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Government inaction leaves Nepal without strategy to tackle invasive species

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KATHMANDU — Nepal ranks as one of the countries most vulnerable to invasive species, yet still hasn’t finalized a management strategy to address the issue. A draft of the strategy, considered vital for the country to tackle the growing threat of invasive plant and animal species and meet its international obligations, was prepared seven years ago by the then Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation. Another draft of the same document was prepared by the Forest Research and Training Centre under what is today the Ministry of Forest and Environment. “That the document hasn’t been finalized even seven years after the first draft was prepared shows that the government hasn’t prioritized such an important issue,” said Bharat Babu Shrestha, a botany professor at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. According to a 2016 study, Nepal ranks fourth in terms of relative threat to agriculture from invasive species, given its trade ties with India and agricultural imports, agricultural diversity, history of spread of invasive species, and economic and geographic and climatic factors. Chromolaena odorata blooms in Bangladesh. Image courtesy of IUCN Bangladesh. The country had previously committed, in a report to the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity, to prepare and implement a management plan for problematic invasive species, especially plants considered weeds, by 2010. However, 14 years on, it still hasn’t done so, said Shrestha, who has done pioneering research in invasive alien species in Nepal. Similarly, most of the targets set by the National Biodiversity and Strategy and Action Plan (2014-2020)…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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