KATHMANDU — The year 2024 marked two years since Nepal announced the near tripling of its wild Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) population as part of the 2010 global initiative to save the big cats. Nepal was home to 121 tigers in 2010, the same year that 13 range countries agreed to double the animal’s population by 2022. According to the latest count, the country is now home to 355 individuals of the endangered species. But with the success, 2024 reminded all stakeholders, ranging from local communities to law enforcement officials, development planners and conservationists, that challenges for conservation have also increased. Never before in history have so many tigers lived with so many people in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape. Historically, settlements in the landscape were rare, except for those of local Indigenous communities, due to the prevalence of diseases such as malaria. This meant that the apex predator of the plains roamed the area in large numbers. But with the eradication of malaria in the 1960s, people from the hills migrated to the fertile flood plains to turn them into farmlands, a trend that continues to date. With increased poaching for its body parts as well as encroachment of its habitats, the tiger’s population fell sharply until fresh initiatives were launched in 2010 to save the animal. In 2024, Mongabay continued its coverage of tiger conservation in Nepal, highlighting the nuanced relationship between the charismatic species and the people it lives with as well as deeper challenges the country…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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