Rasuwa — Nima Tamang of Thulosyaphru village from Gosaikunda Rural Municipality-5 in Rasuwa district is no more engaged in his traditional family occupation of doing agriculture. He was compelled to switch his long-practised occupation since the forest animals including boar, monkey, bear, porcupine and others destroyed the entire crops.
Tamang’s 22 ropani land which was used for growing vegetables and crops including potato, maize and others is now barren. In order to do away with the forest animals, he fenced the land plot and also constructed walls at some points. But, the menace of the wild animals remained unabated.
“I had planted Swertia (Chiraito) plant hearing that the wild animals don’t eat that. But, the deer devoured all the sprouts of the plant,” he bemoaned. “I used to grow crops in all my land plots until three years ago. But, now I left this after all the products were damaged from boar and monkey,” Tamang added. Tamang shared that he had to switch to transport business by leaving all lands barren after the wild animals caused damages to the crops.
Like Nima, Pema Dorjee Tamang of the village has also changed his family occupation fearing the wild animals’ menace on the crops. Opting for Swertia farming by quitting agriculture, he now earns wages through labour works for lack of market to the Swertia. “Most of the fertile land in the village is unused now after the boar and monkey destroyed all the crops,” he added.
Tamang shared, “This land is my sole property. We all farmers in the village are forced to adopt other occupation as an alternative to agriculture because the land has turned useless due to fear of wild animals.”
Local residents share that around 3,000 ropani of land plot in Thulosyaphru alone is barren after the menace of the boar and monkey. Out of 1710 square kms spread in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk districts, it has a total of 420 sq kms of buffer zone. The diversity of the altitude is also extreme–from the plain land of Trishuli river to upto 7245 metres. Rich in biodiversity, the National Park is covered with tropical sal tree forest to sub-tropical and alpine forest to the tree line. Similarly, besides different species, rare Himalayan bear and snow leopard, and other endangered animals are the priceless assets of the National Park.
The value of this National Park is further heightened, thanks to the Tamang culture and natural beauties of the geography, and availability of the endangered flora and fauna. As a result, flow of internal and external tourists is on the rise. The National Park is very popular for the trekkers being near to the capital city and road access despite its remoteness. Development of eco-tourism here has directly contributed to the livelihood of the locals. But, the villagers have switched over to other occupations from the traditional agriculture in the recent years after the wild animals destroyed the crops. The people here are pushed in the state to import cereals and vegetables even to welcome the guests despite they have sufficient fertile land.
Not only in Thulosyaphru, the farmers in Dhunche, Langtang and other adjoining areas of the National Park are also discouraged after the boar and monkey started to destroy the crops by entering the human settlements. People especially grow Karu, potato and buckwheat in Langtang but unfortunately they rarely harvest the crops. They struggle to grow the single seasonal crops by relying on rain water and snowfall but the wild animals destroy the crops prior to harvesting by adding to farmers’ woes.
Ghurme Lama of Langtang had sowed 25 kgs of potatoes but the boar destroyed all the produces even by crumbling a wall constructed to protect the farming. From the situation, not only his crops were destroyed but also his economic status deteriorated further.
With the destruction of the crops from boars, hotelier Sonam Tamang in Langtang is unhappy for failing to offer organic vegetables to the tourists. He said the menace of monkey and boar on agricultural products has also impacted on hotel business. The tourists enjoy organic vegetables and foods as far as possible but our wants to serve them with our home-grown products is not likely to get fulfilled, he lamented.
In order to do away with the wild animals and keep their land secured, the locals have also built big walls while some have erected the human effigies too. Despite the measures turned somehow effective in the initial days, now this is not going to work anymore to reduce the harms caused by the animals. According to the farmers, the wild animals jump over the walls and damage the effigies too.
Bunima Tamang of Thulosyaphru surrounded her land plot with the walls but no to avail to protect the crops. Worse still, the monkey even entered her house and devoured her entire crops giving further tensions, she said. Following the intense pressure from the wild animals, the locals knocked on the doors of the National Park administration. Paying heed to their pleas, Langtang National Park and Buffer Zone Support Project made efforts to contain the boar through electric fence and well-managed wall. But, it could not turn effective as expected, according to the farmers.
Chief Conservation Officer of the Langtang National Park said that number of boar has increased for lack of hunting for long in Langtang. Generally, a female boar gives birth twice a year and each time 10 to 16 babies are born.
On the other hand, the hunting of boar is stopped due to information on locals about the importance of wildlife and the societal trend to escape the hunting is also contributing to this end, Regmi claims. “Due to information sharing on biodiversity, vegetation and importance of the wildlife in the buffer zone and to some extent the hunting is no more as people don’t entertain the meat of wild animals in some societies,” he observes. Agricultural crops are being damaged from the animals because of insufficient foods in the forest but easy availability of the food in the nearby areas.
In the recent days, the monkey and boars have been attracted to the human settlements by leaving their original habitat. Regmi shared that a research carried out by Langtang National Park from 2017 November to 2018 May suggested that the animals’ habitat have been changed of lately.
“With the rise in number of monkey and boar, they have also changed the place of habitat as shown by the study carried out in the human settlements near the National Park in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk,” he added.
The wildlife would have migrated in search of appropriate habitat along with the rise in temperature, Country Representative of World Wide Fund of Nature (WWF), Nepal Gautam Poudel assumed. According to Poudel, the impact of climate change and environmental change is witnessed on forests, vegetation and wildlife. The flora and fauna have gradually changed their habitat. The shifting of wildlife residing in the lower belt to the upper belt is its apt example, she argued. The boar generally residing from an altitude of 2,200 metres to 2,500 metres, and monkey residing from 1,500 metres to 2,500 metres have now shifted to the area up above 3,800 metres. This has resulted in trouble to grow vegetables and crops to the farmers from Langtang, Thulosyaphru and others. The locals in Langtang and Thulosyaphru are forced to leave their lands barren due to the human-animal conflicts. Since the issue of conflict between human and animals is associated with the National Park, the affected farmers say that the National Park administration should ensure compensation for the loss of the crops and vegetables.
Shifting of the wildlife to the upper region in search of safe habitat and food along with the rise in temperature can be considered an impact of climate change. Gautam said that the crisis in food and habitat induced by the fluctuation in temperature could have prompted the wildlife to shift their habitats. Generally, there is scarcity of water during winter season and the wild animals also change the location of their habitats. And, in some cases the animals change their habitat due to fear of hunters. However, it is also said that animals are changing their residence due to noises of vehicles that ply along the villages after the agriculture road construction drives lately. Gautam claimed that the wild animals moved from one area to the next in search of a safer and comfortable location after the demolition of trees following the destructive Gorkha Earthquake of 2015.
Tasi Tamang of Langtang shares that the huge number of monkey and boar are spotted in the village adding that that used to be sporadic until five years ago. “The boars were spotted in few numbers in our places. Now, the sounders of boards are visible. Furthermore, there were no monkey in Langtang in the past but they is also spotted currently,” Tasi expressed his surprise.
Though the population of boars and monkeys is not counted officially in Langtang National Park, the number of these two wild animals has sharply increased. Poudel added that 14 boars were spotted in per sq km during a study carried out by the Langtang National Park and Buffer Zone Support Project in 2014.
The local residents have observed heightened human-wildlife conflict for the past five years on with the change in nature. The human life, flora and fauna are directly affected in the Himalayan region due to unfavorable climatic changes. Depletion of the snowline, extinction of vegetation and reduced number of snow leopards and jackals due to rise in temperature has caused much adverse effects on farmers. Due to same reason, the snow leopard and snow-bear have become rear while the animals like monkeys and boards found in the lower belt in the district have moved upwards. The locals in the affected areas have lodged written and verbal complaints at the office of the National Park demanding rightful compensation for the losses caused by the monkeys and boars.
A total of 15 persons have lodged complaints at National Park since 2020 seeking compensation for the damages caused by the bear, leopard and boar. Of the applicants, only seven received the compensation amount. Likewise, a person died and six others have sustained injuries in the bear attack incidents. Similarly, 505 domestic animals were killed in the leopard attack incidents during the period.
In the recent five years, three persons have filed application at the National Park stating that their crops sowed in 18 ropani of land was destroyed from the boar and monkey. According to the National Park, most of the victims request for compensation verbally while some others are reluctant to share their losses. The officials of the National Park said that the affected local residents are not lured towards the offer due to paltry amount given in compensation, and more hassles and time-consuming process.
According to the Compensation Directive caused due to Wildlife 2069, the affected are supposed to get compensation if losses were incurred on human lives, animals, stored crops, house and some other properties due to attack from elephant, rhino, tiger, bear, leopard, snow leopard, spotted leopard, wolf, forest dog, forest boar, forest tiger, crocodile and python. According to the Relief Assistance Guideline on Damages caused by Wild Animal 2016 and second amendment 2074, the victim’s beneficiary should register an application along with the photograph of dead person if possible, certificate of death registration, details of the incident site, test report, police report and recommendation from the concerned buffer zone consumers’ committee or conservation area management consumers’ committee or council or community forest consumers committee; local level’s recommendation, attested document of the kin, landownership documents including others should be submitted at the national park.
Chief Conservation Officer Regmi said that the number of beneficiaries in Rasuwa is too less for failure to manage all those documents adding that they have submitted only the general application. “General applications have been received without detail documents for compensation. That is not sufficient. We will provide the compensation amount if fixed documents are received,” he added.
The National Park has also established a fund to provide relief assistance to the farmers in case the wildlife incurred damages. Regmi shared that the interest amount received from Rs 11.5 million could be doled out in relief. “We have set up a fund and the interest amount is collected in the fund. We could provide the compensation amount to the affected ones from the same.”
As per the government record, Nepal’s annual temperature is rising at an average range of 0.06 degree Celsius. Despite being the lowest carbon producer country in the world, Nepal is at the receiving end. Nepal produces just 0.025 per cent of the world’s entire green house gas emission.
The measures adopted to reduce the impacts on human life and agriculture caused from habitat change by animals followed by rise in temperature would gradually become meaningful but civic participation is a must to reduce the impacts caused by the environmental degradation from the human created physical properties. The National Park should also plant the molasses grass which has proved to be a successful model elsewhere to control the money menace. Likewise, possible technologies and exercises should be tested to control the entry of other wildlife in the human settlements. Similarly, further delay has already been caused to pay attention on the part of the National Park to identify the crops that are unlikely to be damaged by the wild animals. This shall be a sigh of relief to the farmers who are obliged to keep their fertile land unused.
