Koshi Tappu: The vanishing wetland

Dr Ravi Sharma Aryal

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Water fowl Habitat (also known as the Ramsar Convention) was signed in Ramsar, Iran, on 2 February 1971, and came into force on 21 December 1975. It provides a framework for national action and international co-operation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The Convention focuses the conservation and wise use of wetlands primarily to provide a habitat for water birds; the Convention has subsequently broadened its scope to address all aspects of wetland conservation and wise use.

Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) was established in 1976 under the power conferred by National Parks & Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973(NPWCA) and covers over 175 sq. km of Terai land. The reserve is located in the eastern part of Nepal in the flood plain of the Koshi River in Sunsari, Saptari and Udayapur districts of Nepal. Koshi Tappu is the only one listed Ramsar site (Wetland) in Nepal. A ‘ Wetland’ is defined as the landmass with water due to high water table through groundwater, atmospheric precipitation or inundation-may be natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, static or flowing and freshwater or brackish. Previously, "Koshi Tappu" was a hunting reserve for Rana Dynasty. The reserve was gazetted by the NPWCA, 1973 specially to protect wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) popularly known as Arna, crocodiles, migratory birds and dolphins. But Wild Water Buffalo is threatened in Nepal and the three other species are also under protection.

KTWR is famous for migratory birds, as some of the endangered species of birds come from as far as Siberia, Mongolia, Ladhak & Western countries in the season. A total number of 467 types of birds have been recorded here. Among them 267 types of birds are local and the rest are supposed to be migratory. There are about 150 Arnas. Presently a team of experts are re-recording the number of birds found in the reserve. This reserve is famous for bird watching. Despite its importance, KTWR is in shadow and is also affected with deforestation siltation, erosion and unscientific practices of agriculture. Similarly, there are many other problems, which badly affect this reserve.

Conservation alone cannot be successful without people’s participation. Local people are not yet fully convinced for the protection of this reserve. As in their opinion they do not get any benefit but lose their crops & cattle. Similarly, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation could not yet declare the buffer area of the reserve as a buffer zone under the NPCWA, 1973. Thus, the local people of the buffer zone do not deserve the legal rights to receive 30 to 50 percent of the income reserved for their local development. Since the establishment of the reserve, there has always been conflicts between the people and the management as the government could not provide compensation or substitute land within reasonable time for those people who were displaced from the reserve area.

On the other hand, there is no special wetland law in Nepal, which deals with wetland and its character. The concept of wetland and reserve are two different things. Some of the major threats to KTWR is the introduction of domestic cattle inside the reserve, which produces disturbances in reproductive behaviour and helps cross breeding of Arna species. Poaching of Arna for its meat, bones, horn and skins are some of the other factors, which threaten the species. The introduction of domestic cattle inside the reserve makes it easy to transmit disease from domestic cattle, which is also a predominant killer of the wild water buffalo. The study reveals that the local people intentionally introduce their cattle inside the reserve for crossbreeding, from which they could sale the bull in India and Bangladesh markets for approximately IC Rs. 30,000 each. The bulls of Arna are highly demanded in Bengal area for various uses. Dolphins near the Koshi barrage is mostly poached for extracting oil, which is used for massage. Anybody who visits Dalkewar or Ventawari can easily see the illegal trade of birds (e.g. Ruddy Shelduck (Chakhewa)) in the market which have made it vulnerable for its extinction.

The Water Hycinth (Jal Kumbi) plant also threatens Koshi Tappu. This plant chokes water from the wetland and even the cattle do not eat it, which also helps the wetland to be converted into agricultural land as it produce soil. Thus, KTWR is severely affected by various problems to sustain as a Ramsar site. The management is aware of the problems but has not been able to tackle the situation. Normally, they try to escape from their responsibilities by saying that they are not getting co-operation from the local people and do not have sufficient infrastructure. It is to be noted that until 1960, the wild water buffalo used to exist in the Royal Chitwan National Park, but they went extinct mainly due to the transmission of the diseases from the domesticated cattle in surrounding areas.

In conclusion, the government should immediately declare the KWTR’s buffer zone to get the co-operation of the local people and bring more awareness. Such efforts are highly appreciable to attract foreigners as well as local tourists. KWTR does celebrate the Migratory Birds Festival, which has been running for the last three-years. This festival is probably the best approach to public awareness campaigns for conservation. The year 2003 has been declared as the "International Year of Fresh Water" and the banner ‘No Wetlands No Water’ should be kept in mind. DNPWC should work seriously to list our other important wetlands sites (e.g. Ghodaghodi Tal, Bishhazari Tal, & Jagadishpur Tal) into the Ramsar list as soon as possible. Similarly, the management should develop a special plan and program to clean Water Hycinth to save the wetland as it is helping to deplete the wetland.

Last but not the least, the responsible authorities need to make special wetland legislations & policies to deal with the present demands. Laws alone can not do many things; the inner heart commitment of the enforcement officials is also needed to conserve such wetlands in the present context. Thus the responsible authorities should take appropriate steps to stop ‘Koshi Tappu’ from vanishing as a wetland.

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