The quandary of local people—Park relations in Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park

Abstract

/ This paper analyzes five major causes of park-people conflicts that have occurred in Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park. The causes include illlegal transactions of forest products from the park, livestock grazing in the park, illegal hunting and fishing, crop damage, and threats to human and animat life caused by wild animals from the park. The conflicts indicate a reciprocal relationship between the park and local people. They reflect the attitudes of local people and representatives of the park authority whose priorities and objectives largely diverge. The results show that people settled adjacent to the park are heavily dependent on its resources. Even in places where some, albeit few alternative sources exist, local people continue to trespass the park boundary as these sources are inadequate to ensure the fulfillment of local people's resource needs. Illegal transactions of resources continue throughout the year; however, they are less intense during summer due to flooding caused by the Rapti River, which forms the park boundary towards the northern section where this study is conducted. The frequency of local people's visits to the park is mainly determined by their age, distance between homesteads and park, and volume of crop loss caused by wild animals. Crop damage is the function of size of landholding, distance, and frequency of crop raid. Local people claim that they have no intention of letting their livestock graze in the park; however, the dense vegetation of the park attracts livestock grazing on riverbanks just outside the open park boundary. Many head of livestock are killed by carnivores of the park. Human casualties are mainly caused by sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), tiger (Panthera tigris), wild pig (Sug scrofa), and rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis).There had been some earlier attempts to reconcile the conflicts by offering local people different kinds of compensations; however, these were unsuccessful measures. An integrated approach is essential if efforts to resolve the park-people conflicts are to succeed. The government is in the process of launching a project that aims to resolve the inherent problems with such an approach. Suggestions are made to incorporate some key elements, such as maintaining effective communication between various parties and the potential for wildlife conservation among local people.Parks and protected areas in the developing countries, particularly in Asia, were established beginning in the second quarter of this century (Mishra, 1991). The earlier establishments were largely derived from the North American model, which envisioned parks as representatives of "the vignette of primitive America," laying emphasis on setting aside certain special places to protect them from the ravages of ordinary use (Hales 1989). This concept is ill suited to the needs of the developing countries where the socioeconomic and political conditions are very different. The majority of the parks and protected areas are surrounded by agricultural lands with dense human popul...

Coupled human and natural systems approach to wildlife research and conservation

“…In this synthesis, however, we focus on tigers in Chitwan and giant pandas in Wolong. Estimated at 25 animals in the late 1960s (Nepal and Weber 1995a), the tiger population in Chitwan currently consists of approximately 125 adults, constituting one of the largest commingling populations of tigers in South Asia (Karki et al 2014). However, the Chitwan tiger population is isolated from the other two tiger populations in Nepal, which reside primarily in Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, west of Chitwan (Smith et al 1998).…”

Availability of tree cavities in a sal forest of Nepal

“…The Chitwan National Park (27° 34′ -27° 68′ N, 83° 87′ -84° 74′ E) covers 932 km 2 . For centuries, the Chitwan area has been used for royal hunting and managed in order to enhance the game through, e.g., low intensity fires to increase the annual production of grass (Nepal & Weber 1995). Due to the high malaria risk until 1950s, only a few native malaria-resistant tribes (e.g., Tharu) were living in Chitwan based on non-intensive utilization of forests and grasslands supported by shifting cultivation (Müller-Böcker 1991).…”

“…Due to the high malaria risk until 1950s, only a few native malaria-resistant tribes (e.g., Tharu) were living in Chitwan based on non-intensive utilization of forests and grasslands supported by shifting cultivation (Müller-Böcker 1991). However, the eradication of malaria resulted in a massive population migrations and a large-scale forest clearing aimed at human settlements and crop cultivation (Nepal & Weber 1995). The relatively unaffected part of the Chitwan area was declared as the first national park in Nepal in 1973.…”

An analysis of the habitat of the Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis (Mammalia: Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) at the Chitwan National Park, Nepal

“…Our clipped image contained some agricultural lands, settlements and buffer zone adjacent to CNP. Therefore, we defined a separate class as agriculture and settlement as rhinos do venture out to nearby fields especially during night and sometimes become a source of wildlife-people conflict (Nepal & Weber 1995;Studsrod & Wegge 1995).…”