legshey, K., Pradhan, H., Bhutia, N. T., Tambe, S. & Sinha, S. (2010). Sikkim - Im Zeichen des Roten Panda. 53, 79-92.