Kathmandu: Nepal and India on Thursday inked a
key pact to curb illegal trade in animal parts and other
conservation initiatives to boost wildlife in the two
neighbouring states.
Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
India at Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation today to
combat illegal trade in animal parts.
"After the MoU with China in June, we were working
hard to enter into a similar agreement with India and the time
has finally come for that," Forest Minister Deepak Bohara was
quoted as saying by the myrepublica online, the news website
of Republica daily.
The MoU was signed by Satya Prakash Yadav, Deputy
Inspector General of National Tiger Conservation Authority,
Ministry of Environment and Forests of India, and Nepal?s
Director General of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation,
Gopal Prasad Upadhyay, the report said.
Nepal has stepped up steps to combat wildlife
conservation and illegal trade in animal parts, which are
treasured for commercial and medicinal purpose in China.
There are 13 tiger range countries in the world
including Nepal, India, China and Myanmar. The tiger range
countries have been working together to conserve the
endangered wild animal tiger, to double the number or around
7,000 by next Year for Tiger 2022.
Bohara said Nepal is committed to double the tiger
population to 250 by the year 2022. The government is
committed to control poaching, increase tiger habitat and prey
animals with a view to double the tiger population in the next
12 years, he said.
In a bid to intensify the conservation efforts, Nepal
government has recently announced a new Banke National Park
near Bardia National Park in the western Nepal, the minister
said.
As a result of various steps, the number of adult
tiger has reached 155 in Nepal, an increase of 28 per cent
over last year`s population, according to Bivash Pandav, an
Indian national, who is working under World Wildlife Fund
Nepal office in Kathmandu.
Last year only 91 tigers were found when the census
was carried out only in the lowland of the tiger reserve.
WWF Nepal has provided the government more than USD
50,000 to carry out the tiger census.?It means Nepal is home
to nearly 5 per cent of tiger in the wild worldwide which is
estimated to be 3,200.
PTI
