Mr. Chairperson,

Hon. Minister for Forests and Environment,

Hon. Chief Minister, Province 3,

Hon. Parliament Members,

Distinguished Guests and participants,

Media Persons,

Ladies and Gentlemen !

First of all, it gives me great pleasure to be here with you at this Unique historic gathering. Please allow me to extend my warm welcome to all of you here in Nepal and this is one of the most tourist destinations here in Sauraha. I express my sincere thanks to the International Ranger Federation (IRF) for choosing Nepal to organize this event and the Ministry of Forests and Environment for hosting this event and inviting me as the chief guest to address this auspicious gathering.

Distinguished participants,

I am delighted to inform this eminent gathering that Nepal has very historic and tremendous political changes and created an atmosphere of political stability. I think that you may have well infor

med about the very unique and homegrown peace process and Constituent Assembly and declaration of Federal Democratic Republic. All these tremendous political changes have created very conducive and favorable atmosphere for the political stability, economic development and prosperity of this country. One of the big condition for attending prosperity and happiness is “People live in harmony with nature”.

Nature is our life and lifeline. We cannot live without nature. Therefore, we do not have a choice. We must save nature to save ourselves and to create an atmosphere for our future generation.

Nepal has a long history of forest and biodiversity conservation. Community Forestry Program and Protected Areas Management Systems in Nepal are a few successful examples in nature conservation that we can showcase to the international communities. We have established protected areas covering nearly 24% of its total landmass. Over one-third of our population is engaged in the management environment for hosting event and sustainable utilization of forest resources through community forestry. We are making concerted efforts on conservation of biological diversity, to a large extent, contributed to conserve biodiversity by directly involving local communities, by developing national policies and strategies and through various institutional arrangements to act jointly at the global, regional and national level. We have enhanced our conservation initiatives by strengthening cooperation with neighboring countries, and forming South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network for a coordinated regional response to combat illegal wildlife poaching and trafficking.

Despite this fact, forests and biodiversity conservation has been facing a number of threats and challenges these days . As populations grow around the globe, physical infrastructure and rapid economic development has been taking place, leading to putting pressure on forests and biological resources. While development is a pressing need, striking a balance between conservation and development is challenging. The increasing trend of Human-wildlife conflict is another challenge, posing a serious threat to co-existence between people and nature. This is the stark reality on the ground which needs serious consideration at national, regional and global level.

Environmental crime particularly poaching and the illegal trade of wildlife and forest products is expanding at trans-national levels, and posing a challenge to law enforcement authorities.

The adverse effects of climate change particularly climate induced disaster has devastating effects to all species, ecosystems and biodiversity at large. May it be in the Himalayas or in the Africa or South America, negative impact of climate change has been increasingly realized which has severe implications on ecological resilience and community livelihoods.

To address the challenges that we are facing in forest and biodiversity conservation, I request you all participants, rangers, experts, managers, researchers and policy makers to share your noble experiences, best practices and research outcomes, and contribute to our mission of nature conservation, no matter which nationality you are, where you work, and what position you hold.

We need to invest on developing the capacity of our front line staff members, and indigenous and local communities in resource conservation and getting fair and equitable benefit from the use of biological resources, on which their livelihood depends. In doing so, we need adequate financial resources.

I do hope that the congress will provide a platform for rangers and conservationists to share their knowledge, create networks and partnerships and build capacity through a cross pollination of ideas, techniques and best practice of conservation initiatives that have been tested across the globe.

I would be most happy if you suggest us a way forward for future course of action for the days ahead. I also believe that it is high time for us to work collectively in saving mother earth for generations to come.

Let’s do not harm to nature, but use the nature wisely so that people can protect nature, and nature protects people.

Distinguish participants,

The Government of Nepal has announced VISIT NEPAL 2020 and therefore I ask you all to enjoy Nepali nature and culture and recommend your family and friends to visit Nepal in 2020 to experience a lifetime adventure.

There are so many National Parks and so many historic places all of you know, birth place of Lord Buddha Lumbini and highest peak of the world Sagarmatha all lies in Nepal.

Finally, I wish a grand success of this 9th World Ranger Congress.

Thank you all for your kind attention !

I wish a pleasant, fruitful and Joyful stay here in Nepal.

Thank You !

(Opening Remarks of Former Prime-Minister Hon. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on 9th World Ranger Congress-12 November 2019, Sauraha, Chitwan)