Development activities in protected areas and forests have been causing wildlife casualties. Not only that, but the movement of wildlife has also been affected.

Some development structures have fragmented protected areas. This is also cutting off contact between wildlife in one area and wildlife in another.

Recently, wildlife-friendly structures are also being built on roads and irrigation projects under construction. But conservationists say that this alone is not enough. They have said that overpasses and underpasses should be built not only in protected areas but also in all areas of linear development structures so that wildlife can move around.

‘Now development and conservation should go hand in hand, this is not just a matter of a forest or a park,’ said Dirgha Narayan Koirala, Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment of the Far Western Province, at a symposium on wildlife-friendly physical infrastructure organized by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Nepal on Sunday. ‘Our development and construction structures should not block the movement of wildlife, this should be everyone’s concern and interest.’ He said that the governments at all three levels have been trying to include this in recent times.

Recently, road and irrigation structures are under construction at a rapid pace. Some of these structures have even fallen within protected areas. This has also led to fragmentation of the protected areas.

Shuklaphanta National Park has also been fragmented in this way. The second phase of the Mahakali Irrigation Project canal has separated the eastern and western areas of the park. Similarly, the East-West Highway has also divided the northern part of the park. Recently, the third phase of the Mahakali Irrigation Project has also divided the north-south part. Not only this, the Kaluwapur-Belauri road section has also divided the park.

In recent times, electric fences and other structures have been built on the edges of protected areas and forests to prevent wildlife. But the wildlife that has come out of the forest area is unable to enter due to the same structures, causing damage to human settlements. This has also increased human-wildlife conflict.

'The structures built to prevent wildlife have made it difficult to return wildlife that has entered settlements to the forest,' said Dr., Senior Conservation Officer and elephant expert of Bardiya National Park. Ashok Kumar Ram said, ‘If a wild animal escapes, the first thing to do is to return it to its natural habitat, and our structures should not obstruct it.’ He said that attention should be paid while constructing such structures in the forest area as well.

According to him, after the traditional elephant route was destroyed due to physical infrastructure, conflicts between humans and elephants are now being seen everywhere. Ram said that although elephants used to move from Bum-Brahmadev area to Jhapa, obstacles have now been created in places. ‘In the Bum-Brahmadev area too, the elephant route has been obstructed due to the Tanakpur barrage, canals and settlements,’ he said, ‘After that, roads, settlements, etc. have also obstructed in places.’