Over the past 4 billion years, lifeforms have evolved into the spectacular array of species that now inhabit the planet. While many species radiated into extensive families of closely related species, others are so unique that they alone embody millions of years of evolutionary history — sole representatives of entire lineages of the tree of […]
Tag: mongabay
Nepali experts question rhino relocation within park for population balance
KATHMANDU — On March 21, Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation completed the relocation of six vulnerable one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) from the western part of Chitwan National Park to the eastern side. Department officials initiated the move to rectify the skewed distribution of the animal’s population, which was dominant in and around […]
Cable car proposal is Nepal’s latest plan to commercialize national parks
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment is preparing to allow the construction of ropeways inside protected areas of the country, a draft of a proposed regulation seen by Mongabay suggests. Ropeways, which carry cable cars, are not permitted in protected areas such as national parks under current laws. But the proposed National Parks […]
Adventure tours with tigers? Nepal’s proposed policy changes raise alarm
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s government has proposed zoning of protected areas, where human activities have long been highly restricted, to accommodate “adventure tourism” activities such as canyoning, mountain biking and motorboating. The sweeping changes have been proposed under the new draft National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Regulations, which have been in the works for a few […]
Nepal mulls policy shift to allow hotels back into tiger strongholds
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment is preparing fresh regulations to allow hotels to return to national parks such as Chitwan, a decade after they were shut down based on environmental concerns. Although rumors were doing the rounds in the corridors of the ministry and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation […]
Irrawaddy dolphin death in Thailand’s Songkhla Lake underscores conservation needs
The recent death of a critically endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphin in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Lake has brought the plight of the waterbody’s tiny remaining population into stark focus. As few as 14 of the dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris, are thought to survive in the lake amid a slew of threats ranging from entanglement in fishing gear […]
Are biodiversity credits just another business-as-usual finance scheme?
Nature is in crisis. Yet, there’s a massive $700 billion gap between the financing needed to stop biodiversity collapse versus what’s available each year. In December 2022, nearly 200 governments agreed to close this financial gap by 2030 by signing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at COP15. With this goal only six years away, […]
Comeback on the cards for Asian antelope declared extinct in Bangladesh
DHAKA — On Jan. 7, 2024, in a rural area of northwestern Bangladesh, a nilgai, the largest species of Asian antelope, crossed the border from India. It never crossed back. When villagers in Ranisankail subdistrict, Thakurgaon district, found out about the nilgai, also known as the blue bull, “they chased the animal and caught it,” […]