LIST OF CONTENTS
The Big Cat crisis
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
Assam 3
Elephants translocated to Manas suffer from bug bites
CAG report reveals bungling of Project Tiger Funds in Nameri and Manas
Gujarat 4
Eight lions poached in and around Gir; another 11 die in open wells
Salt makers to resist relocation from the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary
GEER to take up project on Great Indian Bustard
Survey for rationalization of PAs
Jammu & Kashmir 6
Jharkhand 7
Conflict in Dalma over ritual
hunting
Karnataka 7
Proposal for Conservation Reserve
status to Puttenhalli Lake in Bangalore
Kerala 7
State approves hydroelectric project near Silent Valley NP
New tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar
Illegal trekking in Periyar TR
Fires reported in April in Parambikulam WLS, Nelliampathy forests
Crocodile research centre at Neyyar WLS
Madhya Pradesh
9
WII study indicates fall in tiger population in MP
Lesser florican spotted in Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary after 1879
Fires in Melghat and Tadoba Andhari TRs
Manipur 10
KYKL
camp busted in Keibul Lamjao NP
Nagaland 10
Protests against encroachment in Intanki NP
Orissa 10
Management school in way of Chandaka WLS elephants
Forests around two villages in core of Simlipal BR undisturbed: AnSI
Tourism facilities to be developed in Bhitarkanika, Satkosia; tourist influx promotes poaching in Bhitarkanika
Coastal
Community Resource Centre near Bhitarkanika
Turtles fitted
with satellite transmitters
Punjab 13
Proposal for
community reserve for sarus cranes in Gurdaspur district
Rajasthan 13
Watchtowers, close circuit TV for Keoladeo NP to fight fires
Leopard radio telemetry project in Sariska
Tigers to be
reintroduced into Sariska TR
Tamil Nadu 14
Tamil Nadu, Kerala to jointly protect Anaimalais
Uttarakhand 14
Road under-passes for Rajaji elephants
West Bengal 15
Train kills another elephant in Buxa TR
Five elephants found dead in Buxa TR
Rs 10.28 crores
for relocation of villages in Buxa TR unused: CAG report
Serious staff shortage in West Bengal FD
New newsletter on Community Based biodiversity conservation
Planning Commission stops funding for Project Snow
Leopard
Details of
funds released for relocation of villages from Protected Areas
Inter-State Coordination Committees to check poaching
Forestry fund of Rs 3,500 crore unused
TRAFFIC reopens
TigerLink restarted
SOUTH ASIA 19
Nepal
Sonaha community demands rights in RBNP
Increase in Black Necked
Crane, Bar Headed Geese populations in
Working Group on High Elevation
Grasslands
Workshop on Governance and Categories Assessment for
PAs in ASEAN region
UPCOMING 20
Fourth International Conference on Environmental
Education
OPPURTUNITIES 21
Deputy Director for the Corbett Foundation
Oppurtunities with ATREE
Volunteers for Leopard awareness program around SGNP in Mumbai
Director –
Madras Crocodile Bank / Centre for Herpetology
In
the Supreme Court 24
Protected Area Update
Vol. XIII, No. 3, June 2007 (No. 67)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the
editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH,
Email:
psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: www.kalpavriksh.org
Production of PA Update 67 has been supported by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Anand.
The Big Cat Crisis
The Big Cat Crisis comes to us from two directions.
Lions in
There are confirmed reports
of the poaching of eight lions from in and around Gir in the last few months.
The claws and bones of the animals were found missing indicating that the
Asiatic lion too has started to figure in wildlife trade. It is also important
to note that in the last four years another 20 odd of these extremely
endangered cats have fallen to their death into open wells that dot the Gir
landscape in their hundreds. The combined implications can only be considered
ominous. If that was not enough the controversy over moving some lions from
In
the case of the tiger it continues to be an issue of their numbers. As we go to
press there is much anguish being expressed over the fall in numbers of tigers
as reported by the Wildlife Institute of India. Estimates based on a new
counting protocol indicate that tiger numbers could be about half (or even
less) of what were reported in the last census five years ago. Those figures
from some of the main tiger states is rather alarming: In Madhya Pradesh from
over 700 in 2001-02 in to less than 300 now; Maharashtra – from 238 to about
100 now and in Chattisgarh from 227 to only about 30 (the Indravati Tiger
Reserve was not included in the count).
What this can only mean is
that a large number of them have died (many poached) in the intervening period
– if this is not a big crisis, what can it be. It also points out to the huge
inadequacy in the process and attitudes in the earlier methods of counting.
Initial
government responses have been rather characteristic – a combination of denial
and skepticism – a refusal, it seems, to accept the figures that are coming
out. MoEF secretary Dr. Pradipto Ghosh (he has since retired) was reported as
having said that these numbers could not be compared to those from the last
census and that, in fact, there was nothing wrong with the pugmark method.
The
numbers from the counts still perhaps need a final confirmation and validation.
Some correction could still perhaps happen. Yet, it would be difficult to deny
that we have a problem on hand; and that denial would be the most inappropriate
way of dealing with the issue.
A combination of responses
needed is also well known to us…more numbers and better trained/equipped ground
staff, rapid response teams, joint operations with local communities, winning
communities over to conservation rather than making them enemies prone to being
exploited by poachers and hands-off tiger habitats to 'development' projects.
The direction, however, to finding a solution would be to acknowledge and accept that we have a problem in the first place. The rest can be then made to happen.
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
Elephants translocated to Manas suffer from bug
bites
Six elephant calves
translocated to the
The flies are found in Manas in abundance in the dry
season and there is also a shortage of wallows in Manas that could have helped
the elephants from escaping the bites. The elephants had to be drugged by the
authorities to provide them temporary relief.
Insect samples have also
been sent to the
Source:
‘Shifted elephant calves in
Contact: Director,
Manas NP, PO Barpeta Rd. Dist. Barpeta – 781315,
CAG report reveals bungling of Project Tiger Funds
in Nameri and Manas
The latest report of the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of
The report says that the authorities started by
allocating a very small part of the originally proposed sum. The fund allocated
was used in an ad-hoc manner, the tiger census were not carried out properly
(for 2001-02), little was done to remove encroachers, the authorities failed to
keep count of the arms, ammunition and wireless sets provided for tackling
poaching and even the State Board for Wildlife that is headed by the Chief
Minister himself did not meet to monitor and evaluate the implementation.
The CAG noted that of the proposed outlay of Rs. 20.97
crores for 2001-06 for the Manas and Nameri National Parks, the Centre approved
only Rs. 10.59 crores and further that only Rs. 3.30 crore (only 16% of the
original amount) was finally released.
The report pointed out that as per directions of the
Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) funds released by the Centre
for wildlife should reach the field level within six weeks of release and that
the Supreme Court had ordered in 2005 that the money should in fact reach the
field in 15 days time. Yet, in the case of
The Centre then considered the unspent money as savings
at the end of 2003-04 and thus released no funds for the subsequent years for
the two parks.
The report has also noted that 37 firearms out of a total
of 116 in the two parks were missing. As many as 48 arms used by the
authorities had become ‘illegal’ as their licenses had not been renewed. While
the reason cited for the missing arms was that miscreants had snatched them,
the CAG found out that there were no details such as date and place of
snatching, FIR numbers or police investigations to prove the claim. The
accounts related to arms and ammunition maintained by the Field Director of
Manas NP too were found to be incomplete and improper.
Source: Samudra
Gupta Kashyap. ‘
Contact:
Director, Manas TR, see above
Chief Wildlife Warden –
GUJARAT
Eight
lions poached in and around Gir; another 11 die in open wells
Eight lions have been poached in and around the
forests of the
The
Forest Department set up a Special Investigation Team immediately after the
first incident and announced an award of Rs. 50,000 for information that would
lead to the arrest of the poachers. In a breakthrough in the first week of
April a group of 17 people, including 15 women were arrested in the matter.
They had a number of lion claws and poaching tools on them. Those arrested are
believed to be traditional tiger poachers from Itarsi and Katni in Madhya
Pradesh.
Responding
to the situation, the Central Government also constituted a Special Committee
in early April to under take a spot appraisal and report on the matter. The
announcement was made by the National National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The team was constituted of the Regional Deputy Directors (Wildlife) Ms. Meeta
Banerjee, Western Region and Shri Santosh Tiwari, Northern Region. Pramod
Krishnan, Joint Director (Wildlife) was made the Member Convenor.
The Committee was asked to
look into the protection strategy in place for the lions vis-à-vis their
mortality during the last three years (natural/disease/poaching), resource
dependency of local people on the Gir habitat, steps taken towards redressing
park-people conflicts and fostering co-existence and possibility of restorative
management in crucial corridor linkages around Gir. The Committee was given a
month to submit its report.
The Gujarat State Government
too announced a number of measures. These include the creation of the ‘wildlife
crime’ cell in both the Police and Forest Departments, the appointing of ‘Van
Mitras’ for protection work and allocation of Rs. 40 crores for lion
conservation.
It was also reported that
another five lions in the Barbaria range were not being accounted for and the
fear has been expressed that these too would have been poached.
In related developments at
least 11 other lions are reported to have died by falling into the open wells
in and around Gir in the first four months of 2007. (See PA Update Vol.
XI, No. 6).
Source: No
breakthrough in Gir lions’ killings probe’, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/37157.html
Belinda Wright. ‘Tiger poachers behind killing of Gir Lions’, Email dated 08/04/07
‘Constitution of a Committee for
Spot Appraisal of Lions in and around
Prerna Bindra. (Story in The Pioneer), 19/04/07.
Atul Nischal. ‘Another Lioness dead, 19 Asiatic lion have died in
the Gir sanctuary in the past 4 months’, Email dated 15/05/07
Contact: Bharat Pathak, CF (Wildlife) Junagadh,
Sardar Bag, Junagadh,
Kishore Kotecha, Asiatic
Lion Protection Society, 128,
Belinda Wright, Wildlife
Protection Society of
E-mail: wpsi@vsnl.com
Website: www.wpsi-india.org
Salt
makers to resist relocation from the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary
Nearly 43,000 salt makers spread over 107 villages
around the Little Rann of Kutch have decided to resist their relocation from
the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary spread over nearly 5000 sq. kms.
The State Forest Department
has already issued eviction notices but the situation has been complicated by
the fact that the State Government has also provided identity cards to nearly
41,000 of them, certifying them as traditional salt-makers.
The Government traditionally
leased out arid and fallow land for `salt farming' to local individuals as well
as some 20-odd companies. Until 1963-64, this renewable lease for a plot of
five to ten acres was for 10 years and thereafter for five years. But when the
sanctuary was created in the early 70s attempts were made by the State Forest
Department, to acquire the lands. While the companies' lease continued to be
renewed as usual, the individuals' leases were not renewed from 1997 onwards.
The salt-makers were finally issued eviction notices in early 2007.
The Gujarat Chief Minister,
Mr. Narendra Modi is himself reported to have taken up their cause. Addressing
the ‘Agaria Kalyan Sammelan’ in April in village Patdi he assured the
salt-makers that he would fight with the Centre to protect their traditional
rights for salt-making. He also regretted the fact that the issue had cropped
up at a time when the State Government was planning to develop the Navlakhi
Port near the Little Rann of Kutch with a special jetty dedicated for salt
export so as to fetch the best prices for salt-makers' labour.
It has also been pointed out
that the State Government wanted to use satellite communication and modern
technology to make salt-making scientific. It would be introducing special
courses in the ITIs for wards of salt-makers and promote prawn culture to
create job opportunities.
Source: Virendra
Pandit. ‘Salt makers in
Contact: Sanctuary
Suprintendant,
GEER
to take up project on Great Indian Bustard
The Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER)
Foundation has initiated a project to study the habitat status of the Great
Indian Bustard (GIB) in
The main objective of the
project is to gather information on the population of the bird in areas where
sightings have been recently reported. The Gujarat Forest Department and other
NGOs will collaborate in the project that will also use GIS and Remote sensing
systems to locate the birds and their habitat.
The
Director of GEER pointed out that there have been recent reports of the bird
from Velavadar in the Bhal region of Saurashtra and also from the Surendranagar
district. The FD has said they will also search in areas east of Naliya in Bhuj
as also along the Mandvi coastline for the bird.
Source: Shubhlakshmi Shukla. ‘Foundation, forest dept GEERing up to study Great Indian Bustard’, Indian Express, 12/02/07.
Contact: GEER
Foundation,
CWLW - Gujarat, Block 14, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Old Sachivalaya,
Gandhinagar-382010,
HIMACHAL
PRADESH
Survey for rationalization of PAs
A high-level Central team
comprising wildlife experts has recently surveyed the Kugti, Tundah and
Kalatop-Khajjiar Wildlife Sanctuaries (WLSs) to re-demarcate and exclude areas
having human habitation on their fringes. The team also held consultations with
representatives of panchayati raj institutions.
Villagers in these areas
have been demanding exclusion from the boundaries of the PAs for a long time
(see PA Update Vol. XII, No. 3, June 2006). They have pointed out that
they had been unable to protect themselves and their crops from large-scale
depredation from wildlife and that even the construction of houses, roads,
bridges and other developmental activities were impeded in their areas owing to
the stringent provisions of Wildlife Protection Act and Forest Conservation
Act.
Source: Balkrishan Prashar. ‘Wildlife sanctuaries surveyed’, The Tribune, 06/05/07
Contact: Chief
Wildlife Warden, Himachal Pradesh, Talland, Shimla – 171001. Tel:
0177-2624193. Email: Vtandy@gmail.com
Mining inside Limber and Lachipora
WLSs
The
J&K State Department of Geology & Mining has allotted gypsum mining
leases to private parties inside the Limber and Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuaries
in the Baramula district. Some 1400 kanals of land in the area have been leased
out for the purpose. A survey in the area in 2005 had reported
the presence of a good number of musk deer, tragopans and markhor here.
The
State’s
The
miners meanwhile have said that they have done nothing wrong and followed all
procedures laid down by the government.
Source: Mir Ehsan. ‘J&K creates its largest national park,
but allows mining inside’, The Indian Express, 16/04/07.
Contact: Wildlife Warden North,
Incharge – Lachipora and Limber WLSs, C/o CWLW, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, Tourist Reception Centre
(TRC),
JHARKHAND
Conflict in Dalma over ritual hunting
Like in the earlier years
there was conflict and tension between the Forest Department (FD) at the Dalma
Wildlife Sanctuary and tribals here over the latter’s intention to conduct
their ritual hunting called Sendra in the local parlance. The tribals
have decided to fight for their ‘rights’ to save their ‘tradition’ under the
aegis of the, Dalmaburu Sendra Samity (DSS).
This year, the tribal chiefs here met on April 14 decided
to conduct the ritual hunt on April 30. Accordingly, hundreds of tribal youth
from Jharkhand and the adjoining states of Orissa and
The DSS has pointed out that the tribals are being
targeted and being prevented from conducting their traditional activities while
a number of other activities that are detrimental to the forests and wildlife
are continuing unhindered. They have pointed out in particular to the stone
crushing units operating at the foothills of the Dalma range.
FD officials have also
pointed out that the ritual hunting was subdued this time because of
clandestine interventions of Maoist extremists, who are reported to have
threatened the tribals with harm if they killed innocent animals. The FD also
says that their ongoing efforts to educate the tribal community against the
mass killing has started to pay off. The FD has also conveyed to the DSS that
they are ready to share the bulk of the cost of the ceremony and organise a
huge feast for the tribals on the day the chiefs select to observe Sendra.
(Also see PA Updates 55, 50 & 25)
Source:
‘Dalma tribals up in arms against Forest Department’, The Statesman,
04/05/07.
Contact: Divisional
Forest Officer, Dalma WLS, Wildlife Division,
Proposal
for Conservation Reserve status to
The Karnataka Forest Department (FD) has proposed to
declare the
Earlier the lake was under
the Lake Development Authority (LDA) and was listed for development for
commercial purposes under the Public-Private Partnership Model. The FD is now
said to have written to the state government to withdraw the lake from the LDA
list and hand it over to them for conservation purposes.
Source:
Chief Wildlife Warden - Karnataka, 2nd Floor, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore
KERALA
State approves hydroelectric project near Silent
Valley NP
The
The project envisages a 64.5 meter high dam with a storage
capacity of 0.872 million cum and a power generation capacity of 70 mw. The dam
is to come up on the River Kunthi, which flows through the national park.
Environmentalists have expressed serious concern about
the dam and its impact on the forests and wildlife of the park. Many say the
project will be as damaging at the Silent Valley Hydro-Electric project (SVHEP)
that had been called off due to protests in the 1980s.
It has also been pointed out that a detailed Environment
Impact Assessment (EIA) has not been conducted for the project and that there
has been stiff resistance to the project after a public hearing in 2004.
The Kerala State Electricity Board, which is promoting
the project says that the fears are unfounded and that the project will submerge
only 22 hectares of forests whereas as SVHEP would have submerged 830 hectares.
(Also see PA Updates Vol.
XII, Nos. 2 & 5)
Source:
M Suchitra. ‘Disputed project’, Down to Earth, 31/05/07.
Contact: Wildlife
Warden, Silent Valley NP, Forest
Department, Mannarghat
River Research Centre,
Kerala. Email: rrckerala@gmail.com
Ramachandran
Balachandran. Email:
rbalachan@gmail.com
New
tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar
The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) will introduce a new
tiger monitoring protocol by which monitoring of tigers will become a daily
affair. Under the protocol, an integrated effort involving camera traps,
observation of pugmarks, reading of direct tiger sighting using the Global
Positioning System (GPS) and monitoring of the prey base of tigers will be made
to keep track of the big cat.
The PTR has recently
procured 40 camera traps for the purpose of which ten have already been
installed.
A tiger monitoring team
comprising 12 tribal youths belonging to the Mannan, Paliya and Ooralis
communities have also been trained in installing camera traps and using the
GPS.
Source: KS Sudhi. ‘New Tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar’, The Hindu, 09/04/07.
Contact: Contact:
Field Director, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Aranya Bhavan,
Illegal
trekking in Periyar TR
The Forest Department has reported illegal trekking
operations by tour operators in the tourism zone of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
It has also been suggested that these trekkers are the cause of most of the
recent fires that have been reported in the grasslands in the region.
In an incident reported in
April, a group comprising 19 foreigners and six guides were rounded up. While
the tourists were let off, the guides were fined.
Source: KS Sudhi. ‘New Tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar’, The Hindu, 09/04/07.
Fires reported in April in Parambikulam WLS,
Nelliampathy forests
Hundreds of acres of forests
and plantations were destroyed by forest fires in April in the Parambikulam
Wildlife Sanctuary and at
The fire in the Thuthumpara
area of the Parambikulam WLS was put out by about 100 labourers of Thuthampara
Estate of Poab's Group and the forest firewatchers under the Nemmara Forest
Division.
One of the reasons for the
fires is said to be the lack of pre-monsoon showers in the area, which has been
experiencing an unprecedented drought this year. Temperatures had shot up to 36
deg. Celcius while the normal range here is 14-26 degrees. The region also
received only four mm of rain in the January and nothing after that.
Forest Department (FD)
officials said that the fires were started because of the negligence on part of
those who go to collect forest produce and honey. They also alleged that some
of the retrenched forest firewatchers were behind the fires and that one person
had also been arrested in this connection.
As part of the measures to
prevent fires, the FD is reported to have spent Rs.10 lakh for anti-fire
measures in the Nemmara division. Daily wage firewatchers whose services were
terminated in March were also taken back
Estate owners in the area
have held the FD responsible for the fires. They have alleged that there is no
proper management and fire and wind belts were not being maintained properly.
The fires have also led to a large number of wild animals including elephant,
wild pig, gaur and deer from entering plantations and causing extensive damage.
It has also been pointed out that increased tourism activity was aggravating
the problem.
Source:
G Prabhakaran. ‘Fire engulfs Parambikulam, Nelliampathy forests’, The Hindu,
09/04/07.
Contact: Wildlife
Warden, Parambikulam Division, P.O. Thunacadavu (Via) Pollachi Dist.
Palakkad-678661. Tel: 04253-267233
Crocodile
research centre at Neyyar WLS
The Kerala Forest Minister recently inaugurated the
‘Steve Irwin
Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre’ at the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Centre has been created in the memory of the popular conservationist and TV
personality who died recently.
A crocodile farm already
exists at the Neyyar WLS. It had been set up in 1977 under the crocodile
protection scheme of the Centre and is home to 44 muggers or marsh crocodiles.
Source: ‘Minister to inaugurate crocodile research centre’, The Hindu, 15/05/07
Contact: Asst. Wildlife Warden, Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, P.O. Neyyar Dam, Dist. Thiruvananthapuram – 695013. Kerala. Tel: 0471-2360762.
Chief Wildlife Warden – Kerala, Vazhudacaud, Trivandrum
MADHYA PRADESH
WII
study indicates fall in tiger population in MP
Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India
(WII) using a new methodology indicate fall in tiger numbers in Madhya Pradesh.
This was indicated at a presentation made by the Dr. YV Jhala at the recent
Global Tiger Forum’s International Tiger Symposium in
It
has been suggested that tiger numbers in the state are fewer than 300, a figure
that is less than half the 710 enumerated in the last census. Of these 110-144
tigers were reported from the Kanha-Pench corridor while 40-45 tigers were
reported in the Satpura corridor. The Bandavgarh Panna corridor is believed to
have no more than 50-55 tigers. Besides this, the only other population of the
big cat is west of the
The
first phase of this enumeration exercise was conducted in January 2006. The
method involves several stages - use of camera traps, testing of DNA samples
and mapping tiger density using GIS. It includes scanning of the landscapes for
carnivore signs like pug marks, scratches, and scats and also recording signs
of herbivore presence.
Source: Prerna Bindra. ‘Tiger population goes down in MP’, The Pioneer, 24/04/07.
Contact: Field
Director,
CWLW, MP, Van Bhawan, Tulsi
Nagar,
Lesser
florican spotted in Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary after 1879
A Lesser Florican was seen in the grasslands of the
Great Indian Bustard (GIB) Sanctuary in Solapur district for the first time
since 1879.
The
sub-adult bird was rescued by a young shepherd, Bandu Bhise, as it was being
chased by dogs. He took the bird to his school teacher who informed local
foresters.
The
shepherd boy was honoured by the Forest Department with a citation.
The
incident is being considered an important positive outcome of the recent initiative
of the FD here to educate people in the region of the grassland birds like the
GIB.
Source: ‘Endangered bird spotted’, Maharashtra Herald.
Contact: CF
Wildlife, Pune Division,
Fires
in Melghat and Tadoba Andhari TRs
Large-scale fires and related damage were reported
to forests in the Melghat and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserves in the month of
April.
Fires
were reported in five compartments in the Jamni beat under Khatoda in Tadoba in
early April followed by more fires in Compartments 112, 111 and 113. The total
area affected in Tadoba Andhari was 111 hectares, while that in Melghat was 62
hectares.
Source: ‘Fresh
fires in tiger reserves’, The Times of
Contact: Field
Director, Melghat Tiger Reserve,
PCCF (Wildlife). Dr. Ambedkar Bhawan, MECL Bldg. Seminary
Hills & Campus,
KYKL camp busted in Keibul
Lamjao NP
A camp of the proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lupkykl (KYKL), an underground group in Manipur was busted inside the
The underground activists who were camping at an overgrown spot located
4km from Keibul Sagram fired at the advancing troops at around 5am leading to
exchange of heavy firing from both sides. After the firing ceased they were
reported to have abandoned their camp and fled.
No casualties, however, were reported on either side or to the
endangered Sangai, the brow-antlered deer that is found here.
Source: AR busts KYKL hideout’, The Sangai Express,
24/03/07.
Contact: Salam
Rajesh, Sagolband Salam, Leikai. PO: Imphal-1, Manipur. Tel:
0385-222395. Email: salamrajesh@rediffmail.com; salraj_imp@yahoo.com; salraj_imp@yahoo.com
Protests
against encroachment in Intanki NP
Students and villagers of the Zeliangrong Naga tribe
recently demonstrated before the Nagaland Assembly demanding removal of
encroachers from
The demonstrators, who had
assembled under the aegis of All Zeliangrong Students’
They also demanded eviction
of encroachers from the Dhansiripar sub-division, in Dimapur district,
asserting that the encroached land traditionally belonged to the Zeliangrong
community.
Source: ‘Protests
against Nagaland sanctuary encroachment’, The
Contact: ACF, C/o Wildlife Warden, Wildlife Warden Office, P.O. Dimapur. Dist. Dimapur, Nagaland. Tel: 03862-29340
Management
school in way of Chandaka WLS elephants
Environmentalists have expressed concern that the
powerful mast lights from a management institute built newly on the southern
side of the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary is likely to disorient the sanctuary’s
elephant population.
The
The elephants of Chandaka
WLS regularly move out of the sanctuary since they follow age-old migration
paths to nearby forests of Bharatpur and Daspur and it is feared that the
institute and the lighting will further increase human – elephant conflict,
which is already very severe in the area
(Also see PA Updates Vol XIII, No. 1; Vol XI,
No. 4; and Nos. 49, 46, 41, 39, 34, 32 & 29.)
Source: Prabuddha Jagadeb. ‘Wildlife glare on B school’, The Telegraph, 21/04/07.
Contact: DFO,
Chandaka WLS, SFTRI Campus, Ghatikia, P.O. Barmunda Colony,
Biswajit Mohanty, Wildlife
Society of Orissa, Shantikunj,
Forests around two villages in core
of Simlipal BR undisturbed: AnSI
A study
conducted by the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) has said that the
ecology of the forests around two villages inside the core of the Simlipal
Biosphere Reserve remains undisturbed. The two villages in question are Jamuna
and Jenabil. The study also says that forests around two other villages –
Kabatghai and Bakua showed moderate disturbance.
The conclusions have been made based
on a Disturbance Index (DI) study conducted by the AnSI. The DI has been calculated as the percentage
of damaged trees to the total number of trees per 2000 square metres (20
quadrates of 10 m x 10m). It was estimated to be below 20 percent in Jamuna and
Jenabil villages while it was 22.28 percent and 23.86 percent in Kabatghai and
Bakua respectively.
The AnSI researchers found
308 normal trees in their demarcated study area in Jamuna and Jenabil villages,
against which 54 were marked damaged. In case of the other two villages, 277
normal trees were noticed but 83 were found to be damaged
The AnSI has also worked out
a `Diversity Index' around the four core villages. Calculation was based on the
number of tree species available in given area to the total tree population.
Source: Satyasundar Barik.
‘Ecology around two core villages in SBR intact’, The Hindu, 30/04/07.
Contact:
Director, Simlipal Tiger Reserve, P.O. Baripada,
Dist. Mayurbhanj – 757002, Orissa. Tel:
06792-252593(O), 252773(R) Fax: 256705
Tourism
facilities to be developed in Bhitarkanika, Satkosia; tourist influx promotes
poaching in Bhitarkanika
The Orissa State Government has earmarked Rs. 12
crore for construction related work in the Bhitarkanika and Satkosia Wildlife
Sanctuaries for the promotion of tourism. The projects are being supported by
the Centre, the state government and some private parties.
Activities
proposed include the construction of several watch towers, log and bamboo
cottages and other related amenities for tourists.
The initiatives in these two
sanctuaries are in addition to the Rs 10 crore eco-tourism project that has
been initiated at the Similpal National Park (see PA Update Vol XII, No.
6).
Other reports indicate that
there is a clear linkage between tourist influx to Bhitarkanika and an increase
in poaching here. This is borne out by custodial confessions made by some
people arrested in connection with wildlife offences in Bhitarkanika. A man
arrested with a poached spotted deer here said that he had killed the animal as
per an “order” placed by a group of unidentified visitors. He had bribed lower
ranked forest staff who had allowed him to go-ahead.
Alleged connivance of forest
personnel with poachers has come to light in the wake of turtle meat seizure in
the Bhadrak’s - Chandballi belt of the state.
The Forest Department has
said that the poaching incidents are not on account of failure protection or
patrolling on their behalf. The crux of the problem in Bhitarkanika, according
to them, is that the fast disappearing mangroves that has led to shrinkage of
the deer’s habitat forcing them into adjoining fields and making them
vulnerable.
It has been reported that
venison can be procured in the region for Rs. 30-40 a kg while it is Rs 40-50
per kg in the case of wild boar meat. Mutton on the contrary is far more
expensive at Rs. 130 per kg. The explanation as per local people is that goats
need to be bought for the mutton, while deer and wild boar can easily be
poached.
Source: ‘Tourism delivers fatal twist to poaching saga’, The Statesman, 05/04/07.
‘Facilities for Orissa sanctuaries’, The Statesman, 07/04/07.
Contact: Divisional
DFO, Bhitarkanika NP, At/PO Rajnagar, Dist.
Kendrapada – 745225. Orissa. Tel: 06729-72460/64. Fax: 06727-20775.
Coastal Community Resource Centre near Bhitarkanika NP
The Sandhan Foundation of
The Center's objective is to
educate the local population about the importance of wise management of the
mangrove forest, both for their own health, protection from the effects of
climate change, and for sustainable development. The CCRC is working to provide
alternatives to exploitation of the mangrove forest. This includes research
into alternative crops and firewood able to grow in saline conditions,
aquaculture in tidal ponds outside the sanctuary, collection of cow-patties or
the purchase of biomass/solar cooking equipment as an alternative to mangrove
wood and leaves, green fencing and increased education and development of
artistry to provide flexible sources of income and increase human capital.
The Center also serves as a
rest house for scientists and tourists as part of promotion of ecotourism to
the region, providing the local people with yet another possible source of
income, as well as increasing the demand for a well-developed transportation
network.
Contact:
Bijay Kumar Nanda, Sandhan Foundation, D/62, Block 11, Jaydev Vihar,
Turtles
fitted with satellite transmitters
The Wildlife Institute of
India (WII) and the Orissa Forest Department have initiated a project as part
of which Olive Ridley Turtles visiting the Orissa Coast are being fitted with
satellite transmitters or the Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTT). Seven
turtles were fitted with the PTTs at the nesting site of Rushikulya in March
followed by eight the following month on the beach at
It
is hoped the project will provide clues on the movement of the turtles and the
routes they take. The PTTs were fitted as part of a three-year study funded by
the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The Ministry has provided Rs 3.5
crore to the WII to fit satellite transmitters on 70 turtles in Orissa.
Source: Rajesh Behera. ‘Transmitter terminals to keep track of Ridley turtles’, The Pioneer, 03/04/07.
CWLW– Orissa, Plot No. 8, Shahid Nagar, Bhubaneshwar – 751007, Orissa. Tel: 0674- 2512502 / 2513134 / 2515840. Fax: 512502
Proposal
for community reserve for sarus cranes in Gurdaspur district
The Punjab Forest Department has said that it has
been working for the last one year to finalise a proposal for the setting up of
the Keshopur-Miani Community Reserve for the Sarus Crane in the Gurdaspur
District and that a number of meetings have been held with the villagers for
the purpose. The bird was
believed to have become extinct as a breeding bird in the state and the move to
create the reserve here is a result of increased presence of the Sarus Crane in
the Nangal area in the state and also in the Gurdaspur district.
Source: Vishal
Gulati. ‘Sarus Crane population on the rise in
Contact: Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, SC No. 2463-64,Sector 22-C, Chandigarh - 160022.Tel: 0172-2705828(O), 2675661(R). Fax: 2705828
Watchtowers,
close circuit TV for Keoladeo NP to fight fires
The Rajasthan Forest Minister has announced the
setting of 10 watchtowers and the installation of close circuit television in
the
The
watchtowers would have a provision for water tanks, fire fighting equipment and
trained staff to deal with any eventuality in case of fire.
Source: ‘Watch towers to battle Bharatpur fires’, The Statesman, 23/04/07.
Contact: Director, Keoladeo NP, Bharatpur- 321 001 Rajasthan. Tel: 05644-22777(O), 22824(R). Fax: 05644-22864
Leopard
radio telemetry project in Sariska
A project to study leopards with the help of
radio-telemetry is being initiated in the Sariska Tiger Reserve. The five year
project to be started in June 2007 will involve 12 leopards: four adult males,
four females and four cubs.
It
is hoped that the project will reveal important information about leopard
behaviour, their eating habits and movement patterns.
According to the wildlife
census in 2004, the leopard population in Rajasthan was around 550. Sawai
Madhopur district tops the list with approximately 83 leopards. Other districts
having leopard populations are Pali, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Sirohi, Karauli,
Alwar, Jaipur,
Source: ‘Sariska
tigers to have collar ids’,
Contact: Director, Sariska Tiger Reserve, Sariska, Alwar – 301022, Rajasthan. Tel: 0144-41333 (O)
Tigers
to be reintroduced into Sariska TR
A decision appears to have
been taken for the re-introduction of tigers into the Sariska Tiger Reserve.
IUCN guidelines are to be followed in the introduction of five young adult
tigers - three females and two males – who will be introduced here from the
The first tigress
could be brought into the reserve by the end of 2007 and will be monitored for
a month before a male is introduced. The remaining three will then be
introduced over the next two years.
If the population
adapts and breeds, two batches of two to three tigers will be brought in every
three years as experts say restocking is essential to maintain genetic and
demographic viability of the population.
The introduced
tigers will be fitted with radio collars with a satellite tracking facility and
there will be a team of around 12 forest officers as well as wildlife
researchers constantly monitoring the animals.
Officials and conservationists have
said villages inside the Reserve need to be moved out to ensure the successful
introduction of tigers in Sariska as local people resort to tree-felling for
fuel wood, bring in cattle into the park for grazing and are also often hired
by poachers to kill tigers.
There are plans
for the relocation of the 11 villages inside the reserve though only two are
reported to have agreed to the move.
(Also see PA
Updates Vol XII, No. 4 and Nos. 57, 56, 55 & 50).
Source:
Nita Bhalla. ‘
Contact: Director, Sariska TR, See above.
Dr. Rajesh Gopal, Director,
Project Tiger Annexe No.5,
Email:
dirpt-r@hub.nic.in
CWLW Government of Rajasthan, Van Bhavan, Vaniki Path, JAIPUR - 302 005. Tel: 0141-2380832 / 2540531. Fax: 2380496/ 2380832
Tamil Nadu, Kerala to jointly protect Anaimalais
Senior forest officials from
Tamil Nadu and Kerala met in the month of March at Top Slip in the Indira
Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary to work out a joint mechanism for the protection of
the forests of the Anaimalais.
The meeting was held after a gap of three years. The
officers exchanged a range of information including maps of anti-poaching
camps, details of vulnerable areas and routes, lists of habitual offenders and
their photographs and the settlements where they are likely to be found.
Those participating in the meeting included Conservators
of Forests, PC Tyagi (
The next meeting has been scheduled for Munnar in the
month of June.
Source: M Gunasekaran. ‘Tamil Nadu, Kerala join hands to protect Anaimalais’, The Hindu, 14/03/07.
Contact: Wildlife Warden, Indira Gandhi WLS, 178,
Road under-passes for Rajaji
elephants
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) which
is the process of four – laning the
At
least two elevated road sections of about 850 meters each will be constructed
in the seven km long Chilla Motichur section allowing for elephants to continue
using their traditional movement routes.
Source: Anubhuti Vishnoi. NHAI offers simple solution for mammoth problem’, The Indian Express, 20/05/07.
Contact: Director,
Rajaji NP, 5/1 Ansari Marg, Dehradun – 248001, Uttaranchal. Tel: 0135-2621669
Fax: 2621669
CWLW, 5,
Chandrabani, Mohobewala, Dehradun, Uttaranchal. Tel: 0135- 2644691
Train
kills another elephant in Buxa TR
An adult elephant was killed by a speeding train
near the Atiabari Tea Estate level crossing in the Buxa Tiger Reserve in the
month of April.
The
collision occurred at 4.40 am on April 11. The elephant was stuck to the
train’s undercarriage and was dragged for about 50 metres before the train came
to a halt.
This
is the seventh pachyderm that has been killed in similar circumstances ever
since the stretch between Siliguri and Alipurdar underwent gauge conversion
four years ago (see PA Updates Vol XII, No. 3, and Nos. 49, 47, 43, 39,
36, 34, 32 & 29).
All
the animals have been killed at the four spots on the railway route identified
as being sensitive and where the High Court has ordered that trains move at a
reduced speed. Another significant change in this context has been the increase
in the number of trains running on this route. There were only five pairs of
trains here before the guage conversion; now it is 30.
Source: ‘Train kills another elephant’, The Statesman, 12/04/07.
Contact: Field
Director, Buxa Tiger Reserve, P.O. Alipurduar, Dist. Jalpaiguri - 736 122.
Five
elephants found dead in Buxa TR
Five elephants: two adults, a sub-adult and two
calves were found dead on the banks of the River Raidak in the Newland Forest
Area of the Buxa Tiger Reserve in the first week of May. This is the first time
that so many elephants were found dead in the area.
Source: ‘Five elephants found dead in
Rs 10.28 crores for relocation of villages in Buxa
TR unused: CAG report
The report of the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ending March 2006
has pointed out that the West Bengal Forest Department (FD) had failed to use
the Rs. 10.28 crore allocated to it for the relocation of villages from inside
the Buxa TR. It also noted that the matter was not even included in any of the
FD’s Annual Plans of Operations for 2000-05 and that during the period 2001-03,
the FD only relocated Bhutia Busty which had a population of 415.
According to the CAG report 5300 people live within the
core area of Buxa Tiger Reserve and another 10,700 people live in surrounding
areas.
The CAG has also observed
that 335 hectares of forestland had long been encroached upon by private orange
orchards, that no survey was conducted till January 2006 to identify
encroachments in the PA and that a huge cattle population in the fringe
villages has also led to extensive illegal grazing in the reserve.
Source:
Shaheen Parshad. ‘Buxa Tiger Reserve failed to relocate human settlement, says
CAG report’, The Indian Express, 16/04/07.
Contact: Director Buxa TR, see above
DFO, Wildlife (II),
The Bahadurpur forest, near
the Bethuadahari Wildlife Sanctuary in Nadia district is to be developed for
the purpose of attracting more tourists here. The Nadia Zilla Parishad recently
handed over Rs 50 lakh to the district forest department for the purpose.
A proposal for the same had been sent a few years ago to
the Central Government but there was no response, prompting the local
administration to push the initiative with money from its rural development
funds.
The
specific plans include the construction of a watch tower along with a
three-storeyed rest room building, release of deer and peacocks that have been
rescued from various places and treating this forest area as a rescue centre. A
water sports complex is being proposed at the Hanshadanga Beel that is adjacent
to the Bahadurpur forest.
Source: ‘Nadia’s very own jungle safari soon’, The Statesman, 07/05/07.
Contact: Divisional
Serious staff shortage in
Serious staff
shortage has been reported in the West Bengal Forest Department (FD) giving
rise to fears of increase in poaching and illegal tree felling. There
are said to be 1,053 vacancies for the post of forest guards. 126 posts of the
231 Head Forest Guards remain empty, 320 are vacant for the Deputy Ranger out
of the required 1,277 while Forest Rangers face a paucity of 115 personnel out
of 580 sanctioned posts. FD officials have blamed the state government for the
present state of affairs saying that forest protection is not on the
government’s priority list.
A recent report of the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has also highlighted
deficiencies in patrolling in the state’s tiger reserves. The report states:
‘There was vacancy in the posts of Head Forest Guards (HFGs) and Forest Guards
(FGs) to the extent of 54 and 20 % in Sunderban and Buxa respectively. The
shortage of patrolling staff at Buxa Tiger Reserve was reported to be 63%.
A large number of staff were found to over-age as per the
guidelines recommended by the Wildlife Institute of India. 49 out of 59 FGs and
HFGs in Sunderban were found to be above 35 years, while in Buxa, 204 out of a
total 209 FGs and HFGs were found to be above the age of 35 years.
The report also points out that in the Sunderbans there
is no record on the duration of daily patrolling between 2000 and 2005. Further
in 10 out of the 13 ranges of the Buxa Tiger Reserve, patrolling was done only
for eight hours a day. The exact status of patrolling could not be obtained in
the remaining three ranges because no records were maintained.
Source: Suchetana Haldar. ‘
Contact:
CWLW, Vikas Bhawan, North Block,
New newsletter on Community Based biodiversity
conservation
A new bilingual newsletter on Community based biodiversity conservation titled Communities and Conservation (English) and Samuday aur Sanrakshan (Hindi) has been launched by Kalpavriksh with financial support from Misereor.
Contact:
Erica Taraporewala, C/o Kalpavriksh, at the editorial address.
Email:
kvoutreach@gmail.com
Planning Commission stops funding for Project Snow Leopard
Various initiatives under Project Snow
Leopard (PSL) are likely to be affected as the Planning Commission (PC) has
decided not to allocate any money to the Project for 2007-08. This is an
outcome of the process undertaken by the PC to revamp the allocation process
under the 11th Five-Year Plan for the Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF).
The
five states of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and
Arunachal Pradesh where the Project is operational are worried that PSL may not
get any direct allocation but a discretionary sum from a general fund. The
Steering Committee of PSL has suggested that a certain percentage of the
overall fund be earmarked for PSL.
The
State Governments, meanwhile, plan to utilise some funds from sources meant for
national parks and sanctuaries to tide over the financial vacuum created this
year. They have also requested the Centre to look at allocating some money from
other heads to tide over the financial squeeze.
Source: Nitin Sethi. ‘Snow Leopard project stalled’, The
Times of India, 13/05/07.
Details of funds released for relocation of villages
from Protected Areas
The table below gives the
state-wise details on release of funds for relocation of villages under
Beneficiary Oriented Tribal Development, Project Tiger and Development of
National Parks and Sanctuaries Schemes.
Details of Funds released (Rs in Lakhs)
|
Sl. No. |
Year |
MP |
Kar. |
Mah. |
Ori. |
Raj. |
Utrk- hnd |
|
1. |
1997-98 |
45.00 |
25.00 |
- |
40.00 |
- |
- |
|
2. |
1998-99 |
350.00 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
3. |
1999-2000 |
201.08 |
68.50 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
4. |
2000-01 |
200.00 |
64.65 |
46 |
- |
- |
- |
|
5. |
2001-02 |
300.00 |
100.00 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
6. |
2002-03 |
210.00 |
300.00 |
400 |
- |
145.92 |
- |
|
7. |
2003-04 |
374.00 |
283.00 |
- |
81.00 |
- |
- |
|
8. |
2004-05 |
- |
150.00 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
9. |
2005-06 |
175 |
77.00 |
17. |
- |
80.0 |
110.20 |
|
10. |
2006-07 |
230 |
58.80 |
- |
- |
- |
|
During the 9th
plan funds were released under the Beneficiary Oriented Tribal Development
Scheme while in the 10th plan it was under the Project Tiger and
Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries Scheme.
The information was recently provided by the Minister of
State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Shri Namo Narain Meena in a
written reply to question by Shri Vijay Darda and Smt. Syeda Anwara Taimur in
the Rajya Sabha. It has also been pointed out that till the 9th plan
103 villages have been relocated from various protected areas.
Source:
‘Relocation of existing habitations’, Press Release, Ministry of Environment
and Forests, 16/03/07.
Inter-State Coordination Committees to check poaching
Inter State Coordination Committees have been
constituted to periodically review poaching problems along sensitive borders in
six states having tiger reserves / protected areas. These include the
Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan and the Palpur Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary
in M.P, the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, Mudumalai Wildlife
Sanctuary/National Park in Tamilnadu and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala
and the Pench Tiger Reserve in
The Committees
will be comprised of the Field Director, Tiger Reserve / Director, National
Park / Sanctuary in the area; Deputy Directors of the PAs; Superintendent of
Police / SSP in the region; and the Regional Deputy Director, MoEF who will be
the Member Convener
The Committee is scheduled to meet once every three months and
will work on various aspects related to poaching. This includes exchanging
information on major poaching cases/seizures; working out strategies for
networking and day to day exchange of information at the field level;
preparation of crime dossiers of regular offenders along with photo Ids;
organizing sensitization workshops as well as capacity building programmes for
successful prosecution of wildlife cases; organizing collaborative border
patrolling / tracking of offenders and suggesting strategies for rehabilitation
/ involvement of traditional hunting tribes / communities in the area for
eliciting their support towards conservation.
Source: ‘Formation of inter state coordination committee for anti-poaching strategy’, MoEF Press Release, 15/05/07.
Dr BR Ramesh, Director of Research in the Ecology Department,
Institute of
Dr. Ramesh has
contributed greatly to the application of new technologies for conservation.
His vegetation maps of the
The 4th Khoshoo
Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan
Research Foundation. The ceremony was presided over by Dr. Jairam Ramesh,
Minister of State for Commerce, Govt. of India.
The Khoshoo Memorial Endowment Fund was set up by the
Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology in the memory of Dr TN
Khoshoo.
Previous awardees include elephant specialist and Director
of the Bangalore-based Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre and
Professor, CES, IISc Dr. R Sukumar (2004); Founder Trustee of Utthan and well
known environmental activist Ms. Nafisa Barot (2005); Director of HESCO Dr.
Anil P. Joshi (2005); and, Dr. Anupam Mishra of Gandhi Peace Foundation (2006).
Source:
TN Khoshoo Award 2007 for Dr. BR Ramesh, http://www.atree.org/index.php
Forestry fund of Rs 3,500 crore unused
A sum of about Rs 3,500
crore meant specifically for forestry and wildlife preservation is reported to
have accumulated in the kitty of the Central Government since 2004 and is lying
unspent. The main reason is that the government has not been able to finalise
the procedure to use it despite repeated Supreme Court orders.
The Supreme Court had in
2002 ordered the collection of this fund. It had also ordered the creation of
the Compensatory Afforestation, Management and Planning Agency (CAMPA) (see PA
Updates 54, 53 & 49) which was to collect compensation at the rate of
Rs 5.8 lakh to Rs 8.2 lakh per hectare of forest land diverted for development
projects like dams or irrigation projects. The sum was to be kept out of the
Consolidated Fund of India to ensure that it was not diverted for other
purposes and was spent only on afforestation and conservation efforts on the
basis of plans submitted by states where the diversion occurred.
It has been pointed out that
the interest on the now unspent amount would add up to more than the entire
annual Central plan for forestry, if one were to leave aside foreign-funded
projects.
Source:
Nitin Sethi. ‘Forestry fund of Rs. 3,500 crore unused’, The Times of India,
04/05/07.
TRAFFIC
reopens
TRAFFIC – the wildlife trade
monitoring network, a joint program of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and
the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has re-established its office in
In India TRAFFIC will undertake in-depth research, assist
lawmakers and collaborate with the government and like minded people as well as
organizations to ensure that illegal trade in wildlife and its detrimental
effects are not a threat to conservation. It
will be headed by Sameer Sinha, an IFS officer.
Source:
‘TRAFFIC reopens’, Tigerlink
TigerLink
restarted
The popular newsletter
‘TigerLink’ published by the Ranthambhore Foundation has been restarted after
three years. The newsletter is now compiled and edited by Prerna Bindra.
Contact:
Prerna Bindra. Ranthambhore Foundation, RZ-1, Bhawani Kunj, (First
Floor), Behind D2 Vasant Kunj,
NEPAL
Sonaha
community demands rights in Royal Bardia NP
The first national conference of Sonahas, a tribal
community living around the forests of the Royal Bardia National Park (RBNP)
was held in Rajipur,
A list of 12 demands were put forth at the end of
the conference. These include:
Guarantee of unhindered access to the river within
and beyond the RBNP; Traditional rights of Sonahas over forests and rivers;
Unrestricted access to fallen firewood, wild vegetables, grass and other
non-timber forest produce; Compensation for the loss caused by wild animals and
Restructuring of protected area management in Nepal
Source: ‘First National Conference of Tribal Sonaha’, People and Protected Areas, Issue 1, March 2007
Contact: CDO,
Sahayog Marg – 91/71, Anamnagar,
Increase in Black Necked Crane, Bar Headed Geese populations in
A survey carried out in January 2007
by the Tibet
Plateau Institute of Biology and the International Crane Foundation has
reported a significant increase in the number of Black Necked Cranes and Bar
Headed Geese in
The
number of Black Necked Cranes reported was 6900 which is 3000 more than what
was recorded in 1992. Similarly, the survey reported nearly 32000 geese, a
number more than double of what was reported 15 years ago.
The main reason for this
increase in numbers is said to be the creation of the Yarlung Zangbo River
Middle Reaches Black-necked Crane Nature Reserve along with better wildlife
protection by the Tibet Forestry Department and increased public awareness.
Over 76 percent of the cranes and 48 percent of the geese were found within
boundaries of the new nature reserve.
Source: ‘Black
necked crane thrives in
Working Group on High Elevation
Grasslands
A Working
Group on High Elevation Grasslands is being established under the World
Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)’s Grasslands Protected Areas Task Force.
For details contact
Bill
Henwood.
Email: bill.henwood@pc.gc.ca
Workshop on Governance and Categories
Assessment for PAs in ASEAN region
A four day ‘Capacity
Building Workshop on Governance and Categories Assessment’ was held from April
23-27 in Sahab as part of the 2nd ASEAN Heritage Parks Conference and 4th
Regional Conference on Protected Areas in
Through group exercises
(including mapping), presentations and discussions, the workshop went into
great detail on how the PA systems in each of the 10 countries of the region
covered the IUCN - PA categories and the Governance types, and what the key
gaps were.
Follow up actions discussed
include initiation of surveys to identify Community Conserved Areas and PPAs,
assessing laws/policies to see how these can be built into the PA system, and
reviewing the progress of implementation of the CBD Programme of Work on
Protected Areas.
Key recommendations from the
workshop went into the final Action Plan of the Conference, which ASEAN as a
forum will consider for implementation.
Source: Ashish Kothari. Email dated 06/05/07.
Contact: Cristi
Nozawa (BirdLife, and also WCPA vice-chair for
Ashish Kothari, C/o
Kalpavriksh at the editorial address. Email: ashishkothari@vsnl.com
Fourth
International Conference on Environmental Education
The Fourth International
Conference on Environmental Education (EE) with the theme "Environmental
Education towards a Sustainable Future - Partners for the Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development" is to be held at the Centre for Environment
Education (CEE), Ahmedabad from 26 to 28 November 2007. UNESCO and the Government of India are co-sponsors of the Conference.
The
Conference will look at understanding what has emerged out of the discipline of
EE since the first conference that was held in
The conference hopes to bring
together 1500 participants from all over the world, representing a variety of stakeholder
groups including government officials from
Contact: Conference Secretariat.
Email: tbilisiplus30@ceeindia.org
Web: www.tbilisiplus30.org
Deputy
Director for the Corbett Foundation
The Corbett Foundation (TCF) needs a Deputy Director
to head its field operation in Dhikuli, Uttarakhand. Duties will include
managing, enhancing and fine-tuning projects and programmes, and managing
relationships with stakeholders in Corbett Tiger Reserve / National Park. The
candidate should have worked in a managerial capacity before, heading up a team
of people in the field.
A track record of work with
NGOs in rural/wilderness areas, especially those with an environmental mandate
- would be a plus. Good working knowledge of Hindi (reading/writing/speaking)
is essential.
TCF runs a range of
programmes including health services and outreach, and compensation for livestock
killed by tigers/leopards outside the legal limits of the National Park and
Tiger Reserve.
Contact: The Chairman, TCF.
Email: khatau@pacific.net.sg;
gracie@varunship.com.
Web: http://www.corbettfoundation.org/
Oppurtunities with ATREE
The Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the
Environment (ATREE) has advertised the following openings as part of its various
programs:
1) Research Associate,
The Research Associate will coordinate ongoing work
on agro-forestry and related activities under ATREE’s Conservation and
Livelihood Programme (C&LP). The position will be based at the ATREE field
station at the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. Candidates should hold a
graduate or post-graduate degree and 1-2 years field experience in
agroforestry, organic farming and community livelihood issues. Fluency in
Kannada is required. Computer skills would be an advantage.
2) Fellow in Environmental
Governance
The fellow is expected to build and lead a programme
in policy and environmental governance, and contribute to the development of
ATREE's Center for Conservation, Governance and Policy and an interdisciplinary
doctoral program in conservation science. The candidate must have experience in
policy analysis and an interest in catalyzing meaningful exchange and action
among government, non-government, and corporate sector institutions involved in
environmental governance. Applicants are expected to have a doctorate in social
sciences though candidates with a Masters degree and substantial research and
professional experience will also be considered.
This position is endowed with
a grant from the Arghyam Foundation and is based at
Contact: Director,
ATREE, 659, 5th `A' Main Road Hebbal,
3) Conservation Education (Program officer): This is a position based in
Contact: Kalpana
Prassana.
Email: kalpana@atree.org
4) Positions at ATREE's Coastal and Marine
Programme:
ATREE’s Coastal and Marine Programme,
(http://www.atree.org/cmp.html) has invited applications for the following
positions in two projects.
UNDP Post-Tsunami Environmental Initiative (www.ptei-india.org)
a) Research Associate in Natural Sciences: Applications are sought
for the position of a Research Associate (RA) in the natural sciences. The RA
will assist in the execution of the natural sciences component of the project
and will be expected to additionally assist the Project Head and other project
staff in the execution of the overall project.
The duration of the
assignment is until September 2008. The candidate could subsequently be
considered for a research position within the Coastal Programme
Contact: Dr. Kartik Shanker.
Email: kshanker@ces.iisc.ernet.in
b) Research Associate: Sociology:
The applicant should have a Masters degree in any of
the social sciences, particularly sociology, anthropology or social work. The
position is for the project duration (till September 2008).
Candidates
with experience on working with coastal communities would be preferable.
Candidates should possess good writing and communication skills and knowledge
of the Tamil, Malayalam or Telugu will be beneficial. Candidates from the
fishing community are encouraged to apply.
Contact: Sudarshan Rodriguez.
E-mail: sudarshanr@yahoo.com
c) Research Associate: Policy:
The applicant should have a Masters degree in any of
the social sciences, preferably a degree in law or subjects related to policy
studies especially public policy. Persons with an LLB and demonstrable research
experience may also apply. The position is for the project duration (till
September 2008).
Candidates
for the policy position should have a keen interest in legal theory, public
policy studies or policy analysis. Knowledge of Tamil, Malayalam or Telugu will
be beneficial. Candidates from the fishing community are encouraged to apply
Contact: Aarthi Sridhar. Email: aarthisridhar@yahoo.co.uk
d) Associate Hydrologist:
The Coastal and Marine Programme at ATREE is looking
for suitable candidates for the post of a Associate Hydrologist to work on the
UNDP-Post Tsunami Initiative project that will assess the impacts of upstream
land-cover change and reservoir impoundments on coastal and estuarine
ecosystems in Tamil Nadu and
The
candidate is expected to have:
A Bachelor's or Master's degree in
Science/Engineering/ Agriculture with a hydrology component; an aptitude for
field and laboratory work with a working knowledge of Tamil besides English;
familiarity with basic hydrologic principles, instrumentation and water quality
sampling; knowledge of basic data processing and graphing using Excel and
aptitude for learning new data processing software
Contact: Dr. Jagdish Krishnaswamy. Email: jagdish.krishnaswamy@gmail.com
Volunteers for Leopard
awareness program around SGNP in Mumbai
The
City Forest Project under the Conservation Department of the Bombay Natural History
Society (BNHS) and the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) authorities have
undertaken an initiative to reduce human-leopard conflict in SGNP. The project
is being undertaken under the Monsoon Protection Strategy declared by Project
Tiger.
The Plan of action includes interactions with the local communities and
creation and display of banners highlighting some of the key points for
explanation.
The project that will run from mid
June 2007 to late November 2007 is seeking volunteers to help with its
implementation.
Contact:
Director – Madras Crocodile
Bank
The
Madras Crocodile Bank / Centre for Herpetology (MCB/CFH) has advertised for the
position of Director – Administration and Development
The candidate should have a minimum of 5 years experience in an
administrative post, preferably with experience in the direction and
functioning of a non-government organization, including project proposal
drafting, communication with local and international funding agencies,
networking with students, scientists, potential funders and the general public.
While knowledge of reptiles/wildlife is not essential, the candidate should
have a genuine interest in learning about the field.
Partial
list of activities and responsibilities of the Director:
1.
Overall direction of the day-to-day activities at MCB/CFH along with the
Projects Coordinator and Curator and fulfilling set targets.
2.
Fundraising/drafting project proposals for funding MCB/CFH development,
research, educational, conservation activities.
3.
Work with staff, trustees, Zoo Consultant, architect and engineer on
development and execution of the new Masterplan for the total revamping of the
Croc Bank.
4.
Networking with other NGOs, reptile parks/zoos, students, scientists and
colleagues of MCB/CFH.
5.
Facilitate continuous publicity via all forms of public and electronic media
and interact with the visiting public.
Applicants
should send their complete CV, photograph, an informal statement of their
interest in the position and at least three reference letters (with contact
details) from persons who know them and their work.
A hard copy application marked ‘For
Director’s Post’ should be sent to:
Trustee Madras Crocodile Bank Trust Post Bag 4 Mamallapuram – 603104, Tamil Nadu Email: mcbt@vsnl.net.
Tel: Phone: (91)(0)44 2747 2447
Pilgrimages
in PAs
That's an interesting point you raise in the
editorial Pilgrims and PAs (PA Update Vol XIII, No. 2, April 2007)
regarding educating pilgrims about wilderness. In
Likewise, there is very
little being done for all the tourists who visit the national parks. Kaziranga
clocks a few lakh visitors every year - but what is being done to educate these
people? I had mentioned this to the earlier Forest Minister of Assam during the
Kaziranga Centenary panel discussion on the park's future, and quite a few
people came up saying they were willing to contribute to educating visitors.
Unfortunately the whole initiative seems to have disappeared into thin air.
There
has to be a paradigm shift in environmental education in the state, if not in
most parts of the country. We all know that this is the future, but I feel most
NGO efforts in this field are myopic - their standard procedure of having
"workshops" and "awareness camps" - don't keep the long
term vision in mind. Education efforts need to be sustained over a period. If
you ask me, the most successful educationists in modern Indian history have
been the missionaries. Where is the zeal?
- Maan Barua
Email: maanbarua@gmail.com
Thank you for the Protected Area Update, which is
packed with information as usual. The issue of pilgrims and pilgrim sites that
you have raised in the Editorial is very pertinent.
- Sumi Krishna.
Email: sumi_krishna2002@yahoo.com