Pandemic - Conservations in Nepal
The COVID pandemic in Nepal is gradually slowing down in Nepal, and it's not just us saying as the government has officially decided to end all restrictions imposed to control the spread of the virus. However, all the safety guidelines are still effective which needs to be strictly followed. The restrictions imposed in March 2020 banned several services and activities across the nation like gyms, swimming pools, cinema halls, educational institutions, etc., will resume services shortly. The decision will come into effect once the cabinet approves either today or tomorrow.
The tourism industry is still struggling with the repercussions created by COVID. The fear remains deep-rooted with the toll of the virus being severe. It will take another few years to reach the position we were in 2019. With the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, Nepal was targeting to welcome at least 2 million tourists. Adversely speaking, it turned out to be the worst year in history for the industry since 1986 with only 230,000 tourist arrivals, a figure almost similar to tourist arrivals in 1986.
Although the government agreed to resume tourism activities from October 17 2020 with mountaineering, and later allowed almost all tourism activities, the tourist arrival number was not as expected. The news of potential vaccine stirred up joys across the country, from the cities to the Himalayas and the tea houses. But, the recent new strand of the virus seems to raise a question mark to the future of the industry. The number of tourist arrivals had been increasing day by day for the past few weeks in Nepal. However, with the flights from the UK being banned in the wake of the new strand of COVID, the tourist arrivals have slowed down considerably again. This is really a trying time for all of us in the industry to be positive, practicing resilience, and keep hope alive.
All industries and business in Nepal are adversely affected by the pandemic, but Wildlife and conservation in Nepal seem to have benefited from the lockdown. Less traffic of tourists in and around the National parks have eased the pace of wildlife to carry on with their lives peacefully. Poachers and hunters are having a hard time getting to the reserve and even if they do they are easily tracked with less movement around the park. In order to control poaching, the park authorities and Nepal Army have amped up their patrolling with other security works inside Chitwan National Park. Recently, Nepal Army and park authorities have conducted a large-scale operation inside the park against any illegal and suspicious activities named - “Operation Maha Hunt”. As part of the operation, several hundreds of Nepal Army personnel have been deployed inside the park along with existing forces and park officials. The team moves across the park and reaches its deepest areas, focusing on areas that remain inaccessible during regular patrols, especially on the foothills of the Chure area. It is understood that the operations will continue till the rainy season of this year.
Similarly, preparations are underway to translocate blackbuck to Chitwan from Khairapur or Shuklaphanta, or both. This would be the second translocation to be carried out. In the first translocation, blackbucks were brought from Khairapur to Shuklaphanta. Translocation of the animal would play an important role in its species diversification and offspring conservation, tourism promotion, and utilization of unused land. The translocation of the animals to Chitwan National Park is estimated to be completed soon while the move will result in an increase of wildlife diversity in Chitwan National Park which in turn will attract more tourists.
All in all, there is certainly a silver lining to the pandemic, and there is hope for the future.
Maybe Hope is the exact thing we need right now.
