PROPOSED RAIL AND ROAD PROJECTS THREATEN NEPAL'S CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK
Nepal’s Chitwan National Park, home to some of the world’s largest populations of rhinoceros and tigers, may be in jeopardy due to government plans for a railroad that would cut the park in half and eight new feeder roads that would run through the area. In addition to rhinos and tigers, Chitwan—a UNESCO World Heritage site—has a number of threatened species, including four-horned antelope, sloth bears, Asiatic elephants, and the critically endangered gharial. Environmentalists strongly oppose the proposed plan; according to Hemanta Mishra, a conservationist who played a role in establishing the park, “There is no rationale for building a road or railway through one of the world’s most outstanding and successfully operating national parks.” Alternatives to the plan include constructing a railway that would run around the park or building a tunnel underneath the site, but neither option was pursued in a leaked analysis by the Department of Railways. The Nepalese government has yet to come to a decision regarding the proposed railway. For the full story, see http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0206-hance-chitwan-rail.html.