 Otto Pfister
A pair of Indian Skimmers
Zoom In |
Nepal's birds undergo rapid decline
18-02-2005
A new publication from Bird Conservation Nepal (BirdLife in Nepal) makes shocking reading. While reports of the worsening conservation status of birds and other biodiversity are all too familiar, what is truly disturbing about the situation presented in The State of Nepal’s Birds 2004 is the speed with which it has happened.
For example, River Tern Sternia aurantia was regularly described as common from the 1950s to the 1970s, and reported as still locally common around rivers in the Royal Chitwan National Park and Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in 1991. But there are no recent records from Chitwan, and the largest number seen at Koshi in the last three years has been six.
A total of 861 bird species have been recorded in Nepal – eight per cent of all the world’s known birds. Of these, 133 (15 per cent) are now considered threatened in Nepal, with 72 thought to be Endangered or Critically Endangered nationally, and at high risk of disappearing from Nepal in the very near future.
Uncontrolled clearing of forest for firewood and agriculture is destroying the habitat of birds such as Yellow-vented Warbler Phylloscopus cantator, Abbott’s Babbler Malacocincla abbotti, and White-naped Yuhina Yuhina bakeri. Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis, Swamp Francolin Francolinus gularis and Hodgson’s Bushchat Saxicola insignis are suffering from inappropriate grassland management. Specialist birds such as Satyr Tragopan Tragopan satyra and Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis are respectively threatened by over-harvesting of bamboo and selective felling of mature trees.
 Asad Rahmani
Groups of White-rumped Vultures are becoming a rare sight
Zoom In |
"It has been a difficult task for us to include only 133 species" —Dr Hem Sagar Baral, Bird Conservation Nepal
While some declines are the result of identifiably local problems, others are part of wider patterns in Asia. These include the poorly-understood and long-term disappearance of Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus from many countries where it was once common, and the catastrophic collapse in populations of White-rumped and Slender-billed Vultures Gyps bengalensis and G. tenuirostris because of the veterinary drug Diclofenac.
"It has been a difficult task for us to include only 133 species," says Dr Hem Sagar Baral of Bird Conservation Nepal (BirdLife in Nepal), lead/first author of State of Nepal’s Birds. "Undoubtedly there are several other species which are declining fast, and many that are not listed here are also declining, but have probably not reached the level of being considered nationally threatened. The security situation has hampered access to some areas and caused problems for bird surveys. But these 133 birds should be treated as the priority species for conservation."
"I was really shocked myself," admits co-author Carol Inskipp. "It was only when Hem and I looked at the information that we realised how bad things had got."
The root causes identified by Baral and Inskipp are environmental deterioration caused by poverty and population growth, exacerbated by chronic political instability. "Long term conservation requires the ability to work with local people, and currently this is not feasible across much of the country," the authors write. The army, which once policed protected areas, has largely been pulled out to deal with the security situation.
Ironically, to try to improve their economic security, many Nepalis are opting to have larger families, increasing the pressure on already inadequate natural resources. Because of the lack of alternative energy sources, wood makes up 78 percent of national fuel consumption. A quarter of Nepal’s forests were cut down between 1978 and 1994, the last year for which figures are available.
When Carol Inskipp visited Nepal in 2001, the situation was "really encouraging". Buffer zones had been set up around the National Parks, and there were a lot of community-based projects, especially community forestry, which has been demonstrated to benefit both people and biodiversity. “They are still there, but not a lot is happening now."
For example, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) was set up to work with local people to manage the protected area. "This used to be the main attraction for tourism, along with the Sagarmatha National Park (Everest). It's still there in name, but the headquarters building has been blown up, and the conservation work has mostly come to a halt."
 Tim Loseby
Overfishing is thought to have caused the decline of the River Tern
Zoom In |
"All Nepal's fish-eating birds have decreased a lot, including wintering gulls and fish-eating birds of prey." —Carol Inskipp
Nepal’s lakes and rivers, including those in protected areas, are overfished and much disturbed. "The cause of the collapse in the River Tern population at Koshi must be overfishing," Carol Inskipp says. "There used to be marshes on either side of the Koshi, but now it’s swarming with people, all desperately poor. All Nepal's fish-eating birds have decreased a lot, including wintering gulls and fish-eating birds of prey."
Hem Sagar Baral says government regulation of fishing practice, including control of very fine mesh nets, poisoning and dynamite, and of fishing at breeding time, would result in the speedy recovery of fish stocks in rivers and lakes, bringing back some of the birds that depend on fish.
Baral and Inskipp call for changes in Nepal’s wildlife conservation policy and law. They point out that although bird diversity is four times greater than mammals, only nine bird species are protected by law compared to 26 mammals.
Examples of habitat creation and management specifically for birds are few, they report in a forthcoming book on Nepal’s Important Bird Areas. Although protecting top predators such as the Tiger protects habitat and prey species too, some birds need specific management action to maintain their habitats. For example, over the last 20 years, BCN and others have repeatedly called for management to encourage the short Imperata cylindrica grasses favoured by the globally threatened Bengal Florican, but grassland management in Nepal's protected areas is still targeted at large mammals, to the detriment of this rare bustard species.
Baral and Inskipp also emphasise that not all species can be protected by establishing protected areas. "There are certain species which live in close proximity to human beings, such as White-rumped Vulture, Sarus Crane, Lesser Adjutant and Indian Spotted Eagle, which need sympathy and great care from us," says Dr Baral. "In this regard, working with communities is vital."
But there is some good news too, they say. Many Nepalis have been carrying out significant conservation work that is making a real difference to bird populations throughout the country.