Nepal’s tiger conservation impressive with trippling of population

Kathmandu, July 29: Nepal celebrated a significant milestone in tiger conservation by nearly tripling its tiger population since 2010 from 121 to 355 in 2022, yet the journey is far from over. 

Despite the country making remarkable success in increasing the tiger population, challenges persist in habitat management and mitigating human-tiger conflict.

The world marks International Tiger Day 2024 along with Nepal under the theme “Human-Tiger Coexistence, A Pathway to Prosperity” on Monday, which highlights the urgent need to address these challenges. 

The theme underscores urgent action for mitigating human-tiger conflicts, managing prey-based habitats effectively, and constructing safe infrastructure that does not harm these majestic creatures, ensuring they can be handed over safely to future generations.

Noted conservationist Shant Raj Jnawali said that habitat management and prey density are crucial for human-tiger coexistence and conflict mitigation. “If there is low prey density, the conflict will be higher, as animals inhabiting lowland areas, including the Royal Bengal tiger, are dependent on food density,” he added.

He said that conflict mitigation depends on the habitat and prey species. “Keeping wild animals like tigers and rhinos confined to national parks is not a long-term solution. Space should be created outside these protected (parks and buffer zones) areas as well, otherwise, conflicts will inevitably arise,” Jnawali said.

According to Jnawali, massive public awareness campaigns are crucial in the present scenario. He said that conservation efforts should be planned with a long-term perspective, looking 50 to 100 years into the future. “Local governments should play a pivotal role in conflict mitigation, as they are directly facing these challenges. Therefore, they should be provided with the resources necessary for effective action,” he said.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Jnawali stressed that wildlife-friendly infrastructure should be given high priority when constructing irrigation canals, railways, high-tension electric lines, model cities, airport expansions, and other linear infrastructure projects. This is essential for ensuring human-wildlife coexistence, he added.

Tiger expert Dr. Chiranjibi Prasad Pokharel, Director of the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), stressed the importance of transboundary cooperation for the safe movement of wild animals, including tigers. “Connectivity and biological corridors should be thoroughly studied, and linear infrastructure should be constructed to be wildlife-friendly. And monitoring tiger movements and prioritising these movement areas is essential,” he said.

Dr. Pokharel said that many people living in and around protected areas depend heavily on forest resources. “There should be arrangements like subsidies for these locals to prevent them from having to rely on the forest for their daily necessities,” he said.

Dr. Pokharel suggested that problematic tigers could be housed in a large, designated area under a tiger sanctuary approach. This would help mitigate conflicts and also generate revenue from the tourism sector by developing the area as a tourist site, he added.

For the carrying capacity, a study done by the NTNC and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) in 2018 revealed that Chitwan National Park could support around 125 tigers. This estimation was based on a prey density survey indicating a sufficient population of key prey species such as spotted deer, sambar deer, and wild boar. 

Another research conducted by WWF Nepal in collaboration with DNPWC in Bardiya National Park in 2019 showed that the park has a variable carrying capacity and can house around 70 individuals. 

Similarly, a study conducted by NTNC in 2020 in Parsa National Park found that the park could support up to 40 tigers. All the studies were conducted by utilising camera traps and prey density assessments to determine the suitable habitat areas and prey species population.

Ecologist at the DNPWC, Shyam Kumar Shah, said that the tiger population has not yet reached the optimum carrying capacity. According to research conducted by the department, there are currently seven tigers per 100 square kilometres, but this area could support up to 14 tigers if the prey species are healthy.

“The main challenge is changing human behaviour,” he added. “Most incidents occur inside the forest. Nature guides and people involved in conservation are not attacked by tigers, but local people who go to the forest for firewood and niguro (fiddlehead fern) are attacked because tigers mistake them for prey when they bend down to pick something. Therefore, we need to create awareness about this.”

Another part is biological areas should be made green belts. “While constructing liner infrastructure, there should be underpass, overpass or elevated bridges for the wildlife movement,” Shah said. According to the latest Tiger Census in 2022, CNP houses 128 tigers, BNP has 125, Banke National Park has 25, Shuklaphanta National Park has 36 and Parsa National Park has 41.