The Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichii) is a peculiar
gamebird, endemic to the western Himalayas in the Indian subcontinent including
Nepal. Although the ecology of these birds have been studied in other parts of
its range in Nepal, their status remain largely unknown in the Barekot IBA of
Nepal. The Barekot area in Jajarkot has necessary ecological attributes to
harbor healthy populations of Cheer and surveying this area is critical for
long-term conservation of Cheer.
We administered questionnaire surveys to 300 locals, along
with focus group discussions and key informant interviews in various villages
of four Village Development Committees (VDCs) of the Barekot Area in May-June
2017. Additionally, indirect survey was also carried out by walking along the
trails, to look for signs of the Cheer, such as calls, feathers and nests. The
presence of Cheer was confirmed in various forest patches of all four VDCs of
Barekot. Unfortunately, our findings also suggested serious lack of knowledge
and negative attitude of locals towards Cheers. Locals take Cheers as mere
gamebird and many won’t hesitate to kill these globally threatened species.
Currently we are developing project to promote conservation of
Cheer pheasants and their critical habitats in the Barekot IBA of Nepal Nepal
via application of multitude of communication, education and public awareness
tools/programs. More importantly, we will also integrate activities to
strengthen capacity of local communities to conduct their own monitoring of
Cheer pheasants in their vicinities, and foster community stewardship for
project.
Funding Agencies: National
Trust for Nature Conservation, Biodiversity Conservancy Nepal
Research Team: Ms. Karuna Budhathoki (PI), Mr.
Ashish Bashyal (Co-PI) and Mr. Sandeep Shrestha (Co-PI).
Collaborator: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Kathmandu University
