See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272354436 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN NEPAL: A SUCCESS STORY Book · January 2012 CITATIONS READS 0 3,565 1 author: Krishna Acharya Ministry of Forests and Environment 63 PUBLICATIONS 522 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Wildlife Stockpiles Management in Nepal View project National red panda survey Nepal View project All content following this page was uploaded by Krishna Acharya on 31 March 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN NEPAL A SUCCESS STORY Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not necessarily re"ect the views of their institutions or the publisher. Reproduction of this publication for sale or other commercial purpose is prohibited. Reproduction for educational or other non-commercial purpose is permitted provided the source is fully acknowledged. Editors : Krishna Prasad Acharya and Maheshwor Dhakal Citation : Acharya, K.P. and Dhakal, M. (eds) 2012 Biodiversity Conservation in Nepal : A Success Story Cover Design : P. Kandel Print at : Bagalamukhi O!set Press, Kupondol, Tel : 5520099 Copyright : ©Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation ISBN : Back Cover Photo : Zero Poaching year celebration in Chitawan National Park on 7th January 2012. Publisher : Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Babar Mahal, Kathmandu GPO Box 860, Tel: 4220912, 4220850 Web : www.dnpwc.gov.np Scan copy Preface n last three active decades on biodiversity conservation, the country has set up various institutions to deal on conservation, many policies were implemented and a strong Ilegislation is into e!ect. With this on the backyard, it has still not been able to fully tackle the growing threat to biodiversity conservation that needs better coordination, cooperation, public participation, e!ective resource mobilization as well as strong trans-boundary and international support. Despite of crunch in resources, many good initiatives were taken in the past and many succeeded. Conservation of endangered species like Rhino and Tiger were into the focus while executing a number of programs across the protected areas. Likewise, the country celebrated 2011 as the ‘zero poaching year’ as there was no poaching of rhino from 3 January 2011 to 3 April 2012, which is a milestone achievement in rhino conservation history. There was major achievement in wildlife crime control and signi#cant numbers of criminals were arrested in last few years. As per the decision of Cabinet meeting chaired by Rt. Hon. Prime Minister on Mangsir 5, 2067 (21, November 2010) Wildlife Crime Control Coordination Committee and Bureau at di!erent levels were established as statutory bodies to curb ongoing wildlife crimes. In an e!ort to document on the on-the-ground experiences, current issues, achievements, opportunities, and way forward; this publication “Biodiversity Conservation in Nepal: 5 IN NEPAL CONSERVATION BIODIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY A A Success Story” has been put forward by Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). This special edition contains ten papers from conservationists; scientists and #eld implementers directly involved in Biodiversity conservation practices in Nepal from policy level to implementation level. The #rst paper highlights on policy advances in biodiversity conservation in Nepal and its developmental process has been analyzed. It concludes that protected areas management in Nepal has progressively marched from a top-down nature of management in which concerns of local people living in or around the national parks or reserves were largely ignored to a more participatory and people-oriented approaches to conservation. Paper two stresses on community participation in conservation and speci#cally analyses how the conservation approach shifted from strict government authority control to the community participation in long run of conservation history in the country. Similarly, chapter three is about human wildlife con"ict in Nepal and measures for reducing rift between park authorities and local communities. It also describes on how it could be addressed and the harmony could be developed between human and wildlife. Paper four, focuses on recent institutional setup established in last two years to curb wildlife poaching and trade of wildlife body parts. The paper emphasizes on e!orts and achievements in wildlife poaching control in the country. It says that the initiation of the government to establish the several committees at national and local level has helped to gather information about the poachers as well has increased the coordination among the various agencies at national and local level to e!ectively control wildlife crime. In paper #ve, the authors have explained on how the conservation at species level is ongoing in the country and the described how several wild animals have been kept in breeding centers to help in conservation. It mainly focuses on elephant conservation and breeding center, Chitwan, Vulture Conservation and Breeding Center and Gharial Breeding Center, which mainly helps in conservation of some key species which are threatened. Paper 6 is about bird conservation in Nepal. It focuses on how bird conservation started in Nepal and details on what is happening in bird conservation arena have been provided by the authors. Though Nepal boasts 871 species of birds, negligible fund has been allocated for its conservation and it’s still not in the priority of the government, however some good initiatives have been taken by the government for bird conservation that are highly appreciable. Prospects on how tourism can help sustainable #nancing for conservation e!orts in the conservation areas and uplift people’s living standard through various ways of income generation has been described in paper 7. It also stresses that there is much to do to bring large number of tourists in the country but cautiously says economic activities should not underestimate core motive of conservation for which the protected areas were designed Chapter 8 highlights #nancial and economic assessment of protected areas taking Bardiya National Park as a case study. The park provides a wide range of provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. Of the 21 di!erent ecosystem services recorded from BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN NEPAL IN NEPAL CONSERVATION BIODIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY A 6 Bardiya, six services (provisioning, recreational, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, soil conservation and option values) were important. The study further found that conservation costs is very low while societal bene#ts are high, thus creating an opportunity for signi#cant welfare gains from increased conservation investment. In paper 9, stresses on rhino conservation in Nepal and its present status where Chitwan National Park has been taken as major site for the study. It discusses the rhino counting 2011 methods and results and stresses on e!orts and successes of rhino conservation in the country with special reference to Chitwan National Park. Paper 10 focuses on tiger conservation e!orts and the status of tiger in the country. Tiger is one of the major species which has been provided high importance by the government. Several activities have been implementing to conserve the species as it is under serious threat. With the compilation of ten articulate papers, this book will be able to provide the general insights of the positive aspects on biodiversity conservation in Nepal that is believed to have signi#cant impact on enhancing the conservation e!orts. Nepal is currently stuck with the plethora of priorities invited by political instability, poverty and development needs and even the reshaping of the administrative boundaries through state re-structuring. This book is thus considered timely and very useful for not only the conservationists, academicians and conservation policy makers but to politicians who can incorporate understanding of landscape conservation in the re-structuring process of the state. 7 IN NEPAL CONSERVATION BIODIVERSITY SUCCESS STORY A TOC Policy Advances in Biodiversity Paper 1 Conservation in Nepal – Udaya Raj Sharma Nepal has outstanding assemblages of plants, animals and ecosystems in a remarkable physical setting. The altitude increases dramatically from less than 100m above sea level in the subtropical terai in the southern part of the country to the highest point on the earth’s surface (8848m) at the southern edge of the Tibetan plateau, all within a short horizontal distance of about 200km. Nepal has created impressive array of protected areas in order to include viable samples of biodiversity found in the country. There are 10 national parks, 3 wildlife reserves, 1 hunting reserve, 6 conservation areas and 12 bu!er zones around the park and reserves, totaling more than 3.4 million ha of country’s land, which counts to above 23 percent of the land of Nepal directly committed to biodiversity conservation (DNPWC 2012). Management of protected areas has gone through several major phases. These phases are shaped primarily by two aspects that have proven particularly challenging: Reconciling the needs and aspirations of local people with Protected Area (PA) management, and secondly, harnessing the economic opportunities o!ered by tourism with its associated threats (Wells and Sharma 1998). A review on