In its tiger census report released on September 23, 2018, the Government of Nepal reported a two-fold rise in the country’s tiger population in the last decade.

According to the report, Nepal’s tiger population has almost doubled from 121 tigers in 2009 to 235 at present.

This announcement comes as ‘ray of hope’ to global conservationists worried over the diminishing tiger population and also makes Nepal the ‘first country to be in line with the international goal of doubling tiger population by 2022’.

“The current growth of tiger population is a landmark achievement for the country. With the current progress, we can easily fulfil our global commitment of doubling our tiger population in 2022,” says  Shakti Basnet Forest and Environment Minister.

This also proved Nepal’s commitment to conservation of big cats as promised under the Global Tiger Recovery Plan (TX2), a global initiative endorsed by 13 countries (home to wild tigers) as part of the 2010 Saint Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation.

While the country had 125 tigers at the time of declaration, continuous efforts since then helped the country see a further growth of 198 tigers by 2013 and further to the current number, which is nearly-doubled.

“The progress is very satisfactory, and we are very close to making the TX2 which is the global goal,” says Ghana S Gurung, Country Representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal.

Challenges at Country’s Largest Reserve!
Meanwhile, the country’s largest wildlife reserve and home to the largest number of wild tigers Chitwan National Park (CNP) reports a declining trend in tiger population in its zone.

The report found that the adult tiger population in CNP has declined from 120 (as of 2013 survey) to 93 at present.

However, the country’s wildlife officials feel that the number looks significant as CNP hasn’t been conducting tiger census since the last five years.

“There was an annual internal tiger count in other national parks, but it wasn’t done in Chitwan for five years,” says Gopal Prasad Bhattarai, Deputy Director General for the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation.

Whereas, Gurung says, “Tiger numbers can go up and down. Tigers fight among themselves and die. Then there is migration. Tigers from Chitwan might have migrated to Parsa National Park, where the population has gone up.”

Government statistics report a death of nearly 33 tigers in the last four years in protected areas due to natural causes, with 11 deaths in CNP alone including 6 in the last one year.

The tiger census began in November 2017 dividing country’s tiger potential across three divisions namely Chitwan-Parsa Complex, Banke-Bardiya Complex and Shukla-Laljhadi-Jogbudha Complex.

Besides natural deaths, activities like poaching, habitat fragmentation and illicit trading continue to be other serious challenges in tiger conservation.

“Controlling tiger poaching and management of the habitat is important for tiger conservation. With proper management of habitat, prey base can be improved, which will ultimately increase tiger density,” says Gurung.

Also Read:

• Tiger Population in Nepal 2018
• Nepal Research Centre Uses Comprehensive Database to Crackdown Tiger Poaching
• Wildlife Conservation: India, Nepal To Estimate Tiger Population

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The census was launched by Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MoFSC) Secretary Yubak Dhoj GC at a ceremony held at PNP.

The survey would cover all the protected areas and forest areas that are prone to tiger population.

Its noteworthy here that a separate national tiger survey conducted, since the last census, inside the protected areas indicated a gradual rise in the country’s tiger population over the years.

“We are hoping to reach the goal earlier than other countries because of our improved tiger conservation. It won’t be a big surprise if Nepal emerges as the only country succeeding in doubling its tiger population by the assigned year,” says Man Bahadur Khadka, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).

On the other side, Nepal and India have also planned for a joint initiative to conduct tiger census.

“This is the first time we are conducting tiger population survey simultaneously. Such initiation will minimize the duplication of tigers, which roam around the protected areas of the both countries,” says Khadka.

The census will be conducted using 1,200 high-tech automatic cameras method. “This is very scientific and reliable method to know about the tiger population in our protected areas,” informed Khadka.

A 66-day-long Survey

The census would be conducted in three complexes divided based on tiger habitat, including Chitwan-Parsa Complex, Banke-Bardiya Complex and Shukla-Laljhadi-Jogbudha Complex, which are further divided into total 1887 grids, each under an area of 4 sq.km.

Besides technology, the 66-day census will also involve human resources and elephants.

Human resources from the DNPWC, National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), protected areas officials, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal, Nepal Army, District Forest Offices, and representatives from the buffer zone committees, among others, are being mobilized for the count.

While the total project cost is estimated at Rs 32 million, the WWF Nepal, Zoological Society of London Nepal and NTNC are extending financial, technical and managerial assistance.

Rise in Tiger Population

Nepal has endorsed the ‘Tiger Conservation Action Plan for Nepal (2016-2020)’ for tiger conservation.

According to a 2013 census, Nepal’s tiger population stands at 198, with 120 in Chitwan National Park (CNP) alone, followed by 50 in Bardiya National Park (BNP), 17 in Shuklaphanta National Park (SNP), seven in PNP and four in Banke National Park.

The current move by Nepal is line with its commitment to the Global Tiger Recovery Plan endorsed at the 2010 St Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation.

Under the commitment, Nepal is targeting at doubling its tiger population up to 250 or more by 2022.

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In a first of its kind exercise, Nepal will be coordinating with India in the latter’s efforts towards estimate the tiger count.

Officials from both the countries have formed a resolution in this regard in a recently-held meeting to simultaneously estimate the number of tigers.

“The resolution was passed and now we will work on the module which will be followed along the border,” says Nishant Verma, DIG of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), who was one of the key attendees of the meeting.

Both the sides also discussed trans-boundary cooperation to fight against wildlife crime through regular meetings on the issue, joint patrolling and exchange of information, among other measures.

Core Idea of the Planned Survey

This initiative by India and Nepal gains significance in view of the recent revelation by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Initiative, wherein, it said that ‘there were about 11 tigers that reached Nepal boosting the population of the specie which was under severe poaching threat’.

The idea behind this initiative is to synchronize the monitoring process of big cats across the Indo-Nepal border areas.

In India, monitoring of tiger reserves is done annually through the Phase IV analysis, followed by the estimation exercise across states once in every four years.

Whereas, Nepal’s monitoring activity has been based on protocols of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex body that checks tiger conservation in India.

Nepal has around 200 tigers compared to India, which reported 2,226 tigers in its last estimation in 2014-15.

Initiative to Help India and Nepal

“We share common boundary and this comprehensive estimation will help both countries in estimating tiger numbers especially on border areas,” says Bivash Pandav, Scientist at Wildlife Institute of India.

The joint exercise will extend from Dudhwa National Park of Uttar Pradesh till the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary of Nepal. Valmiki Tiger Reserve of Bihar, Pilibhit Tiger Reserve of UP, Chitwan National Park and Shukhlaphanta of Nepal would be covered in the process.

Whereas in Uttarakhand, the boundary is shared across Pithoragarh and Campawat forest divisions.

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