Opinion ‘Unlike India,the army protects the wildlife in our national parks. But we don’t have a lot of money for tiger conservation’

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Nepal has officially discovered a long-suspected fact: that poachers taking away Indian wildlife are taking refuge in Nepal. With its own wild tigers being rapidly poached,Nepal’s wildlife conservation strategies are on an urgent growth path,and it is looking towards India for guidance. With the same protected wildlife,and the same conservation problems,he tells Neha Sinha about Indo-Nepal joint conservation ventures.

India and Nepal share a long border. How would you compare both sides?

Indian National Parks are there on the Indian side,but they are not connected. In Nepal,one of the most favourable things for conservation is that our protected areas are connected. Just three months ago,we created Banke,a new National park. So now we have Bardia,Shukla Phanta and Banke,which are contiguous,almost a 1,000 kilometres,and good for the natural movement of animals. India has Katarniaghat,and the Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh) and Valmiki (Bihar) tiger reserves,but these are not connected. We will sign a memorandum of understanding with India in the coming month for better protection along the border.

What is the crucial thing that you hope to achieve?

India and Nepal are the only two countries in this subcontinent which have the one-horned rhinoceros. This is a matter of great pride for Nepal. We also have the tiger,but the poaching threat is there. We realise that the only way to save this amazing wildlife is for India and Nepal to work together. I hope to get all the park wardens on both sides of the border for a meeting together to work out a joint strategy. And I want to include Kaziranga National Park in Assam also,because that is the main home for the rhino in India. This is the first time conservation is getting such priority in Nepal.

What is the wildlife poaching trend that you see being established?

It is clearly established that poaching is taking place both in India and Nepal. What is more,wildlife that gets poached is being brought to Nepal. From India,it comes to Nepal; from there it goes to China. This has been proved. We have recently captured 46 kg of pangolin skin and bones in Nepal and we suspect that it has come from India. Two hundred pangolins must have been killed for this. For the first time,we have invited Indian authorities to come to Nepal and look at the case. This is because the people who caught were two Chinese,two Indians,and one Nepalese person. Recently,we sent a live sloth bear which had been smuggled into Nepal back to India. (It was received by NGO Wildlife SOS and is being housed in their bear rescue centre in Uttar Pradesh).

Are you learning from India?

We have just set up a Wildlife Crime Bureau like the Indian Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. We are also trying to get more people involved in actual protection. Unlike India,the army protects the wildlife in our national parks. But we don’t have a lot of money for tiger conservation. We are also looking at working with the Indian environment ministry for conservation of the Kailash Mansarovar landscape. We will sign on the dotted line soon. We also would like to take World Bank help for conservation and talks are on.

Which is your national animal?

Our national animal is the cow. We also have Daphne,a beautiful bird which is our national bird. But the tiger is very important for us. We are Hindus and we worship the tiger. I am Hindu,and I do Durga Puja. We need the wild tiger to live.