Nepal’s environment ministry working on plan to allow ropeway and cable cars in protected areas

Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment is preparing to allow the construction of ropeways inside protected areas of the country, a draft of a proposed regulation seen by Mongabay suggests.

Ropeways, which carry cable cars, are not permitted in protected areas such as national parks under current laws. But the proposed National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Regulations show the government plans to allow their construction if it eases travel for people and goods to and from religious or tourist sites, provided no other viable public transportation options exist or if a ropeway is deemed more environmentally friendly and wildlife-friendly compared to alternative transport methods.

“We are yet to finalise the finer details of the regulation,” Bed Kumar Dhakal, spokesperson for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told Mongabay. He denied that a draft was already being finalizsd. However, a government source showed Mongabay a draft of the document, which also contains a provision to allow hotels and resorts back into national parks such as Chitwan, home to iconic wildlife such as tigers and rhinos.

Talks of the draft regulation come a few months after Nepal’s government recently issued a controversial new directive allowing the construction of large-scale hydropower plants inside the country’s protected areas, despite opposition from conservationists....

Read more