5. 4 CONSUMO CULTURAL Y PRÁCTICAS RITUALES TRADICIONALES

In addition to the discourses of "rapidly disappearing" lowland Tarai forests and subsequent extinction of rhinoceros and other wild animals, the Himalayan

Environmental Degradation (HED) narratives in the hills of Nepal was gaining ground among donors and ecological experts (see Blower 1973; Eckholm 1975). The

environmental degradation narrative in the hills such as soil erosion, forest degradation and rapid wildlife loss in the Tarai region were widespread among donors such as USAID, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Food and Agriculture

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Organization (FAO). The HED narrative has been debunked and criticized by later publications (Guthman 1997). In particular, scholars have argued that such scientific crisis narratives articulate with international and national development aid regime

(Guthman 1997). These crisis narratives, however, became the basis for the establishment of four national parks including RCNP and others during the 1970s (Guthman 1997; Heinen and Kattel 1992).

In December 1970, the government of Nepal under the UNDP/FAO Technical Assistance Programme appointed John Blower – an FAO/UN advisor - to assist Nepal on national park and wildlife management and to develop a network of national parks. He also had previous experience in conservation work in Africa. Blower completed "the extensive survey" for three years in Nepal and found that the local people's practices related to forest and wildlife as major wildlife conservation problems. He noted that the major problem of Nepal is the human population growth and subsequent pressure of forest land and wildlife (Blower 1973). He writes, "the enormous numbers of domestic livestock are the most serious obstacle to both forest and wildlife management. Cattle and buffalo are currently estimated to total 10 million, and sheep and goats 2.5 million, both numbers increasing at an average rate of nearly two percent a year. Cattle, in particular, are generally of inferior quality and largely unproductive, but cannot be slaughtered for food, despite the chronic protein shortage in many areas, because the cow is sacred, Nepal being a Hindu country. Increasing grazing pressure exacerbates erosion and prevents forest regeneration so that even forest which is not deliberately cleared is gradually replaced by grassland and worthless scrub" (Blower 1973, 276). He further goes on to say the poaching of rhino for commercial purpose is "so severe" that it will be

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"likely to exterminate the rhino in Nepal within a very few years." In particular, he reported that rhinoceros, which numbered 800 in 1950, had decreased to 120 and the "killing by poachers still average about ten per year." He also reported poaching of tigers and predicted that the Sal (Shorea robusta) forests would disappear in "20 or 30 years" from Nepal if human pressure continued to grow (Blower 1973, 207-278).

Given the context, UNDP/FAO, DOF staffs, foreign experts such as John Blower, and Nepali wildlife experts who had a close relationship with the royal palace lobbied for the establishment of a national park in Chitwan and persuaded King Mahendra to take the urgent consideration of conservation measures (Mishra 2007). At the end of 1970, King Mahendra approved the plan to establish Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP). More importantly, the major wildlife management body at the time was the “Wildlife

Committee” chaired by prince Gyanendra. The committee located inside the royal palace used to make all decision related to wildlife and national parks. The informal committee was comprised of forest ministers, secretary of the department of forest and soil

conservation, director of the DNPWC, palace officials, and high ranking officers of the government of Nepal. Essentially, the palace used to directly run or make all decisions related to national park activities and wildlife management until 1990. The committee not only helped to create the separate National Parks and Wildlife Conservation section under the department of forest and a later separate office in 1972, but the committee also helped to create rules or regulations related to wildlife and national parks. Although the HMG's ministry of forests used to implement rules or activities, royal interests and the royal families' role was direct and indirectly involved in all the wildlife and national park- related decision and practices. That means the role of the public or political leaders and a

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public bureaucrat was minimal until 1990.The direct role of the royal place also helped to fast-track bureaucratic process or overcome bureaucratic red tape (Field Interview).

In addition to the sharing of knowledge and training from foreign experts and US Peace Corps volunteers on the population census or surveys of wildlife, habitat, and human population, the training and exposure of Nepali citizens at western universities and organizations became one of the major methods of information sharing and circulation. The DNPWC received financial and technical assistance from UN-FAO, WWF, and U.S. Peace Crops. Moreover, the office staffs were provided with

conservation and wildlife-related training and fellowships in foreign countries. Several forest department officials received training in wildlife management under FAO/UN fellowships in different counties including in the USA and Europe. Many leading persons who played a role in the establishment of Chitwan National Park have received his training in India, Europe, and the USA through the fellowship (Mishra 2007; Blower 1973). For instance, describing the "awe-inspiring aesthetic beauty" of Yellowstone National Park after his return from the US in 1972, Mishra, also an NP staff, described how the conservation efforts of Americans inspired him. He writes, "I was struck by the Americans' vision of legally protecting large areas of valuable land for the enjoyment and benefits of future generations, mainly when there were still wide-open spaces in the Wild West" (Mishra 2007, 65). He further writes, if the Americans could do it in the nineteenth century, why we, the Nepalese, can’t do it in the twentieth century?" (Mishra 2007, 65). He was inspired by the western vision of national parks and the ways Yellowstone National Park has been managed and protected, and he came back in 1972 with a desire to emulate the Yellowstone model in Chitwan Valley. The Government of Nepal

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formally enacted the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act in 1973 (discussed below).