November 16, 2009
Study on Red Panda in 10 districts
Study on Red Panda, an endangered species, has commenced in 10 districts of the country. The research is one of the biggest of its kind in the country. Red Panda Network Nepal (RPNN) has taken the initiative with financial support from the World Wildlife Fund.Locally known as Habre, Red Panda is found in ten districts of Nepal.Sunil Shakya, coordinator RPNN informed that their effort aimed at preserving the endangered species. He said,'' We have started the study in various conservation areas spread over Panchthar, Taplejung, Shankhuwasabha, Solukhumbhu, Ramechhap, Ilam, Dolakha, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa and Khotang districts.
A team headed by Pravat Pal has started the study in Makalu Barun National Park and Conservation Area The Pandas are found at a height of 1500-3000 metre.Pal said,'' We have started the study to find out the numbers and situation of the Pandas.'' Meanwhile coordinator Shakya said that they had started the study for the preservation of the endangered species.
Source: The Himalayan Times
November 5, 2009
Rare wildlife spotted in Makalu Barun Park
Golden cat, a rare wildlife, has been spotted for the first time inside Makalu Barun National Park, for the first time. The park spreads over Solukhumbu and Sankhuwasabha districts. Earlier, the reports by International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) in 2001 had mentioned that the ‘golden cat’ would not be found at the park. But it has been spotted in Maghantar forest, in the park recently.
Challenging the claims of IUCN, Friends of Nature, had begun its search. Yadav Ghimire and Prabhat Pal of the organisation claim that they have spotted the cat. After searching for five months, the duo announced their findings at a programme here on Tuesday. According to Ghimire, the cat was spotted at 2,517 meters. They spotted the cat with the help of a camera installed in the forest, said Pal. Meanwhile, Gopal Bhattarai, conservation officer at the park, said that the habitat, food and the climate of the park was suitable for the cat. The golden cat, a developed species of cats, is of golden colour and weighs 8 to 12 kilograms.
Source: The Himalayan Times
November 5, 2009
One-third species face extinction: IUCN
The latest update of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed are under threat of extinction.This means one-third (36%) of the species in the List are currently facing danger. The results reveal that 21% of all known mammals, 30% of amphibians, 12% of birds, 28% of reptiles, 37% of freshwater fishes, 70% of plants, and 35% of invertebrates assessed so far are under threat. The assessment had a special focus on freshwater species, which are being hit hard by pollution, loss of wetlands and water diversions. The planet´s amphibians are the most threatened of all species with 1,895 out of the 6,285 species assessed included the Red List. The List ranks species according to their population status and threat levels. It shows the effects that habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, pollutants and climate change are having on the world´s species.
In Lake Dianchi in China, the assessment found all seven freshwater snails and 12 out of the 13 freshwater fish species new to the List were threatened by over-harvesting, pollution and introduced fish species.Reacting to the IUCN report, the WWF on Wednesday issued a statement pointing to the nation´s “failure” in the conservation area. The statement said that the IUCN update, on the eve of major international events in biodiversity planned for next year, “underlines how the world´s nations have fallen short of the global commitment” to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The symbol of the failure, WWF suggests, could be the tiger, with just an estimated 3,200 in the wild in a rapidly contracting fraction of their former range.
The statement quoted Amanda Nickson, Director of the WWF International Species Program, as saying, “As crucial climate talks in Copenhagen draw near and with the International Year of Biodiversity around the corner, this is a wake-up call for world leaders.”Through its global initiatives, WWF is pursuing major efforts to arrest biodiversity decline in some of the most spectacular and highly diverse places on the planet, and to recover populations of some of the most endangered species, such as tigers.
Significant international meetings next year to address biodiversity loss and the threats to planetary life support systems include major conferences of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Nickson noted that the CBD´s 2010 target had probably underestimated the growing impact of climate change, which is “now being increasingly recognized as an additional threat.”However, in a rare ray of hope in the new assessment, one freshwater fish, the Australian Grayling, has been moved from the Vulnerable to the Near Threatened list as a result of conservation efforts which included putting in fish ladders at dams, improving streamside vegetation and policing anglers.
Global figures for 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Total species assessed = 47,677
Total Extinct or Extinct in the Wild = 875 (2%) [Extinct 809; Extinct in the Wild = 66]
Total threatened = 17,291 (36%) [Critically Endangered = 3,325; Endangered = 4,891; Vulnerable = 9,075]
Total Near Threatened = 3,650 (8%)
Total Lower Risk/conservation dependent = 281 (<1%)
Source: Republica
November 1, 2009
Save the Big Cat
It is a matter of disgrace that people have entered into an era of war with the wild. The declining rates of our endangered species such as the wild tigers, which now number only about 3,500, their prey base and habitat loss is testimony to that fact. Not to forget that at the turn of the century, there were some 100,000 tigers in the jungle. One data has estimated that in Asia alone, the illegal trade in animal parts has now crossed $1 billion, which is only second to arms trafficking. This is then a signal of a pertinent threat that no country – rich or poor – can ignore any longer. Moreover, what is lacking is a political will to save and protect the wild animals, especially those on the verge of extinction, as a result of man’s insatiable greed for money and power.
The four-day Kathmandu World Tiger Workshop, which concluded Friday with a 17-point recommendation, is a beginning in the right direction to save the tiger species and their habitats. Some 20 representatives, including the 14 Tiger Range Countries, have laid down concrete suggestions for the next ministerial meeting ultimately to be taken up by the Bangkok Summit on Tiger Preservation to be attended by head of states. They have called for declaring 2010 as the ‘Year of Tiger,’ develop and strengthen regional cooperation, discourage encroachment through infrastructure development, give community incentives to the poor around forest areas and strengthen law enforcement mechanism against rising poaching activities, among others. These are serious recommendations and demands urgent attention of the world leaders, especially those countries where illegal trafficking in animal parts continue unabated.
Unfortunately, however, the workshop has once again failed to convince China to ban tiger farming, which is considered key in protecting the wild tigers. China has explicitly said that it has too much at stake to give up either breeding or farming. Apparently, medicines produced from tiger parts are sold to over 60 countries from China. It is thus clear that there is now a need for an international convention aided by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to save tigers as even Cambodia, Vietnam and US are said to be taking to tiger farming.
At home, the decision-makers are already faced with a major challenge to give priority to conservation over development and tourism. Although Nepal’s direct contribution to the organized trans-border crime is considered minimum, it is a major hub for killing, storing and transporting of animal parts. Thus, the job to protect the tigers will now be doubly challenging. The government’s much-talked about plan to formulate a high-level crime control bureau, add appropriate resources and technology to fight poaching and mobilize the security agencies in the buffer zones should be implemented at once. If the state remains a silent spectator to the plight of our tigers even now, our future generations will surely see this incredible species only in comic books and movies
Source: Republica
November 1, 2009
KATHMANDU GLOBAL TIGER WORKSHOP
Range countries firm on conserving wild tigers
In its 17-point recommendation, also called "Kathmandu Declaration," the gathering has suggested celebrating 2010 as the Year of the Tiger throughout the world, creating global awareness of the critical plight of the wild tiger and "enlisting broad and deep support" for its conservation.The four-day Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop, which concluded Friday, has pointed out that a collective political commitment from all levels of governments is the most important action required to save tigers in the wild in the present context.
* WB pledges support
* Russia to host follow-up meet
* 2010 to be Year of Tiger
* 17-point recommendation to ministerial-level meet next year
Significantly for Nepal, the World Bank has pledged support to the government´s plan to extend the conservation area of Bardiya National Park. Meanwhile, Russia has extended an invitation to the stakeholders for a follow-up meet in that country.The workshop has also called upon the states to conserve and manage buffer zones and corridors that connect core tiger breeding areas in tiger landscapes. Other recommendations include: tiger range countries (TRCs) to stop infrastructure projects in core tiger breeding areas and financial institutions to avoid financing development projects that adversely affect critical tiger habitats; to empower local communities that live in and around tiger landscapes with sustainable economic incentives and appropriate technologies to minimize human-tiger conflict.
The workshop has urged all countries to implement CITES resolutions, enhance the capacity of INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization (WCO), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the CITES Secretariat and regional wildlife enforcement networks (including ASEAN-WEN) to effectively combat the illegal trade in wildlife at the international level and though relevant national agencies and also to implement the Manifesto on Combating Wildlife Crime in Asia, decided in Pattaya, Thailand, in April.
The participants from more than 20 countries also sought the international community´s commitment to supporting long-term behavior-change campaigns "with measurable outcomes on tiger conservation in the wild" and helping achieve the goal of doubling the tiger population within the next 10 years.
It recommended intensification of regional cooperation for better management and enforcement of trans-boundary tiger landscapes, implementation of capacity development programs to achieve effective landscape and protected-area management, use of innovative science and technology to closely monitor and protect wild tigers and their prey and habitats, adoption of innovative, sustainable mechanisms to finance wild tiger conservation, and generation of collective support from donor agencies.
The recommendations will be presented to the ministers of the TRCs, who will meet in Thailand in January, 2010, and ultimately to the heads of governments, who will meet in Vladivostok, Russia, in the fall of next year.
Source: Republica
