Nepal’s newest national parks drive tiger recovery, but new concerns arise

Nepal has seen an impressive increase in its wild tiger population, now estimated at 429, according to conservation officials. This marks a significant rise from 355 four years ago and from 16 in 2006, as reported on World Tiger Day. Yet, this success story is not uniformly distributed across Nepal's national parks. The country's newest national parks are primarily responsible for this growth, whereas Bardiya, the second-oldest park, has fewer tigers.

This uneven recovery could potentially lead to increased human-tiger and human-leopard conflicts in and around the new parks, as highlighted by recent studies.

Three main factors are contributing to this disparity: water availability, animal movement within and outside the park boundaries, and the spread of invasive species. According to Bed Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, these findings reflect the positive outcomes of ongoing conservation efforts, including habitat conservation and management, poaching control, prey species conservation, and conservation of biological corridors.

While Chitwan, the oldest park, still leads in terms of raw numbers, the newer parks - Banke, Parsa, and Shuklaphanta - are where the significant growth is concentrated. Conversely, the country's two oldest parks, Chitwan and Bardiya, are experiencing the slowest growth or even a decline. The data on tiger population changes across different national parks in Nepal serves as a testament to the global pledge made in November 2010 to protect and increase wild tiger populations.