KATHMANDU: Nepal has begun its fifth national tiger census, a nationwide effort to estimate the country’s growing population of the endangered big cat across national parks, wildlife reserves and adjoining forest areas.

The census will be officially launched on Monday at Kasara, the headquarters of Chitwan National Park. Conducted using scientific camera-trapping methods, the exercise is expected to produce preliminary results by March, with the final findings to be made public on World Tiger Day, 29 July 2026.

The survey area has been divided into three major conservation complexes: Chitwan–Parsa, Banke–Bardiya and Shuklaphanta–Laljhadi. Around 2,300 automatic camera traps will be installed across an estimated 8,400 square kilometers of known tiger habitat.

Each two-by-two square kilometer area will be treated as a grid, with a pair of cameras placed to ensure full photographic coverage of individual tigers, officials said. More than 250 trained personnel will be mobilized for the fieldwork.

According to Chitwan National Park Information Officer Avinash Thapa Magar, training for participants will take place at Kasara on Poush 1 and 2, with field deployment beginning from Poush 3. Park chief Dr Ganesh Pant said the census has an estimated budget of Rs 25 million.

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation is leading the operation, with financial and technical support from partner organizations including the National Trust for Nature Conservation, WWF and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Nepal has been internationally recognized for its success in tiger conservation. Previous censuses recorded 121 tigers in 2009, 198 in 2013, 235 in 2018 and 355 in 2022, a steady rise that has positioned the country as a global conservation model.