T
he World Wildlife Fund (USA) is positive about Nepal: “How Nepal Got to Zero Poaching. Nepal, the small Himalayan country that likens itself to a yam caught between two stones with China to the north and India to the south, has been able to achieve 365 days of zero poaching twice: in 2011 for rhinos, and for 12 months ending February 2014, for rhinos, tigers and elephants”.
The question is whether this message contains the real truth, because the characteristic of poachers is that they operate in the deepest secret, sometimes with the knowledge of ‘authorities’ – and ‘what does not know that does not matter’ is just as much a proverb in Nepal as with us. But still … good news. Just like the recent report that the number of tigers in India has doubled. But here too a warning finger needs to be levied: the better you count (and the bigger the bonus on successful nature management), the more you will find.
