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VOL. 28, NO. 14, Dec 12, 2008 (Mangsir 27 2065 B.S.)
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"Nobody Has Noticed the Dangerous Trend Of The Encroachment" - Gopal Prasad Upadhyaya
GOPAL PRASAD UPADHYAYA, chief conservation officer of Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve, has long experience of working in conservation area. He led the national parks and conservation area in the entire crucial period of political crisis. Upadhyaya spoke to KESHAB POUDEL at his office Kanchanpur, Mahakali zone recently. Excerpts:
How is the state of Shuklaphanta reserve?
The situation is very challenging now. If we continue to allow people to encroach land deep inside the conservation area, there will be no Shuklaphanta conservation area left within a decade. With the backing of various forces, some people are illegally encroaching the land deep inside the conservation area. Several hundred temporary huts have already been built.
What is the number of encroachers?
There are about 2500 people illegally living in encroached land challenging the entire conservation efforts. If we do not remove them, the land mafias will start to encroach the land in other parts of national park also.
Are they really landless?
All of them have land outside the park and nobody is landless. The tradition here is to encroach the forest land whenever there is political instability and weak government. The encroachment is well planned and intentional in Dhaka, Tarapur and Barnekhola.
Haven't you made any effort to evict them?
I have already called all party meeting several times but political parties are yet to back the effort to evict them. Since so called landless people who are encroaching the land deep inside national park and conservation areas are so powerful that they can
shake the government from here to capital Kathmandu, nobody wants to take risk to protect the conservation areas. Although protected areas are very important in terms of conservation of biodiversity and endangered species, there is no one to speak in defending it. Endangered wildlife and plants cannot speak and vote.
If they are illegally encroaching the land deep inside the protected areas, don't you have authority to remove them?
I have authority to evict by force but this is not a permanent solution. I want all political parties, civil society to take lead and support us to settle the matter peacefully. Local people, politicians and civil society members must realise the
importance of protected areas in overall natural conservation process.
Don't you get enough support?
It is very unfortunate to say that some non-governmental and International non-governmental organizations are supporting these illegal settlers. They even support to construct the huts, toilets and water pump in this illegal settlement. In the name of human rights, they completely ignored the rights of endangered species. Even some
agencies back this illegal encroachment.
At a time when large number of people are homeless and landless, what is wrong to give small piece of land to landless?
If the government decide that their priority is to settle the landless than to conserve the protected areas, I don't have anything to say but I will pack my baggage and leave the area. If government finds that wildlife reserve and national park are important for bio-diversity conservation, they must take the actions to protect it.
How do you see the response of conservation groups?
It is very unfortunate to say that nobody has noticed the dangerous trend of the encroachment in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve. From newspapers to conservationist, all remain tight-lipped. Had they built public pressure at national and international level, the situation would have settled a long time back. Of course, there are numbers of NGOs and INGOs working in Nepal to protect the national parks but I have hardly heard any reaction from them.
What benefits this conservation areas have given to country?
The recent flash flood in far western region have shown the importance of this conservation area to control the flood and minimize the effects. Thanks to the forest of Shuklaphanta, devastation in Nepal and India were vastly reduced. Once the size of this park reduces, one cannot imagine the level of damage the flood is going to create in Nepal and India. Along with the flood, Shuklaphanta also provides the space for the wildlife protected in India's Dudhia National Park. Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve has given enormous benefits to local people. The project like Western Terai Landscape Program is here to help local population because of this park.
What is the level of poaching in Shuklaphanta?
Thanks to the strong coordination between Nepali and Indian officials and active participation of local communities, the problems of poaching are virtually non-existent. Communities living in the buffer zone of the Reserve are very active. Similarly, the official and security personnel deployed in Indian side of border, too, are very cooperative. We regularly hold trans-boundary meeting.
What are the main species of this reserve?
We have largest herd of swamp deer and other endangered species including Rhinos, Royal Bengal Tigers and Wild elephants. The area is dominated by wetland and marsh vegetations. The reserve provides habitat for about 350 species of birds and 21 species of fishes.
