Health Services: Construction of a new health post in the Gola-Manau area was completed at the end of January, 1996. The health post consists of one visitors' room, one bedroom with two beds for patients, one room for check-up, one dispensary and one store room. This health post provides health services for about 30,000 people residing in the Gola-Manau area.
Community Plantation: In close coordination with the local people, BCP has established four plantation areas in Gola-Manau and Thakurdwara.
School Support Program: BCP supports eleven local schools (two higher secondary, three lower secondary and six primary) in Gola-Manau. The first phase support program included fencing of school premises and plantation within the fenced areas. In the second phase, BCP has planned to provide infrastructural support (roofing, furniture and study materials). A short-term conservation education program will also be conducted in coordination with Royal Bardia National Park (RBNP).
Local Training: A two-week training (20 March-3 April, 1996) for nature guides was organized as a joint program between BCP and RBNP. Twenty local youth participated in the course.Eighty women from three VDCs were given sewing and tailoring training.
Workshops: A one-day workshop on Environmental Education was held at BCP premises on 25th May. Twenty-eight teachers from 15 schools participated in the program out of which 20% were females. A seven-day workshop on Community Plantation was initiated on 8th June in Gola-Manau. Altogether 300 farmers participated in the workshop.
World Environment Day Celebrations: World Environment Day '96 was celebrated by organizing an Environmental Poem and Essay Competition on 5th June in which students from eight local schools participated. A workshop on Women's Role in Environment was organized on 6th June. Fifty-three local women representing different ethnic groups participated in the workshop.
Construction: The brick work of the office building at Betani was completed.
Resource Conservation Program: Reforested sites were inspected in Sikles, Jomsom, Lo Monthang and Lwang. Lwang and Ghalekharka field stations have introduced tea, ginger and cardamom cultivation on a larger scale. Fruit saplings were distributed in Lwang. The Lo Monthang Field Office has supervised plantations in Lo Monthang, Sumar and Manang. A two-day training on vegetable production was also conducted. Nepier grass was planted in Ghalekharka and Sikles. Four ropani of private land were reforested in Ghalekharka.
Alternative Energy Program: Lwang has distributed necessary materials to farmers for the establishment of bio-gas plants. A micro-hydro power station is being constructed in Lo Monthang. A Solar Lighting Management Committee has been formed. The Jomsom Office has installed solar water heaters at the Airport. A solar water heater was also installed in Muktinath. Necessary preparations have been made to establish a kerosene depot in Muktinath. In Manang, three back-boilers were installed and pressure cookers were distributed to mothers' groups.
Community Development: A trail in Tal was stone-paved by the Manang field station. It has also given scholarships to students of high schools in Chame and undertaken a water supply scheme in Manang village. In Jomsom, a survey was carried out for repairing the surroundings of the Muktinath temple and construction of a sewarage system in Ward No.8 was completed. A trail was completed in Lete. In Ghandruk, construction works for four schools as well as a health post were completed. A community hall was constructed in Ghorepani. The construction of an Information Center in Ghalekharka is in progress. In Ghalekharka, rubbish drums and cage bars were also distributed and civil and electromechanical works related to the micro-hydro plant were completed. The damage caused by landslide to the micro-hydro plant in Sikles was repaired. A toilet and drinking water scheme for a school in Bhujung was completed. The Lo Monthang field station was involved in the construction of a wooden bridge in Tangal, irrigation facilities in Dhee and an incinerator in Kagbeni. Work related to the establishment of a new office building was also completed. Adult literacy classes were organized in 12 Village Development Committees in Manang with support from the District Education Office, Chame. A language class for trekking guides has been started in Lo Monthang.
Tourism: In Jomsom, a hotel management training was held in Muktinath and lodge management training in Kagbeni. In Ghandruk, hotels and lodges in the Annapurna Base Camp were supervised by the field station. Clean- up campaigns were also carried out in Tikhe Dunga, Hile and Basgraha.
Research: A survey for women promotion project was conducted in Bhujung. A study for 'District Women Development Program' was also completed.
Workshop: Ghandruk staff members attended a management plan workshop.
Conservation Education: Training on conservation education was given to teachers in Jomsom as part of the larger campaign to inculcate a sense of responsibility regarding environmental conservation and promote public awareness. Conservation books were distributed to two schools in Manang.
World Environment Day Celebrations: The Sikles Office launched a clean-up campaign, quiz contest and reforestation program on the occasion of World Environment Day. The Lo Monthang Office organized clean-up campaigns, quiz contest and an essay competition.
A MOU was signed on January 26, 1996 between His Majesty's Government of Nepal, the Asian Development Bank and KMTNC to initiate the Manaslu Eco-tourism Project. A Project Implementation Unit is in the process of being set up. A reconnaissance survey will be conducted in September. The objective of the project is eco- tourism development in Manaslu with particular focus on uplifting the living standards of the local people and nature conservation.
Research: Biological monitoring comprising of vegetation, bird and ungulate surveys is being carried out. A natural resource use survey had been carried out by Nepal Conservation Research and Training Centre (NCRTC) in the VDCs adjoining Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) and a tourism survey in hotels both inside and outside RCNP to observe the impact of project activities on natural resource management and the impact of hotels on the natural resource base within and outside of the RCNP and the buffer zone respectively. A database is being developed by compiling and analysing the results of the surveys.
A survey of Kumrose Community Forest Users' Group was carried out and the data collected, including the fodder and fuelwood needs of the local households, will be used to prepare a management plan.
A survey of the local Nature Guides trained by NCRTC was carried out and out of the total (216), 89% were found to be continuing with their job while 11% had switched to a different profession. Not a single female was found to be involved in this profession.
Plantation: Plantation activities are being carried out in full swing in Kumrose and Baghmara. A total of 350 ha will be covered.
Construction: A wooden two-room capacity nursery-cum-guard house was constructed in Kumrose. The Kumrose User Group Committee (UGC) has recently completed the construction of rhino-proof trenches all around the 350 ha plantation area.
Educational Tour: A twenty-eight member team comprising of Baghmara and Kumrose UGCs, women's environment group and vegetable cooperatives went on a five-day educational tour to Ghandruk and Lwang for cross- site exchange of ideas and experiences in May. This was the first educational tour organized by NCRTC for UGCs.
Conservation Education Program: An intensive five-day green camp for local school children was held in May-June as part of the conservation awareness program under Biodiversity Conservation Network. A total of twenty students from six different schools participated.
Training: Game Scouts Training (four-week long course) on community participation and community forestry was completed on 27th April. A two-week long Junior Nature Guide Training under BCN was held from 20th June to 4th July. Senior Nature Guide Training under GEF started on 7th July.
World Environment Day Celebrations: An environmental quiz contest, on-the-spot painting competition and clean-up campaign were organized by NCRTC to mark the World Environment Day.
Identification of New Snake Species: A new species of snake (Lycodon jara) was identified by Mr. M.Toriba of the Japan Snake Institute. The two specimens collected by NCRTC had been kept unidentified for long.
Chairman's Visit: Chairman of King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, His Royal Highness Prince Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, visited NCRTC on February 2nd, 1996. During his visit, His Royal Highness laid the foundation stone of the training-cum-office complex amidst a special function. His Royal Highness also inspected the information and display centre at NCRTC. Top B. Khatri, Officer-In-Charge, apprised His Royal Highness of the activities undertaken by the centre. His Royal Highness handed over a cheque of NRs. five hundred thousand, provided by the German-Nepal Friendship Association, to the president of the Bachhauli Health Post Management Committee. His Royal Highness also visited the Baghmara Community Forest and inspected the newly constructed four-bed capacity machan.
Visitors: Mr. Dudley E. Spain, Trustee of the King Mahendra United Kingdom Trust (KMUKT), paid a field visit along with Mr. Marcus Cotton, Member of KMUKT, on March 11-13 to gain first-hand information of NCRTC activities in Chitwan. During their stay, they visited all the operational sites of NCRTC in both Bachhauli and Kumrose VDCs.
A six-member conservation officers' team, led by Mr. Gombusuren from the Republic of Mongolia, visited NCRTC for information exchange, particularly on mobilizing the local community in park-impacted areas.
The Hon. Assistant Minister for Communication, Mr. Ram Chandra Kushwaha, visited NCRTC on 7th July.
BCN Evaluation Team: A seven-member BCN (Biodiversity Conservation Network) evaluation team led by the Director of BCN, Mr. Hank Cauley, visited Chitwan from 29th January to 1st February. The team visited the Baghmara Community Plantation and met the UGC members. The team members also participated in the stakeholders' meeting held in NCRTC premises at Sauraha.
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King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation entered into an agreement on December 29, 1995 under which the Central Zoo was taken over by KMTNC. The agreement will remain in force for thirty years and can be extended for another thirty years. KMTNC's objective is to develop the zoo as a wildlife research and a conservation education centre. KMTNC is formulating a Master Plan for zoo development.