TOOBA MASOOD
A few decades back, the world’s tiger population was on the brink of extinction. Overhunting and urbanisation had decimated the big cats. A slew of conservation initiatives helped bounce back the number of tigers living in the wild in rainforests and plains spread across countries like India, Russia, and Indonesia. Nepal is also one of them.
Since 2010, when there were only 121 tigers, the number has shot up to over 350 in Nepal. And now Nepal’s Prime Minister Sharma Oli is saying that these are too many and it’s time to reduce the number of these magnificent but ferocious animals in his country.
Speaking at a COP29 review, Oli cited risks to human safety and habitat limitations and proposed reducing the number by relocating the tigers through diplomacy.
“In a small country, we have more than 350 tigers. We cannot have so many tigers and let them eat up humans,” he said at the event. His comments have sparked a heated debate among wildlife conservationists.
Critics argue that habitat preservation and human-wildlife conflict mitigation are more pressing concerns.
“There is no basis to say that there is a surplus of tigers in Nepal,” Chandramani Aryal, an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University, told TRT World.
“This is careless and dangerous. He is not a lay person; he is the Prime Minister of Nepal. Regarding the conflict between tigers and humans, it is not that the tigers are in excess, but their habitat is being encroached,” Shristi Singh Bhandari, a conservationist, told The Himalayan Times.
Tigers, being apex predators, require vast territories, and as human activities expand into forested areas, encounters have increased, leading to fatalities.
Tigers: A diplomatic token?
Oli suggested gifting surplus tigers to other countries and questioned the ecological capacity to sustain the growing population, noting that human deaths often occur when locals enter forests for resources.
At least 38 people were killed in tiger attacks between 2019 and 2023, says the Tiger Conservation Action Plan.
For many, Oli’s comments are shocking as back in 2018 he had urged people to help in the conservation of tigers, calling it “the pride of Nepal”.
According to World Wildlife Fund Nepal’s Ghana Gurung, tigers can be sent to other countries under diplomatic arrangements, but the recipient countries must have the capacity and conducive environment. He told Nepali Times that tigers to be sent must be chosen carefully.
“The Prime Minister gave an emotional statement probably after speaking to the affected groups,” Gurung said.
“We tripled the tiger population, but if proper steps for management and cooperation are not taken, we can lose them all as easily,” Gurung added.
As a part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Nepal would have to follow strict protocols and paperwork to transport the tigers.
In 2019, Nepal sent two rhinos to China in two batches through the completion of complicated procedures.
Biodiversity vs human safety
According to Aryal, there is a need to acknowledge the fact that with the increasing number of tigers in Nepal, the issues of human-tiger conflicts are increasing.
“We often discuss that with an increase in the tiger population, there will be a boost in tourism,” he said.
“However, the number of tigers in the forest of Nepal has not been able to make a significant contribution to uplift the livelihood of the people. I do not mean to say that we are not benefitting from the increase in numbers,” he added, explaining that most of the locals don’t benefit from tourism.
Critics highlight inequities in conservation’s benefits, with rural communities bearing the brunt of human-tiger conflict while elites profit from tourism.
“People are losing their lives and their livestock to the tigers,” Aryal said.
He also explained that the people losing their lives to tigers are common people who are forced to go to the forest to rear their livestock or collect fiddlehead fern or firewood.
If the prime minister is concerned about the Nepali people losing their lives, Aryal said, then he should address the issue with better policies as he is the head of the high-level Tiger Conservation Coordination Committee.
Nepal’s growing human-tiger conflicts stem from habitat pressures rather than overpopulation, with prey scarcity and shrinking forest corridors pushing tigers into human settlements, experts suggest. Expanding protected areas and maintaining prey densities, rather than capping tiger numbers, are critical to sustaining coexistence, they add.
Despite accolades
According to WWF, after a century of decline, overall wild tiger numbers are starting to tick upward.
Roughly 5,574 tigers remain in the wild, according to the Global Tiger Forum, but much more work is needed to protect this species. In some areas, including much of Southeast Asia, tigers are still in crisis and declining in number.
While reducing tiger numbers might seem like a straightforward solution, this approach could undermine years of conservation work.
In 2010, representatives from a dozen tiger range countries, including Nepal, India, Bhutan, Russia, met in St. Petersburg at a summit to pledge doubling the tiger population over the next 12 years.
By 2018, Nepal had over 250 tigers, and became the first country to not just achieve the target, but nearly triple it in 2022.
Last year, Nepal won an award for tiger range restoration from the United Nations.
Conservation success stories like Nepal’s underscore the delicate balance required between preserving biodiversity and addressing human safety and livelihood concerns.
source : trtworld