Since a conservation summit in St Petersburg in 2010, Nepal more than doubled its tiger population. Now, big cats regularly come into conflict with humans. Zoos cost too much, so Kathmandu wants to give some to worthy governments
During his two-day state visit to Nepal in April, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, announced that Kathmandu is to give two elephants to Doha under a memorandum of understanding between the two nations.
Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), however, wanted the country to engage in ‘tiger diplomacy’ instead. DNPWC director-general Sindhu Dhungana told RT: “If any country wishes to obtain a tiger from us, we can provide one as part of tiger diplomacy. Wildlife diplomacy is practiced worldwide, and I believe it will aid tiger conservation efforts in Nepal.”
With an ever-increasing number of tigers proliferating, his department faces public pressure. “Tigers frequently encroach on human settlements and pose a threat to humans,” he said. “People often urge us to keep ‘our’ tigers confined to the jungle.”
According to a 2022 Tiger Census, Nepal is home to 355 tigers, an increase from 121 in 2009. The goal set at the 2010 St Petersburg Tiger Summit was to double the tiger population, a target the country had surpassed in 2018, with 235.
Nepal has found that some countries have specific preferences in wildlife. Indonesia wants deer, China wants one-horned rhinos, and Qatar wants the red panda. The DNPWC has set up a task force to figure this out.
The 2021 census of one-horned rhinos in Nepal came to 752. Nepal gave two pairs of one-horned rhinoceros to China in 2018, and the country has a history of providing these rhinos to Germany, Austria, the UK and the USA.
Krishna Acharya, secretary general of SAWEN, the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, said that handing over animals is common internationally, if the wildlife population increases.
“There is no point in keeping a tiger in a cage,” Acharya tells RT. “Conservation should be prioritized wherever possible,” he said. “It does not matter where conservation takes place; the main objective is important, and that is conservation.”
So, the growing tiger population is now Nepal’s focus in conservation diplomacy, expanding its involvement in wildlife-management efforts.
