Sunday, December 19, 2010

Shivapuri National Park

Shivapuri watershed and wildlife Reserve_Manjari

Abstract
Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve is one of the nearest wild life reserve of capital city Kathmandu of Nepal. Shivapuri reserve is an excellent representative site of the ecosystems of middle hills of Nepal. It consists of various floras and faunas and is intended to protect the endangered species of Nepal. It is named as watershed area because it supplies the water to the entire city of Kathmandu.(Capital of Nepal). Proper management of the park is necessary to contribute for ecological balance, stabilization of water sources and livelihood improvement of the peripheral population and the capital of the Nepal. The main objectives of the park are: to conserve ecosystem and biodiversity of mid hills, to protect the water regime of the watershed, and to enhance the livelihood of surrounding people which is being successful till now and it will remain same including various other fruitful objectives.








Introduction
Shivapuri watershed and wildlife reserve is situated in the north of Kathmandu valley and lies about 12 km away from the center of capital city. Its estimated area is 159 sq km where there are lots of flora and faunas conserved adjoining to the 23 VDCs from Kathmandu (12), Nuwakot (9) and Sindhupalchok (2) Districts. The Park not only provides scenic beauty but also makes significant contribution to the drinking water supply to the Kathmandu valley, so it is named as Shivapuri watershed area and wildlife reserve. It is situated nearest to Kathmandu city where we can easily afford a vehicle to go there. It is an area where we can go and observe the natural beauty, the flora and fauna when we are too tired of the crowd
History of Shivapuri watershed area and wildlife reserve: The protection of the current National Park started from as early as 1976 when HMG realized that further degradation of the Shivapuri watersheds would be detrimental to protection of vital water sources. The same year HMG initiated Shivapuri Watershed Development Project. To overcome these problems, His Majesty's Government of Nepal constituted the Shivapuri Watershed Area Development Board and launched various rehabilitative and preventive measures to protect Shivapuri in 1976. In 1982 the Shivapuri Protected Watershed Area was declared under the Soil and Watershed Conservation Act, and in 1984 it was declared as the Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve. At the same time the Shivapuri Watershed Area Development Board was converted to Shivapuri Watershed and Wildlife Reserve Development Board, which was abolished from the decision of Council of Ministers of HMG dated 2057/6/13 (September 2000) and later on followed with the declaration of the National Park on 2058/11/6 (18 February 2002).
Flora and faunas of Shivapuri watershed and wild life reserve:
Shivapuri lies in a transition zone between subtropical and temperate climates. The vegetation consists of a variety of natural forest types including pine, oak, rhododendron etc, depending on altitude and aspect. Recorded wildlife in the park includes mammalian species such as Himalayan Black bear, leopard, jungle cat, and rhesus monkey. The park is also home to 177 species of birds, including at least 9 threatened species, 102 species of butterflies with a number of rare and endangered species and 129 species of mushroom.
Map of Shivapuri watershed area and wildlife reserve:





Issues ,problems and challenges in conservation:
There are many challenges and issues regarding the wildlife conservation and protection, some are as follows:
• Poaching



• Buffer zone conflict


People living in buffer zone are largly affected by the wildlife reserve.When the survival comes first,then they don't take care about the communitylevel and national leval policies.They make their own policies and they live according to it.animals from wildlife reserve go out and destroy their crops as well as people living in buffer zone ,hurt the animals and sometimes kill them because they don't get the compensation according to their loss, so there is buffer zone conflict everytime.When the compensation is given to them, they start claiming for 10 Rs loss again, so the conflict is still going on as the major challenge of wildlife reserve in Nepal
• Lack of awareness in people and ethnic challenges as well:





Conservation Trial:

Shivapuri water shed area has the area of 159 sq km .It's boundary is demarcated by a 111km long boundary wall and 95 km long road. This is true representation of mid hills in the protected area system of Nepal. The park is bestowed with an abundance of streams /streamlets.

Trends and policies implemented for wildlife protection:
• Protected and non-protected areas interface in Nepal pose various management opportunities and challenges arising from diverse needs the interface represents. These ecosystems are rich in biodiversity, supporting livestock production for pastoral livelihoods, wildlife conservation, tourism, and agricultural activities.
• Changes in land use at the interface areas have been accompanied by increasing resource and human conflicts and insecurity. Driving forces for insecurity and conflicts consist of internal as well as external factors.
• Increased competition among ethnic groups over declining pasture and water resources leading to tribal/ethnic conflicts.
• Worsening land degradation problems due to unsustainable livelihood based on poaching, and consumption of shrubs.
• Security, peace and harmony can be realised at the interface and the neighbouring areas by building the capacity of the communities in conflicts resolution, in addition to addressing both the root and proximate causes of the conflicts.
• For the solution of buffer zone conflict local people and the government running the protected areas are having the talk between them.Other trends and policies are also maintained as well such as:
i) payement fee for the park entrance
ii) Rule to be followed after the entrance of the park
iii) protection programs regarding the flora and faunas









Conservation critique:

Conservation of any area is related with the protection of various varieties of flora and faunas as well as it has to address many issues and challenges, thus sometimes it works out successfully as and sometimes it arises many problems. In one hand conservation protects the variety of flora and faunas which further leads to the peaceful and healthy environment as well as it promotes tourism also. It conserves various endangered species and provides the pleasure of the green and healthy environment who go there.
Though the outer covering of everything looks very attractive but sometimes it has many interfaces inside as the conservation area does. Though the people try to solve the problem out but because of various reasons people cannot co-operate with the government or follow the rules or they never try to think why the problem is being arised and they never think of sorting out those issue. Here in our Nepal mostly the people still live in rural areas. They have no time to think about the conservation and protection of various floras and faunas. They only have their own problem which is bigger for them then the conservation issue. People living in buffer zone area also face the same problems from the government as well as the animals of national park, so they never cooperate with the conservers and the policies of them. Mostly arising problem or conflict of national parks are as follows:
• Buffer zone management
• No Proper guidance from government
• No concern from the educated level except the environmentalists and the students
• No strict plans and policies those who violate the rule of the wildlife reserve.
On the other hand, conservation objectives are achieved mostly in the long-term.Sustainable harvesting practices and regeneration programs take years to materialize with observable outcomes. Since results are slow in coming there is sometimes a sense that conservation concerns can be addresses after the enterprise has tackled its more immediate problems and becomes well established. Thus, circumstances result in pressure to concentrate energies on the complexities of operating new businesses while relating
conservation concerns to “the back burner”, to be addressed at a later date.



Conclusion:
Lying very near to the capital city of Nepal,Shivapuri watershed and wildlife resrve is one of the most reknowned and famous conservation area of Nepal.providing 30 million liters of water per day to the Kathmandu valley is the huge source of water as well which is also notable fact of Shivapuri wildlife reserve.The area is big with lots of floras and faunas which has added scenic beauty not only to the protected area but it has make the safe environment to the villages around though there is a lot of conflict going around with the local people regarding the issue of buffer zone.

References:
Groom et all
Ukesh Bhuju et al Biodiversity Resource Book

Consulted websites:

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