Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, June 3:

Despite being home to hundreds of endangered floral and faunal species, research conducted on them is very meagre. National History Museum (NHM), the organisation that looks after these endangered species is suffering due to financial crunch. Another reason for its inability to conduct research has been buttressed by the escalating Maoist insurgency. “The budget of NHM is shrinking each year. The Institute of Science and Technology (IST) of the Tribhuwan University (TU) allocates the yearly budget to NHM which is only sufficient to pay the staff salaries and other office expenses, forget about research and collecting specimens,” said Professor Karan B Shah, chief at the National History Museum. “The other financial source of NHM is from entry fee to the museum. The declining number of visitors, revenue generation from ticket sales is also dwindling. Hardly 1,00,000 visitors a year visit the museum,” he further said.

The amount collected from visitors’ entry fee is also credited in the amount that NHM receives from TU. “Though NHM is a wing of IST, the budget is directly allocated by the rector office of Tribhuwan University,” said Ashok K Koirala, assistant dean at IST. The overall budget of TU is shrinking which means there is no way that it could increase its research and development (R&D) fund, he added. Koirala also said that the TU should start thinking of alternative ways of economy generation to support research and development.

“For researchers, the fascinating biodiversity of Nepal makes the study both difficult and exciting. Some years ago, there were lot of researches being done in alliance with foreign organisations, which has helped the NHM to enrich its collection of specimen. However, the escalating Maoist problem has reduced the number of international researchers sharply,” Shah added.

Despite being small in size, the altitude variation and barriers created by lofty mountains, rivers and the watershed of Nepal is home to 47 mammals, 111 birds, 18 reptiles, 3 butterflies and 14 plants species that are listed in different annexes of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Listing on the CITES means a ban on the trade of these animals and plants. This is of potential value in generating income by inviting researchers but none of the concerned authorities have shown

interest towards it. “Nepal could attract researchers willing to study these wide-ranging flora and fauna. These could help the NHM for the additional source of income that could aid in their list of collection of species,” said Ravi Sharma Aryal, CITES expert. The lack of coordination between the Department of National Park and Conservation and NHM has stood as a constraint to accelerate research and development of these endangered species, Aryal further said.