Landscape Approach to Biodiversity Conservation in Nepal

Abstract
Nepal has put utmost efforts to conserve her rich biodiversity resources. The conservation history begins formally after promulgation of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act in 1973. National Parks and Wildlife Reserves were established across the country during the 70s. By realizing the need of people participation in the conservation initiatives, the country has tested the concept of different types of protected areas such as conservation areas, buffer zone and landscape approach to conservation over the years. Landscape approach to biodiversity conservation has been adopted since 2000s. In this front, among others, Western Terai Landscape Complex Project has been implemented in the Far Western Development Region of the country since August 2005. Within a short span of time the project with an integrated conservation and development activities, has been able to change people's attitude towards biodiversity conservation and simultaneously the conservation value of biodiversity resources has been enhanced. In addition some lesson has been learned, which could be useful for national and international stakeholders.

Poaching, How to fight it

The Kathmandu Post
Kathmandu, Thursday March 06, 2003 Falgun 22, 2059.

Wildlife poaching has appeared as a serious problem in biodiversity conservation, next to the habitat destruction, in Nepal. Despite putting various efforts in place, the wildlife poaching has increased in frequency over recent years. Exploring the mechanism for indigenous community and backward society based biodiversity conservation followed by effective law enforcement would be the next viable option for downsizing the frequencies of poaching in Nepal.

Various efforts from the government have been made to address the issues of biodiversity conservation, particularly to address the ever escalating incidence of wildlife poaching in Nepal. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) has been established with the primary objective of protecting valuable and endangered wildlife species in Nepal. One of the major activities of the DNPWC is to conserve endangered wildlife species through establishing protected area network. Nepal has expressed its firm commitment for limiting trade of endangered and rare wildlife species and their products by being signatories to the various conventions including Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on wild flora and fauna (CITES), Convention on Biodiversity Conservation and Ramsar Convention.

As per the international commitment, a CITES unit has been established in the DNPWC to discourage poaching of endangered wildlife species and illegal trade of wildlife species. Similarly Nepal Biodiversity Strategy and Wetland Policy has been formulated as per the commitment of Biodiversity and Ramsar Conventions. Besides this, Nepal has promulgated National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (NPWCA) for the effective conservation of biodiversity, including endangered wildlife species. According to the Act, offender dealing in poaching and illegal trade of endangered wild animals and their body parts can get a firm penalty of 5-15 years imprisonment and Rs 50, 000 to 100,000 in fine or both.

Royal Nepalese Army has been deployed in some protected areas with the responsibility of protecting wildlife species and forest products. In addition, Anti Poaching Operation has been implemented to combat poaching in some Terai Parks and Reserves for few years.

In order to solicit people’s participation to address the problem of wildlife poaching, among others the government has made some policy reforms. By making fourth amendment to the NPWCA, 1973, the government introduced the idea of buffer zone establishment around the protected areas. The policy reform was mainly to address the issues of traditional user right and up-lifting socioeconomic condition of protected area impacted community. The government has made the provision of sharing of up-to 50 per cent of the total protected area revenue with the park buffer zone communities. According to this provision, annually a huge amount of money has been ploughed back for community development activities in the buffer zone. In order to mobilise community effectively and generate guardianship of local communities over biodiversity resources, various NGOs and INGOs are being activated. Over 80 per cent people in the buffer zone are being organised into UGs, UCs, and Buffer Zone Development Council.

Despite adopting a two pronged strategy, the wildlife poaching has not yielded encouraging results. According to the DNPWC annual report, 2002, a total of 6 rhinos were poached in the RCNP in 1998. After that year, the frequency of poaching increased significantly in the RCNP. According to the government officials 31 rhinos have died in less than a year in 2002. The figure indicates the higher gravity of the poaching incidence in Nepal. The higher frequency of rhino poaching attributes to the astonishingly high price of rhino horns and body parts in the international market.

According to the same report, over 80 per cent poachers arrested in the RCNP in 2002, were residents of the buffer zone. Similarly, of the 80 per cent poachers in the buffer zone, over 50 per cent were from indigenous and backward ethnic communities like Tharu, Kumal, Darai and Lama. The main reason for such a discouraging scenario would be the inadequate representation of indigenous and backward communities in the decision-making process and weakness in the law enforcement.

In order to reduce the frequency of the poaching incidence, it is imperative to empower local communities, particularly indigenous and backward society. The scheme would be materialised only when the basic needs of these indigenous and backward communities are met. The basic needs include food, education, health and sanitation. Once these basic needs are met, these people might be responsive to biodiversity conservation. Thus, it is recommended to empower these communities through implementing indigenous and backward focused programs in the buffer zones so that the poaching incidence could be reduced. A provision of their representation in the buffer zone user committee and buffer zone management committee would be more fruitful.

Similarly, in order to make law enforcement effective, as the country is already heading towards the peace process, it is suggested to redeploy the Army in all the previously designated posts in the protected areas. It is to be remembered here that, government was forced to cut down the number of security posts by several folds to tackle the problem of insurgency in Nepal. Similarly, a sustainable financing mechanism has to be established to run Anti-poaching Operational Programme smoothly in various protected areas.

The sustainable funding mechanism can be possible by establishing a biodiversity trust fund at local and central levels. One of the sources of the funding would be a voluntary support from the private sector. The other sources include taxing additional levy to the tourism entrepreneurs, seeking support from voluntarily established private sector fund, like International Trust for Nature Conservation, industries and a part of the protected area revenue allocated for the buffer zone development. In addition, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) fund can be approached for the Trust Fund.

Despite mobilising various stakeholders and resources, the efforts to control wildlife species poaching has not been encouraging. Thus, strengthening the law enforcement mechanism, and empowering local communities, particularly indigenous and backward society would bring a positive result in decreasing the poaching of wildlife species in the days to come.

Conserving Mountain Environment

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Nepalnews.com

By Ek Raj Sigdel, Nepal
Having immense natural and cultural value, Nepal's Mountain can be termed as the `Epitome of Paradise' for tourists, trekkers and expeditionary. Fragile mountain environment and subsistence agriculture are contributing to the degradation of the mountain ecosystem. The consequences are aggrandizing the poverty situation in the mountain regions. In order to address these diverse issues, development of sustainable tourism base would be the only viable option for the long-term conservation of environment and thereby contributing to betterment of the mountain communities.

The mountain environment of Nepal, by virtue of their inaccessible nature, has narrow scope for modern development in a cost effective way. Subsistence agriculture and livestock are the main economic source of mountain people. Migratory works elsewhere in Nepal and India is the complementary source of income to these people. The economic condition of the majorities of people in mountain is marginal. Likewise, the agriculture land is limited by the steep topography.
Including the Mt. Everest, Nepal houses eight of the world's fourteen highest mountains. The country has 79% of its area under mountainous topography. Similarly, out of 118 Nepal's ecosystems, 38 are in Mountain region. The mountain region is the meeting point of the major geographical realms of the world - the palaearctic and Indo-Malayan.

The series of the mighty Himalayan ranges separated by some of the deepest gorges are the striking attractions for tourists. While trekking in Nepal, one can see the fantastic snow capped peaks along with the beautiful lakes and smile faced people. Unique flora and fauna are other potential tourist attractions in the mountain environment. Moreover, traditional village, historical sites, culture and architecture of local people deserve special attractions for tourists.

Realizing the higher tourism value, the government of Nepal opened its border for foreigners in 1950s. Since then, the flow of tourists has been in an increasing trend. No doubt, the growing tourist number has contributed a lot to local and national economy of Nepal. For instance, people in Khumbu, Annapurna Conservation Area and Langtang National Park and adjoining areas have been enjoying significant tourism benefits for many years. It has been reported that, because of well­ managed tourism, once declined cultural value of Sagarmatha region has been revived through local initiatives. Monasteries Management Committees, Youth Group, and Youth Club are actively engaged in conserving cultural and natural heritage in this region. Because of the concerted efforts; the environment of Sagarmatha National Park seems to be improving for the last few years.

Yet against this backdrop, concentration of tourism pressure in limited mountain areas has been posing various challenges. Every year hundreds of tons of firewood are used for cooking and campfire. Signs of massive deforestation in some of the trekking sites of Nepal are evident. The destruction of scant vegetation in the alpine regions of Nepal also leads to frequent mudslides, landslides, creep and rock falls as well as silting of the river. The country is experiencing severe inequalities of wealth, low living standards, high unemployment, uneven economic development, as well as heavy dependence on foreign investment and foreign aid. Some high altitude plant species, such as Abies spectabillis, Tsuga dumosa and Rhododendron nivala, are under intense economic pressure aggravated by the tourist pressure. If the present trend continues, the degradation of the mountain environment may cause irreversible damage to the mountain fragile ecosystem and lifestyle of the people.

Recognizing the higher conservation value of mountain ecosystems, His Majesty's Government of Nepal has established 7 Protected Areas (PAs) all along the border of China, covering 78.54% of total PAs in Nepal. These PAs represent 30 on of the 38 ecosystems of the highland. Though, it is relatively less diverse in flora and fauna, they possess a significant number of endemic species. Mountain, endowed with the rich biodiversity, provides an excellent source of revenue for His Majesty's Government of Nepal through eco-tourism management. The most important regions for mountain tourism in Nepal are Annapurna, Khumbu, Sagrmatha and Langtang-Helambu. The three regions, namely Sagarmatha, Langtang and Annapurna Conservation Area combined accounts around 95°l0 of all mountain trekking permits issues and the remaining 5% of trekkers visit Rara National Park, Dolpo, Humla, Makalu and Kanchanjunga. Similarly, about 43% of all international leisure arrivals in Nepal go for trekking.

The relationship between tourism and environment is that of a delicate balance between sustainable community development and safeguarding the environment. Tourism where it has been allowed to run free, has caused more disaster to the natural beauty of the surroundings, destroyed traditional value system, greatly helped accelerating the deforestation and has not really helped population in true, rather it has exploited unmercifully.

To maximize the tourism benefit to the Mountain people and environment, the government should undertake various activities in a planned way. Firstly, locals should be trained on lodge management, tour guide and interpretation skills. Secondly, in order to develop appropriate tourism facilities and services, a credit facility for local entrepreneurs should be in place. Most importantly, locals should be aware on the importance of maintaining the village architecture, traditions, and wildlife management. Finally, trans-boundary tourism across the trans-border areas, such as Nagpa­la, and Chhentang - Kimathanka should be promoted.

The efforts of HMG of Nepal in establishing the National Parks and Wildlife Reserves in the country are very appropriate strategies towards developing sustainable tourism in Nepal. Integrated mountain environment conservation, community development and tourism promotion is the only option for the betterment of people. It warrants the immediate need of formulating Integrated National Tourism Master Plan and a separate Mountain Development Policy.

Text courtesy: NTTR July 04 - 10, 2005. The Telegraph thanks the publisher of the NTTR.and the author of the article.

Lost in the woods

KTM Post, November 29, 008

EK RAJ SIGDEL
The government's conservation programme lacks direction and purpose

Kailali and Kanchanpur Districts, located in the far western development region, are endowed with rich biodiversity resources. However, the resources, especially globally significant wild animal species like the tiger, wild elephant and rhinoceros are facing greater than ever threats due to increasing pressure on their habitat from human activities. Deforestation, degradation and fragmentation due to encroachment for settlement and farming in the name of the landless, persons displaced by the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR), flood victims and freed bonded labourers are the major causes for the destruction of the wildlife habitat. This has posed a threat to the existence of these prime biodiversity resources.

Basanta in Kailali, Laljhadi in Kanchanpur and the SWR are three major forest lands that connect the Dudhuwa National Park and Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary in India towards the south and the Chure range towards the north. These jungles support many wildlife species including the swamp deer and blue bull. In principle, the larger the forest, the greater the diversity of animals it can support. Besides, forests act as a dispersal corridor for wide-ranged mega fauna like the tiger and rhinoceros.

Considering the higher conservation value of these forests, the government has formulated the Terai Arc Landscape Strategy and Implementation Plan for 11 protected areas stretching across the trans-border area of Nepal and India. Within the framework of the Nepal Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Implementation Plan, the government has been implementing conservation and development programmes in the Western Terai for a number of years with the support of various donor agencies.

However, the tendency of capturing forest land for settlement has increased rapidly especially along the East-West Highway and on the edge of forests. Recently, 2,000 huts have been erected in the Basanta Corridor, 400 in Laljhadi South and 3,000 in the SWR. If the current pattern of occupying forests for settlement and farming continues, these vital forest lands will vanish for ever from these districts within the coming eight to 10 years. This also means the end of globally significant biodiversity resources.

There are various reasons why things are deteriorating. The government is dealing with conservation on an ad hoc basis. There is no consistency in the Forestry Sector Master Plan, Forest Regulations and ministry-level directives for managing the forests in the Tarai. The government is still discharging its programmes through an ineffective and inefficient bureaucratic system. It assumes that problem solving means transferring government officials from one district to another.

In addition, livelihoods that depend on exploiting forest resources, employment opportunities presented by forests and ineffective law enforcement have heightened the threat to biodiversity resources. Moreover, an unclear reward and punishment system and inadequate knowledge about participatory forest management that supports conservation and improves the livelihood of the local people have made effective management difficult. Lastly, district-level units of political parties talk much about discouraging encroachment, but do not do so in practice.

Therefore, in order to deal successfully with conservation issues in the Tarai, the government should immediately review its forest and wildlife conservation related acts, regulations and policies. A policy dedicated to biodiversity conservation has been brought into effect, but in the absence of relevant acts and regulations, conservation initiatives have not been as effective as expected.

In addition, the government's inefficient and ineffective institutional structure needs to be reformed and energized. Forest management strategies should consider local people who depend on forest resources as an integral part of the ecosystem. While handing over forests to the community, attention should be paid to whether the rights of the local inhabitants have been addressed or not. The new regulations should also give emphasis to maintaining corridors and connectivity to facilitate dispersal of wildlife species from one habitat to another.

As wildlife habitats are spread across a range of land-use systems, setting up an agency to coordinate the various interwoven land-use systems should be envisioned at the central and district levels. As part of the reform programme, the government should give priority to enhancing the management capacity of the staff. Adequate human resources, equipment and budget allocations should be provided on time.

In addition, the government should pay special attention to effective law enforcement. It should also identify competent, committed and well disciplined personnel and conduct special programmes to raise their motivation. A scientific forest management system should be started as a pilot project in a large forest that is preferably located outside a protected area. The project should lay emphasis on social inclusion, distance users, customary rights, access to resources and biodiversity criteria.

In a nutshell, the government should review its policies, institutions and programmes right away in order to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable utilization of the Tarai's globally significant biodiversity resources. Over and above, the government should immediately formulate a Biodiversity Conservation Act and Regulations that captures the spirit of the existing biodiversity conservation policies by focusing on the corridors and connectivity of the Western Tarai.

Waiting For Management

Ek Raj Sigdel

Ghodaghodi Lake is situated in Kailali of Far Western Nepal and listed in Ramsar Site in 2003. The wetland provides refuge to globally significant biodiversity resources including tiger, wild elephants and red-crowned roofed turtle. Adjoining forests and the wetland jointly act as a wildlife corridor between the low land Terai and the Churia. The lake has also great religious and legendary values. There is a shrine to the Ghodaghodi deity where indigenous Tharu celebrate a traditional festival (Agan Panchami) by worshiping and offering animals during the month of December. Likewise, there are several legends related to the origin of the Ghodaghodi Lake. Some 1500 households around the lake depend on the wetland ecosystem for supporting their subsistence needs. As the Lake provides benefits to the various stakeholders that ranges from national to international level, early intervention for conserving the wetland is necessary.

If the Lake is managed scientifically, it helps in conserving the globally significant biodiversity resources on the one hand and on the other contributes to diversifying livelihood opportunities of wetland dependent local communities, ultimately supporting regional and national economy of the country. As the Lake has superlative natural, historical, and cultural values, it creates an opportunity for promoting eco-tourism. Ecotourism development leads to address the issues of sustainable biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement of local communities. Similarly, there are various ethno-medicinal plants, which also contribute to local income and employment opportunities.

Various local community based organizations have already been formed and functionalized to work for the betterment of the Lake and the adjoining communities. As the Lake has been managed by local communities and their organizations, there is a possibility of speedy handing over of the management responsibilities to them.

The area can be developed as a demonstration research centre for limnological studies. In addition, wetland policy has already been formulated, which emphasizes on the wise use of wetland resources with active participation of local communities in its conservation endeavors.
The globally significant biodiversity resources of the wetland have been facing tremendous anthropogenic pressure for few years. The number of golden monitor lizard, giant hornbill, otter and flying perch are gradually diminishing from the Lake. The survival of these animals were threatened mainly by loss of their habitats and poaching. The quality of the lake is gradually degrading due to eutrophication, siltation and invasive plant species. The size of the Lake has gradually shrunk. The main source of water is being diverted towards agricultural land for irrigation purpose.

Uncontrolled fire, deforestation in catchments areas, illegal logging, over grazing and flow of chemicals fertilizers through agricultural run off have posed threats to the wetland biodiversity resources. Unmanaged fishing and agricultural encroachment around the lake are other anthropogenic factors for threatening the very existence of biodiversity resources. Likewise, unplanned settlement and ever increasing number of temples around the lake resulted in the loss of aesthetic beauty of the Lake.

While looking into the root cause of the anthropogenic factors, it was found that most of the poor, women, Dalit and indigenous communities have to rely on the Lake to fulfill their subsistence need like firewood, timber, fish, and medicinal plants. Similarly, the loss of biodiversity was the result of inadequate management capacity of the exiting local community based organizations. Over and above, there is no single authorized government institution to impose effective law enforcement. The ownership of the land has yet to be defined explicitly. Likewise, there is a weak coordination amongst stakeholders.

To address the issue of livelihood and scientific management of the wetland resources, two pronged strategies, i.e. increasing productivity of the existing wetland resources and sidetracking pressure of the local communities towards other alternative income and employment generation activities have to be adopted. The productivity can be enhanced by integrating scientific and indigenous knowledge where as the pressure of the local communities can be diverted by offering them with diverse livelihood opportunities. In this regard, the past efforts made by various organizations including WWF, UNDP, IUCN and Ghodaghodi Conservation Forum towards managing the wetland should be reviewed critically and based on the lessons learned, a participatory integrated wetland management plan following a zoning approach should be prepared. The plan should include watershed management scheme, water quality monitoring plan, forest and non timber forest product management plan among others.
Likewise, to minimize anthropogenic pressure, it is essential to diversify natural recourse based livelihood opportunities focusing pro-poor, pro-women, pro-dalit, and pro-indigenous communities. Involvement of local people in Eco-tourism and non timber forest product management could be a viable strategy to address the issues of biodiversity and livelihood of local communities.

The management capacities of the local stakeholders also need to be strengthened. The local communities should be mobilized in such a way that they would always be in a fore front for minimizing fire, controlling illegal logging, discouraging haphazard temple construction and minimizing agricultural encroachment, among others. As per the demand, a policy should be formulated so that the potential community forests around the Lake could be gradually handed over to the respective forest user groups. The demand of all the sections of the society including poor, women, dalit, and indigenous people should be integrated in the entire project management cycle by involving them from planning to benefit sharing stages.

With this backdrop, recently, the government of Nepal in partnership with GEF, IUCN, and UNDP has launched a five-year wetland conservation project in Ghodaghodi Lake for biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement. To attract heart and mind of the local communities, the project should follow a participatory approach while planning, monitoring and implementation of field activities. Utmost efforts should be put in mobilizing local resources - human, natural, financial, and social - and promotion of indigenous knowledge base management. To maintain a close coordination amongst the wider stakeholders District Forest Coordination Committee, which is already functional in Kailali could be an important forum to share the learning. In addition, transparency through access to and sharing of information is the key ingredient of good governance, which needs to be adopted.

In a nutshell, to upkeep the higher conservation value of the Ghodaghodi Lake, an early intervention was felt necessary. In this regard, a new project has been launched. To achieve the desired goal of the project, it is necessary to solicit community participation in entire project cycle and handover the management responsibilities to the local communities from the very beginning of the project implementation stages.

Conservation In Crisis

Kailali and Kanchanpur districts, located in the Far Western Development Region, are endowed with resources rich in biodiversity. However, the resources, especially wild animals that could face extinction, such as the tiger, wild elephant and rhinoceros, are facing great threats due to ever increasing human pressure on their prime habitat.

Human pressure
Deforestation, land degradation and fragmentation due to encroachment for settlement as well as agriculture expansion by landless settlers, those displaced from the Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR), flood victims and the just freed bonded labourers are causing the destruction of the habitat of these wild animals, and posing increasing threats to their existence.
Basanta of Kailali, Laljhadi of Kanchanpur and the SWR are the three major chunks of forests that connect the Dudhuwa National Park and Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary of India to the south and the Chure to the North. These forests are home to many wildlife species, including the swamp deer and blue bull. In principle, the big forests support a greater number of species diversity. Besides, the forests act as a dispersal corridor for mega fauna like the tiger and rhinoceros.

Given the need to conserve these valuable forests, the government has formulated the Terai Arc Landscape strategy and implementation plan for 11 protected areas that spread across Nepal and India. Within the framework of the Nepal Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Implementation Plan, the government with the support of various donor agencies, has been implementing conservation and development programmes in the Western Terai since the past few years.

However, the tendency of occupying forest land, especially on either side of the East West Highway and fringe area of the forests, for settlement has increased rapidly. Just recently, 2,000 huts in the Basanta Corridor, 400 huts in Laljhadi South and 3,000 huts in the SWR have been constructed. If the current pattern of occupying forests for settlement and agricultural expansion is allowed to continue, then these important forests will vanish from these districts in the next 8-10 years, which, no doubt, will ultimately lead to loss of globally significant biodiversity.

There are various factors why the situation is deteriorating. The government is dealing with conservation work on an ad hoc basis. There is no consistency in the Forestry Sector Master Plan, Forest Regulation, and ministry level directives for managing the Terai forests. The government is still discharging its programmes through an ineffective and inefficient bureaucratic system. The government always sees transferring of government officials from one district to another as a solution. In addition, forest dependent income, employment opportunity for the local people along with an ineffective law enforcement situation have aggravated the threats to the biodiversity.

Moreover, an opaque reward and punishment system and inadequate knowledge about and inexperience in participatory forest management that supports conservation and livelihood improvement of the local people have caused difficulties for effective management. Although the district level political party often shows commitment to discourage encroachment, in practice their commitment hardly translates into action.

Therefore, to deal with the conservation issues of the Terai, the government should review its forest and wildlife conservation related act, regulations and policies immediately. Though a policy for biodiversity conservation has been brought into effect, in the absence of biodiversity acts and regulations, the conservation initiatives have not proved effective.

In addition, the inefficient and ineffective institutional structure should be reformed and vitalised in accordance with the times. The forest management strategy should consider the local people who are dependent on the forests as an integral part of the ecosystem. While handing over forests to the community, greater attention should be paid to whether the local inhabitants’ right has been addressed or not. The revised policy and act should pay special attention to maintaining corridors and connectivity to facilitate dispersal of the wildlife species from one habitat to another.

As the habitat of the wild animals spreads over various land use systems, an institutional structure that can coordinate the various interwoven land use systems should be envisioned at the central and district levels, and their vertical linkage should be established and strengthened. As part of the reformation, the government should give priority to enhancing the management capacity of its staff members.

Human resources, equipment and budgets should be allocated adequately and in time. In addition, the government should pay special attention to promoting effective law enforcement. The government should identify competent, committed and well disciplined staff members and bring special programmes for upscaling their motivation. A scientific forest management system should be piloted in the big forest patches, especially those which are located outside the protected areas. While adopting the scientific management model, greater attention should be paid on social inclusion, distance users, customary rights, access to resources and biodiversity criteria.

Policy review
In a nutshell, to ensure long-term conservation and sustainable utilisation of globally significant biodiversity resources of the Terai, the government should review its policy, institutions and programmes as soon as possible. Over and above, to make the conservation work more effective and efficient, the government should immediately formulate Biodiversity Conservation Acts and Regulations that capture the spirit of the existing biodiversity conservation policies, focussing on corridors and connectivity of the Western Terai.