Kathmandu, April 26 – The wire fencing separating northern Nepal from the Tibet Autonomous Region of China will impact on wildlife in the Himalayan region adversely, a survey here says.
Upper Mustang in northern Nepal adjoining Tibet, once part of the ancient Tibetan kingdom, is home to endangered wild animals like the snow leopard, brown bear and lynx.
A snowy terrain virtually isolated from Nepal because of lack of roads, Mustang hit the headlines when noted French photographer Eric Valli shot his Tibetan western “Caravan”, also called “Himalaya”, in this region, employing a cast of locals who had never faced a camera in their lives before.
The ecologically fragile region has been able to retain its uniqueness because of its inaccessibility and is also home to the rare Tibetan wild ass or kiang and Tibetan gazelle.
The animals are known to migrate from Upper Mustang to Tibet seasonally for food.
However, with the Tibetan authorities installing an eight-foot barbed wire fence along part of the border, it is likely to curb the movement of the animals and endanger their survival.
A survey conducted by the Kathmandu-based King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation discovered that the Tibetan authorities intend to extend the fence further in the east, the Rising Nepal reported Monday.
“The development…will bring critical changes in the wildlife profile in the long run,” Madhu Chhetri, national programme manager at the Trust, told the daily.
According to the nomadic people living in the area, since the sealing of the border, the gazelles grazing the area in the past have vanished.
Tibetan authorities say the fencing is to prevent the theft of cattle across the border.
