Government of Nepal

Ministry of Finance

AID MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR NEPAL

There are now fewer than 3,200 tigers left in the wild. Despite extensive habitat loss, there are still over a million square kilometres of potential tiger habitat, but the majority is vacant due to killing of tigers and their prey. This is perhaps the greatest indicator of the magnitude of the poaching problem and virtually every tiger conservationist agrees that poaching is the most immediate and critical threat to tigers. The solution is clear: we must stop poaching of tigers and prey. This is a primary objective of Nepal’s National Tiger Conservation Plans and India’s Project Tiger. Given limited resources, we cannot eliminate poaching over large landscapes, so protection of tigers and their prey must focus on well-chosen core populations in areas small enough to protect, but large enough to encompass demographically viable populations. Connectivity of these areas must be preserved to maintain genetic viability.

The Terai Arc Landscape in Nepal and India contains some of the world’s most productive tiger habitat and an estimated 17% of the world’s remaining wild tigers. It also supports some of the highest human densities in the world. This landscape is highly fragmented and the tiger meta-population viability is dependent on maintaining source populations and corridors in both Nepal and India. Thus, a functioning tiger meta-population depends on cooperative efforts between Nepal and India. Further, while the Terai Arc Landscape contains some of the most well protected tiger populations that are already receiving significant investment (e.g. Chitwan National Park and Corbett Tiger Reserve), the rest of the landscape has received relatively little attention - tiger numbers are depressed and habitat fragmentation is increasing. Poaching remains the primary driver of population declines in these areas, while habitat degradation and human-tiger conflict are also important concerns in this human dominated landscape. Trans-boundary cooperation has been identified as a key component of both countries tiger conservation priorities and they have signed an MOU for trans-boundary cooperation. Human-tiger conflict (HTC) mitigation is also a primary objective of Nepal’s tiger conservation plan and India’s Project Tiger.

Tiger populations increased to target in 9 PAs of Nepal and India through law enforcement systems effectively protecting tiger populations and communities actively supporting and benefitting from tiger conservation.