Conflict and conservation : sharing the costs and benefits of tiger (Panthera tigris) conservation in communities adjacent to tiger reserves in Nepal
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Human wildlife conflict (HWC) is a highly studied but unresolved aspect of wildlife management. To further knowledge on HWC, this study used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate HWC implications for local people living adjacent to two key tiger conservation reserves in Nepal. The study also assessed the potential to redistribute financial benefits accruing from predator conservation to those bearing costs through associated HWC. Secondary data and anecdotal reports suggest that local people experience significant direct and indirect costs from predator conservation through livestock losses following attacks by common leopards and Bengal tigers, and additionally, crop losses due to their prey species plus two mega herbivores (elephant and one-horned rhinoceros). To investigate this situation, data regarding HWC incidents and costs were sourced through interviews with 422 local households, direct observations, and stakeholder interviews. Collected data included livestock loss (5-year time-period) and crop loss (1-year time-period). Complementary direct observation data collated livestock loss and crop damage for 12 months. Interviews were conducted also with park visitors (N=387) and tourism business owners (N=74). Results showed that tigers are involved in significantly fewer depredation events compared to leopards. Leopards predominantly killed small to medium livestock whereas tigers selected both small to medium and large sized livestock. Livestock depredation events occurred more frequently in livestock corrals relative to forest zones or crop fields. Rates of livestock losses per household per year self-reported during interviews with local people were found higher when compared to those observed by direct measurement. Prey species of tigers and leopards (most often wild boar and chital) were involved in more frequently in crop raiding events, and caused more crop damage, when compared that caused by mega herbivores. Quantities of crops lost per household were lowest in communities where effective physical barriers to wildlife were present. Park visitors and tourism business owners indicated willingness to pay for conservation of tigers and for compensation of farmers for the losses caused by tigers and their prey species. Study findings support several key recommendations proposed to mitigate negative HWC effects in the study area. These include financial support for local communities to build predator proof livestock corrals and establishment of effective physical barriers at the park borders. A dedicated tariff for park visitors and a levy for tourism business owners are also recommended to fund ongoing predator conservation and support financial compensation for local farmers affected by HWC.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
- Full Text:
- Description: Human wildlife conflict (HWC) is a highly studied but unresolved aspect of wildlife management. To further knowledge on HWC, this study used a multidisciplinary approach to investigate HWC implications for local people living adjacent to two key tiger conservation reserves in Nepal. The study also assessed the potential to redistribute financial benefits accruing from predator conservation to those bearing costs through associated HWC. Secondary data and anecdotal reports suggest that local people experience significant direct and indirect costs from predator conservation through livestock losses following attacks by common leopards and Bengal tigers, and additionally, crop losses due to their prey species plus two mega herbivores (elephant and one-horned rhinoceros). To investigate this situation, data regarding HWC incidents and costs were sourced through interviews with 422 local households, direct observations, and stakeholder interviews. Collected data included livestock loss (5-year time-period) and crop loss (1-year time-period). Complementary direct observation data collated livestock loss and crop damage for 12 months. Interviews were conducted also with park visitors (N=387) and tourism business owners (N=74). Results showed that tigers are involved in significantly fewer depredation events compared to leopards. Leopards predominantly killed small to medium livestock whereas tigers selected both small to medium and large sized livestock. Livestock depredation events occurred more frequently in livestock corrals relative to forest zones or crop fields. Rates of livestock losses per household per year self-reported during interviews with local people were found higher when compared to those observed by direct measurement. Prey species of tigers and leopards (most often wild boar and chital) were involved in more frequently in crop raiding events, and caused more crop damage, when compared that caused by mega herbivores. Quantities of crops lost per household were lowest in communities where effective physical barriers to wildlife were present. Park visitors and tourism business owners indicated willingness to pay for conservation of tigers and for compensation of farmers for the losses caused by tigers and their prey species. Study findings support several key recommendations proposed to mitigate negative HWC effects in the study area. These include financial support for local communities to build predator proof livestock corrals and establishment of effective physical barriers at the park borders. A dedicated tariff for park visitors and a levy for tourism business owners are also recommended to fund ongoing predator conservation and support financial compensation for local farmers affected by HWC.
- Description: Doctor of Philosophy
Managing human-tiger conflict : Lessons from Bardia and Chitwan National Parks, Nepal
- Bhattarai, Babu, Wright, Wendy, Morgan, Damian, Cook, Simon, Baral, Hem
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu , Wright, Wendy , Morgan, Damian , Cook, Simon , Baral, Hem
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: European Journal of Wildlife Research Vol. 65, no. 3 (2019), p. 1-12
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Successful conservation outcomes for the tiger (Panthera tigris) have been achieved in Nepalese protected areas. However, an unwelcome consequence of greater tiger numbers is the increased prevalence of human-tiger conflict (HTC), particularly in buffer zone areas adjacent to key tiger reserves, which are heavily utilised by farming communities. HTC events may manifest as attacks by tigers on livestock or people, or as people harming tigers. Since 1994, 12 and 99 fatal tiger attacks on people were reported in and near Bardia and Chitwan National Parks, respectively; and since 1979, 34 tigers from these Parks have been killed due to HTC. HTC presents major threats to local people and to the continuing success of tiger conservation programmes. Conservation authorities in Nepal are implementing innovative solutions to prevent and mitigate HTC. These include financial compensation for damage caused by tigers and locally based community projects and programmes focussed on changing livestock husbandry practises, raising awareness of tiger ecology among local residents and supporting families to reduce their reliance on park resources. While these approaches have been successful in mitigating HTC and its effects in Nepal, further developments and refinements are required. This paper provides a synthesis of published and unpublished reports of HTC, in order to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem faced in Nepal. A critical summary of current management practises adopted in two of Nepal’s key tiger reserves is intended to provide a tool for managers to target their efforts towards methods likely to achieve success.
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu , Wright, Wendy , Morgan, Damian , Cook, Simon , Baral, Hem
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: European Journal of Wildlife Research Vol. 65, no. 3 (2019), p. 1-12
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Successful conservation outcomes for the tiger (Panthera tigris) have been achieved in Nepalese protected areas. However, an unwelcome consequence of greater tiger numbers is the increased prevalence of human-tiger conflict (HTC), particularly in buffer zone areas adjacent to key tiger reserves, which are heavily utilised by farming communities. HTC events may manifest as attacks by tigers on livestock or people, or as people harming tigers. Since 1994, 12 and 99 fatal tiger attacks on people were reported in and near Bardia and Chitwan National Parks, respectively; and since 1979, 34 tigers from these Parks have been killed due to HTC. HTC presents major threats to local people and to the continuing success of tiger conservation programmes. Conservation authorities in Nepal are implementing innovative solutions to prevent and mitigate HTC. These include financial compensation for damage caused by tigers and locally based community projects and programmes focussed on changing livestock husbandry practises, raising awareness of tiger ecology among local residents and supporting families to reduce their reliance on park resources. While these approaches have been successful in mitigating HTC and its effects in Nepal, further developments and refinements are required. This paper provides a synthesis of published and unpublished reports of HTC, in order to demonstrate the magnitude of the problem faced in Nepal. A critical summary of current management practises adopted in two of Nepal’s key tiger reserves is intended to provide a tool for managers to target their efforts towards methods likely to achieve success.
Review of Nepal's protected area laws in relation to human wildlife conflict
- Bhattarai, Babu, Wright, Wendy, Morgan, Damian
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu , Wright, Wendy , Morgan, Damian
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Protected Areas: Management, Benefits and Social Impacts p. 167-198
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Laws and policies are critical in facilitating positive or negative outcomes where humans and wildlife have potential to interact. This chapter provides a historical overview of Nepal's protected areas and reviews the Nepalese conservation laws to explore whether they, through enactment, have the capacity to reduce the frequency and consequently the impact of human wildlife conflict (HWC). This chapter also provides useful insights for the formulation of new conservation laws, or the revision of existing conservation laws, to prevent and mitigate HWC. Nepal's conservation laws were formulated in the early 1970s, when modern protected areas were first being established in the country. Initially, Nepal followed the Yellowstone Model, an exclusionary approach involving the removal of local people from areas within the boundaries of the new National Parks. The intent was to separate humans and protected areas, measures that are often commended as effective in reducing interactions between humans and wildlife. Over time, the gradual relaxation of strict rules of exclusion, including the granting of rights to local people to access resources inside protected areas, have encouraged a move towards a coexistence approach. This later approach (coexistence) condoned, or at least allowed for, more contact between humans and wildlife, and may have increased the potential for HWC. Subsequent amendments to the conservation laws-including provisions for wildlife population management-may have gone some way toward reducing HWC; however, these amendments lack clarity and have been poorly implemented. This article recommends active implementation of laws that may reduce interactions between humans and wildlife and suggests improved compensation policies for wildlife damage. © 2021 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Shifting paradigms for Nepal’s protected areas : History, challenges and relationships
- Bhattarai, Babu, Wright, Wendy, Poudel, Buddi, Aryal, Achyut, Yadav, Bhupendra, Wagle, Radha
- Authors: Bhattarai, Babu , Wright, Wendy , Poudel, Buddi , Aryal, Achyut , Yadav, Bhupendra , Wagle, Radha
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Mountain Science Vol. 14, no. 5 (2017), p. 964-979
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The modern history of protected area (PA) management in Nepal dates back to 1973 when the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (1973) was promulgated and Chitwan National Park was established. In the years immediately following these key events, protected area acts and regulations were strictly applied and the role of local people in managing natural resources was neglected. However with the passage of time, and with changes in the socio-political and economic characteristics of Nepal, management regimes have shifted towards a more liberal model which recognizes more clearly the contributions of people living and working within protected areas. Recently, landscape level conservation models including the designation of multiple use areas have been utilized in the development of management plans for protected areas in Nepal. Conservation agencies have attempted to tackle challenges such as land use conflict, poaching and smuggling of wildlife parts and illegal harvesting of highly valued medicinal herbs through regulation, but these efforts are not always successful. We recommend a holistic conflict resolution approach which recognizes and resolves the different needs of all stakeholders. © 2017, Science Press, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
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