Conservation Success

Since Nepal launched its earnest conservation efforts in the early Seventies, it has set examples that have earned the status of role model even in the global arena. In the beginning, the conservation programmes focused on the protection of flagship species such as the Asiatic one- horned rhino and the Royal Bengal tiger. Chitwan National Park was the first protected area that sought to save the charismatic rhinos that were heading towards extinction due to poaching and habitat destruction brought by the massive migration of hill people to this inner-Terai. Once thousands of rhinos and tigers roamed the dense grassland of Chitwan and the forest was almost untouchable due to the threat of deadly malaria passed by mosquitoes. But after the eradication of malaria, forest clearing started to take place on large scale. People cut down trees, removed the bushes and made land for farming. As a result, the wildlife habitat shrunk critically.

In the meantime, poachers took advantage of the easier access to the jungle hunted down rhinos for their prized horns that fetched lucrative prices in the international illegal market. Rhino and tiger parts are sold in the market to those who use them to make traditional Chinese medicines. Conservation initiatives were backed by legal provisions so that violators could be punished according to the law. Security forces and forest guards were deployed to protect the habitat from encroachment. But the total ban on the entry of people and cattle into the forests invited a fresh conflict between the local people and the park officials and guards. The government had to consider not only the conservation of the habitat but address the grievances of the people that emerged after the enforcement of the national park rules. Farmers depended on forest resources for fuel wood, cattle fodder and grass for making traditional thatched roofs. 

Tribal people such as Majhi, Tharu and Bote could not make their ends meet if they were prohibited from fishing in the local rivers that passed through the protected areas. This conflict finally led to a deal of compromise in which local people would participate in the conservation programme and they would be allowed to use forest resources in a sustainable manner. In the days of park people conflict, the locals sometimes assisted the poachers instead of cooperating with the park officials. But once the local people became the custodians of the forests, conservation became effective. The motivated local people could do what wardens and forest guards had failed to do. The communities were allowed to run their own conservation schemes in the buffer zones of the park.

As the wildlife thrived with protection of habitats, jungle safari and nature walks earned good money from tourists. The benefits went to the local people. This model of conservation earned fame nationally and internationally. In its aftermath, not only the number of protected areas increased but a ground-breaking model of community forest conservation programme was born. This revived the green cover and forests once pushed to the brink of barren land. Community forests are entirely managed and conserved by the local people and benefits of raising forests go to the local people. In this context, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda lauded the role played by Nepal's community based conservation schemes in protecting the natural resources, bio-diversity and the wildlife. 

Though there was a humble beginning with the setting up of single national park in Chitwan, now the nation boasts of a total of 20 protected areas including 12 national parks, six conservation areas, one wildlife reserve and one hunting reserve. Nepal has learned a good lesson that community ownership and involvement is the key to conservation success and in this regard the nation has to share its success story with the rest of the world.