Defying condemnation from conservation experts, government officials today defended the government's decision to hand over management of national parks and protected areas to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other competent institutions. Speaking at an interaction program organized by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ), officials representing the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and Ministries of Forests and Soil Conservation, and Finance ruled out accusations that the government had reached the decision in a hurry without proper study. The government took the decision keeping in line with the prevailing regulations, said Narayan Poudel, the deputy director general of DNPWC. "We will not make any compromise with our protected areas," he said.

Krishna Chandra Poudel, joint secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) informed that the policy would be implemented in the line of prevailing regulations. According to him, the government would take back the management of the sites if the parties failed to meet the requirements as set in the regulations. "Therefore, I don't see any reason to raise suspicion here," he said. On the occasion, joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Rameshwor Khanal clarified that the government's decision was free of any business motive. The government, unveiling its plan during the presentation of the budget for the fiscal year 2060/61, had identified Khaptad, Shey-Phoksundo and Makalu-Barun National Park and Koshi Tappu, Parsa and Dhorpatan Wildlife Reserves as potential sites that could be managed by NGOs. Earlier, the government's decision received stern criticism from conservation experts.

Chairman of IUCN Nepal Chapter Dr Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, highlighting Nepal's unique bio-diversity, said it would be a big mistake if the government handed over the protected areas to any party before carrying out a detailed study. "The government should reconsider its decision before giving the management responsibility of the conservation areas to NGOs," Shrestha said. He also urged the government to assess the sacrifices made by thousands of people in the buffer zones for the creation of those very parks and reserves. "No international NGO would promote or support Nepal if it overlooked the consensus of the affected indigenous communities," he said.

Former director general of DNPWC Bishwo Nath Upreti, while underlining the confusion that has emerged in the wake of the government's decision, demanded the government to be clearer on the issue. "A handover of parks and protected areas to feeble management, influenced by business motive, cannot conserve our priceless natural resources," he said. "The biodiversity must be given priority over all other aspects." Explaining both the Nepali government's policy vis-à-vis the provisions on international convention, Dr Bharat Karki, a legal expert on environmental issues, informed that Nepal, nearing its accession to WTO, should make its policies compatible with international regulations.

"Thirty-eight of the present Nepali policies, several of them on the conservation of its natural resources, are to be amended urgently," he informed, further warning, "The court may rule against the government's decision if it goes ahead without necessary amendments." The DNPWC presently looks after a network of eight National Parks, four Wildlife Reserves, three Conservation Areas, and one Hunting Reserve, including five Buffer Zones around the national parks.

OTHER NEWS

• Medicinal herbs on the verge of extinction: Many important herbs of medicinal value in Ghumtay hill are on the verge of extinction due to the lack of protection and proper utility. The locals are worried that many valuable plants found in this region will soon vanish away if special attention is not paid for the proper conservation of these herbs of medicinal value. Not that the locals did not take any step towards its conservation, but they find it impossible to do anything about it on their own initiative and expressed the need for support from the concerned bodies for the protection and preservation of these herbs of medicinal value.
  
  
• Four Ramsar Sites by the end of this year: Three wetlands, Ghodaghodi Tal of Kailali district, Beeshazar Tal of Chitwan district and the Jagdishpur reservoir of Kapilbastu district will acquire international status by the end of this year, Surya Bahadur Pandey of DNPWC, said today. These internationally important wetlands were proposed for inclusion in the Ramsar List last year. Koshi Tappu is the only Ramsar Site of Nepal. Speaking at an interaction programme organised by the Environment Protection Campaign Nepal, Pandey said, "All the procedures are almost complete, by the end of this year we will have four Ramsar Sites in our country".
  
  
• Rhino conservation action plan on anvil: An action plan on the conservation of greater one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal is nearing completion even as wildlife experts, representing both the government and non-government organisations, made review and consultation on its final draft at a workshop held here recently. The major highlights of the proposed US$ 2.9 million five-year action plan include conservation and development of rhino habitats, to strengthen anti-poaching capability, develop effective collaboration with national and international agencies and ensure sustainable funding to implement the rhino conservation. According to DNPWC statistics, the number of one-horned rhinos in Nepal has increased from 446 in 1994 to 612 in 2002. The current rate of their growth stands at 3.8 per cent. Dr Tirtha Man Maskey, the director general of DNPWC, pointed that the rhino habitats have been decreasing at an annual rate of 60 per cent.
  
  
• Hoteliers for body to regulate elephants' entry: While the government is mulling a policy to allow elephants owned by individuals outside the Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) to escort visitors into the Park, hoteliers have demanded an institutional body to regulate elephant's entry. The logic behind their demand is that all entrepreneurs should get an equal opportunity and that unrestrained elephant movement could affect the park environment. This demand was raised mainly by the operators outside the park who felt that the government decision would put their business in the negative as hotels inside the park might establish monopoly over the business. Presently, hotels outside the park own 18 elephants while those inside have around three dozen elephants. The park itself owns around 80 domesticated elephants, which is equal to the number of wild elephants.
  
  
• Tourism dev stressed to eradicate poverty: Sarbendra Nath Shukla, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation today said that the nation's tourism industry posses an immense potential to develop as a major industry of the country that would be one means to alleviate poverty in coming days. "Currently, the contribution of tourism industry to national economy is lower than its potential. Time has now come to work collectively to uplift the industry that can bring huge amount of foreign money into the country," said Shukla in a programme held joint by the Ministry and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
  
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu