RETURN OF THE RHINOS 27 years of conservation

On March 1846, rhinoceros were sighted for the first time in Royal Chitwan National Park. The declaration of rhinoceros as a royal game by the then prime minister Jung Bahadur Rana and stringent punishment for the poachers introduced a system of protection to wildlife for the first time in Nepal. Later, late King Mahendra declared the 175 sq. km park as Mahendra Mriga Kunj (Mahendra National Park) that subsequently led to the establishment of Rhino Patrol.

But once the rhino population increased to about 800 in 1950 and plummeted down to 100 in 1968, they could not confine their movements within the park. Hence, in order to ensure that the rhinos would have a better habitat, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) identified about 932 sq. km area and it was gazetted as Royal Chitwan National Park in 1973. And it served to protect the rhinos, whose number has topped in 2000 to 612 - RCNP alone possessing 544 followed by Royal Bardia National Park 67 and Royal Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve 1.

However, wild animals (particularly rhinos) are not free from falling prey to indiscriminate killing either. In recent years, the rhinos have found their habitat shrinking because of human encroachments in the park. The pressure on land has meant that trees in reserved forests are being felled to bring new areas under cultivation. Hemmed in, the rhinos have turned crop raiders.

Rhinos, like other mammals, periodically stray into farmlands on the periphery of the park and cause damage to the standing crops. Some of the bufferzone communities are hence compelled to live on the edge of poverty and raise non-edible crops like mentha, aromatic plants and lemon grass. And a crop raid by rhinos or elephants may mean starvation for the entire family. It is here the problems between the park and the people crop up in real terms, and hence incidences of poaching and other illegal activities take its root.

The major challenges today are unprecedented poaching and illegal trade in animal parts; continual loss of habitat and forest cover (loss of forest corridors); increasing tourist traffic inside prime wilderness areas; and increased disturbance in core areas. With a sharp rise in population, natural habitats are being converted into agricultural lands at an alarming pace. Therefore, to involve bufferzone communities in mitigating park-people conflict and ensure sustainable use of natural resources, DNPWC has been implementing Park People Programme since late 1994 with the financial and technical assistance of United Nations Development Programme.

The Programme is designed to demonstrate community-based biodiversity conservation in and around the protected areas based on self-reliance that significantly contributes to the conservation of park and bufferzone resources. The Programme champions partnership with village-based user groups geared towards self-reliance on forest resources and in developing alternative livelihood opportunities contributing to sustainable biodiversity conservation.

The Programme has adopted an ecosystem approach of biodiversity conservation by implementing simultaneously three programme inter-linked components:

Park Management;

Conservation initiatives in the bufferzone; and Forestry initiatives outside the buferzone.

Given the paradigm of achievements, Park People Programme has successfully produced commendable outputs mainly in the form of strengthening and enhancing capacity and creating alternative livelihood opportunities through skill enhancement and micro enterprise creation of bufferzone communities.

What is required is not necessarily a total ban on the public enjoying the gifts of the wilderness, but a systematic education in general and nature appreciation as a holistic activity. The wildlife-targeted traffic has to be reoriented to the amazing heterogeneity of faunal wealth. Even with the not-so-much forest cover, the country has today, there is a bewildering array of flora and fauna. Forests in Nepal are the abode to almost 118 ecosystems, 7100 species of flowering plants, 186 species of mammal, 836 species of bird, 147 species of exclusive amphibians and reptiles and 640 species of butterfly.

It is only as a consequence of sustained wildlife conservation efforts in the past two and a half decades that, apart from the vast wilds of East Africa, Nepal still possesses perhaps the wildest wildlife heterogeneity anywhere in the world, at least in terms of landmass.

Although a large share of forest cover is under protection as protected areas, it is in these inviolable pockets that the fauna holds out against heavy odds. To save these endangered species, it is vital to protect their habitats and understand the role of each species within an ecosystem.

In 27 years, the number of protected areas has risen sharply. But then, all this has failed is to instill a love of nature in the park-thronging public. The nature appreciation ethos is simply missing. This is undoing the early gains in wildlife conservation. There indeed may not be a second chance.

In fact, we have long been lost in the glamour of the Big-TERs (tiger, elephant and rhino) and the media blitz enjoyed by the major endangered species. So much so that at times we cease to behold the many other colourful, amazing and endearing species that thrive in our protected areas.

A careful observer can soon admire not just the tiger or the big game, but even the much smaller but equally captivating species of tiny insects - the sheer drama of animal action, the colours (loud and subtle), the grace of the animal form, the number wonder, animal humour, the bonds of animal families, the exotic and the rare species, the sublime fusion of the animal form and the forest landscape – all a source of pure visual delight.

The public must learn to enjoy the beauty of the wilderness areas themselves rather than look for the faunal species resident there. If only one strained one’s eyes and ears a bit one would find splendid sights and creatures - an experience no less thrilling than watching big game. And that would be nature appreciation in its totality and the best approach to produce a nature-loving and conservation-oriented public from adrenaline-charged, camera-wielding crowds that throng the parks for the new brand of wildlife tourism.

An overview of the 27 years of wildlife conservation programmes and policies necessitates an immediate updating of one’s knowledge of the current status of several endangered species, and then systematically undertaking species-specific conservation projects. Let not bureaucratic delay, resource crunch or manpower dearth delay these well-perceived, but "shelved", programmes for the conservation of the tiger, the rhino, the black buck and other major species of mammals and birds.

Of the two endangered species, while the black buck is fighting a losing battle in RBNP, the wild buffalo is losing its marks in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve.

A more cohesive and meaningful programme in propagating wildlife conservation is needed. After all, even Rhino Count 2000 was conceived more as a conservation programme for the whole park habitat, inclusive of the flora and faunal miscellany (both predator and prey) than merely for the rhino. A word of caution while executing species-oriented conservation policies: the focus has to be on conserving possibly all varieties of habitats (especially the ones being lost - grasslands and wetlands) and not only on their faunal components.

Royal Chitwan National Park, a world heritage site, has not been left from hubbub either. Earlier, despite conservation efforts, RCNP had to bear the wrath of poachers for long, but now the park is limping back to normalcy – kudos to DNPWC’s indefatigable endeavour to the cause of biodiversity conservation.

WHY ARE THEY LEFT TO LIVE LIKE THIS?

By Sumeeta Rai

Fourteen year old Rajkumar Chaudhary is sentenced for life. Though no definite term is set, his freedom is not guaranteed. He blames his father for what happened to him and he is angry.

His father he feels bought his own freedom by taking his. But this Kamaiya father had little choice; he had debts to pay. But he is looking for a way to release his son.

Rajkumar is lucky, atleast he roamed around freely for fourteen years unlike his father who became a bonded labourer at the age of ten. When his family split, he was sent to work in a Shangha village landlord’s house in Kanchanpur. He feels his son’s pain and understands his anger. He too worked from eight in the morning to seven in the evening as a little boy.

He knows only too well what it’s like to quench hunger with water and sleep by the fire to keep warm. He remembers his master gave him a cap, a blanket, one shirt and a small piece of cloth to hide his modesty. He also remembers how his master beat him twice. His wage was forty rupees a year and he received meal twice a day. His son is better off he gets 3 quintals of paddy (equivalent to 2400 rupees) besides clothes worth five hundred rupees. He knows his son would earn double as a free labourer but he still owes the landlord four thousand rupees, but till he raises the money and buy back his son’s freedom this is unthinkable. If he borrows money from anywhere he knows he will never be out of the vicious cycle of bonded labour in which he was for thirty years.

He fell into this cycle from the day he was born in a society that Kamiya or the bonded labour is in practice. When he was ten he looked after 20 to 25 cows which belonged to the landlord. At eighteen he began to plough the fields. At twenty he got married but remained a Kamaiya. As Khushiram grew so did his loan, up to five thousand rupees even though the only lavish expenditure had been his wedding for which he spent about four hundred rupees, a goat and some clothes. His sixteen hours of labour was supposed to bring him 8/9 quintals of paddy and the cash was supposed to have been deducted from the loan yet his loan did not stop increasing. His wife too worked in the master’s house as an unpaid domestic help. In a span of twelve years Khusiram had worked for four masters and his loan had reached to six or seven thousand rupees.

How could this have happened?

"Maybe the landlord wrote two hundred instead of a hundred " Khusiram says. Such shocking naivete from a forty year old man is from the fact that he has never been to a school or even out of the Kanchanpur district. As far as he is knows his country’s name is Kanchanpur. He has no idea where the nearest police station is. This father of six has never seen a television and does not know how to operate a radio. He doesn’t know what a newspaper looks like. However, he does vote but on the basis of who he is told "works for the poor".

Khusiram has been paying a price for his naivete with his life. He spent his childhood, his youth fighing to pay off a debt. It all started with the money he took to feed his family. When he could not pay back the money he owned the previous master he took the money from another landlord Bandhuram and paEid off the loan. Second loan meant yet another job- as a bonded labourer.

When the loan reached three thousand after four years of working for Bandhuram, he decided to take help from his father and brother. He took money from three different landlords and shared the debt among the family. His father and brother began working for the two landlords while he worked for the third one. After four years of his service he was neck deep in fifteen hundred rupees debt. Thirty years of living as a Kamaiya , and Kushiram still owed 1500 rupees this is where his son Rajkumar got dragged in.

But Kushiram is not relinquishing in his newfound freedom. He is a father after all and he knows only too well the hell he has dragged his son into. And he is determined to help him. He has never been to a temple before but believes Lord Shiva is in Bhukunda temple and he will be helped. He is willing to even go to Kathmandu from where he thinks help will come for his son.

While Khushiram knocks the doors of temples and government offices, there are people and organisations who are assisting him and others like him to fight against this whole age old Kamiya system that persists in our country. In Western region alone there are some 35000 Kamaiyas or bonded labourers.

Now Kamaiyas are working towards demanding minimum wages and freedom from bondage, themselves through Kamaiya Movement which is going on inspite of encountering a number of setbacks.

In Kailali some 19 Kamaiyas filed a petition against their owner Shiva Raj Panth demanding to be paid their minimum wages. After much pressure the VDC agreed to arrange a meeting with both the parties present, but Mr Panth did not show up. The petition was redrafted and other demands like free from bondage and security were added. The attempts to file this petition was declined by the CDO office.

With little choice left besides mobilising a rally, the Kamaiyas organised a successful one which turned out to be a historic event in itself for Kailali. As a result the CDO office accepted the petition and forwarded it to the Labour Office.

Promises seem to be more promising than the petition itself which at present is finding its way between the Labour office, the VDC and the CDO. The Land Reform Minister announced that the problems will be resolved within 4 years. Meanwhile the Kailali district chairperson promised the Kailali declaration and total eradication of Kamiaya system in Kailali within a year.

While all these promises are floating around a fourteen year old boy and others like him are waiting to be released from this whirlpool of Kamaiya system. Rajkumar and others countless like him should not be allowed to lose their childhood and turn into men not knowing their rights while others take advantage of their ignorance.

Mustang Rediscovered

The Mustang district of Nepal is situated north of two Himalayan rangers Dhaulagiri and Annapurna and surrounded on three sides by

the Autonomous Region of Tibet. This is a land of amazing extremes. It is a meeting place for the world’s two largest and oldest religions, Hinduism and Buddhism; two ancient civilizations, Indian and Chinese, and two distinct races Caucasion (Aryan) and Mongoloid. Even the physical aspects of eastern and western Himalayan and its changing pattern of mountain environments, make it a junction of bio-diversity.

The altitude in Mustang varies from 2012 m near Ghasa to 8091m (Mt. Annapurna, which is among the highest peaks of the world) creating an exquisite and varied landscape. The vertical height difference of 6079m over a horizontal distance of only 1-km makes the region one of the most unique natural conservation areas in the world. Because of the vast variation in vertical zonal distinction of mountains, different bioclimatic zones are identified here. On account of the unique geomorphology and climate, with a variety of microclimates, Mustang represents great contrast of relief, endowed with rich flora and fauna ranging from subtropical to alpine within a small area of 400 sq km.

The regional physiography of Mustang may be divided into three stretch-oriented longitudinal relief units. The northern three units (Nepal Himalayas) form an intimate association consisting of two mountain ranges, the Tibetan Marginal Range, (which form a 6000 to 700 m - high southern rampart to the Tibetan Plateau), and the Great or High Himalayan, (a line of mountain masses with an average elevation of 6000 m and containing peaks rising to above 89000 m). Between these occurs the Inner Himalayan, a number of natural compartments standing at 2000 to 6000 m and surrounded by high peaks’ (Brusden, 1981). The Himalayas are assumed to be the youngest mountain system on the earth. They do not form a continuos range but rather a chain of lofty ridges separated by deep gorges through which snow fed rivers flow. The Gandaki river system consists of very old rivers dating back to Pre-Himalayan age. An example is the Kaligandaki River, which has made a deep cut and vertical gorge within the uplift of Himalayas to form the deepest gorge in the world. This stretch of Kaligandaki in Mustang flows at 5630 m below its flanking summits of Dhaulagiri (8167 m) and Annapurna (8091 m) near Dhampu gaon (between Lete and Larjung). Travellers to Mustang consider this the highlight of their trip. The other more interesting features of Mustang district are the numerous caves of prehistoric times, which are seen in the soft conglomeratic cliffs (Vinding 1998, P 46).

Among the districts of Nepal situated north of Himalayas, Mustang predominantly represents the distinct characteristic of Tibetan Plateau because of its comparative topographical projection northward.

This is indeed the unexplored, unspoiled virgin land of Tibetan Plateau within the territory of Nepalese Kingdom, where modern civilisation and environmental degradation has little or no influence as yet. To this end, the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, established in 1987 under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness Prince Gyanendra, has successfully undertaken numerous projects on nature conservation, bio-diversity protection, natural resource management and sustainable development programmes. Of which Annapurna Consideration Area Project (ACAP) is the major project in the mountain environment of Mustang.

Mustang was a forbidden land for centuries and little was known of this Trans Himalayan valley. The history of Upper Mustang dates back to seventh century when the powerful Yarlung kingdom of Tibet conquered Lo Manthang and Serib, comprising of present Baragaon and Panchgaon (Jackson 1976, P 40). The walled city of Lo Manthang was the capital of upper Mustang. The word Lo derives from ‘Lho’ meaning south border of Tibet. Although, the democratic revolution of 1950’s marked a new era in Nepal when the closed door was flung open for tourists, yet the upper Mustang was prohibited till 1990 A D, which just opened as restricted area (permitted 1000 tourist only annually), since then.

Despite these restrictions, tourism and trade are not new to this area. In fact, the movement of pilgrims journeying through India or other parts of Asia about 3500 years ago was probably the beginning of the tourism industry. Pilgrimage to the Muktichhetra were the main reasons for travel along the Kaligandaki River. It’s ancient name is mentioned as Saligrami (drive from Saligram) in Mahabharat (950 BC), Padma Purana (300 AD) and Skanda Purana (1000 AD). The Saligrams with linear impression or Chakra is regarded as an embodiment of Lord Vishnu and without the Chakra as Lord Shiva. The Hindu pilgrims travel to the sacred temple of Muktinath and Buddhists monks from Tibet to Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha. The Dharmanka the authentic test book of Hindus detailing ‘Places of Pilgrimage’ mentions Damodarkund, Muktinath and Pashupatinath as three most sacred places in Nepal, of which two are in Mustang.

Trade, also, followed pilgrimage along this valley. The transportation of goods for Trans Himalayan Trading was one of the main reasons for travel. Salt was considered to be the most lucrative commodity, which played a decisive role in the economic and social life of the two regions. The Tibetan traders carried salt from the salt lakes of Tibet (including rock salt) on yaks on a weeks journey to the Mustang border. The Loba then ferried them on a five days trial to Thakhola (Tukuche) on mules and carried in return food grains and domestic goods back home. Of the twelve major trade routes or passes existing in the Himalayan region along the Nepal Tibet border, four passes are found in Mustang leading to Kaligandaki and are low enough to be operational almost year round. The route was the most favourable for the swift and large scale trade movement. It was, therefore, acknowledged as a great highway linking areas of vast diversity in Asia (Rai 1994, P2). Thus was created the ancient ‘Salt Trade Route’ along the Kaligandaki. This salt trade along the most favoured and adventurous route of the Kaligandaki Valley is a singular feature in the history of Nepal-Tibet trade. Until recent times, the trade in ‘Bhot ko noon’ or the salt of Tibet, has not only sustained the people in the poor and barren regions of Nepal and Tibet but has also set in motion an ‘institutionalised relationship’, hence promoting a better understanding between the two neighbours (Fisher 1978, P 364).

On the caravan trials people usually camp in remote villages, caves or among mountain nomads. These gypsies of the Plateau spend their lives herding their flocks across desolate slopes and through desert valleys, spending nights worrying about the threat posed to their goats and sheep by the deadly snow leopards. Nomads have reportedly sighted footprints, hair or actual sightings the enigmatic Yeti (the ‘Abominable Snowman’) at Sao Khola. This is an unsubstantiated story of the legendary creature, which eludes the seekers as usual - probably an instinct of an endangered animal, no matter whether it is the "Mehti (Yeti)’ or the Tibetan brown bear. Special mention must be made of these rare endangered animals like the snow leopard, Tibetan Brown Bear, snow trout and Tibetan Wild Ass that are found in the region. In fact, nine of these rare Tibetan Wild Asses were sighted by the undersigned near Damodar Kunda on the 23rd April 2000. Such sightings are extremely rare and special.

Lo mostly dominated the Salt Trade Route of Kaligandaki between 1400-160 AD and lost control over this trade during the 18th century when King Prithivi Narayan Shah united the kingdom of Nepal. Mustang was literally closed to the outside world until 1991. Hence the wonderful variety of richness of its heritage was obviously unknown to the foreigners. The early visitors like Hari Ram (Indian, 1873), Ekai Kawaguchi (Japanese 1900), Hans Koffs (German 1944) Maurice Herizog (France 1950), Toni Hagen (Swiss, 1950), Giuseppe Tucci (Italian 1952), Jiro Kawakita (Japanese 1952), David Snellgrove (British 1956) Michel Peissel (American 1964) had travelled on foot orhorseback. These adventurous treks across acrid plateaus of Mustang, through narrow river gorges of eroded cliffs were mostly well chronicled explorations of the unique hidden land, great castles, ancient monasteries, lonely hermitages and remote villages and religious, social and other anthropological aspects. Some of them have illustrated their extraordinary recount s about the flora and fauna, climate, history, people and culture, religious and faith, livelihood and trade etc.

When the closed door of Mustang was flung open in 1950 to the outside world, the French mountaineering expedition led by Maurice Herzog attempted to climb the summit of Annapurna 1. This was the first ever-successful ascent of an 8000-m high peak in the world, which brought Nepal into the limelight of adventure tourism. Out of the eight 8000 metres peaks of the country, two peaks (25%) are located on the southern border of Mustang including 44 peaks over 6000 m in the district.

37% of the foreign tourist out of the total tourist arrivals in Nepal (excluding those from India) take up trekking tourism. Annapurna area accounts of 58% of Nepal’s total trekking traffic, Everest area being Second (17%). The lower Mustang, which was open to tourists in 1950 and upper Mustang only in 1990 (restricted to 1000 tourists annually) has amazingly topped the list.

The Hindu Puran written in the last millennium mentioned Muktichhetra (Kaligandaki Valley) as "Kaliyug ko Baikuntha" (Heaven of Black ages). We are now in the "Black age", Kali Yuga, which is supposed to last (another) 43,000 years, having begun about 3102 BC (Olschak 1987, p 8): The ‘Heaven of Lord Vishnu’ has also become the ‘Heaven of Trekkers’ of the New Millennium 2000. Welcome to the ‘Kaliyug ko Baikuntha" - the immense Land of contrasts and Extremes!

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