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India, Nepal to step up efforts to
protect wildlife

Forest officials and conservationists from Nepal and India have agreed to work together to conserve endangered species of animals by reviving an important eco-region that the two countries share.

They will set up a joint trans-border committee to discuss and monitor the progress related to conservation and hold quarterly field-level meetings to protect wildlife in the Terai Arc Landscape.

The TAL spreads across northern India and central and western Nepal. The 45,000 sq km landscape is home to endangered species like the royal Bengal tiger, Asiatic elephant, one-horned rhino and swamp deer.

"We have agreed to take up the matter with our respective governments," S C Sharma, Additional Director General in the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forest, said after the conclusion of the Third Nepal-India Consultative Meeting on Trans-boundary Biodiversity Conservation in Kathmandu on Sunday.

"The committee will be formed after the governments give us a go ahead," Sharma, who headed an eight-member Indian delegation, added.

A 12-point resolution to restore the migratory corridors of the endangered animals was adopted at the meeting.

Besides setting up a joint committee to speed up the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in the Endangered Species of Floral and Fauna, the officials decided to hold periodical workshops for field staff of both the countries at the Dhudhwa National Park in India.

"We have also decided to use diplomatic channels, where necessary, to resolve the problems and issues pertaining to trans-boundary conservation," said Dr Swoyambhu Man Amatya, Director General of the Nepalese Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.

Issues like setting up a tri-national park in northeastern Nepal, near Tibet and the eastern Indian state of Sikkim, also came up at the meeting.

The World Wide Fund for Nature had come up with the idea of developing the Kanchanjunga Conservation Area in northeastern Nepal, which is connected to the Kanchanjunga Nature Reserve of India and Chomolungma Reserve of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, into a tri-national park a few years ago. However, not much headway has been made.

"Now we have discussed the issue, and it's an excellent idea," said Sharma. "All that is left now is consultation with the third party, that is China. We shall do that very soon and things should move ahead positively."

The meeting, facilitated by the WWF, was a follow up of the two discussions held in Kathmandu and New Delhi in 1997 and 1999 respectively.

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