Koshi Tappu AND IT’s Wildlife BUFFER ZONE MANAGEMENT PLAN Reserve 2074/75-2078/79 (First Revision) Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and It’s Buffer Zone Management Plan (2074/75 – 2078/79) (First Revision) Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Environment Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office Publish: Koshi Tappu Widlife Reserve, Paschim Kushaha, Sunsari, Nepal. Citation: KTWR 2018. Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and It’s Buffer Zone Management Plan (2074/75 – 2078/79) Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office, Paschim Kushaha, Sunsari, Nepal Cover Photo Credit: © Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office Supported By: Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection in Asia Project (IDA Grant No.: H666) funded by the World Bank support to GoN / NTNC. © 2018, KTWR: All right reserved. Any production of this publication in full or in part must mention the title and credit Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office Printed By: Sigma General Offset Press Sanepa, Lalitpur Tel.: 01-5554029 ii Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve & its Buffer Zone Management Plan iii iv Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve & its Buffer Zone Management Plan Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Environment Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Office Paschim Kushaha, Sunsari, Nepal Ref. No.: Date: 2075/3/25 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve is the first Ramsar site of Nepal largely situated in the flood plain area of the Koshi River. The reserve is the only prime habitat for Wild water buffalo, rich in aquatic fauna and hotspot for migratory birds. Management is committed to conserve its biodiversity for the interest of present and future generations. Several organizations and individuals, buffer zone user committees, buffer zone management committee, buffer zone community forest user committees contributed in this plan in various ways. We are grateful to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) for providing opportunity for the preparation of this plan. Special thanks go to Mr. Man Bahadur Khadka, Director General, DNPWC for his continuous guidance and support for write up and overall management of the reserve. We would appreciate efforts and inputs of Mr. Gopal Prakash Bhattarai and Mr. Shersingh Thaguna, Deputy Director General, DNPWC. We would like to express great appreciation to both reviewers Mr. Shyam Bajimaya, Biodiversity Experts, former Director General and Dr. Santosh Rayamajhi, Professor, Institute of Foresty, Pokhara for their invaluable inputs. We would express our sincere thanks to Dr. Siddhartha Bajra Bajracharya, Executive Director (Programme) from National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) for his guidance, inputs and efforts. We would like to express heartfelt thanks to Dr. Hem Sagar Baral, Country Representative, ZSL Nepal for his invaluable comments on draft plan especially on birdlife. We would like to thank Mr. Narayan Rupakheti, Mr. Bishnu Prasad Thapaliya and Mr. Santosh Kumar Bhagat of Management Section of the Department for coordinating the process and their sincere efforts in finalizing this document. Successful completion of this work would not have been possible without support and cooperation of senior officials at the Department. We would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of them. Special thanks go to Mr. Amir Maharjan, Planning Officer, Mr. Bishnu Prasad Shrestha, Conservation Officer, Mr. Laxman Poudyal, Ecologist, Mrs. Sushma Rana, Investigation Officer, Wildlife Crime Control Section. Our thanks go to Mr. Bhupendra Prasad Yadav, Assitant Ecologist, Mrs. Saraswoti Sapkota, Assistant Planning Officer, Mr. Rupak Mahajan, Asst. Investigation Officer, Mr. Bhojraj Pantha, Asst. Conservation Education Officer, Mr. Kedar Nath Kattel, Asst. Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr. Rishi Ranabhat, Asst. Ecologist, Mr. Rabindra Karki, Computer Officer of DNPWC. We take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Shiv Raj Bhatta from WWF and Dr. Bhagwan Raj Dahal from ZSL for their invaluable comments on the draft plan. Special thanks go to Mr. Dipesh Joshi and Mr. Gokarna Jung Thapa WWF Nepal/ Hariyo Ban Program for their contribution in conducting vulnerability assessment and integrating climate change adaptation measures in various theme plans. We are thankful to consulting team leader Dr. Jhamak Bahadur Karki, CODEFUND for his painstaking efforts for field observation, consultation meeting with buffer zone committees and district level stakeholders and finally bring the plan in the format guided by protected area management v plan preparation procedure, 2073. Thanks goes to Mr. Tikaram Poudel, former Assistant Conservation Officer, Chitwan National Park for his facilitation works for the consultation meeting at buffer zone level and district level. We would like to acknowledge the hardwork of Mr. Vivek Gautam, Mr. Ashish Subedi, Mr. Bharat Bastola for data collection and compilation. We are thankful to PhD scholar, Mr. Nawaraj Chapagain for GIS work and invaluable suggestion for the plan. The contribution of Dr. Bhuvan Keshar Sharma especially for writing logical framework of this plan is highly appreciated. We would like to express our appreciation to Mr. Minesh Ghimire for Initial Environment Examination (IEE) of this plan. We would like to appreciate the contribution of Major Mr. Nanda Bahadur Gurung, Bhagwati Prasad Company on framing issues, strategy and activities of the plan. The support and contribution of Chairpersons, Mr. Birendra Yadav, BZMC, Chairpersons of BZMCs Mr. Amar Gurung, Mr. Jung Br. Khadka, Mr. Pankaj Mahato, Mr. Raj Kumar Singh, Mr. Daya Sankar Jha, Mr. Hasmuddin Shekh, Mrs. Renu Shah, Mr. Bachu Lal Chaudhary, and other members of BZUC are acknowledged with due regards. The plan would not have been produced in this form without continuous writing and discussion in KTWR team by Mr. Birendra Gautam and Mr. Prakash Sigdel, Program Officer from NTNC deputed in KTWR. They deserve special thanks for their efforts. KTWR is also thankful to all the agencies and individual experts who provided their valuable comments and suggestions. Finally, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to World Bank funded Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection in Asia Project (IDA Grant No.: H6660) through National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) for their financial support. Shyam Kumar Shah Chief Conservation Officer vi vii viii Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve & its Buffer Zone Management Plan Executive Summary KTWR lies in alluvial floodplains of Koshi River with an area of 175 sq. km. covering part of Sunsari, Saptari, and Udayapur districts. Its buffer zone incorporates two municipalities of Saptari district, one municipality of Udaypur district and one municipality and one rural municipality of Sunsari district with an area of 173 sq. km. The Reserve is the first Ramsar site of Nepal primarily for supporting large number of waterbirds and fish species. It is the prime habitat for the last remaining population of endangered Wild Water Buffaloes. It is renowned for congregation of large number of migratory birds and the highest number of globally threatened bird species in Nepal. Grassland is the dominant land cover of the reserve largely determined by frequent shifting of Koshi River course that constitutes approximately 53 % followed by forest 10 %, river bank and river 37 %. The population of focal species, Wild Water Buffaloes has increased gradually from 63 in 1976 to 441 in 2018. However, feral cattle and livestock grazing in the reserve pose constant threat to wildlife conservation including cross- breeding of Wild Water Buffaloes with domestic buffaloes. On the other hand, a dispute of boundary between core and buffer zone in Saptari district with local buffer zone community affects adversely to control infringement. The 30-50 percent sharing of the reserve revenue for buffer zone program is very small (< 3.5 million rupees) for conservation and community development works in buffer zone. The trend of tourists is increasing during five years revision period from 8,474 visitors in FY 2069/70 BS to 11,252 in FY 2073/74 BS. This management plan (2074/75 – 2078/79) is the first revision of the first management plan (2009 – 2013) of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and it’s Buffer Zone. National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (2014-2020) is the main policy framework for the management plan. The vision statement for this plan is to conserve biological diversity and maintain ecological integrity of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. The specific objectives are - • To safeguard and restore the unique and characteristic wildlife species and habitats of the reserve • To conserve the rare, threatened, endemic and common wildlife species of the reserve • To build and strengthen the capacity of the reserve and buffer zone institutions • To improve livelihood of local communities and enhance their ownership of reserve and buffer zone • To enhance climate resilience of the area with specific focus on local communities and species of significance • To develop biological corridor for wildlife movement • To develop nature based tourism with focused on avitourism The major challenges to achieve management objectives are feral cattle and illegal livestock grazing in the reserve, Koshi project intervention for flood control and anti erosion works, and increasing human wildlife conflicts. Management intervention for the core area has been framed on six broad