Nepal's Rhino census becomes uncertain with suspension of USAID

Kathamandu [Nepal], March 2 : Nepal's rhino census conducted in an interval of every five years now faces an uncertain future with the suspension of USAID, one of the major donors for the project, by the Donald Trump administration.
The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, which has been carrying out the census in collaboration with various agencies working with the park, is now facing a financial crunch and is unable to continue the work.
Department ecologist and Information Officer, Haribhadra Acharya said that an agreement had been reached with USAID's 'Jal Jungle project' for the purchase of the necessary equipment for conducting the rhino census, but the census has become uncertain now that the project is suspended.
According to the official, the project had already started the procurement process by issuing a tender notice. USAID had agreed to bear the expenses of the GPS equipment, laptops, large cooking utensils, tents, and other materials required for conducting the census.
"The project was supposed to provide materials worth NRs (Nepali Rupees) 5 million. It is estimated that around NRs 15 million would be required to complete the census," Acharya told ANI over phone.
Preparations were made to conduct the census in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund Nepal, ZSL Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation and other organizations. This year, the department was planning to complete the rhino census by mid-April. Preparations were made to conduct the census from March 18 to April 7 and release the results by the second week of April.
"The census can't be done beyond mid-April. The preparations for it take at least 10 days. The department's census program would be affected as the project of the donor agency is suspended in the last hour," Acharya further elaborated.
Director General of the Department, Ram Chandra Kandel, said that the suspension of the donor support has affected the counting during the final preparations. He added that the rhino census could be conducted if the budget is received after discussing the matter with the ministry or else they will be forced to suspend it.
The tiger census will have to be carried out next year and he said that it would be easier to conduct the tiger census next year if rhino count could be done this year as it would not be possible to conduct both censuses at the same time.
Although the rhinos are being monitored, a census must be done to determine their exact number and condition. The last rhino census was conducted in 2021. The census will make it easy to determine the number of rhinos inhabiting a particular area and to manage it.
The endangered one-horned rhino is found in Chitwan, Parsa, Bardiya and Shukla Phanta national parks. The Chitwan National Park has the highest number of rhinos at
694 as per the 2021 census. The number of rhinos in Nepal has reached 752.
Nepal recorded 800 one-horned rhinos in 1950, 400 in 1955, 300 in 1960, 100 in 1965, 108 in 1970, 147 in 1975, 310 in 1980, 310 in 1985, 358 in 1990, and 466 in 1995.
In the year 2000, the number went up to 612, in 2005 stood at 409, in 2010 stood at 435 and in 2015 stood at 645 as per the government record.