<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c889c7e80680e0b7875jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1053" height="1012"/><figcaption>Photo: PRATIBHA TULADHAR</figcaption></figure>On nights when things got unbearable, Laxmi Maya always stepped out of the house in the quiet of the night. There was nowhere to go, really, but the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7121#.YiRUsy8w3u0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gully</a>. The gully or galli, as she said it, was the long tunnel that went from under the house on the main street into a courtyard where one of the four houses flanking the square, brick-paved space, was hers. Her husband’s family’s rather.The bickering over the house had gone on for so long. Every few weeks, government officials showed up at her threshold, and asked her innumerable questions. Where was the infamous husband? “I don’t know,” was Laxmi Maya’s consistent answer.As time went by, she had learned to say those words without at all batting an eyelid. And as she said it on repeat, the words became more believable to the government officials, as they did to her. She had started to believe she had no idea about his whereabouts.In her mind, Calcutta was a distant country of which she did not know anything. She did not know what its streets or nooks looked like or how the tram she had heard about operated. And so knowing that her husband was in Calcutta was tantamount to not knowing where he was. So, her statement was not entirely false.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/coping-with-the-patriarchy/">Coping with patriarchy</a>, Bhumi GhimiréThe government officials always appeared in a pair. Laxmi Maya would hurry upstairs to her baiga after asking them to sit down on the wicker mats and quickly poach two eggs and pour a dash of aeila into little copper kholas and present them before the men.“So you do not know where your husband is?” one of them would ask between taking a sip.“I don’t,” she would say quietly.“We are only letting you live in this house because you have three small children. By law, he is banished and so everything he owns is now government property, we hope you know.”“I know, Sarkar. But this house was given to me in dowry by my father,” Laxmi Maya would lie again. It had become a drill.Promptly, the officers would leave after polishing off their snack, setting in motion for Laxmi Maya, the wait for another such visit.Did she miss the husband? She could not say. His presence had been punctuated by his time spent with the dancers, or neighbourhood events from where he always came away as the feared. What was there to miss of such a man, besides moments of imagined intimacy when his limbs were hers to hold? She wondered, had she been a dancer, would it also have kept him from straying? Yes, they said he had strayed.Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-unequal-marriages/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal's unequal marriages</a>, Anjana RajbhandaryBut the women in her clan did not dance. They had not been taught to. Dancing, they said, was for women who were “loose”. They had taught her to speak softly, tread softer and to hold her tongue and restrict her movements to grace. That was who she was-- all those things they said she should be.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101136/63720c8a9c7e80680e0b7876jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="126" height="150">Standing in the darkness of the galli, Laxmi Maya often felt streams of hot tears soak her face. She had never learned to cry before others, so the quiet of the night was a good time. On one such night, she had seen rows of carriages go by, carrying large boxes. They were followed by rumours that the Ranas were getting their belongings removed to India because some kind of revolution was afoot to throw them off. They said that was why the king had left for India.Tonight, though, there was no such activity. It was quiet. As Laxmi Maya stood there, tears finding their way down her jaw, she thought she saw a light flicker near the Naradevi temple. It was followed by the clanking of a door and then of ghangala, the bunch of bells worn by the goddess. Wafting in with the sound was the goddess herself, stepping out of her temple, draped in a long red frock, a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/getting-behind-the-divine-mask/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mask</a> on her face. As the deity started doing the familiar dance, lilting her hands in the air, feet shuffling, Laxmi Maya froze, but her tears ran down in thick rivulets. She stared in awe and trembled.…“The wedding was fun?”“The ratyauli was fun.”“The what?”“Yes. Ratyauli. I had heard about it but never seen one before,” says Mamu.I ask her to explain, but she says she cannot because it would embarrass us both. She will not divulge any detail, but tells me how she felt a tinge of envy that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/parodying-patriarchy-at-tij/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">women had the liberty</a> to engage in that kind of lewd talk without being judged while singing and dancing and acting.Read also: <a style="font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/boys-will-be-boys-is-never-an-excuse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Boys will be boys is never an excuse</a>, Anjana Rajbhandary“How come women in our community don’t dance?” I ask.“We have the gods and the goddess, the masked dancers,” she says.“But they are all men wearing masks,” I remind her. Then Mamu goes on to explain how apart from the Jyapu community, women from other clans had never been given that kind of freedom.“Don’t you think that is so unfair? Taking the right from you to revel, to be in tune with your own body. When else do you explore the joy of being in your body as you do with dancing? It is so much to take away from a woman.”“I don’t know, I never thought about it. My movements don’t sync and so I don’t dance.”Mamu often sits in a corner watching others dance. When asked to dance, she will sometimes try, but her footwork never matches her hand gestures or the music: “I guess, I just watch people dance.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/patriarchy-in-an-oligarchy/">Patriarchy in an oligarchy</a>, Editorial…Dance! My senior, who is having a “ragging” session with me, orders. Do the twist, she says, and sings a Rafi number. What is a twist, I wonder. She says, if you do not obey your seniors, you measure the entire campus with a one rupee coin. In my heart, I wished I could just dance and get over it. But I can’t. Like Mamu, my feet are wooden, too. I just stand there, my face burning in shame and fury.Here, she says. Take this coin and now go measure the entire place with it.As I bend down at her feet and place the coin on the ground, I wish I could have told her I cannot dance because women in my community <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/letter-to-a-nepali-aunty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are not expected to dance</a>. But saying that, would also require a dance-- of the tongue. So, I bend down and start flipping the coin inch by inch across the campus.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/anger-management-for-nepali-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Feel angry? read this</a>, Anjana RajbhandarySuburban Tales is a monthly column in Nepali Times based on real people (with some names changed) in Pratibha’s life.

Pratibha Tuladhar

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The light of feet

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be8ed9c7e80680e087891jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3001" height="2261"/><figcaption>Murti Devi Chaudhary, chair of a community forestry group in Saptari says, “Wildlife are like the forest’s jewels” Photos: Teri D. Allendorf</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/#:~:text=A%20tiger%20has%20been%20caught,the%20mountain%20forests%20of%20Ilam&amp;text=A%20tiger%20has%20been%20caught%20on%20camera%20trap%20at%20an,the%20mountains%20of%20eastern%20Nepal." data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/%23:~:text%3DA%2520tiger%2520has%2520been%2520caught,the%2520mountain%2520forests%2520of%2520Ilam%26text%3DA%2520tiger%2520has%2520been%2520caught%2520on%2520camera%2520trap%2520at%2520an,the%2520mountains%2520of%2520eastern%2520Nepal.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHxJD4WwjnKkFNan4bMU66TNK3O7A">camera trap photos</a> of a large tiger on a nighttime walk in Nepal's eastern mountains were thrilling. It was only a matter of time before we would find them exploring eastern Nepal, since forests there have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHMJRFjC5Q56n2iPaKGs78XYw1gnw">improving</a>. And tigers are dispersers.The endangered cats have been documented in <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELmzB_Bn2tB6NIqKXfxzaWQHMN-Q">many parts</a> of the western and eastern Himalaya. The number of tigers in Nepal grew from 121 in 2009 to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHyYHYBf-ZFiJitzKi1W2LvgVm4uw">235 in 2018</a>, according to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvmnw6NGnSGoArEXNFNxlQj52fuA">a tiger census</a>, and Nepal was the first tiger range country to meet the international target of doubling  its population of wild tigers.It is possible tigers have been present in eastern Nepal for a while, and that only now the wider use of camera trapping is allowing us to prove their presence. People often say they see tigers, but without photographic evidence, it is often assumed they have seen चितुवा (<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-tiger-numbers-make-leopards-raid-livestock/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-tiger-numbers-make-leopards-raid-livestock/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0jfqiaoptCWoEA14f9r9eQfT3Qw">leopards</a>) and not बाघ (tigers).Other factors also probably contribute to tigers coming out in eastern Nepal. As villagers <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/84/pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/84/pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGBjd-nWQuc9ImBjdXsjQrfTqJlAQ">abandon farmland</a> and migrate for economic opportunities, wildlife find more habitat and space. In Europe, there have been reports of bear and wolf numbers climbing as villages and farmland are abandoned in a process called ‘<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHNG9KB0Oehww2RYYpXUHXvMNid8w">rewilding</a>’.As wildlife populations increase, their sightings in unexpected places also go up. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200929-how-wolves-and-bison-are-returning-to-europe" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200929-how-wolves-and-bison-are-returning-to-europe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH5U9SPFnmq8co-TvUpQlSJIDIS9A">Wolves are known to pass through European</a> cities and <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/21/this-is-why-leopards-are-entering-our-cities-20190621195755" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/21/this-is-why-leopards-are-entering-our-cities-20190621195755&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFVFgZqRZdu9hqXWpRcrhIhz2fEgw">leopards</a>move from one forest patch to another in  Kathmandu Valley.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be8f09c7e80680e087892jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="154"><figcaption>Tiger sightings</figcaption></figure>Blue dots are places tiger have been camera trapped in Nepal and Sikkim <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608621325773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECVxmegeQK-fwbZ8dmRlc8p-DrCQ">recently</a>. Black dots are from <a href="http://globaltigerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-HAT-VERSION-28-AUGUST-20191.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://globaltigerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-HAT-VERSION-28-AUGUST-20191.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608621325773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoA1lM1jl5Scz5yzxDmaBysj0sJw">Status of Tiger Habitats in High Altitude Ecosystems of Bhutan, India and Nepal (Situation Analysis) 2019</a>.The red dot shows confirmed tiger presence in the 1990s in Udayapur.Human-wildlife <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/close-encounters-with-tigers-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/close-encounters-with-tigers-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlSNepxKqlnBukXV17yMvoLsiRww">conflict</a> is bound to increase as forests and wildlife thrive. But there is no better way to address these problems than with the full <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/unsung-heroes-of-nepals-tiger-recovery/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/unsung-heroes-of-nepals-tiger-recovery/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEmY66nWU_gtggS3FQBx5p7P8zlrw">participation of communities</a> to help create and implement mitigation measures that make sense to them.Spotting tigers in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwzNmLQ2JbVFZz3T7hxXhxrW3HyA">Ilam</a> is a reminder that excellent opportunities exist in East Nepal for conserving tiger and other wildlife populations like the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-humans-can-live-with-wild-elephants/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-humans-can-live-with-wild-elephants/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEAD_g4V3hCH7RIkDf_u5pd7kajiw">wild elephant</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Dancing-to-freedom,4096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Dancing-to-freedom,4096&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo2idBextTTyjIKkOy1LKmwySDsQ">sloth bear</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECcACdohCnmnPiu3ddl2eDcDf1Wg">pangolin</a>. Recovering forests in the Chure and Mahabharat Ranges could become good habitat for these endangered species.There is no better way to protect wildlife in eastern Nepal than by giving <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/precious-forests-precious-earth/creating-modern-community-conservation-organizations-and-institutions-to-effect-successful-forest-co" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intechopen.com/books/precious-forests-precious-earth/creating-modern-community-conservation-organizations-and-institutions-to-effect-successful-forest-co&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoBMufpknqZ6Tb__Ch04aYquYj3g">local communities</a> the tools to manage their community forests for wildlife. Although community forestry has traditionally focused on managing trees and plants, there is no reason management cannot include wildlife.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be8f19c7e80680e087893jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Community forestry user group members being trained in wildlife conservation.</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s communities have been champions in protecting and conserving their forests, leading the world by their example. With the right training, policies, and incentives, they can achieve similar success with wildlife, including tigers.With the support of Nepali partners, NGOs like <a href="http://communityconservation.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://communityconservation.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFtuYhObmw_sl38IYzKijzCjr9iCg">Community Conservation Inc</a> has begun to bring together a network of communities and community forests in southeastern Nepal for the conservation of endangered tigers, bears, and elephants.Since 2014, the organisation has been partnering with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/caught-on-camera-nepals-rare-fishing-cat/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/caught-on-camera-nepals-rare-fishing-cat/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGASqxATh0pj7qR8ZeocJSoostooQ">Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation</a>, Resources Himalaya, and Community Conservation Nepal, to build a network of community forests in the Chure from the Bagmati River to the eastern border.Communities in Nepal are already protecting endangered species like the <a href="https://www.redpandanetwork.org/projects/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.redpandanetwork.org/projects/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmi6lVmeCOaYgbAVeigCj6gqazEg">Red Panda Network</a> project, the group that found the tiger in Ilam, and Nawalparasi's <a href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/lifestyle/environment/ex-poachers-turn-conservationists-himalayan-ghoral/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehimalayantimes.com/lifestyle/environment/ex-poachers-turn-conservationists-himalayan-ghoral/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG5Ch22XgwoK5ATg_smg6-V5Prd6g">Ghoral Conservation Area</a>. Both demonstrate how communities can safeguard endangered species.While we should not romanticise people’s desire to protect wildlife, we also should not underestimate it. As Murti Devi Chaudhary, Chairperson of the Jharkhanda Community Forestry User Group OF Saptari District, told us during a meeting last year, “Wildlife are like the forest’s jewels.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be8f49c7e80680e087894jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2272" height="1704"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Community forestry in Nepal has shown that people can be the solution, not the problem, for protecting forests. The same is true for wildlife. Communities need to be recognised as the backbone of wildlife conservation. Investments in community capacity and policies to support them should be a priority.Nepal has the opportunity to become a world leader, not only in community forestry, but also in community wildlife management. And this would mean more fantastic photos and sightings of endangered wildlife in eastern Nepal.Community commitmentNepal can integrate wildlife conservation into community forestry by building:* Community capacity for wildlife conservation, including trainings in wildlife conservation for women, marginalised, and youth. Ideally, individuals could gain special training in areas that particularly interest them, like birds, mammals, plants, etc.* Capacity of forest guards and user groups to gather data on wildlife as part of regular activities, including camera trapping, with community forestry users’ groups buying their own cameras if they have enough income or through subsidies.* Networks of community forests linked across corridors, with community forestry user groups that communicate and share information about the wildlife in their forests.Teri D. Allendorf, PhD is a conservation biologist affiliated with the Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in the US, and is the Board President of Community Conservation, Inc.

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Villagers step up to protect Nepal’s tigers

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636befdb4b0ad905ca02efdajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3001" height="2261"/><figcaption>Murti Devi Chaudhary, chair of a community forestry group in Saptari says, “Wildlife are like the forest’s jewels” Photos: Teri D. Allendorf</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/#:~:text=A%20tiger%20has%20been%20caught,the%20mountain%20forests%20of%20Ilam&amp;text=A%20tiger%20has%20been%20caught%20on%20camera%20trap%20at%20an,the%20mountains%20of%20eastern%20Nepal." data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/%23:~:text%3DA%2520tiger%2520has%2520been%2520caught,the%2520mountain%2520forests%2520of%2520Ilam%26text%3DA%2520tiger%2520has%2520been%2520caught%2520on%2520camera%2520trap%2520at%2520an,the%2520mountains%2520of%2520eastern%2520Nepal.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHxJD4WwjnKkFNan4bMU66TNK3O7A">camera trap photos</a> of a large tiger on a nighttime walk in Nepal's eastern mountains were thrilling. It was only a matter of time before we would find them exploring eastern Nepal, since forests there have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHMJRFjC5Q56n2iPaKGs78XYw1gnw">improving</a>. And tigers are dispersers.The endangered cats have been documented in <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNELmzB_Bn2tB6NIqKXfxzaWQHMN-Q">many parts</a> of the western and eastern Himalaya. The number of tigers in Nepal grew from 121 in 2009 to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHyYHYBf-ZFiJitzKi1W2LvgVm4uw">235 in 2018</a>, according to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvmnw6NGnSGoArEXNFNxlQj52fuA">a tiger census</a>, and Nepal was the first tiger range country to meet the international target of doubling  its population of wild tigers.It is possible tigers have been present in eastern Nepal for a while, and that only now the wider use of camera trapping is allowing us to prove their presence. People often say they see tigers, but without photographic evidence, it is often assumed they have seen चितुवा (<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-tiger-numbers-make-leopards-raid-livestock/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-tiger-numbers-make-leopards-raid-livestock/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0jfqiaoptCWoEA14f9r9eQfT3Qw">leopards</a>) and not बाघ (tigers).Other factors also probably contribute to tigers coming out in eastern Nepal. As villagers <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/84/pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/84/pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGBjd-nWQuc9ImBjdXsjQrfTqJlAQ">abandon farmland</a> and migrate for economic opportunities, wildlife find more habitat and space. In Europe, there have been reports of bear and wolf numbers climbing as villages and farmland are abandoned in a process called ‘<a href="https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theconversation.com/rewilding-as-farmland-and-villages-are-abandoned-forests-wolves-and-bears-are-returning-to-europe-119316&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHNG9KB0Oehww2RYYpXUHXvMNid8w">rewilding</a>’.As wildlife populations increase, their sightings in unexpected places also go up. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200929-how-wolves-and-bison-are-returning-to-europe" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200929-how-wolves-and-bison-are-returning-to-europe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH5U9SPFnmq8co-TvUpQlSJIDIS9A">Wolves are known to pass through European</a> cities and <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/21/this-is-why-leopards-are-entering-our-cities-20190621195755" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2019/06/21/this-is-why-leopards-are-entering-our-cities-20190621195755&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFVFgZqRZdu9hqXWpRcrhIhz2fEgw">leopards</a>move from one forest patch to another in  Kathmandu Valley.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636befde4b0ad905ca02efdbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="154"><figcaption>Tiger sightings</figcaption></figure>Blue dots are places tiger have been camera trapped in Nepal and Sikkim <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/12/12/tigers-sighted-high-in-the-hills-wildlife-experts-wonder-why-they-are-moving-north&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608621325773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECVxmegeQK-fwbZ8dmRlc8p-DrCQ">recently</a>. Black dots are from <a href="http://globaltigerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-HAT-VERSION-28-AUGUST-20191.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://globaltigerforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-HAT-VERSION-28-AUGUST-20191.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608621325773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoA1lM1jl5Scz5yzxDmaBysj0sJw">Status of Tiger Habitats in High Altitude Ecosystems of Bhutan, India and Nepal (Situation Analysis) 2019</a>.The red dot shows confirmed tiger presence in the 1990s in Udayapur.Human-wildlife <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/close-encounters-with-tigers-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/close-encounters-with-tigers-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGlSNepxKqlnBukXV17yMvoLsiRww">conflict</a> is bound to increase as forests and wildlife thrive. But there is no better way to address these problems than with the full <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/unsung-heroes-of-nepals-tiger-recovery/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/unsung-heroes-of-nepals-tiger-recovery/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEmY66nWU_gtggS3FQBx5p7P8zlrw">participation of communities</a> to help create and implement mitigation measures that make sense to them.Spotting tigers in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwzNmLQ2JbVFZz3T7hxXhxrW3HyA">Ilam</a> is a reminder that excellent opportunities exist in East Nepal for conserving tiger and other wildlife populations like the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-humans-can-live-with-wild-elephants/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-humans-can-live-with-wild-elephants/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEAD_g4V3hCH7RIkDf_u5pd7kajiw">wild elephant</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Dancing-to-freedom,4096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Dancing-to-freedom,4096&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo2idBextTTyjIKkOy1LKmwySDsQ">sloth bear</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECcACdohCnmnPiu3ddl2eDcDf1Wg">pangolin</a>. Recovering forests in the Chure and Mahabharat Ranges could become good habitat for these endangered species.There is no better way to protect wildlife in eastern Nepal than by giving <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/precious-forests-precious-earth/creating-modern-community-conservation-organizations-and-institutions-to-effect-successful-forest-co" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intechopen.com/books/precious-forests-precious-earth/creating-modern-community-conservation-organizations-and-institutions-to-effect-successful-forest-co&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoBMufpknqZ6Tb__Ch04aYquYj3g">local communities</a> the tools to manage their community forests for wildlife. Although community forestry has traditionally focused on managing trees and plants, there is no reason management cannot include wildlife.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636befdf4b0ad905ca02efdcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption>Community forestry user group members being trained in wildlife conservation.</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s communities have been champions in protecting and conserving their forests, leading the world by their example. With the right training, policies, and incentives, they can achieve similar success with wildlife, including tigers.With the support of Nepali partners, NGOs like <a href="http://communityconservation.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://communityconservation.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFtuYhObmw_sl38IYzKijzCjr9iCg">Community Conservation Inc</a> has begun to bring together a network of communities and community forests in southeastern Nepal for the conservation of endangered tigers, bears, and elephants.Since 2014, the organisation has been partnering with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/caught-on-camera-nepals-rare-fishing-cat/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/caught-on-camera-nepals-rare-fishing-cat/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGASqxATh0pj7qR8ZeocJSoostooQ">Small Mammal Conservation and Research Foundation</a>, Resources Himalaya, and Community Conservation Nepal, to build a network of community forests in the Chure from the Bagmati River to the eastern border.Communities in Nepal are already protecting endangered species like the <a href="https://www.redpandanetwork.org/projects/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.redpandanetwork.org/projects/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmi6lVmeCOaYgbAVeigCj6gqazEg">Red Panda Network</a> project, the group that found the tiger in Ilam, and Nawalparasi's <a href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/lifestyle/environment/ex-poachers-turn-conservationists-himalayan-ghoral/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thehimalayantimes.com/lifestyle/environment/ex-poachers-turn-conservationists-himalayan-ghoral/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608620326024000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG5Ch22XgwoK5ATg_smg6-V5Prd6g">Ghoral Conservation Area</a>. Both demonstrate how communities can safeguard endangered species.While we should not romanticise people’s desire to protect wildlife, we also should not underestimate it. As Murti Devi Chaudhary, Chairperson of the Jharkhanda Community Forestry User Group OF Saptari District, told us during a meeting last year, “Wildlife are like the forest’s jewels.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636befe84b0ad905ca02efddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2272" height="1704"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Community forestry in Nepal has shown that people can be the solution, not the problem, for protecting forests. The same is true for wildlife. Communities need to be recognised as the backbone of wildlife conservation. Investments in community capacity and policies to support them should be a priority.Nepal has the opportunity to become a world leader, not only in community forestry, but also in community wildlife management. And this would mean more fantastic photos and sightings of endangered wildlife in eastern Nepal.Community commitmentNepal can integrate wildlife conservation into community forestry by building:* Community capacity for wildlife conservation, including trainings in wildlife conservation for women, marginalised, and youth. Ideally, individuals could gain special training in areas that particularly interest them, like birds, mammals, plants, etc.* Capacity of forest guards and user groups to gather data on wildlife as part of regular activities, including camera trapping, with community forestry users’ groups buying their own cameras if they have enough income or through subsidies.* Networks of community forests linked across corridors, with community forestry user groups that communicate and share information about the wildlife in their forests.Teri D. Allendorf, PhD is a conservation biologist affiliated with the Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in the US, and is the Board President of Community Conservation, Inc.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a576a9c7e80680e0547e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"/><figcaption>CANOPY COVER: Nepal's midhills have seen the greatest increase in forest cover over the past 25 years. Outmigration from villages and the success of community forests like this one in Chitlang of Makwanpur district have contributed to the regrowth. Photos: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>New analysis of historical satellite imagery indicates that Nepal’s forest area has nearly doubled, from 26% of land area in 1992 to 45% in 2016. The midhills have experienced the strongest resurgence, although forests have also expanded in the Tarai and in the mountains. This makes Nepal an exception to the global trend of <a href="http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/">deforestation in developing countries</a>.These findings may come as a surprise to readers who regularly hear about deforestation. Indeed, recent <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/">infrastructure expansion projects</a> seem to pit development against nature. Protesters have pushed back against the felling of trees for the <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2019/08/31/trees-could-save-kathmandu-but-can-kathmandu-save-its-trees">Ring Road expansion project</a> in Kathmandu, as well as <a href="https://www.recordnepal.com/wire/oversold-overhyped-evidence-free-development/">the plan</a> to cut down 8,000ha of jungle in Bara district for a proposed airport in Nijgad.But the new research, conducted by a <a href="https://lcluc.umd.edu/projects/twenty-five-years-community-forestry-mapping-forest-dynamics-middle-hills-nepal-2">NASA-funded team</a> whose members are based in the US, Switzerland and Nepal, does not indicate that Nepal has been free from deforestation in recent decades. Rather, the data show that on average, more new forests have grown up than have been cut down. As a result, there has been net forest gain.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/its-a-jungle-out-there-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It's a jungle out there,</a> Ajaya Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/trees-politics-and-greed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trees, politics and greed</a>, Mukesh Pokharel<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a576e9c7e80680e0547e2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200">Jefferson Fox, a geographer at the East-West Center in Honolulu who is the project’s principal investigator, thinks it is important to acknowledge Nepal’s forest successes, even if localised deforestation remains a problem in parts of the country.“When I did my dissertation work in the early 1980s, Nepal was all over the international press for deforestation,” he says. “Now that Nepal has turned it around, it can’t get any attention!”From 1950 to 1980, Nepal lost much of its forest cover. Deforestation was due in part to a growing rural population that cut trees to harvest timber and convert land to agriculture. Nepal had nationalised all forests in the 1950s, but the government was often ill-equipped to oversee them. Bureaucrats were frequently unaware, or turned a blind eye, when villagers cut trees for household use, and sometimes they colluded with commercial loggers to illegally exploit timber.In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government began handing over what eventually amounted to 1.8 million hectares of national forest land to communities to <a href="http://dof.gov.np/dof_community_forest_division/community_forestry_dof">manage</a>. Unlike government officials, local communities were seen to have a vested interest in preserving forest resources for long-term, sustainable use. They also were better positioned to monitor forests and enforce rules for harvesting forest products.Fox’s research team found that areas with high rates of community forest membership experienced the most forest recovery, implying that decentralised forest management has played a key role in Nepal’s reforestation.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a576e9c7e80680e0547e3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1100" height="1467"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Demographic changes have also been important to forest recovery. Although Nepali villagers have migrated to India for seasonal and military work for centuries, migration to Gulf countries, Southeast Asia and beyond has exploded since the 1990s.Migrants’ families often abandon marginal farmland because they lack the manpower to use it, allowing forests to naturally regenerate. Likewise, the families often harvest fewer forest products, like firewood, because they have more money to purchase alternatives, such as LPG. Fox’s team found that areas of Nepal where people receive the most remittances have also experienced greatest reforestation.The data also indicate that Nepal’s forest gains have been concentrated in the midhills. This is not surprising, because community forests are widespread in this region and outmigration and agricultural <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.forestaction.org/app/webroot/vendor/tinymce/editor/plugins/filemanager/files/JFL%20VOl%2012%20(1)/Paudel%20et%20al.pdf">land abandonment</a> are increasingly common. The data also show that forests have expanded in the Tarai, despite greater population growth, fewer community forests and more conflicts over resources there. However, gains in the Tarai — and in the mountains — have been smaller than in the midhills.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Third Pole is warming faster than expected,</a> Kunda Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/mustnt-blame-everything-on-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mustn't blame everything on Climate Change,</a> EditorialImportantly, forest extent is not the same thing as ecological value, which can vary greatly from forest to forest. For example, young, dry, and isolated forests do not provide as good wildlife habitat as old-growth and riverine forests, or forests located along wildlife corridors. Similarly, a forest on a steep slope helps reduce soil erosion, giving it conservation value that a forest in a flat area may not have.Fox’s team is not the first to analyse Nepal’s forest cover change using satellite imagery. A group at the University of Maryland (<a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://globalforestwatch.org/">GlobalForestWatch.org</a>) has monitored forest change globally since 2000. In Nepal, its data show there has been forest loss — the opposite of Fox’s team’s findings. This data has been cited by numerous academic studies and the media, including <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-peace-in-post-conflict-countries-forest-cover/">this newspaper</a>.Both the old and new data were generated using computer algorithms that look at historical satellite images to determine — based on the colour and shade of pixels in each photograph — what is forest and what is not. Forests are considered to be any area with at least 50% canopy cover — meaning that, looking from the air, at least half of the ground is obscured by trees. (This may not sound like much, but the FAO standard is only 10%.)While the Maryland team used algorithms designed for application around the world, Fox’s team have created algorithms specifically tailored for Nepal. Alex Smith, a member of Fox’s team who is also a PhD candidate at Oregon State University and a current Fulbright-Hays scholar in Kathmandu, says that image-analysis algorithms designed for worldwide use can be inaccurate in Nepal because of the mountainous terrain.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mosquitoes-move-up-mountains-as-the-earth-warms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mosquitoes move up mountains as the earth warms,</a> Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate-health emergency</a>, Sonia Awale<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a57719c7e80680e0547e4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="453">By contrast, his team’s algorithms use topographic correction techniques to compensate for shade and other visual distortions caused by steep slopes. Furthermore, they ensure their algorithms are accurate by cross-analysing results with other high-resolution photographs of the same areas — a process known as 'ground truthing'.  For these reasons, the results are probably far more accurate for Nepal than the University of Maryland data.Some would argue that because Nepal nearly doubled its forest area since 1992, it can spare a few thousand hectares here or there for infrastructure projects like Nijgad. But according to Smith, this is not the upshot of his team’s research.“Our study provides a big-picture view about what is happening, but the decision to convert any specific forest should be taken after considering local factors as well,” he says.These might include the potential benefits of the infrastructure project weighed against the value of the forest as wildlife habitat and as a source of resources, cultural values and aesthetics for local people.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tourism-aviation-and-carbon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tourism, aviation, and carbon,</a> Sanghamitra Subba<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-summit-leads-packed-un-agenda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Summit leads packed UN agenda,</a> Thalif DeenInfrastructure aside, <a href="https://himalmag.com/a-conservative-harvest/">some people argue</a> Nepal should allow more timber harvesting, which has hitherto been tightly regulated, as long as it is accompanied by sustainable forest management. Proponents of this approach say that forest-based industries could boost the economy without leading to deforestation, because trees would be replanted once cut.Sceptics counter that ensuring long-term sustainability would be difficult, given pervasive problems with corruption and short-term thinking among leadership.The new research by Fox’s team does not provide conclusive evidence for one side or the other. Decisions about how much, and where, to harvest will inevitably involve balancing conservation and development objectives.However, the research does highlight the continued importance of community forestry. “Local communities have put in a huge amount of effort conserving these forests,” says Smith. “Whatever happens next, you want to keep people invested.”  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-kathmandus-historic-roofscape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Protecting Kathmandu’s historic roofscape</a>, Anne FeenstraThis story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. <h2>Trees, politics and greed</h2>Mukesh Pokhrel in Bara<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a57759c7e80680e0547e5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="995"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Political battle lines are being drawn over the proposed new international airport in Nijgad, turning the mammoth project into a Province 2 vs Kathmandu tug-o-war. This threatens to overshadow the concerns of environmentalists that the $6-billion airport is not economically viable and would destroy the last remaining hardwood forest in Nepal’s eastern Tarai.On 1 September the Forest and Environment Minister of Province 2, Ramnaresh Yadav, said he would not allow trees to be cut in Nijgad to make way for the airport. There was immediate reaction in Bara, Parsa and Rautahat districts, which are adjacent to the proposed airport site, and Minister Yadav was burnt in effigy.“There is conspiracy to move the airport from Nijgad to Saptari. We will never accept relocating it,” said Ajay Patel of the Samajbadi Party Nepal of Bara district.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32892&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tree-mendous,</a> Peter Gill<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32877&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It's a jungle out there,</a> Ajaya DixitTill last year, the controversy over the proposed airport centred on environmental grounds because the site is a biodiversity hotspot. Critics said it was not an airport project but a logging concession, and accused politicians of ignoring alternatives that would not involve cutting trees. They also said the expensive new airport made no business sense.However, Nijgad has now become a political football within Province 2, as well as with the federal government in Kathmandu. Even politicians from Madhes-based parties in Bara, Parsa and Rautahat who were against the airport are now saying there is no alternative. All politics is local, goes the adage, and nothing proves that better than this sudden turnaround.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/economy-ecology-of-nijgad-airport/">Economy &amp; ecology of Nijgad airport,</a> Om Astha RaiResponding to criticism from constituents, even Province 2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut and Speaker Saroj Kumar Yadav are now saying the airport must be built in Nijgad and nowhere else. Raut represents Parsa, and Yadav was elected from Bara. Till last year, both had raised environmental concerns.Now, people of the eastern Province 2 districts of Bara, Parsa and Rautahat suspect Ramnaresh Yadav is raising environmental concerns because he wants the airport moved to his constituency in Saptari. They have also labelled environmentalists ‘anti-Madhesi’.In 2014, a cabinet decision handed over 8,000ha of primary hardwood forests in Bara to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) for the project, saying it was needed because Kathmandu airport was too congested. Even though it is 70km south of Kathmandu, the airport will be linked to the capital via a fast-track highway now being built.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32868&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mosquitoes move up mountains as the earth warms,</a> Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32805&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate-health emergency,</a> Sonia AwaleProject chief Om Sharma rejects the claim that 240,000 trees will be felled. He says it will be no more than 10,000 in the first phase, for the terminal building and the first 3km of runway, because most of the project site is not forested, but is home to the settlement of Tangiya. However, this has raised another problem: resettlement and compensation for 1,500 households in Tangiya.Says environmentalist Chanda Rana, who is spearheading opposition to Nijgad: “This is the wrong project, at the wrong time in the wrong place. It goes against all our global commitments to protect nature. Why is the forest, a wildlife migration corridor, being cut when an alternative site is available?”This story is part of <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/world-joins-to-cover-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Covering Climate Now</a>, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32849&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tourism, aviation, and carbon,</a> Sanghamitra Subba<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32856&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Summit leads packed UN agenda,</a> Thalif Deen<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32872&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Protecting Kathmandu’s historic roofscape,</a> Anne Feenstra

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