The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Impact report of the proposed Sagu Khola Hydroelectric Project in Dolakha district states that a Fishing Cat was sighted during the field survey. This sighting would have been brilliant news for wildlife enthusiasts. If it was true.
The Fishing Cat actually prefers slow moving rivers and stagnant lakes in the Tarai with an abundance of fish, making it highly unlikely for the cat to be living in the mountains of Dolakha.
The West Seti Hydropower Project has been in the works for 20 years, and it never got built. But its EIA states that 140 bird species were observed in the project area inwestern Nepal, including the endangered yellow-cheeked tit.
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Again, this should have made headlines if the bird was actually sighted there. Except the yellow-cheeked tit is found specifically in eastern part of the country with no documented sighting ever west of the Arun River.
Nepal’s most grandiose infrastructure project is the proposed $6.7 billion Nijgad International Airport An EIA of the project located in the Tarai in 2018 was found to have copy-pasted entire paragraphs from a hydropower project in the mountains.
The Nijgad EIA says that the project site at 200m above sea level is the habitat for two species of pika Ochotons sp and Naemorhaedus goral when those are species found in the high mountains.
The EIA also mentions two species of langur found in the project area: common langur and langur monkey with the same scientific name Presbytis entellus. Actually this zoological name is not used, and the species is called Semnopithecus entellus and is only found in India. The langur species found in the project area should have been Semnopithecus hector, or the Tarai grey langur.
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Furthermore, the assessment claims to have also recorded wild cat Felis lybica ornata and jungle cat Felis chaus. Yet, the wild cat has never been spotted in Nepal before. The report also uses the Nepali ‘Hapsilo’ for jungle cat, which is in fact the name for rock eagle owl Bubo bubo.
These inconsistencies have put the reliability of the conclusions of the Nijgad EIA as well as all other EIAs in Nepal into serious doubt. At this rate, we will be recording snow leopards in the Chitwan and cobra in Tso Rolpa.
In fact, the EIA reports have even gone as far as to record species not found in Nepal at all. The environmental assessment of the Isuwa Cascade Hydropower Project in Sankhuwasabha district in the mountains of northeast Nepal says the project area saying the pangolins in the area have the scientific name Salacca zalacca, which is actually a species of palm tree found in Indonesia. The report has also recorded Mustela nivalis, a type of weasel never found in Nepal before, and the Lesser florican, a grassland bird species found in the Tarai.
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The assessment of the Kabeli Hydropower Project has listed rhesus macaque as a vulnerable species while completely ignoring the threat to the Chinese pangolin, the world’s most poached mammal that is found in the area.
If we are to believe the EIA report of Solu Dudh Kosi hydropower project, Indian pangolins are found at high altitudes near Mt Everest, when in fact they have been reported only in a few lowland districts.
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These mistakes would have been laughable if they were not so serious. They show not just a fundamental deficiency in zoological knowledge, but a reckless disregard for the importance of EIAs in ensuring minimal environmental damage in Nepal’s infrastructure projects. Careful assessments help build a solid base for preventive and mitigation measures.
This throws the entire credibility of the EIA process in doubt, and shows that the reports are seen just a formality and those doing the study do not value the importance of their work in protecting Nepal’s biodiversity.
Yadav Ghimirey is a conservation biologist affiliated with Friends of Nature.
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