One-horned rhinoceros conservation in Nepal

Out of five species of rhinoceros surviving in the world, Nepal is home for one of the second largest of the five extant species i.e. greater one-horned rhinoceros. Besides Nepal, they are confined in North eastern India (Rookmaaker et al. 2016). In Nepal, rhinoceros only occurs in few protected area: - Chitwan National Park, Shuklaphanta National Park, Bardia National Park and relocations of settlement in Parsa National Park. Tall floodplain Terai grasslands interspersed with riverine forests and wetlands are the suitable habitats for rhinoceros (Subedi, 2012). It is listed as Vulnerable in IUCN red list category (IUCN, 2020) and protected priority species by National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (1973).

The rhinoceros has been protected since 1846 in chitwan valley and in early 1950s, it was believed to have more than 1000 rhinoceros in Nepal. Around 70% of the forests in Chitwan valley was destroyed  because of malaria eradication campaign by Government in early 1950s and the lands were converted for cultivation that took the rhino poaching at peak up to remaining only 100 individuals during the late 1960s (Thapa et al 2013). In the early 1960s, rhino sanctuary was declared in Chitwan valley for the conservation of its critical habitat with a Rhino Patrol Unit. Chitwan National park, one of the oldest National park was established in 1973 with the main aim to conserve the remaining rhinos as well as many other iconic species like Royal Bengal Tiger and Asian Elephant.

Many conservation approaches for rhino conservation had succeeded and resulted in healthy increment of rhinoceros population and reach to total 466 in 1994 (Yonzon, 1994). Up to 2003, Chitwan's  rhinoceros was translocated in two other national parks of Nepal (Bardia and Shuklaphanta National Park) to sustain the viable populations.

As per the history, 37 rhinos were killed by poachers in single year 2002 AD, bringing many conservationist to find out the approach to save the endangered one-horned rhino from extinction in the country. By 2005 the population had fallen to critical stage which was only 375. Also many others iconic species like The Royal Bengal tiger, Asian Elephant, Leopard, Red panda and Pangolin  had suffered hardship because of extensive poaching rates during the ten year civil war(1996-2006).

In 2006, WWF Nepal had initiated the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Program to combat from this very penetrating conservation trouble for one horned rhino and other frequently trafficked wild mammals.  In 2010, Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China and a resolution with India on biodiversity conservation to strengthen transboundary efforts and addressing illegal wildlife trade.

Various remarkable security equipment's like CCTV cameras for 24-hours surveillance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or conservation drones for aerial surveillance and GPS-enabled tracking devices for regular monitor in the restricted area, are installed in the sensitive places in Chitwan, Bardia, Banke and Shuklaphanta national parks.  Apart from it, Nepal Army personnel, Nepal Police and Community Based Anti-Poaching Unit (CBAPU) are the anti poaching patrols deployed in most of the protected areas to safeguard the poaching risk.

Together with huge conservation efforts and initiatives, Nepal was the first country to celebrate 365 days of zero poaching of rhino in 2011. It was the earliest conservation milestone for the country and was the splendid example for the world in the wildlife conservation sector. Till 2018, Nepal was successful in celebrating zero poaching year of rhinos on five occasions.

At present, there are total 605 rhino populations in Chitwan National Park and 645 in Nepal and average annual growth rate is 5% (DNPWC, 2015).

References:

Ø  -DNPWC 2015. National Rhino Count 2015. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Ø  -IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-2.  Available from: https://www.iucnredlist.org

Ø  -Rookmaaker, K., Sharma, A., Bose, J., Thapa, K., Dutta, D., Jeffries, B., Williams, A.C., Ghose, D., Gupta, M. and S. Tornikoski. 2016. The Greater One-horned Rhino: Past, Present and Future. WWF, Gland, Switzerland.

Ø  -Subedi, N., 2012. Effect of Mikania micrantha on the demography, habitat use, and nutrition of Greater Onehorned Rhinoceros in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. PhD Thesis. Forest Research Institute University,Dehradun

Ø  -Thapa, K., Nepal, S., Thapa, G., Bhatta, S.R. & Wikramanayake, E. 2013. Past, present and future conservation of the greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in Nepal. Oryx, 47, 345-351.

Ø  -Yonzon, P. 1994. Count Rhino 1994 - Report Series No. 10. WWF Nepal Program, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Online sources:

Ø  http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/all_publications/?335795/Nepals-Zero-Poaching-Standard

Ø  https://phys.org/news/2017-04-rare-one-horned-rhino-poachers-nepal.html

Ø  http://www.wwfnepal.org/?246012/Nepal-achieves-21-increase-in-rhino-numbers

Photo: @ Sagar Giri