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It’s been 15 years since the endangered Bankariya tribe moved to a forest area in Manahari Rural Municipality in Makawanpur district.

The government had granted this traditionally nomadic tribe the permission to live there for 20 years. It had also promised to build them concrete houses if they left their nomadic lifestyle and settled at a place.

The Bankariya people accepted the government’s offer and they set up their community at Musedhap, which was part of a leasehold forest at the time. But the government’s promise of concrete houses never came to pass. The 20-year tenure to live on the land is due to expire in five years, and the community still has no permanent homes.

“Over the years, we have made several requests to the government and its agencies to allow us to settle here permanently and provide us land title documents. In return, we have received assurances,” says Kanchhimaya Bankariya, one of the community members.

Without land titles, the Bankariya families have also been deprived of the house building grant announced as part of the People’s Housing Program.

Dhruba Khadka, a local government official, says the budget allocated to fund the Bankariya housing project could not be distributed for two consecutive years as the beneficiary families did not have land documents.  

“Without the land titles, we cannot build homes or apply for loans,” says Shyam Bankariya, who dreams of living in a concrete house and starting his own business.

The community’s trouble has only exacerbated after the Parsa National Park authority annexed the forest area where they are living. Manoj Shah, the park’s warden, says they will be bound by the law to vacate the occupied area once the tenure expires. “They will have to relocate unless the council of ministers decides otherwise,” he says.

Meanwhile, Bishnu Dahal of National Land Commission says that the agency is working to address the concerns of the Bankariya community. “We are preparing to distribute them land titles as per their demand. As for the issue over the national park, it can be settled through talks and coordination among the agencies concerned.”

Janga Bahadur Gurung of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities says there are only 87 Bankariya people in the country, making them one of the most endangered ethnic groups.

“The government should protect the Bankariyas by providing them permanent homes,” he says. “Failing to do so means risking the extinction of this endangered group and its culture.”    

Nepal logged 2, 401new Covid-19 cases and 14 deaths on Wednesday. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 10,368 swab samples were tested today, of which 2,401 tested positive. 

The Ministry said that 7,777 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 1, 017 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 890 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 102 in Lalitpur and 25 in Bhaktapur.

The European Union is pushing for a global deal aimed at preventing new pandemics that could include a ban on wildlife markets and incentives for countries to report new viruses or variants, an EU official told Reuters, Reuters reported.

International negotiators will meet for the first time on Wednesday to prepare talks for a potential treaty, said the official, who is not authorised to speak to media and so declined to be named.

The aim is to reach a preliminary agreement by August.

However, Brussels has so far struggled to get full backing for a new treaty from the United States and other major countries, some of which want any agreement to be non-binding.

A spokesperson for Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who in November 2020 proposed a new treaty on pandemics, said he had no fresh comment on the matter.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the most widely accepted theory, the COVID-19 pandemic began with the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from an animal to humans in a wildlife market in China.

Although Beijing was initially praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for notifying it quickly of the new virus, the United States in particular has accused China of holding back information about the likely origins of the outbreak.

Among measures the EU wants to be included in the treaty is a gradual shutdown of wildlife markets, the EU official said.

Incentives for countries to report new viruses are also seen as crucial to help with speedy detection and avoid cover-ups.

Last year, southern African nations were hit with punishing flight restrictions after they identified the Omicron coronavirus variant, which some fear could deter reporting of future outbreaks if incentives are not attractive enough.

VACCINES FOR VIRUS ALERTS

The official said incentives could include guaranteed access to medicines and vaccines developed against new viruses, which poorer nations have struggled to obtain quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic as wealthier states rushed to secure supplies.

States that detect and report a new virus could also receive immediate support, which might involve shipments of medical equipment from a global stockpile.

Talks will involve delegates from six countries, representing the world’s main regions – Japan, the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand, officials said.

Brazil, which will represent northern and southern American countries, favours a non-binding treaty.

The EU, which will be represented by the Netherlands, wants to introduce legally-binding obligations to prevent and report new virus outbreaks, an EU document seen by Reuters says.

If an agreement is reached, the treaty is expected to be signed in May 2024.

As part of an overhaul of global health rules, countries are also negotiating tweaks to the International Health Regulations, a set of global rules to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The United States wants to strengthen rules to boost transparency and grant the WHO quick access to outbreak sites, two sources following the discussions told Reuters.

As many as 16 cameras installed for the tiger census have reportedly been stolen from the Banke and Bardiya National Parks.

Similarly, six have been damaged by elephants, according to the National Trust for Nature Conservation, Bardiya Chief Rabin Kadariya.

This has affected the census. Nine cameras were stolen from Block ‘1’ followed by four each from Block 2' and ‘3’, he said. The cost of cameras is Rs 40,000 each.

The first and second blocks entirely stretch through the Bardiya National Park while the third block covers parts of both national parks and the fourth block totally lies in the Banke National Park.  Tentatively, the cameras were installed for around 15 months at certain locations to track the possible movement of wild animals.

Kadariya said those visiting the park areas to collect fodder and poachers might have taken away the census gadgets.

So far, the census has been over at the first and second blocks and it is underway at the third and fourth blocks, Banke National Park Chief Conservation Officer Shyam Kumar Shah said. 

The census based on camera trapping methods began some two months ago (December 15, 2021). “While assessing the recorded movements of tigers, we expect a rise in its population this time,” Shah added.  RSS