Tigers, turmeric and traffic: Conservation updates from Nepal and Bhutan
Rinjan Shrestha, WWF-Canada’s Asian species expert, recently visited Nepal and Bhutan, documenting his trip along the way. From meetings with government officials to chatting with community members to looking for leopards, Rinjan worked on behalf of WWF-Canada to strengthen the conservation work and relationships we have been supporting in the region since 2011.
The first stop? The Tiger Advisory Group meeting in Paro, Bhutan, organized by WWF’s Tigers’ Alive Initiative, a coordinated effort among the WWF network, governments, partners, and communities to secure and sustainably grow tiger numbers across 22 landscapes in Asia.
Rinjan had the privilege of meeting the Bhutan’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Gyam Tshering, and other network contacts to discuss the latest findings and strategies for tiger conservation in the country.
Next, Rinjan headed to Nepal to join WWF colleagues at the office of the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), an enormously biodiverse region that spans five national parks. TAL remains one of the few places on Earth where tigers, rhinos and elephants co-exist, and it’s a priority area benefitting from WWF-Canada support.
During his visit, Rinjan learned more about initiatives to help protect endangered wildlife, including mesh wire fencing infrastructure that’s been effectively keeping wild boars and axis deer away from crop fields, and predator-proof corrals that safeguard domestic goats from leopards and tigers.
The rise in tiger numbers in recent years — a clear sign of conservation success — has also had the effect of displacing leopards toward human settlements, increasing predation on livestock. WWF-Canada is proud to support these efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
Wire fencing isn’t the only solution: Rinjan also saw examples of turmeric plants acting as a natural biofence against wild boar, deer, and rhinos, effectively deterring them from raiding crops.
This innovative method to reduce human-wildlife conflict is widely adopted by local farmers in Nepal’s Kamdi Corridor within Banke National Park, crucial for wildlife movement between Nepal and India.
These turmeric plants also offer an additional income stream for local communities. Monsoon season in full swing means villagers are busy planting rice in their fields all day. Surrounding paddy fields with turmeric plants helps protect the crops from wild raiders.
But risks to endangered wildlife in Nepal and Bhutan don’t stop with farmland. Other interruptions to habitat, like roads and highways, also act as wildlife crossings where species like tigers, elephants and monkeys contend with — and often, sadly, collide with — vehicle traffic.
Nepal’s government has lowered speed limits, and WWF-Nepal recently completed collision hot–spot mapping to address this issue. Rinjan visited some high-traffic areas in Bank National Park to look at progress.
In the Kamdi Corridor of Banke National Park, a recent tragic incident involving a wild elephant and a seventh–grade student led to heightened fear among local school children.
To ensure safety and encourage attendance, the school introduced a dedicated bus service. Thanks to WWF-Canada’s support, this initiative has made for safer commutes for both students and wildlife — with the added benefit of reducing school dropouts.
Rinjan’s trip also included a visit to Bardia National Park, where he helped test camera traps with WWF-Nepal’s Shashank Poudel in the area’s leopard-rich buffer zone. Monitoring wild cat numbers and movements is key to big cat conservation and protecting against human-wildlife conflict.
Of course, the trip wouldn’t be complete without a quick visit to Lalitpur, where Rinjan was born and raised, and where his passion for conservation began.
