Gap Analysis for Large Mammal Conservation Management in Royal Chitwan
National Park, Nepal.

##### Ramesh Shrestha {#ramesh-shrestha .author}

#### Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University {#central-department-of-zoology-tribhuvan-university .address}

#### Postal Address: PO Box 2060 {#postal-address-po-box-2060 .address}

#### Kathmandu, Nepal {#kathmandu-nepal .address}

#### SUMMARY

*The present paper with two parts concerns M. Sc. Ecology special paper,
Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) education,
ecological studies, biodiversity and conservation. The spatial context
of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts and importance of the RS /
GIS training courses provided to the educators of the developing
countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia--Pacific by United Nations
(UN), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and University of
Stockholm within the last one and half decades. Furthermore, in order to
know whether there have been any practical programs implementing the
tools and methods of RS and GIS in Nepal this paper has been put forward
taking an example of Royal Chitwan National Park.*

#### PART ONE: 

#### Remote Sensing and GIS Education in Ecological Studies in Central Department of Zoology, T. U. Kathmandu, Nepal {#remote-sensing-and-gis-education-in-ecological-studies-in-central-department-of-zoology-t.-u.-kathmandu-nepal .Sub-heading}

In many situations around the world, integration of biological and
geographic knowledge and data has been undertaken towards meeting global
and regional targets for nature protection and conservation. Many
different concepts, methods and tools have been developed and applied to
this, and for many situations information derived by interpretation of
remotely sensed images has had a significant impact. However, as in so
many other aspects too, the situations found in developed and developing
countries are markedly different. A lack of adequate data, maps,
equipment and skills reduces the possibilities in many developing
countries for the levels of analysis and understanding of wildlife
ecology that is general for national parks and similar large areas
designated for special protection and/or management of nature within
developed countries. In particular, the lower resource levels restrict
the possibilities for developing nature management based upon detailed
knowledge of the spatial arrangement of natural resources and special
habitats for the full extent of a large national park.

The concept to introduce remote sensing and GIS education to Central
Department of Zoology in Ecology special paper (M. Sc. Final Year) was
put forward during the 1999 syllabus updating academic council of
Tribhuvan University Nepal, which was approved unanimously and the
course was started from the academic year 2001/2002. Being a new
endeavour for whole life Zoology students, the aim of this curriculum
was to impart the very basic knowledge, the importance, the reliability
and the cost effectiveness in applications of remotely sensed data and
GIS in ecological studies and biodiversity conservation means. While
performing a treatise on RS and GIS syllabus in the subject, it has been
categorised as according to:

-   Introduction to Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems and
    Global Positioning Systems in Ecological Studies,

-   Image Interpretation (Visual methods),

-   Photogrammetry,

-   Application of Remote Sensing with special emphasis to Ecological
    applications,

-   Earth Resource Satellites,

-   Principals of Geographic Information Systems and

-   Global Positioning System.

After a few sessions on the subject the students are convinced with the
importance and objectives of the subject. However, with the available
limited practical facilities provided to the former participants by the
course, the syllabus is being concentrated more on theoretical aspects
only. The department is planning to acquire some tools like GPS in the
near future. The following table shows the number of students that were
registered with Ecology special paper post amalgamation of this new
course into the Ecology wing of Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan
University.

  ---------------- --------------------------- --------------------------
  Sessions         Academic Year               Students Nos. (Ecology)

  1\.              2001/ 2002                  11

  2\.              2002/ 2003                  18

  3\.              2003/ 2004                  23

  4\.              2004/ 2005 (Current)        24

  Total            2000 -- 2004                76
  ---------------- --------------------------- --------------------------

Source: Records at Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University,
Kathmandu, Nepal

#### Part Two: 

#### Gap Analysis for Large Mammal Conservation Management in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal. {#gap-analysis-for-large-mammal-conservation-management-in-royal-chitwan-national-park-nepal. .Sub-heading}

The national parks of Nepal, including the Royal Chitwan National Park
(RCNP) are typical of the situations in developing countries with
designation and overall nature management goals and strategies but only
localised detailed mapping of natural resources and little basis for
long term monitoring. The RCNP (932 km^2^) is one of the last remaining
delicate biodiversity areas in south Asia and is an IUCN category II
area and an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984. Its relative
proximity to the main point of entry for tourists to Nepal (i.e.
Kathmandu) and its diverse nature makes it a significant wildlife
tourism area, receiving visits by over 20% of all tourists to Nepal
(Shrestha 2002). In RCNP, including adjacent buffer-zones, the
applications of satellite remote sensing data have, to date, comprised a
study for the mapping of tiger habitats across the Terai (Smith et al.
1998) and a second, localised, study for the mapping of innovative
forest management practices (Schweik et al. 2003). In its evaluation of
the usefulness of satellite images, compared to acquiring information
from those undertaking management practices the latter study noted the
significance of the image data as a more neutral information source and
one that provided a good basis for quick, cost effective review of a
broad landscape. Whilst extensive in its coverage, with some relevance
to the habitats of RCNP in general, and the basis for many research
projects, the Tiger Ecology Project has, as noted (Shrestha 2002)
resulted in little co-ordination of research and implementations of its
findings for RCNP nature management. Hence, Shrestha indicates ways that
increased, and more co-ordinated use of geographic information systems,
including information from image data (i.e. remote sensing, RS), should
be effective and applied for better overall nature conservation and
management. These include:

-   Establishment of a standardised baseline information system for
    monitoring and evaluation of the main biophysical and socio-economic
    aspects of the RCNP

-   Gap analysis (Jennings 2000;Yip et al. 2004) with focus on the
    habitat preferences of the important large mammal fauna (*Rhinoceros
    unicornis* greater one-horned rhinoceros)*, Panthera tigris* (Royal
    Bengal tiger)*, Elephas maximus* (Asian elephant)*, Melursus
    ursinus* (Sloth bear), *Axis axis* (Spotted deer), *Cervus unicolor*
    (Sambar deer) and *Muntiacus muntjack* (Barking deer)), to meet the
    objectives of the Nature Conservation Act of 1973 of Nepal; the
    wildlife managers in RCNP could use the results to target specific
    areas for protection or as a basis for improved management on
    particular areas

-   The classification and identification of ecologically compatible
    areas, in order, for example, to zone tourism activities and
    designate certain fragile and/or valued areas as closed.

To develop the nature conservation and management infrastructures of NPs
in developing countries, such as the case of RCNP, requires effort on
many fronts and in many spheres. Furthermore, research work is only one
part of the work, with the task requiring also management development,
skill training, liaison and outreach work, and local community
development, etc. (Poulsen et al. 2001;Groves 2003). Natural science
research is required, such as to catalogue and describe the biophysical
situation, develop and evaluate tools and model natural processes under
various scenarios. In general such research will be distinct from
previous work most particularly in terms of the location of its main
subject, i.e. its specific geographic area, rather than the research
questions being asked or the research methods used. However, as well as
providing essential and unique local knowledge and understanding, such
research provides a basis for verification of patterns found elsewhere
and the possibilities for innovative global research, drawing upon many
local studies are also increased.

In the context of this project, of related wildlife ecology work, the
principle role of remote sensing is seen in terms of its server-side
application, i.e. its supply of information, which is in turn serves
establishment of scientific knowledge. However, in this it has to be
recognised that the information that remote sensing provides carries
with it specific properties and characteristics. Most particularly, with
respect to other informational aspects of natural science, such as for
example experimental data, these are matters concerning precision,
accuracy and resolution. Recognising and working within this
domain-property of RS is particularly consequent due to the complexity
of the natural environment. Thus, at the same time, it needs to be
acknowledged, as noted recently by (Blaschke 2003), that whilst RS (&
GIS) "might be regarded as technical discussion recent developments
create an enormous potential for a comprehensive analysis of complex
environments", i.e. with appropriate paradigms the image information is
itself knowledge. (This remote sensing work also has as its context the
application of archived and operationally available image data, rather
than uniquely acquired experimental image data sets.)

Thus, this research is focussed upon increasing the scientific
understanding of how wildlife management in RCNP can benefit from the
development of computer based geographic information systems (GIS) in
general and in particular from the application of information derived
from image data. This in itself is a broad topic. Given the current
level of development of GIS and RS based work within RCNP, such research
for RCNP should consider the following themes:

-   the current RCNP wildlife ecology knowledge and research and
    management goals

-   information system gaps, related to current and future RCNP nature
    conservation objectives and targets

-   the types and characteristics (classification, precision, accuracy,
    resolutions) of biophysical system information on RCNP that can be
    derived from image data (Jansen and Gregorio 2002)

-   established GIS / RS based wildlife and landscape ecology concepts
    and methods, in particular gap analysis (Jennings 2000) and the
    patch-matrix (-corridor) paradigm (Forman and Godron 1986)

-   state-of-the-art GIS / RS based wildlife and landscape ecology
    concepts, such as the hierarchical patch dynamics paradigm (HPDP,
    (Wu 1999) and its image data orientated extension, multi-scale
    segmentation / object-relationship modelling (MSS/ORM, (Blaschke
    2003;Burnett and Blaschke 2003)

-   long term habitat and biodiversity monitoring based on integration
    of field based ecological statistically based sample survey and
    census information from image data (Groom and Reed 2001)

-   Longer term strategy for developing the RCNP, and the overall
    Nepalese infrastructure for applying GIS and RS to nature protection
    and conservation.

Thus, the education in RS and GIS in developing countries is
indispensable tool in various fields of natural resources management in
developing countries like Nepal.

#### References cited

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Forman, R.T.T. and Godron, M., 1986. Landscape ecology: New York, Wiley
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Groom, G. and Reed, T. Strategic landscape monitoring for the Nordic
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Groves, C.A., 2003. Drafting a conservation blueprint: A practitioner\'s
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Shrestha, R.K. The impact of tourism on the environment of Royal Chitwan
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Need of Remote Sensing for Natural Resources Management, with Special
Reference to Rang Land of Pakistan