'Zero tolerance for wildlife crime'

 Dr Kanchan Thapa, Wildlife Lead, WWF - Nepal

Excerpts from Dr Kanchan Thapa's interview in tigers.panda.org

• The credit for nearly tripling of wild tiger numbers in Nepal, which is a relatively small climate-vulnerable country that has faced political, economic, environmental and social instability over the past decades, goes to a network of people on the ground with financial and technical support from all corners of the world.
• I started my conservation journey in 2002 as a Research Officer for WWF - Nepal, tasked with monitoring wildlife within the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), a 49,500-sq km stretch of forests, across both India and Nepal, that are home to nearly 80 per cent of the world’s wild tigers and millions of people who rely on tiger habitat for their livelihoods.
• The Government of Nepal had just endorsed the long term vision of TAL in 2001, which was unique because the entire landscape was designed to specifically identify areas needed to be restored so that tigers could move between corridor areas and core habitat areas.
• My first footing into tiger monitoring was in 2004, when I began surveying Shuklaphanta National Park, formerly Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, the largest patch of continuous grassland in Nepal.
• It was especially interesting working in Shuklaphanta because previous records had shown it was home to the highest density of tigers within Nepal. Sadly, tiger numbers plummeted across the area due to widespread poaching, especially during periods of political instability, and our tiger monitoring work was showing these trends throughout the landscape overtime.
• Tigers are remarkable species because they reproduce in a relatively fast time under the right conditions. They need three simple things: habitat, food and water.
• First thing is protection… People living closest to tiger habitats worked tirelessly … for tiger recovery. One challenge is human-wildlife conflict, which is a profound issue at the moment that needs to be at the forefront of our tiger conservation agenda moving forward. Today, we are also facing a rise in infrastructure development within the country, which will continue to fragment a number of key tiger habitat areas, ultimately bringing tigers and people closer together… Climate crisis …will continue impacting existing tiger habitat and prey.
• The government and the people were committed to zero tolerance of wildlife crime. Stockpiles of confiscated tiger parts and other illegal wildlife products were burnt in Nepal.
• Political will, right from local level all the way up to the highest level, played a key role in securing this success.