“There are lots of people talking about climate change. But even those who are involved in the agenda have little clue as to what exactly is the way forward,” Gautam adds.
Climatic and demographic changes have fundamentally altered the habitats for flora and fauna in Nepal. It is in this change that Manoj Gautam has found his calling. Recently, the British Council Nepal felicitated Gautam for his efforts in environment conservation, and listed him among the young Nepali environmentalists called Climate Champions.
Originally from Dang, conservation occurred to him not as a conscious career choice but because of his love for animals.
“I was always fascinated by animals for as long as I can remember,” reminisces the 25-year-old man. “But getting to know more about environment and conservation was a thoroughly grueling experience,” he adds. After a lot of efforts, he finally managed to get the National Geographic Channel to Dang. It was 10 years ago, and he has come a long way working informally and contributing in whichever way he can to help conserve animals.
“The poaching racket in Nepal is bigger than we can imagine,” he informs. “Apart from domestic poaching, Nepal serves as a transit spot for a lot of animals going to various destinations, specially the Middle East and Europe,” he adds. He informs that Eurasian eagles (huchil), among others, are poached in Nepal and transferred to various countries for the study of their ability of night vision.
Furthermore, he opines that snakes are one of the most vulnerable animals that suffer. This is because culture permits snake charmers to use them as symbols of religion and even entertainment. He has also worked towards raising awareness among snake charmers and has helped rescue snakes and returned them to their natural habitat.
“I didn’t have a mentor when I wanted to learn about things, and now I am trying to create mentoring for young people who want to learn about conservation issues,” he expresses.
Also, there is a dearth of avenues that make the common mass – victim to food and water insecurities – understand the concept and impact of the rapid decline of flora and fauna.
“For instance, within 10 years, the whole of Southeast Asia saw a 98% decline in the number of vultures. Firstly culturally, superstition guided people to hate vultures as evil; and chemically, the carcasses of animals that they fed upon showed a certain level of dichophenyle given to them by vets that caused dehydration in vultures,” he narrates. Through a slightly expensive alternative, though, they replaced the medicine with something vulture friendly.
“We set up ‘vulture restaurants’ in Nawalparasi, meaning enclosed areas where vultures would come for safe food. We completely stopped deforestation in this area, planted more trees, and created an environment for vultures to live in.” He went as far as marking the trees with nests and checking on them once in a while. In eight years, notwithstanding the slow population growth in them, from three nests it has come to 16 nests now.
“Land banking also is a viable option for conservation. Under this, we buy land and protect its fauna and flora. That’s what we did at Nawalparasi while elsewhere, land keeps getting cleared for various purposes; and due to the politico-social makeup of our times, it’s extremely difficult to protect the environment,” he expresses.
Naturally, this passion has made him vulnerable to threats and stalking, but he has continued to lobby for his cause. Tirelessly, he has tied up with various governmental and non-governmental organizations to work for conservation in Nepal. For him, he needs to actually have that basic affinity to nature to work in the environment.
“However, climate change and conservation has become a sellable commodity in the environment bazaar,” he says. “It’s fashionable to be an environmentalist, and ‘sensitization’ has become a cool word to use in the NGO sector. But for one to be actually involved in this field, it has to be through one’s own sustained efforts,” he says while pointing out one very conspicuous shortcoming that needs to be overcome in Nepal.
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