National 9 (Spotlight Weekly)

‘We Are Building A Bridge Between Environment And Economics’

— Arup Rajouria

ARUP RAJOURIA is the member secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) ñ renowned conservation organization. Rajouria has done Masters in Environmental Economics from Harvard University and Masters on International Environmental Policies from Claremont University, USA. He has been working with the KMTNC since 1986. He spoke to SANJAYA DHAKAL on issues relating to conservation in the country. Excerpts:

How do you find the current state of nature conservation in the country?

The current situation of conservation in Nepal is quite challenging. It depends on the approach. If the community is mobilized, if activities are need-driven, the projects will be both successful and sustainable. Primarily, it depends on the approach of different organizations and institutions.

The KMTNC has been involved in the conservation sector for a long time. Could you elaborate on its activities?

The KMTNC was created to work in the area of conservation by an act of the parliament. However, in the current scenario, the situation is more challenging. Subsequently, the organization has evolved into what we call ICDP ñ Integrated Conservation and Development Program. Primarily our activities were confined inside the national park on hard science research. We were quite divorced from what happened outside national parks. But we realized that what happened outside was more important than what happened inside for achieving sustainability. So, the need of the peripheral population of the national park should be taken care of before we start conserving the national park. Our approach in Chitwan, Annapurna and other programs has focused on developing local guardianship. And building a bridge between economics and conservation. To achieve that, what we have embarked on now, is whole array of activities designed to strengthen the community both economically and capacity-wise, and involve the community right from project design to development to management and ultimately the ownership. We have already transferred the project ownership of a couple of community forest programs in Chitwan, which has been widely acclaimed.

The KMTNC handles the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), which is regarded as a success story. With respect to that, what is going on in the Manaslu Conservation Area also handled by the KMTNC?

We embarked on the Manaslu project at the behest of the government to replicate the success of ACAP. But the terrain, demography and every other issue were quite different in Manaslu. Annapurna is one of the most trekked areas in all of the South Asia. The government has very generously given us the authority to charge conservation fee, which we directly pump back into community development and conservation program. We embarked on the Manaslu project with the same aim and goal. The initial funding was received from the government through the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the number of tourists visiting Manaslu area is considerably less compared to that of Annapurna. Similarly, the terrain is also challenging. Thirdly, the people living in Manaslu are not as exposed to the outside world or educated as in Annapurna. So, we started programs like monastery conservation, Buddhist schools, health posts and community development there. But because of these challenges and prevailing situation in the field, there progress is being made.

What do you think about the recent government decision to hand over the conservation areas to private management?

We also heard it in the budget speech. We do not know what the details are. In principle it is a very forward-thinking move but as they say the devil is always in the details, we need to know the details like how the protected areas are being categorized, how is the terminology of privatization being used, what is the mechanism for monitoring and evaluation and so on.

There are also news reports that the government will allow domesticated elephants to take tourists inside the Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP). Many conservationists have raised their concern regarding this move. What is your comment?

On that too, I think a lot of homework needs to be done. Basically, an EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) needs to be carried out to determine how many elephants will be allowed and what impact will it have; does the RCNP has the absorbing capacity to handle them? These are the kinds of things that need to be done before making such policy decisions and it is difficult to give a professional opinion without the analysis.

Could you shed more light on the KMTNC's upcoming projects?

We have established a new unit on climate change and carbon sequestration. We have expanded our program to Shukla Phanta where we are replicating what we did in Chitwan and Bardiya primarily in the community development outside the national park and research inside the park. We have been expanding and this is primarily due to the motivation and commitment of our staffs who are working in extremely challenging situation in the field. Significantly, the leadership provided by our chairman HRH Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev has made it all possible. Also important is the support we are receiving from His Majesty's Government, the international community, partner organizations, the civic society and the media.