Already a nuisance to national park officials in the eastern and central regions of Nepal, the weed has also been spotted in Dang recently, according to Dr Narendra Pradhan, Chief Warden, Chitwan National Park. Forest officials are unaware of any mean to stop Micania´s spread as it marches westwards in the Tarai region.
“Luckily the weed doesn´t spread to dry areas, thereby most of the Sal forests across the Tarai are safe,” shares Shiv Raj Bhatta, an ecologist with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
Mikania micrantha can spread a mile every minute. It grows extremely fast, covering the grassland, shrubbery and forests, and blocks the growth of the plants and trees it spreads over, thereby killing the native plant species and causing havoc to the ecosystem.
While the Sal forests are safe, Mikania, an invasive alien species to Nepal, spreads fast in the warm moist climate of the Tarai region. The weed grows extremely fast, covering the grassland, shrubbery and forests, and blocks the growth of the plants and trees it spreads over, thereby killing the native plant species and causing havoc to the ecosystem.
Native to Brazil, Mikenia was introduced to northern India during the Second World War as a camouflage creeper for the same reasons why it has become a nuisance today. It grew very fast and covered everything that came on its way. Though reports say it was first found in Nepal in 1963, it started becoming a nuisance to farmers in eastern Tarai region during the mid-90s.
While the spread of Mikania in its native Brazil is regulated by fungal pathogens that exist naturally in the environment, these pathogens don´t exist in other parts of the world, thereby allowing Mikania to consume most of the moist forests, grasslands and river-end areas.
A workshop held at IUCN in 2004 on Mikania concluded that a rust species named Puccinia spegassinii is a “safe, environmentally benign solution to the suppression of the invasive weed.” However, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation is reluctant to introduce anything, whether biological or chemical, to suppress the spread of this weed for fear of further ecological damage.
Puccinia along with a caterpillar named Actinote thaliaphrrha are being used successfully to get rid of Mikania in Fiji and Papua New Guinea where it has been causing an ecological disaster. In Nepal though, officials are not ready to take any step to suppress this neo-tropical weed.
Although the wildlife department recognizes Mikania as a problem, authorities are are yet to adopt measures to control its invasion which could prove an ecological disaster in the future.
The last time that the Chitwan National Park, one of the major problem areas, conducted a workshop on the topic was more than a year ago when they mapped the areas where Mikania had spread. But what now? “We are not doing anything at present,” says Pradhan, the parks warden.
kushal@myrepublica.com
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