Conserving Earth
That WWF, the international wildlife
organisation, has chosen Kathmandu as the venue for its 39th annual conference, also
speaks of the recognition Nepal gets on the international arena for the good work on the
conservation front. It is not without reason that Nepal gets world attention as a
repository of rich flora and fauna. It has 5000 flowering plants of which 246 are endemic
to Nepal. Nepal sets aside a huge chunk of its land as national parks and reserves, one of
the highest in the world compared to its land size. The protected areas have demonstrated
some notable achievements in the revival of fauna. One of such imported protected areas is
Royal Bardiya National Park in the western part of the country. Prime Minister Girija
Prasad Koirala Tuesday declared the extension area of the Bardiya Park as a Gift to the
Earth in support of World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Campaign. The announcement
stands for an official commitment to give more protection to wildlife and better watershed
management in the fragile Churia hills in western Nepal. The Bardiya area is a significant
zone that is home to rich flora and fauna. The gifted extension area of the Baridya park,
for instance, is home to eight types of ecosystems that contain 124 species of trees
supporting 34 species of mammals and over 300 birds. That is a lot of floral and faunal
species in a size of about 900 square kilometres.
Its significance also lies in the fact that
the extension area will link 11 prime wildlife habitats in Nepal and India known as the
Terai Arc. Thus, it is appropriate that, in today’s dedication of sacred gifts for a
living planet, the extension area of Bardiya Park will be included. The dedication will be
done amidst the gathering of followers from different faiths around the world who will
declare preservation and promotion of global environment in the new millennium amidst a
special function in Bhaktapur Durbar Square. As so aptly put by His Royal Highness Prince
Gyanendra, in his keynote address during the plenary session of the conference Tuesday,
the ceremony signifies the active involvement and ocncerns of all major faiths in our
campaign to build a safer and sustainable world. He stated that with billions of followers
and a network of educational institutions and resourceful endowments, religious
establisments possess enormous potentials to give a boost to the conservation movement.
The potentials must be seized by conservationists and religious leaders, wherever they may
be working, to strengthen the movement to conserve what is left of the Earth’s floral
and faunal treasures.
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