2017-10-01 Sanctuary Asia

More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | Report

the park staff was augmented. As with
most other PAs in the country, the Nepal
Army deployed its troop for protection
and management of the area. Habitat
management steps such as weed removal
to encourage palatable plants, and the
development of perennial waterholes
for wildlife were instituted. Two villages
from within the park agreed to shift
voluntarily, thus adding greatly to the
potential for biodiversity to return.
Sitting on the terrace of his modest
house along the highway close to Banke
National Park, Mahendra Pun, a voluntary
relocation benefi ciary from Gotheri
settlement, says, “We used to herd
livestock or do farming there (in Banke).
Here, (in the relocated area) the land value
is better; we fi nd job opportunities in
nearby towns. For entrepreneurs too, this
place is good. It’s much better for us here.”
Cleared of human presence, the
Gotheri grassland today harbours
a healthy population of prey species
and tigers.
The outcome of such initiatives is
evident. “Beginning with just a few signs
in the late 2000s, Banke recorded three
individual tigers in 2013. Since then, the
numbers have increased steadily – to four
individuals in 2014, six in 2015, nine in

ABOVE LEFT Sabitra Pun was one of many who initially protested the declaration of Banke as a national park fearing a threat to livelihoods. Today, she is at the

forefront of protection eff orts. Here, she is seen addressing locals after a seizure of illegally procured wood.

ABOVE RIGHT After sustained and holistic conservation eff orts, Banke supports at least 13 individual tigers including some breeding females. Almost half the

park’s annual income is invested in consultative community development.

doubt, Banke off ers tigers greater hope.

It also demonstrates how the adaptability

of these big cats can help to not merely

augment their populations, but actually

return ecological balance to lands that

many had written off as beyond repair.

There are umbilical links between

the restoration of natural ecosystems

and the improvement of the quality

and security of human life. For decades,

economists, politicians, and planners

across the world have regarded

protecting wildernesses such as Banke as

a ‘luxury’... particularly when contrasted

with the need to create jobs, feed people

and improve the human condition.

This situation has now changed.

Increasingly, world leaders, with some

infamous exceptions, have accepted that

biodiverse landscapes, such as the critical

tiger habitat complex covering the four

transboundary Protected Areas – Bardia

and Banke in Nepal and the Katerniaghat

and Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuaries in India

• are landscapes of renewed hope, not
  only for tigers, but for millions whose
  survival always has and always will be
  dependent on our ability to adapt to
  nature instead of trying to refashion
  nature to fi t into our distorted concepts
  of development. t

AKASH SHRESTHA/WWF NEPAL

2016 and 13 in the latest survey. These

also include breeding females,” informs Lal

Bahadur Bhandari, Assistant Conservation

Offi cer, Banke National Park.

“We are trying to promote

sustainable tourism to increase

revenues that are shared with

communities,” Bhandari stresses,

adding that 30-50 per cent of the

park’s annual earning are spent on

consultative community development.

Even as eff orts to streamline the

management continue, challenges exist

• road kills on the 100 km. stretch
  of East-West Highway passing along
  the park’s southern boundary are
  worrisome; an irrigation canal fragments
  the park; and the invasion of grasslands
  by weeds is a real and present threat.
  As might be imagined, wildlife confl ict
  is a cause for concern, as are poaching
  and on-going encroachment. Yet, by
  strengthening Banke’s biodiversity
  potential, eff ective protected tiger
  habitats in Nepal now spread across
  5,500 sq. km. in fi ve national parks
  and their respective buff er zones.
  Above all, this opens up an additional
  7,600 sq. km. of Churia Range as
  potential habitat, to help secure the
  future of tigers in Nepal. Without a

Local communities managed community forests in the buff er zone, and the Kamdi corridor connecting Banke to

Suhelwa where natural regeneration, aff orestation, anti-poaching and sustainable natural resource use was the

order of the day.

COURTESY: WWF NEPAL