KATHMANDU — The year 2024 marked two years since Nepal announced the near tripling of its wild Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population as part of the 2010 global initiative to save the big cats.
Nepal was home to 121 tigers in 2010, the same year that 13 range countries agreed to double the animal’s population by 2022. According to the latest count, the country is now home to 355 individuals of the endangered species.
But with the success, 2024 reminded all stakeholders, ranging from local communities to law enforcement officials, development planners and conservationists, that challenges for conservation have also increased.
Never before in history have so many tigers lived with so many people in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape. Historically, settlements in the landscape were rare, except for those of local Indigenous communities, due to the prevalence of diseases such as malaria. This meant that the apex predator of the plains roamed the area in large numbers. But with the eradication of malaria in the 1960s, people from the hills migrated to the fertile flood plains to turn them into farmlands, a trend that continues to date. With increased poaching for its body parts as well as encroachment of its habitats, the tiger’s population fell sharply until fresh initiatives were launched in 2010 to save the animal.
In 2024, Mongabay continued its coverage of tiger conservation in Nepal, highlighting the nuanced relationship between the charismatic species and the people it lives with as well as deeper challenges the country faces trying to balance infrastructure development with conservation.
In February, the U.N. Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization recognized Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape as one of seven U.N. World Restoration Flagships as part of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-30) program.
The pioneering landscape-level ecosystem restoration initiative was launched in 2004 to create dispersal space, especially for tigers and as habitat for other important flora and fauna. Although the award acknowledged the conservation effort as exemplary in terms of the fight to reverse ecosystem degradation, experts pointed out several challenges to sustaining the achievements.
Some of the major challenges are people’s aspirations for better roads and connectivity, negative human-wildlife interactions and lack of clear government policies, they say, adding that climate change amplifies all these issues.
Fear and hardship for the last community inside Chitwan, Nepal’s tiger central
In June, Mongabay reported from the field on the challenges faced by residents of the last remaining settlement inside Chitwan National Park, also known as Nepal’s tiger hub.
The Madi settlement, comprising Indigenous Tharu, Bote and Darai peoples as well as hill migrants, is bordered on three sides by Chitwan National Park. The area is also a part of a vital transboundary corridor for tigers, facilitating their movement between Nepal and India. This, according to researchers, makes Madi the epicenter of human-wildlife interactions.
Despite being spared from eviction, the villagers of Madi face numerous restrictions imposed by park authorities. At 10 p.m. every night, park officials barricade the only point of entry into or out of the settlement. Getting to the next town means navigating a 10-kilometer (6-mile) stretch of bumpy road.
These compounding difficulties have driven many locals to leave after selling their land to businesspeople from Kathmandu and other major cities, who see potential in developing hotels and resorts for ecotourism, capitalizing on the area’s natural beauty and wildlife.
In August, a rare incident put Chitwan’s tigers in the spotlight yet again. A tethered domestic buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) gored a tiger to death in Pratappur village within the Manahari Rural Municipality, making headlines across Nepal.
Although it was later found that the tiger was old and severely malnourished, it again brought to the fore one of the major challenges of conservation in Nepal: human-wildlife conflict.
Bal Bahadur Rai, the 56-year-old owner of the buffalo, said that while he was relieved his buffalo survived the attack, the animal was severely injured. Rai didn’t receive any compensation from the national park authorities, as his buffalo didn’t die in the incident. According to government guidelines, the park can provide compensation only to owners of animals that are killed by wild animals, and there is no coverage for injured animals.
Also in August, Mongabay reported from the field on how Nepal is expanding a 115-km (71.5-mi) section of its East-West Highway, which passes through critical tiger habitats, from two to four lanes. According to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the expanded highway passes through 11 forest patches near Chitwan National Park, raising concerns about wildlife safety and mobility.
Although the initial design of the project didn’t include structures for animal crossings, it was later modified to incorporate 12 key structures such as major and minor bridges and culverts for animal crossings. However, such structures aren’t planned for crucial areas known to witness tiger crossings due to budget constraints. The Chinese contractor of the project has already missed several deadlines to complete the work, and officials don’t want to add more structures such as tiger crossing at the risk of further delays, officials at the Asian Development Bank-funded project told Mongabay.
Meanwhile, conservationists worry that without proper safeguards, the expanded highway could lead to increased wildlife-vehicle collisions and habitat fragmentation, potentially undermining tiger conservation efforts.
Again, in August, Mongabay reported on how the growing popularity of sugarcane farming in tiger range areas of Nepal could be contributing to human-tiger conflict.
The flood plains of the Terai, which serve as the prime habitats of the tiger, are also highly suitable for sugarcane farming. According to government data, sugarcane cultivation in Nepal has expanded significantly, from 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) in 1961 to 62,500 hectares (155,000 acres) in 2022, primarily in the Terai region where tiger populations have also grown.
Experts suggest that sugarcane fields may provide refuge or even habitat to tigers as they mimic the tall grasslands in protected areas, potentially attracting tigers, especially weaker or dispersing individuals. The phenomenon of “sugarcane tigers,” which spend almost their entire lives in the sugarcane fields, have been well documented in India. But such research hasn’t been carried out north of the border in Nepal.
In September, Mongabay reported on how Nepal’s human-tiger conflict mitigation strategy revolves around discouraging people from going to the jungle for wood but doesn’t address the issue of food sources such as mushrooms and ferns.
The fiddlehead fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), also referred to as niuro locally, is highly prized, especially in the monsoon season when the markets first stock them. The vegetable is also considered a vital source of income for people in Nepal’s lowlands, especially those close to national parks like Chitwan and Bardiya, where the plants grow abundantly.
But harvesters need to put their lives in danger to collect the ferns, often venturing into tiger territory alone. News reports suggest that a sizable number of people die every year in tiger attacks while going to the jungle to collect niuro.
In order to address the problem, experts suggest that community forest management plans incorporate safer methods for gathering wild edibles and make rules requiring collectors to go the jungle in groups.
This article by Abhaya Raj Joshi was first published by Mongabay.com on 18 December 2024. Lead Image: A Bengal tiger in its habitat. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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