Dear Friends,
Below is the list of contents and editorial from the new issue of the Protected Area Update (Vol. XVII, No. 6, December 2011).
If you would like to receive the entire issue as an attachment, please write to me.
thanks
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 6
December 2011 (No. 94)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
A rich and diverse menu
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS
- Navy proposes missile testing on Tillongchang WLS; NBWL to inspect site
ANDHRA PRADESH
- Opposition to road inside Kambalakonda WLS
- More than 90 tigers at Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- NBWL sub-committee to study impact of Demwe Lower on Kamlang WLS
ASSAM
- Villagers in Khalingduar Reserve Forest, adjoining Bornadi WLS perform Ganesh puja to keep jumbos at bay
- Dam projects to impact Dibru-Saikhowa NP; public hearing postponed indefinitely
- Home guards, casual workers protecting PAs not paid for seven months; quitting posts
- Kaziranga NP opens to tourists four days before schedule
- Two Malinoises (Belgian shepherd dogs) for anti-poaching operations at Kaziranga NP
GOA
- Centre asks Goa to cancel nod to mines within 10 km radius of PAs
GUJARAT
- Maldharis threaten agitation against eviction from Gir
- Forest officer transferred for stopping lion shows in Gir; challenges transfer order
HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Sainj power project threatens Great Himalayan NP
JAMMU & KASHMIR
- Hangul population on the rise
- Wildlife awareness camp conducted near Sudhmahadev Conservation Reserve
JHARKHAND
- Elephant bridges to be built over canals in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary
- Mushroom cultivation project initiated near Hazaribagh WLS
KARNATAKA
- Greater Talacauvery NP opposed as it may displace more than two lakh people
- Nagarhole guards allege intimidation by kin of senior police official; threaten strike
- Extension of Bisile Reserve Forest range for creation of elephant corridor meets opposition
- More speed barriers on highways inside Bandipur National Park
- Move to restore night traffic through Bandipur Tiger Reserve
- Community forest rights for Soligas in the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary
KERALA
- 45 frog species sighted in Shendurney WLS
- Ornithological survey of Malabar records 341 species
- 10 year, Rs. 58.8 crore tiger conservation plan for Parambikulam TR
MADHYA PRADESH
- 25 tribal women to be trained as wildlife guides in Kanha TR
MAHARASHTRA
- Farmers, villagers oppose Sahyadri Tiger Reserve
MANIPUR
- Climate change threatens Keibul Lamjao NP
MEGHALAYA
- Meghalaya claims 47 tigers in state: seeks detailed tiger survey
ORISSA
- Crocodile attack leads to ban on collection of nalia grass from Bhitarkanika NP
- Housing projects coming up adjacent to Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary
RAJASTHAN
- FD to train Sariska TR villagers in wildlife protection
- Rs 5 crore, 5 year ‘Project Panther’ adjoining Kumbhalgarh WLS
- Water from Ajan Bund released for Keoladeo NP
SIKKIM
- FD’s GPS mappings helped pilots in earthquake relief in Dzongu
TAMIL NADU
- Sathyamangalam WLS expanded to 1410 sq kms
WEST BENGAL
- Elephant calf killed by a train inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary
- State to get Rs 400 crore loan from JICA for wildlife conservation
- Honey bees, chilli crackers to scare away elephants in North Bengal
- Domestic elephant shelter in Jaldapara not safe from wild elephants
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- Genetics helping to trace tiger poaching
- RBS Awards for wildlife conservation
SOUTH ASIA
- Simultaneous tiger estimation in Manas across Indian, Bhutanese border
NEPAL
- Invasive climber poses threat to Chitwan NP
SRI LANKA
- UNESCO seeks report on the alleged road through Sinharaja forests
- Kodigahakanda forest to be declared a wildlife sanctuary
UPCOMING
- National Conference on Biodiversity Assessment, Conservation and Utilisation
OPPURTUNITIES
- Openings with FERAL for work in the Western Ghats
IN THE SUPREME COURT
READERS WRITE
PERSPECTIVE
- When students discuss conservation science
EDITORIAL
- A rich and diverse menu -
It is only a subjective assessment, but one can say with confidence that the PA Update this time has one of the most richly diverse set of stories that have appeared within the covers of one single issue of this bimonthly. The issue covers a period of about three months prior to its publication and yet one sees the range and diversity of subjects that wildlife conservation in India deals with. Many of these issues have been regularly covered in earlier editions of the PA Update, but what is striking this time is so many of them coming together in the way they have.
There are stories from areas that have never been reported on before such as the Tillongchang Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nicobar Islands and the Sudhmahadev Conservation Reserve in J&K. The last few weeks have, for example, also seen the death of one elephant calf each in a train accident (again!) in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and in a road accident in Bandipur National Park (NP). While the Karnataka Forest Department is planning more speed breakers on roads inside the park to prevent speeding vehicles, the Kerala government and the Centre are seeking to revoke the ban on night traffic in Bandipur imposed to prevent, precisely these kinds of accidents. In Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, we have a situation where an NGO is opposing road construction inside Kambalakonda WLS for fear that it will increase encroachments inside.
The plight of field staff in protected areas is seen again in Assam and also in the Nagarhole NP. Home Guards who are the frontline of protection have been deserting their posts in Assam in huge numbers because they’ve not been paid salaries for more than seven months. In Nagarhole they’ve been forced to threaten a strike because they are being intimidated by police and their kin because they are merely performing their duties. In Gujarat the Maldhari community is protesting moves to evict them from the Gir NP, while in a significant first in the Biligiri Rangan Temple WLS in Karnataka the Soliga tribals have been granted community forest rights under the provision of the Forest Rights Act. There is what might otherwise be called the quirky kind of news too – the domestic elephant shelter in Mahananda WLS not being safe from raids by wild elephants, villagers in the vicinity of Bornadi WLS in Assam performing Ganesh puja to keep the wild pachyderms at bay and Kaziranga NP being opened to tourists four days before schedule because of pressure from the tourists.
There is good news as well – a reported increase in the population of the hangul in Kashmir and two encouraging results from surveys in Kerala – one on birds, the other on frogs. The most unexpectedly pleasant report however is one from Sikkim – GIS mapping done by the FD including that for PAs and wildlife conservation played a key role in helping helicopters of Army and other missions to locate, reach and then provide relief to remote communities that had been cut off due to the devastating earthquake of September 18, earlier this year.
All of this is evidence, if any is needed indeed, that there is much much more to conservation in India than the obsession with certain charismatic species or certain issues, be it poaching or relocation of communities from protected areas. These too are important but if we are not aware of and don’t deal with this complexity and diversity, the solutions will never be found. There are also huge opportunities here for researchers, academics, policy makers, the media, and all the others who care about the fate of India’s wild wealth.
---
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 6, December 2011 (No. 94)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria;
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar;
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Peeyush Sekhsaria
Produced by:
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
---
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Protected Area Update - October 2011
Dear Friends,
Below is the list of contents and editorial of the new issue of the Protected Area Update (Vol XVII, No. 5, October 2011, (No. 93). If you would like to receive the entire newsletter in its soft copy form, please write to me. Please also do forward to others who might be interested in the Update.
Back issues of the PA Update can be accessed from www.kalpavriksh.org
I would also like to take this opportunity of requesting readers and well-wishers to support the PA Update through donations and subscriptions. All help, big or small is much appreciated and very welcome.
thanks
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 5
October 2011 (No. 93)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Giving the fruit bat it’s due
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
GUJARAT
- Lesser Florican population declines in Gujarat
- FD to clear lantana from Gir
- Gujarat clears 17 proposals allowing commercial activities near protected areas
- Eco-sensitive zone around the Kutch Bustard Sanctuary
JHARKHAND
- Special protection force for Palamau TR; no arms to be provided
KARNATAKA
- No more private vehicles in PAs in Karnataka
- GO passed for Aghanashini Lion-Tailed Macaque Conservation Reserve
KERALA
- KFRI studies human-elephant conflict in Kerala
MADHYA PRADESH
- Adani’s power plant near Pench TR opposed
MAHARASHTRA
- Rules for Tiger Conservation Foundations approved in Maharashtra
- NTCA seeks minor changes in TCP for Tadoba-Andhari TR
- Large scale promotion of IFS officers in Maharashtra
- SC clears denotification of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
- Maharashtra to set up task force for bustard conservation
- 200 acres from Sanjay Gandhi NP for zoo
- Leopard movement to be studied at SGNP to help deal with human-animal conflict
- A number of proposed dams in Thane district to impact Tansa WLS
MEGHALAYA
- Survey on Western Hoolock Gibbon in Garo Hills
- Garo Hills Conservation Award 2011
ORISSA
- Gahirmatha fisherfolk need to be involved in turtle conservation: Study
PUNJAB
- Punjab to compensate snake-bite victims
RAJASTHAN
- Officials reluctant to take charge at Sariska TR
SIKKIM
- Hydro-power projects approved close to the Kanchenjungha National Park; local communities object
TAMIL NADU
- Construction work threatens Annamalaicheri flamingo habitat in Pulicat
- Proposal to declare Pallikaranai marsh a Ramsar site
UTTARAKHAND
- Uttarakhand opposes eco-sensitive zone along Bhagirathi river
UTTAR PRADESH
- First elephant reserve in Uttar Pradesh
- 95% of UP’s Sarus cranes outside PAs
WEST BENGAL
- Jaldapara WLS has at least three tigers
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- WCCB bags award for excellence in environmental crime enforcement
- New Tiger Reserves
- Ganges River Dolphin conservation education programme
- Cabinet committee approves reintroduction of cheetahs, more funds for Project Tiger
- Plea to remove vermin status for fruit bats
- Decline in the vulture population in the Nilgiri BR
SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH
- Bangladesh to implement Taka 276 crore plan for tiger conservation
BHUTAN
- Bhutan gets US $ 2.25 million from the World Bank for wildlife conservation
NEPAL
- Proposal to allow hunting in the Kanchanjunga Conservation Reserve
- Gharial number rises in Nepal
SRI LANKA
- Government denies reports of elephant translocation from Hambantota to host Commonwealth Games
UPCOMING
- Small mammals field techniques training
OPPURTUNITIES
- Call for proposals: Herpetological Conservation Research Fund
- Openings in the WWF Andhra Pradesh State Office
- Call for applications: Whitley Awards 2012
IN THE SUPREME COURT
Protected Area Network in India
Latest number of PAs in India
PERSPECTIVE
Environment in the Marathi Press: Notes from a young freelance journalist
EDITORIAL
Giving the fruit bat it’s due
Wildlife conservation in India, our wildlife conservation laws and policies are certainly not short of anachronisms of various kinds. One that stands out most prominently is the status accorded to fruit bats – that of vermin in the schedules of the Wild Life Protection Act (WLPA) since it’s inception in 1972.
It is indicative not only of our anthropocentric attitude (any thing causing economic or other damage to humans is to be exterminated), it also betrays an unacceptable ignorance of the actual role these creatures play in nature. It has been believed for long that fruit bats cause considerable damage to horticultural crops, but research over the years has shown that they actually do more good than harm. 10 of the 13 species of fruit bats live only in forests and do not visit fruit orchards where they might cause any damage. They play a very important role in pollination and seed dispersal and are a vital cog in the forest regeneration mechanism. A couple of them are, in fact, even endangered and have been included in IUCN’s red data list.
That it is not known beyond the small circle of bat enthusiasts that the United Nations has declared this as the ‘Year of the Bat’ is indicative of how much (or little) concern there is for these creatures. It is also only fitting, then, that this group of bat conservationists has launched an effort to set the record straight and get the situation corrected (see National Stories from India in this issue of the PA Update). More than a year ago, prominent bat experts associated with the IUCN had written to the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) pointing out that India is the only country in the world where the fruit bat is considered a vermin and had requested for this to be changed. The editorial of the latest issue of Small Mammal Mail, a newsletter dedicated to the ‘most useful but most neglected small mammals’ (www.zooreach.org) like bats and rodents has also made an impassioned plea to rid rodents and bats of the vermin tag. It notes that the relevant government agencies have been addressed on numerous occasions in the matter, but nothing has come of it.
This is, indeed, unfortunate and it’s high time that this much maligned but hugely useful and harmless creature is given it’s due. The least we can do is desist from blaming it for damage it is not responsible for!
---
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 5, October 2011 (No. 93)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
Donations from a number of individual supporters.
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
Below is the list of contents and editorial of the new issue of the Protected Area Update (Vol XVII, No. 5, October 2011, (No. 93). If you would like to receive the entire newsletter in its soft copy form, please write to me. Please also do forward to others who might be interested in the Update.
Back issues of the PA Update can be accessed from www.kalpavriksh.org
I would also like to take this opportunity of requesting readers and well-wishers to support the PA Update through donations and subscriptions. All help, big or small is much appreciated and very welcome.
thanks
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 5
October 2011 (No. 93)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Giving the fruit bat it’s due
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
GUJARAT
- Lesser Florican population declines in Gujarat
- FD to clear lantana from Gir
- Gujarat clears 17 proposals allowing commercial activities near protected areas
- Eco-sensitive zone around the Kutch Bustard Sanctuary
JHARKHAND
- Special protection force for Palamau TR; no arms to be provided
KARNATAKA
- No more private vehicles in PAs in Karnataka
- GO passed for Aghanashini Lion-Tailed Macaque Conservation Reserve
KERALA
- KFRI studies human-elephant conflict in Kerala
MADHYA PRADESH
- Adani’s power plant near Pench TR opposed
MAHARASHTRA
- Rules for Tiger Conservation Foundations approved in Maharashtra
- NTCA seeks minor changes in TCP for Tadoba-Andhari TR
- Large scale promotion of IFS officers in Maharashtra
- SC clears denotification of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
- Maharashtra to set up task force for bustard conservation
- 200 acres from Sanjay Gandhi NP for zoo
- Leopard movement to be studied at SGNP to help deal with human-animal conflict
- A number of proposed dams in Thane district to impact Tansa WLS
MEGHALAYA
- Survey on Western Hoolock Gibbon in Garo Hills
- Garo Hills Conservation Award 2011
ORISSA
- Gahirmatha fisherfolk need to be involved in turtle conservation: Study
PUNJAB
- Punjab to compensate snake-bite victims
RAJASTHAN
- Officials reluctant to take charge at Sariska TR
SIKKIM
- Hydro-power projects approved close to the Kanchenjungha National Park; local communities object
TAMIL NADU
- Construction work threatens Annamalaicheri flamingo habitat in Pulicat
- Proposal to declare Pallikaranai marsh a Ramsar site
UTTARAKHAND
- Uttarakhand opposes eco-sensitive zone along Bhagirathi river
UTTAR PRADESH
- First elephant reserve in Uttar Pradesh
- 95% of UP’s Sarus cranes outside PAs
WEST BENGAL
- Jaldapara WLS has at least three tigers
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- WCCB bags award for excellence in environmental crime enforcement
- New Tiger Reserves
- Ganges River Dolphin conservation education programme
- Cabinet committee approves reintroduction of cheetahs, more funds for Project Tiger
- Plea to remove vermin status for fruit bats
- Decline in the vulture population in the Nilgiri BR
SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH
- Bangladesh to implement Taka 276 crore plan for tiger conservation
BHUTAN
- Bhutan gets US $ 2.25 million from the World Bank for wildlife conservation
NEPAL
- Proposal to allow hunting in the Kanchanjunga Conservation Reserve
- Gharial number rises in Nepal
SRI LANKA
- Government denies reports of elephant translocation from Hambantota to host Commonwealth Games
UPCOMING
- Small mammals field techniques training
OPPURTUNITIES
- Call for proposals: Herpetological Conservation Research Fund
- Openings in the WWF Andhra Pradesh State Office
- Call for applications: Whitley Awards 2012
IN THE SUPREME COURT
Protected Area Network in India
Latest number of PAs in India
PERSPECTIVE
Environment in the Marathi Press: Notes from a young freelance journalist
EDITORIAL
Giving the fruit bat it’s due
Wildlife conservation in India, our wildlife conservation laws and policies are certainly not short of anachronisms of various kinds. One that stands out most prominently is the status accorded to fruit bats – that of vermin in the schedules of the Wild Life Protection Act (WLPA) since it’s inception in 1972.
It is indicative not only of our anthropocentric attitude (any thing causing economic or other damage to humans is to be exterminated), it also betrays an unacceptable ignorance of the actual role these creatures play in nature. It has been believed for long that fruit bats cause considerable damage to horticultural crops, but research over the years has shown that they actually do more good than harm. 10 of the 13 species of fruit bats live only in forests and do not visit fruit orchards where they might cause any damage. They play a very important role in pollination and seed dispersal and are a vital cog in the forest regeneration mechanism. A couple of them are, in fact, even endangered and have been included in IUCN’s red data list.
That it is not known beyond the small circle of bat enthusiasts that the United Nations has declared this as the ‘Year of the Bat’ is indicative of how much (or little) concern there is for these creatures. It is also only fitting, then, that this group of bat conservationists has launched an effort to set the record straight and get the situation corrected (see National Stories from India in this issue of the PA Update). More than a year ago, prominent bat experts associated with the IUCN had written to the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) pointing out that India is the only country in the world where the fruit bat is considered a vermin and had requested for this to be changed. The editorial of the latest issue of Small Mammal Mail, a newsletter dedicated to the ‘most useful but most neglected small mammals’ (www.zooreach.org) like bats and rodents has also made an impassioned plea to rid rodents and bats of the vermin tag. It notes that the relevant government agencies have been addressed on numerous occasions in the matter, but nothing has come of it.
This is, indeed, unfortunate and it’s high time that this much maligned but hugely useful and harmless creature is given it’s due. The least we can do is desist from blaming it for damage it is not responsible for!
---
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 5, October 2011 (No. 93)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
Donations from a number of individual supporters.
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Dastkar Andhra cotton handloom exhibition in Pune - September 2011
Dastkar Andhra brings cotton handloom fabrics from DAMA and readymade garments from daram in an exhibition at Apte Hall, Pune from September 22-24, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Protected Area Update New Issue - August 2011
Dear Friends,
Below is the list of contents of the new issue of the Protected Area
Update (Vol XVII, No. 4, August 2011). If you would like specific
stories of the entire newsletter please write to me at psekhsaria@gmail.com
Please also do forward to other relevant egroups and interested
individuals.
All back issues of the PA Update can be accessed at
http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
Thanking you
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
---
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 4
August 2011 (No. 92)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ANDHRA PRADESH
- Kawal WLS to get TR tag
ASSAM
- Brahmaputra threatens Orang NP
- Firing range inside Sonai Rupai WLS to stay
- School teacher held for rhino poaching in Pobitara
- Manas TR taken off World Heritage danger list
- Manas to get more Swamp deer
- NGOs express concern over illegal activities in Dibru Saikhowa NP
CHANDIGARH
- First ever census at Sukhna WLS
CHATTISGARH
- Centre seeks TR tag for Guru Ghasidas NP
GUJARAT
- 28 housing projects proposed in the vicinity of Gir; hotels banned in
two km radius around the PA
- ESZs around four sanctuaries in Gujarat
- Leopard and Sloth bear count rises in Gujarat
JAMMU & KASHMIR
- Hangul population on the rise
- Rs. 400 crores for restoration of Wullar Lake; two million willow
trees to be uprooted
KARNATAKA
- In-principle approval for Kudremukh TR
- Transfer to tiger reserves result in staff shortage in other divisions
of the FD
- Court seeks standard rule for resorts near PAs
KERALA
- Periyar and Parambikulam TRs adjudged among best five in the country
- Kerala farmers can kill wild boars
MADHYA PRADESH
- Discord between Ramesh and Congress MPs over Ken-Betwa project
MAHARASHTRA
- Census figures from Sanjay Gandhi NP and Tungareshwar WLS
- FD issues eviction notices to windmills in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary
RAJASTHAN
- Cheetal and sambhar to be relocated to PAs in Rajasthan
- Rajasthan government opens dialogue over cess with hoteliers around PAs
- Proposal to increase area of Tal Chappar WLS
- State wildlife board recommends water from Panchana dam for Keoladeo NP
SIKKIM
- 300 Red pandas in Sikkim
TAMIL NADU
- WCCB border unit at Ramanathapuram
- Coral mining sinks two islands in Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve
- Census of Nilgiri tahr in Grizzled Giant Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary
UTTAR PRADESH
- Three elephants electrocuted in Dudhwa NP
WEST BENGAL
- North Bengal FD to set up animal hospital
- Protected area status proposed for Apalchand forest
- Increase in north Bengal elephant population
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- IAVP urges wildlife veterinary service
- NTCA committee on abandoned tiger cubs
- Tiger population to be monitored annually
- Nearly 450 tiger deaths in India in last 12 years: NTCA
- Nationwide online survey to find status of the Golden jackal
SOUTH ASIA
- Workshop on dugong conservation in South Asia
BANGLADESH
- Award for Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh
NEPAL
- Genome-mapping of tigers in Nepal
UPCOMING
- International Conference on Indian Ornithology - 2011
- 11th Conference of the Parties to the CBD to be held in Hyderabad in
October 2012
- 9th Indian Fisheries Forum
- Indian Forestry Congress 2011
- Student Conference on Conservation Science
WHAT’S AVAILABLE
- India’s Environmental History
- Pocketful of Forests: Legal debates around compensation and valuation
of forest loss in India
IN THE SUPREME COURT
- List of PA diversions/denotification approved in the meeting of the
Standing Committee of the NBWL on April 25, 2011
SPECIAL SECTION
The Forest Rights Act, Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation
KARNATAKA
- Workshop on community based conservation of BRT Sanctuary
ORISSA
- Community forest rights in PAs of Orissa
- Relocation of villages continues in Simlipal TR in violation of the FRA
NATIONAL NEWS
- Community Forest Rights under the provisions of the FRA and issues
related to protected areas.
PERSPECTIVE
- Conservation issues are not easy to grasp!
---
EDITORIAL
THE ENDURING TIGER OBSESSION
India’s mainstream English print media is, as readers would have
noticed, the main source of news carried in the PA Update. About 90% of
the stories we carry come from the news reported in these newspapers
from around the country. If what the media carries can be considered a
barometer of the issues that concern India’s policy makers, wildlifers
and conservationists, it is evident that the obsession with the tiger
endures un-abated. In that sense the PA Update reflects the same as
well. On an average nearly 20% of every issue of the PA Update
(including this one) is related to issues of tiger conservation in
general and on tiger reserves in particular. It is a significant
statistic considering that tiger reserves (TRs) account for less than 8%
of the total number of protected areas in the country.
There sure are convincing arguments in favour of the focus on the tiger
– it is at the top of the ecosystem and ensures protection for the
habitat and other species, that its charisma helps garner at least some
interest in and resources for conservation and it’s a great way to get
the general public and policy makers interested in wildlife in the first
place.
This also does reinforce the often made point, however, that India is
obsessed with the tiger and this obsession comes at a cost. Every small
detail of tiger poaching, of the endless controversies over tiger
numbers, of what happens in a tiger reserve, of new proposals for TRs
and the need to relocate people to ensure tiger conservation is
religiously reported. This is in addition to the financial resources and
mindspace that gets dedicated to the tiger at the cost of almost
everything else.
The same kind of sustained interest, for example, is rarely seen when
it involves other species such as the Great Indian Bustard, that is
certainly far more threatened than the tiger and where issues might
indeed be more complex. The less said of the less glamorous and
charismatic species such as insects, amphibians or plants, the better.
As far as the media is concerned, everything seems lost in the shadows
of the great cat.
What is needed is to increase the focus on and coverage of other issues
and species, but not by reducing that of the tiger. It need not be the
one at the cost of the other, and this is a challenge that the media and
the wildlife conservation community, both, need to take up if the full
potential of the media is to be realized and conservation of India’s
increasingly threatened wilderness areas and wildlife communities is to
be best ensured.
----
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 4, August 2011 (No. 92)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the
editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004,
Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
www.wildlifewatch.in
Below is the list of contents of the new issue of the Protected Area
Update (Vol XVII, No. 4, August 2011). If you would like specific
stories of the entire newsletter please write to me at psekhsaria@gmail.com
Please also do forward to other relevant egroups and interested
individuals.
All back issues of the PA Update can be accessed at
http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
Thanking you
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
---
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 4
August 2011 (No. 92)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ANDHRA PRADESH
- Kawal WLS to get TR tag
ASSAM
- Brahmaputra threatens Orang NP
- Firing range inside Sonai Rupai WLS to stay
- School teacher held for rhino poaching in Pobitara
- Manas TR taken off World Heritage danger list
- Manas to get more Swamp deer
- NGOs express concern over illegal activities in Dibru Saikhowa NP
CHANDIGARH
- First ever census at Sukhna WLS
CHATTISGARH
- Centre seeks TR tag for Guru Ghasidas NP
GUJARAT
- 28 housing projects proposed in the vicinity of Gir; hotels banned in
two km radius around the PA
- ESZs around four sanctuaries in Gujarat
- Leopard and Sloth bear count rises in Gujarat
JAMMU & KASHMIR
- Hangul population on the rise
- Rs. 400 crores for restoration of Wullar Lake; two million willow
trees to be uprooted
KARNATAKA
- In-principle approval for Kudremukh TR
- Transfer to tiger reserves result in staff shortage in other divisions
of the FD
- Court seeks standard rule for resorts near PAs
KERALA
- Periyar and Parambikulam TRs adjudged among best five in the country
- Kerala farmers can kill wild boars
MADHYA PRADESH
- Discord between Ramesh and Congress MPs over Ken-Betwa project
MAHARASHTRA
- Census figures from Sanjay Gandhi NP and Tungareshwar WLS
- FD issues eviction notices to windmills in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary
RAJASTHAN
- Cheetal and sambhar to be relocated to PAs in Rajasthan
- Rajasthan government opens dialogue over cess with hoteliers around PAs
- Proposal to increase area of Tal Chappar WLS
- State wildlife board recommends water from Panchana dam for Keoladeo NP
SIKKIM
- 300 Red pandas in Sikkim
TAMIL NADU
- WCCB border unit at Ramanathapuram
- Coral mining sinks two islands in Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve
- Census of Nilgiri tahr in Grizzled Giant Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary
UTTAR PRADESH
- Three elephants electrocuted in Dudhwa NP
WEST BENGAL
- North Bengal FD to set up animal hospital
- Protected area status proposed for Apalchand forest
- Increase in north Bengal elephant population
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- IAVP urges wildlife veterinary service
- NTCA committee on abandoned tiger cubs
- Tiger population to be monitored annually
- Nearly 450 tiger deaths in India in last 12 years: NTCA
- Nationwide online survey to find status of the Golden jackal
SOUTH ASIA
- Workshop on dugong conservation in South Asia
BANGLADESH
- Award for Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh
NEPAL
- Genome-mapping of tigers in Nepal
UPCOMING
- International Conference on Indian Ornithology - 2011
- 11th Conference of the Parties to the CBD to be held in Hyderabad in
October 2012
- 9th Indian Fisheries Forum
- Indian Forestry Congress 2011
- Student Conference on Conservation Science
WHAT’S AVAILABLE
- India’s Environmental History
- Pocketful of Forests: Legal debates around compensation and valuation
of forest loss in India
IN THE SUPREME COURT
- List of PA diversions/denotification approved in the meeting of the
Standing Committee of the NBWL on April 25, 2011
SPECIAL SECTION
The Forest Rights Act, Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation
KARNATAKA
- Workshop on community based conservation of BRT Sanctuary
ORISSA
- Community forest rights in PAs of Orissa
- Relocation of villages continues in Simlipal TR in violation of the FRA
NATIONAL NEWS
- Community Forest Rights under the provisions of the FRA and issues
related to protected areas.
PERSPECTIVE
- Conservation issues are not easy to grasp!
---
EDITORIAL
THE ENDURING TIGER OBSESSION
India’s mainstream English print media is, as readers would have
noticed, the main source of news carried in the PA Update. About 90% of
the stories we carry come from the news reported in these newspapers
from around the country. If what the media carries can be considered a
barometer of the issues that concern India’s policy makers, wildlifers
and conservationists, it is evident that the obsession with the tiger
endures un-abated. In that sense the PA Update reflects the same as
well. On an average nearly 20% of every issue of the PA Update
(including this one) is related to issues of tiger conservation in
general and on tiger reserves in particular. It is a significant
statistic considering that tiger reserves (TRs) account for less than 8%
of the total number of protected areas in the country.
There sure are convincing arguments in favour of the focus on the tiger
– it is at the top of the ecosystem and ensures protection for the
habitat and other species, that its charisma helps garner at least some
interest in and resources for conservation and it’s a great way to get
the general public and policy makers interested in wildlife in the first
place.
This also does reinforce the often made point, however, that India is
obsessed with the tiger and this obsession comes at a cost. Every small
detail of tiger poaching, of the endless controversies over tiger
numbers, of what happens in a tiger reserve, of new proposals for TRs
and the need to relocate people to ensure tiger conservation is
religiously reported. This is in addition to the financial resources and
mindspace that gets dedicated to the tiger at the cost of almost
everything else.
The same kind of sustained interest, for example, is rarely seen when
it involves other species such as the Great Indian Bustard, that is
certainly far more threatened than the tiger and where issues might
indeed be more complex. The less said of the less glamorous and
charismatic species such as insects, amphibians or plants, the better.
As far as the media is concerned, everything seems lost in the shadows
of the great cat.
What is needed is to increase the focus on and coverage of other issues
and species, but not by reducing that of the tiger. It need not be the
one at the cost of the other, and this is a challenge that the media and
the wildlife conservation community, both, need to take up if the full
potential of the media is to be realized and conservation of India’s
increasingly threatened wilderness areas and wildlife communities is to
be best ensured.
----
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 4, August 2011 (No. 92)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the
editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004,
Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
www.wildlifewatch.in
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Bawarias, Sekhsarias and wildlife crime in India
Bawarias, Sekhsarias and wildlife crime in India
by Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://www.openspaceindia.org/express/articles-a-essays/item/722.html
Or...The story of how I became a wildlife criminal
‘nathistory-india’ is an internet based e-discussion group on issues of natural history of South Asia, particularly India. It is an extremely active e-group with a wide subscription that includes stalwarts in the field of wildlife conservation: lawyers, researchers, activists, journalists, and many others who are passionately concerned and devoted to the idea of wildlife conservation.
I have myself been a member of this group for quite a while and believe that I have indeed made some valuable contributions to the discussions and the deliberations over the years. Things had been going on well till recently, and this particular story is of how matters took a sudden and unexpected turn in early April 2011. It started with the posting by a member informing of the conviction of a woman from the ‘Bawaria’ community for illegal trade in tiger parts. This started a chain of responses that went on for about six weeks and in which I ended up playing a key, and needless to say, ‘self-destructive’ role.
The first responses to the initial post were tentative suggestions from others that the name of any particular community should be avoided, because, presumably this typecasts a community and brings along many attendant problems. Swift responses by stalwarts from the conservation community argued that there was nothing wrong in naming the community because it was mentioned in the court records and further implying that in any case the community had a well-known record and history of crime and poaching of wildlife.
This is roughly the point at which I stepped in with points related to the issues of identity, stereotyping, etc. I noted that this was not anymore a ‘criminal tribe’ as had been alluded too and history had to be kept in mind when we dealt with communities that were vulnerable and disadvantaged. One rejoiner chided me for trying to mix anthropology with legal issues and the other tried, a little patronizingly, to explain that some identity or the other had to be used. I had in the meanwhile taken my first step to doom, I think, by referring to one of the lawyers in the discussion as a ‘bania’ and to another forest officer mentioned as a ‘bania or whatever’. The die had been cast(e).
Then came a strong-willed journalist who went back into the history of caste occupations, arguing that communities like Bawarias had always hunted but were now poachers because the law had changed. It was a ‘neutral fact’ that they had not ‘come out of their generations-old ways of earning [a] livelihood’. He stated that the British were much more egalitarian than us and that “only those who felt these communities (the Bawarias) don't do what is attributed to them can say that mention of caste or community is wrong. I gathered he was referring to me as being wrong because I had been the only guy making this point in the discussion so far.
My response to the journalist was an even firmer one – I questioned the notion of neutrality and argued somewhat ingeniously that “it is when we are all looking from a single view point that there can be an agreed notion of neutrality.” And then I typed out what I thought were my master lines – “Many of us here see the Bawaria as a poacher/criminal community that needs reform and change. If I were a Bawaria I might look at you as an upper caste English-speaking journalist who has only contempt for me. If this were a forum of Bawarias that might then be a neutral fact.”
The point may have been well made but the consequences, as I almost found out very soon could have been absolutely disastrous.
It was late that night when a knock on my door aroused me from my deep slumber. I opened the door to get the shock of my life – standing right there were the following – the upper caste journalist, the bania lawyer and a man in khakhi with a gun in his hands and a turban on his head (I couldn’t recognize what community he was from!).
“Are you Pankaj Sekhsaria?” the lawyer asked.
“Yes!”
“We have an arrest warrant for you.” he said waving a sheet of paper in front of my face.
“But…”
“Do you recognize this?” He was now holding another sheet of paper with the print of an email which began as follows:
From: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Fw: Woman convicted for trade in tiger parts: Third conviction for the accused.
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Date: 11 May 2011
There was no way I could say I didn’t recognize this. My email id was there right on top.
Now the journalist pointed to two lines that were highlighted in that email and read them aloud. These were the very same lines I have mentioned above as my master lines.
“Yes,” I responded, “but…”
I was not allowed to continue. It was the policeman this time.
“The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s internet crime wing has intercepted this email. It says you are a Bawaria and this is the warrant for your arrest for being involved in trading of wild animal parts.”
This was bizarre. I was not a Bawaria, and I was certainly not involved in wild animal trade. What was there to ‘intercept’ in this email anyway?
“I am not a Bawaria,” I tried to explain. “I’m Pankaj Sekhsaria. Sekhsaria,” I stressed, “not Bawaria. Sekhsaria.”
“Ah!” exclaimed the journalist, with the ‘eureka moment’ glint shining bright in his eyes. “I had always suspected this. See,” he turned to the policeman and the lawyer, “how beautifully they rhyme - Moghia, Bawaria, Sekhsaria they are all the same. I wonder how the British missed you.” He had turned his attention to me again – “surnames are all neutral facts that you carry from your history. You can’t be very different from these criminal tribes."
“They are not criminal and,” I tried to insist, “I am Sekhsaria and I am a bania. A bania.”
“Very good,” said the lawyer. “Very good. That explains it even better – poaching and also trade. Isn’t the bania a trader community? Sekhsaria, I see!”
“No, no,” I tried to argue, “you’re getting it wrong. That was only an email sent to make a point. I am very interested in saving wildlife and I don’t know any Bawaria, wildlife poacher or wildlife trader.”
“That’s enough,” said the policeman sternly. “Who asked you to make a point? You are Sekhsaria, you are a bania and you sent that email. That is all that we need to know.”
“Please, please,” I started groveling, “I am not a criminal. I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t want to go to jail”. My forehead broke out in sweat and my hands started trembling. “This damned emailing,” I cursed loudly.
That’s when I realized someone was pulling my hair and bawling loudly. My little infant son had come to my rescue again. It was about the time in the middle of the night when he normally wakes up for his feed. I woke up with a start, prepared his bottle of milk and gratefully thrust the nipple into his mouth.
My nightmare went up in a whiff of steaming vapour.
I had been saved from becoming a wildlife criminal by the skin of my teeth!
by Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://www.openspaceindia.org/express/articles-a-essays/item/722.html
Or...The story of how I became a wildlife criminal
‘nathistory-india’ is an internet based e-discussion group on issues of natural history of South Asia, particularly India. It is an extremely active e-group with a wide subscription that includes stalwarts in the field of wildlife conservation: lawyers, researchers, activists, journalists, and many others who are passionately concerned and devoted to the idea of wildlife conservation.
I have myself been a member of this group for quite a while and believe that I have indeed made some valuable contributions to the discussions and the deliberations over the years. Things had been going on well till recently, and this particular story is of how matters took a sudden and unexpected turn in early April 2011. It started with the posting by a member informing of the conviction of a woman from the ‘Bawaria’ community for illegal trade in tiger parts. This started a chain of responses that went on for about six weeks and in which I ended up playing a key, and needless to say, ‘self-destructive’ role.
The first responses to the initial post were tentative suggestions from others that the name of any particular community should be avoided, because, presumably this typecasts a community and brings along many attendant problems. Swift responses by stalwarts from the conservation community argued that there was nothing wrong in naming the community because it was mentioned in the court records and further implying that in any case the community had a well-known record and history of crime and poaching of wildlife.
This is roughly the point at which I stepped in with points related to the issues of identity, stereotyping, etc. I noted that this was not anymore a ‘criminal tribe’ as had been alluded too and history had to be kept in mind when we dealt with communities that were vulnerable and disadvantaged. One rejoiner chided me for trying to mix anthropology with legal issues and the other tried, a little patronizingly, to explain that some identity or the other had to be used. I had in the meanwhile taken my first step to doom, I think, by referring to one of the lawyers in the discussion as a ‘bania’ and to another forest officer mentioned as a ‘bania or whatever’. The die had been cast(e).
Then came a strong-willed journalist who went back into the history of caste occupations, arguing that communities like Bawarias had always hunted but were now poachers because the law had changed. It was a ‘neutral fact’ that they had not ‘come out of their generations-old ways of earning [a] livelihood’. He stated that the British were much more egalitarian than us and that “only those who felt these communities (the Bawarias) don't do what is attributed to them can say that mention of caste or community is wrong. I gathered he was referring to me as being wrong because I had been the only guy making this point in the discussion so far.
My response to the journalist was an even firmer one – I questioned the notion of neutrality and argued somewhat ingeniously that “it is when we are all looking from a single view point that there can be an agreed notion of neutrality.” And then I typed out what I thought were my master lines – “Many of us here see the Bawaria as a poacher/criminal community that needs reform and change. If I were a Bawaria I might look at you as an upper caste English-speaking journalist who has only contempt for me. If this were a forum of Bawarias that might then be a neutral fact.”
The point may have been well made but the consequences, as I almost found out very soon could have been absolutely disastrous.
It was late that night when a knock on my door aroused me from my deep slumber. I opened the door to get the shock of my life – standing right there were the following – the upper caste journalist, the bania lawyer and a man in khakhi with a gun in his hands and a turban on his head (I couldn’t recognize what community he was from!).
“Are you Pankaj Sekhsaria?” the lawyer asked.
“Yes!”
“We have an arrest warrant for you.” he said waving a sheet of paper in front of my face.
“But…”
“Do you recognize this?” He was now holding another sheet of paper with the print of an email which began as follows:
From: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Fw: Woman convicted for trade in tiger parts: Third conviction for the accused.
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Date: 11 May 2011
There was no way I could say I didn’t recognize this. My email id was there right on top.
Now the journalist pointed to two lines that were highlighted in that email and read them aloud. These were the very same lines I have mentioned above as my master lines.
“Yes,” I responded, “but…”
I was not allowed to continue. It was the policeman this time.
“The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s internet crime wing has intercepted this email. It says you are a Bawaria and this is the warrant for your arrest for being involved in trading of wild animal parts.”
This was bizarre. I was not a Bawaria, and I was certainly not involved in wild animal trade. What was there to ‘intercept’ in this email anyway?
“I am not a Bawaria,” I tried to explain. “I’m Pankaj Sekhsaria. Sekhsaria,” I stressed, “not Bawaria. Sekhsaria.”
“Ah!” exclaimed the journalist, with the ‘eureka moment’ glint shining bright in his eyes. “I had always suspected this. See,” he turned to the policeman and the lawyer, “how beautifully they rhyme - Moghia, Bawaria, Sekhsaria they are all the same. I wonder how the British missed you.” He had turned his attention to me again – “surnames are all neutral facts that you carry from your history. You can’t be very different from these criminal tribes."
“They are not criminal and,” I tried to insist, “I am Sekhsaria and I am a bania. A bania.”
“Very good,” said the lawyer. “Very good. That explains it even better – poaching and also trade. Isn’t the bania a trader community? Sekhsaria, I see!”
“No, no,” I tried to argue, “you’re getting it wrong. That was only an email sent to make a point. I am very interested in saving wildlife and I don’t know any Bawaria, wildlife poacher or wildlife trader.”
“That’s enough,” said the policeman sternly. “Who asked you to make a point? You are Sekhsaria, you are a bania and you sent that email. That is all that we need to know.”
“Please, please,” I started groveling, “I am not a criminal. I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t want to go to jail”. My forehead broke out in sweat and my hands started trembling. “This damned emailing,” I cursed loudly.
That’s when I realized someone was pulling my hair and bawling loudly. My little infant son had come to my rescue again. It was about the time in the middle of the night when he normally wakes up for his feed. I woke up with a start, prepared his bottle of milk and gratefully thrust the nipple into his mouth.
My nightmare went up in a whiff of steaming vapour.
I had been saved from becoming a wildlife criminal by the skin of my teeth!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Protected Area Update - June 2011
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 3; June 2011 (No. 91)
The entire issue can be downloaded at
http://www.kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update/204-protected-area-update-2011
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
The business of reports
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ASSAM
Train-elephant collision averted in Deepor Beel
Commercial fishing threat to Missamari beel
Genetic assessment of tigers at Manas TR
Three forest staff killed in animal attacks in Kaziranga NP since January
GUJARAT
First satellite tagging of Whale shark in Gujarat
Mobile van to deal with human-animal conflicts around Gir
Maldharis petition government opposing their relocation from Gir
HARYANA
Master-plan for Sultanpur NP
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Two day workshop on ‘Practicing Responsible Tourism’
JHARKHAND
MoEF issues draft notification for Dalma Eco-Sensitive Zone
KARNATAKA
Petitioner seeks stay on Banerghatta night safari in Supreme Court
Public hearing held to declare Konchavaram Wildlife Sanctuary
Small temples mushrooming in Bandipur, Nagarhole NPs
KERALA
Proposal to declare Kattampally a Ramsar wetland
Prolonged summer rain reduces wildfires in Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary
MADHYA PRADESH
Environment minister ‘No’ to rail and river linking projects for fear of impact on Panna TR
Fourth tiger shifted to Panna TR
MAHARASHTRA
Forest union threatens to shut down tiger reserves
High Court not against windmills in and around Koyna WLS
Reshuffle at the top of the Maharashtra FD
Naxals trying to make inroads into Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Corridor adjoining Tadoba Andhari TR threatened by Gosikhurd Canal project
Joint meeting to discuss conservation of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
ORISSA
More than 3.5 lakh turtles nest at Gahirmatha in February – March, 2011
RAJASTHAN
Clearance to five major projects in and around protected areas
CEC orders stoppage of construction work inside Ranthambhore TR
Rajasthan Government announces Amrita Devi Vishnoi Smriti Puraskar
Forest Training Centre at Jaipur
TAMIL NADU
Field Learning Centre at KMTR
Fear of forest fires results in closure of Mudumalai TR in April; mixed reactions
UTTARAKHAND
Rs. 65 crore for relocation of Sunderkhal village from Corbett TR
Villagers given land for relocation from Chilla – Motichur wildlife corridor
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
11th Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Awards
Funding Assistance in 2010-11 for village relocation under Project Tiger
Army and ITBP help sought for snow leopard conservation
Population Estimate of Tigers in 2006 and 2010
Funds Released under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Elephant’
Recently released reports on wildlife and conservation issues…
SOUTH ASIA
Workshop on conservation of the Black-necked crane through regional cooperation
World Bank approves $36 million for conservation in Bangladesh and $3 million for Nepal
NEPAL
Red Pandas spotted in Ilam forests of Nepal
SRI LANKA
Elephant census in Sri Lanka
OPPORTUNITIES
Positions at the Wildlife Trust of India
UPCOMING
Course on Geo-informatics and its application for Biodiversity
IN THE SUPREME COURT
SPECIAL SECTION: The Forest Rights Act, Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation
New draft guidelines for declaration of Critical Wildlife Habitats
MAHARASHTRA
FRA blamed for forest destruction in Yaval WLS and adjoining areas
Concern over non-implementation of FRA in Bhimashankar WLS, surrounding areas
UTTAR PRADESH
Surma, Golbhji tribals get land titles in Dudhwa NP under FRA
PERSPECTIVE: Wildlife and the media
EDITORIAL
THE BUSINESS OF REPORTS
One field of activity in wildlife research that is flourishing is the business of producing reports. Researchers, NGOs, the government - are all always busy and working hard towards this end. This issue of the PA Update (see Pg 18) has a brief list of reports on wildlife related issues that have been released in the last few weeks. There is a comprehensive report on human-elephant conflict in the country: a set of guidelines on management of human-leopard conflict; another on the status of the extremely threatened Lesser Florican; and one on the evergreen subject of tiger numbers in India.
That these and most other reports are the outcome of hard work, sincere effort and of commitment to find solutions to vexing problems is undeniable. That they are welcome and valuable is also something most will agree to. But the question, and this is what most researchers always dread, is related to what use these reports are being put to. Are they being used at all? Are they having impact? How does one evaluate the reach and influence of an outcome that so much time, money and energy has gone into? These are questions that have no easy answers and often there is disappointment and frustration that the reports get into the shelves of various institutions, particularly the government, and gather dust.
Comparing the reports of two government constituted task forces, one on the tiger and the recent one on the elephant, does throw light on what can actually happen. Many of the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force were implemented with considerable urgency and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted with a renewed mandate and greater political commitment. Additional resources were made available and even a new method for tiger census was put in place. One may not agree with some of the policies or the way others have been implemented but there is no denial that things have moved on the ground.
The same can certainly not be said of the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force. Eight months have passed since it was agreed that the elephant would be the National Heritage animal and yet nothing is to be heard of the National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA). The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has in fact decided against the constitution of the NECA. Some commentators have argued that the interests of the mining and industrial sectors might be playing a key role because if the NECA is formed and the recommendations are implemented, large land and forest areas will become unavailable for extraction. If this is indeed true, it points to a rather sorry state of affairs - one that can only invoke hopelessness.
If an animal like the elephant can be let down in this manner what hope might be there for the floricans, the leopards and the many other forms of less glamorous wildlife. What then is the use of all this research and towards what end are the recommendations sought and many reports commissioned? Wildlife surely does not have time on its side and the government certainly needs to show more sincerity and commitment than this.
---
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 3, June 2011 (No. 91)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
----
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
---
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
www.wildlifewatch.in
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 3; June 2011 (No. 91)
The entire issue can be downloaded at
http://www.kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update/204-protected-area-update-2011
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
The business of reports
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ASSAM
Train-elephant collision averted in Deepor Beel
Commercial fishing threat to Missamari beel
Genetic assessment of tigers at Manas TR
Three forest staff killed in animal attacks in Kaziranga NP since January
GUJARAT
First satellite tagging of Whale shark in Gujarat
Mobile van to deal with human-animal conflicts around Gir
Maldharis petition government opposing their relocation from Gir
HARYANA
Master-plan for Sultanpur NP
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Two day workshop on ‘Practicing Responsible Tourism’
JHARKHAND
MoEF issues draft notification for Dalma Eco-Sensitive Zone
KARNATAKA
Petitioner seeks stay on Banerghatta night safari in Supreme Court
Public hearing held to declare Konchavaram Wildlife Sanctuary
Small temples mushrooming in Bandipur, Nagarhole NPs
KERALA
Proposal to declare Kattampally a Ramsar wetland
Prolonged summer rain reduces wildfires in Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary
MADHYA PRADESH
Environment minister ‘No’ to rail and river linking projects for fear of impact on Panna TR
Fourth tiger shifted to Panna TR
MAHARASHTRA
Forest union threatens to shut down tiger reserves
High Court not against windmills in and around Koyna WLS
Reshuffle at the top of the Maharashtra FD
Naxals trying to make inroads into Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Corridor adjoining Tadoba Andhari TR threatened by Gosikhurd Canal project
Joint meeting to discuss conservation of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
ORISSA
More than 3.5 lakh turtles nest at Gahirmatha in February – March, 2011
RAJASTHAN
Clearance to five major projects in and around protected areas
CEC orders stoppage of construction work inside Ranthambhore TR
Rajasthan Government announces Amrita Devi Vishnoi Smriti Puraskar
Forest Training Centre at Jaipur
TAMIL NADU
Field Learning Centre at KMTR
Fear of forest fires results in closure of Mudumalai TR in April; mixed reactions
UTTARAKHAND
Rs. 65 crore for relocation of Sunderkhal village from Corbett TR
Villagers given land for relocation from Chilla – Motichur wildlife corridor
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
11th Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Awards
Funding Assistance in 2010-11 for village relocation under Project Tiger
Army and ITBP help sought for snow leopard conservation
Population Estimate of Tigers in 2006 and 2010
Funds Released under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Elephant’
Recently released reports on wildlife and conservation issues…
SOUTH ASIA
Workshop on conservation of the Black-necked crane through regional cooperation
World Bank approves $36 million for conservation in Bangladesh and $3 million for Nepal
NEPAL
Red Pandas spotted in Ilam forests of Nepal
SRI LANKA
Elephant census in Sri Lanka
OPPORTUNITIES
Positions at the Wildlife Trust of India
UPCOMING
Course on Geo-informatics and its application for Biodiversity
IN THE SUPREME COURT
SPECIAL SECTION: The Forest Rights Act, Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation
New draft guidelines for declaration of Critical Wildlife Habitats
MAHARASHTRA
FRA blamed for forest destruction in Yaval WLS and adjoining areas
Concern over non-implementation of FRA in Bhimashankar WLS, surrounding areas
UTTAR PRADESH
Surma, Golbhji tribals get land titles in Dudhwa NP under FRA
PERSPECTIVE: Wildlife and the media
EDITORIAL
THE BUSINESS OF REPORTS
One field of activity in wildlife research that is flourishing is the business of producing reports. Researchers, NGOs, the government - are all always busy and working hard towards this end. This issue of the PA Update (see Pg 18) has a brief list of reports on wildlife related issues that have been released in the last few weeks. There is a comprehensive report on human-elephant conflict in the country: a set of guidelines on management of human-leopard conflict; another on the status of the extremely threatened Lesser Florican; and one on the evergreen subject of tiger numbers in India.
That these and most other reports are the outcome of hard work, sincere effort and of commitment to find solutions to vexing problems is undeniable. That they are welcome and valuable is also something most will agree to. But the question, and this is what most researchers always dread, is related to what use these reports are being put to. Are they being used at all? Are they having impact? How does one evaluate the reach and influence of an outcome that so much time, money and energy has gone into? These are questions that have no easy answers and often there is disappointment and frustration that the reports get into the shelves of various institutions, particularly the government, and gather dust.
Comparing the reports of two government constituted task forces, one on the tiger and the recent one on the elephant, does throw light on what can actually happen. Many of the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force were implemented with considerable urgency and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted with a renewed mandate and greater political commitment. Additional resources were made available and even a new method for tiger census was put in place. One may not agree with some of the policies or the way others have been implemented but there is no denial that things have moved on the ground.
The same can certainly not be said of the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force. Eight months have passed since it was agreed that the elephant would be the National Heritage animal and yet nothing is to be heard of the National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA). The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has in fact decided against the constitution of the NECA. Some commentators have argued that the interests of the mining and industrial sectors might be playing a key role because if the NECA is formed and the recommendations are implemented, large land and forest areas will become unavailable for extraction. If this is indeed true, it points to a rather sorry state of affairs - one that can only invoke hopelessness.
If an animal like the elephant can be let down in this manner what hope might be there for the floricans, the leopards and the many other forms of less glamorous wildlife. What then is the use of all this research and towards what end are the recommendations sought and many reports commissioned? Wildlife surely does not have time on its side and the government certainly needs to show more sincerity and commitment than this.
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Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 3, June 2011 (No. 91)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: The Documentation and Outreach Centre, Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH
Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
----
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
---
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
www.wildlifewatch.in
Saturday, April 30, 2011
When the Chenchus get a wildlife award
Three members of the Chenchu tribal community who work as forest guards in the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) were recently award the Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife service award for protecting the forests and the wildlife here. The citation with the award given to Arthi Venkatesham, Bhumani Venkatesham and Damsam Mallaiah is effusive in its praise and appreciation of the three: “They are living proof,” it reads, “that change is possible. Among our nation’s most celebrated tribal communities, the Chenchus were once hunter gatherers. Instead of being lured by the all-powerful wildlife trade, these young men, more visionary than most of their urban counterparts, chose to join forces with forest officials as far back as 2001 and are now key to the park’s anti-poaching strategy… Researchers say that these tribal guards are able to provide them with in-depth information on the behaviour, hunting, nesting and breeding of various wild species…They have demonstrated that yesterday’s traditions and skills can effectively be used to solve today’s wildlife problems. This is why we have honoured them.”
There are at least 300 other Chenchu tribals who work with the forest department here and there are others too who say they are doing a wonderful job. The support and recognition that has been given to members of this tribal community on the frontline of protection is without doubt, most welcome.
The issue however is a more complex and to understand it one needs to look at the larger picture, and the many slippery slopes one has to negotiate.
The Chenchus are a ‘Primitive Tribal Group’ for whom the forests of this tiger reserve have been home for centuries. They have lived life as hunter gatherers long before the formation of the tiger reserve or wildlife conservation became a topic of concern. Nearly 1000 Chenchu families spread over 24 hamlets continue to live here but that could be soon a thing of the past. India’s forest and wildlife laws will not allow them to continue living here because our sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves have to be made ‘inviolate’ in the interests of wildlife.
It is extremely sardonic that three Chenchus have been honoured by a wildlife community that continues, simultaneously, to clamour for their displacement from the very forest they call home. This has been most visibly evident is the vehement opposition to the recently notified the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA for short) that gives the Chenchus and 100s of other such tribal communities in the country, rights that have been historically denied to them. It is more than ironic that Sanctuary Asia, the country’s premier wildlife magazine that awarded the Chenchus has been at forefront of the opposition to the FRA and continues even today to log the notification of the law as a critical marker on its ‘Tiger Doomsday Clock’. They can be given awards for protecting wildlife, but if you give them rights, it’s a step towards doom!
What has been remarkable in the ‘inviolate’ debate is that the burden is repeatedly thrust on the most marginal and vulnerable communities that live in these forests. Mining for uranium, prospecting for diamonds, drilling for irrigation projects and killing of wild animals (including leopards and bears) in road accidents is going on inside the forests of the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve, but for the forest and wildlife establishment it is the Chenchus that have to go. A part of what is now the NSTR was in fact notified as a Chenchu Tribal Reserve in 1942. It was, for reasons not very clear, never renewed after independence.
A situation similar to that of the Chenchu is being experienced by the Soliga tribals that live in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The community is opposing the creation of a tiger reserve here and its subsequent declaration as a Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) for fear that the forests will become inaccessible to them. Over 5000 Soligas live in 22 podus (settlements) in what will be the core area and are dependant on these forests for their survival.
A unique long term research project being carried out by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology (ATREE) in collaboration with the Soligas has shown that their harvest of non-timber forest produce (honey, lichen, gooseberry and shikakai) from the BRT forests is done sustainably. The Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha has even argued that tiger numbers in the sanctuary had increased in recent years; that they were not consulted before the taking the tiger reserve decision and there can be no justification for the displacement of the community. Nobody seems to be listening however.
The contradictions are clear and lie at the heart of the challenges that conservation in India is going to face in the coming years. We can prevent the situation going from bad to the absurd if we open our minds, recognise our paradoxes and deal with the situation head on. Alternatively, we can chose to bury our heads, duck the problems and institute more awards. The later option may have more takers but will offer fewer solutions! The choice really is for us to make.
---
An abridged version of this piece appeared in the New Indian Express on 10th April, 2011
There are at least 300 other Chenchu tribals who work with the forest department here and there are others too who say they are doing a wonderful job. The support and recognition that has been given to members of this tribal community on the frontline of protection is without doubt, most welcome.
The issue however is a more complex and to understand it one needs to look at the larger picture, and the many slippery slopes one has to negotiate.
The Chenchus are a ‘Primitive Tribal Group’ for whom the forests of this tiger reserve have been home for centuries. They have lived life as hunter gatherers long before the formation of the tiger reserve or wildlife conservation became a topic of concern. Nearly 1000 Chenchu families spread over 24 hamlets continue to live here but that could be soon a thing of the past. India’s forest and wildlife laws will not allow them to continue living here because our sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves have to be made ‘inviolate’ in the interests of wildlife.
It is extremely sardonic that three Chenchus have been honoured by a wildlife community that continues, simultaneously, to clamour for their displacement from the very forest they call home. This has been most visibly evident is the vehement opposition to the recently notified the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA for short) that gives the Chenchus and 100s of other such tribal communities in the country, rights that have been historically denied to them. It is more than ironic that Sanctuary Asia, the country’s premier wildlife magazine that awarded the Chenchus has been at forefront of the opposition to the FRA and continues even today to log the notification of the law as a critical marker on its ‘Tiger Doomsday Clock’. They can be given awards for protecting wildlife, but if you give them rights, it’s a step towards doom!
What has been remarkable in the ‘inviolate’ debate is that the burden is repeatedly thrust on the most marginal and vulnerable communities that live in these forests. Mining for uranium, prospecting for diamonds, drilling for irrigation projects and killing of wild animals (including leopards and bears) in road accidents is going on inside the forests of the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve, but for the forest and wildlife establishment it is the Chenchus that have to go. A part of what is now the NSTR was in fact notified as a Chenchu Tribal Reserve in 1942. It was, for reasons not very clear, never renewed after independence.
A situation similar to that of the Chenchu is being experienced by the Soliga tribals that live in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The community is opposing the creation of a tiger reserve here and its subsequent declaration as a Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) for fear that the forests will become inaccessible to them. Over 5000 Soligas live in 22 podus (settlements) in what will be the core area and are dependant on these forests for their survival.
A unique long term research project being carried out by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology (ATREE) in collaboration with the Soligas has shown that their harvest of non-timber forest produce (honey, lichen, gooseberry and shikakai) from the BRT forests is done sustainably. The Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha has even argued that tiger numbers in the sanctuary had increased in recent years; that they were not consulted before the taking the tiger reserve decision and there can be no justification for the displacement of the community. Nobody seems to be listening however.
The contradictions are clear and lie at the heart of the challenges that conservation in India is going to face in the coming years. We can prevent the situation going from bad to the absurd if we open our minds, recognise our paradoxes and deal with the situation head on. Alternatively, we can chose to bury our heads, duck the problems and institute more awards. The later option may have more takers but will offer fewer solutions! The choice really is for us to make.
---
An abridged version of this piece appeared in the New Indian Express on 10th April, 2011
Tall Tails
Travel & Error
Tall Tails
A roaring time in tiger country
Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270828
Halkat is a word in Marathi that has no English equivalent that I can think of. Lout might come close, but there is something in the sound and usage of the Marathi original that cannot be matched. And when a wildlife guide uses it to describe tiger-crazy tourists in one of India’s premier tiger reserves, it ought to be an interesting story.
It was September 2010 and I was on my first visit to the famous Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the heart of India. It was our first safari of the trip and there were things we learnt from our guide Bhaskar (not his real name) that will remain with us for a long time to come.
Bhaskar was serious about his job as a wildlife guide and this was evident even as our Gypsy just about crossed the one-kilometre mark. He had shot off on the history, geography and politics of the park even before we had settled in. There was also a lesson on eco-logy—a well-scripted account of how the presence of the tiger meant that the deer were there and that the forests and the grasslands were thriving and how the “forest is the mother of the river”. Soon he was cursing Maharashtra’s politicians and senior forest officials for having failed to support Tadoba unlike their counterparts in Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Bhaskar had taken over.
Those who speak too much, particularly in forests, do it often to cover their serious lack of knowledge. Bhaskar was an exception. Birds, trees, reptiles and the tigers of Tadoba, he knew them well. “I’ll try to show you the tiger,” he said, “but it’s not in my hands. We guides take the credit, but you know,” he made a profoundly philosophical turn, “nobody shows anything to anybody. It’s your luck—rajyog.” Then poured the anecdotes and accounts incredible—the ‘circuit’ tigress, the royal wild boar, the drongo that dances on the termite mound, the crocodiles in the lake and the pythons by the forest guesthouse.
Bhaskar was enjoying our company and we were now enjoying his. He told us stories with riddles that tested our knowledge of wildlife, recited poems he had written on delicate treasures of the forest, narrated accounts of his interactions with long-lens-wielding wildlife photographers and the young researcher from Pune, who taught him how to handle snakes.
Swati, my colleague, pointed to a bare white tree that we drove past. Bhaskar knew it, of course. He told us that the bark of the tree changed colour at least three times a year. My knowledge of botany (incorrect, as it turned out) kicked in unexpectedly. “It’s the Naked Lady of the Forest,” I said and turned to Bhaskar, adding half in jest, “Why is it called the naked lady and not a naked man?” Bhaskar’s reply was prompt: “It’s the king who decides—and what are we to say?” It was only days later that I realised I was wrong. The tree was the Ghost Tree, Sterculia urens. Bhaskar hadn’t known either.
The serious wildlife lessons, meanwhile, were also getting interspersed with other juicy gossip—about tour operators from Nagpur and beyond, the resort owners around Tadoba and their rich clientele, wildlife researchers and their research, forest staff and their difficult life in the wilds, and how the new reserve director was a good fellow and how his predecessor was shunted out because of differences with the boss in Nagpur. (Now you know why I’ve called Bhaskar, Bhaskar!)
And, finally, about the halkat. We were on the last leg of that morning safari and Bhaskar had been telling us how the forest had so many different things to offer. “I don’t understand,” he said, “why tourists are interested only in the tiger.” As if on cue, a bright yellow Maruti Gypsy appeared around the bend by the stream. “These,” said Bhaskar, as they went by, “are the halkat tourists of Tadoba. They’re after the tiger as if their life depends on it. And look at that vehicle—do you go into a forest with a vehicle that colour?”
Tailpiece 1: Gossip is a wild sword that swings free in the wind. If on your next trip to Tadoba you hear stories of a group of tourists that was less interested in tigers and more in gossip, please let me know at psekhsaria@gmail.com.
Tailpiece 2: We didn’t see the tiger during our two-day stay at Tadoba; other halkat tourists did.
Tall Tails
A roaring time in tiger country
Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270828
Halkat is a word in Marathi that has no English equivalent that I can think of. Lout might come close, but there is something in the sound and usage of the Marathi original that cannot be matched. And when a wildlife guide uses it to describe tiger-crazy tourists in one of India’s premier tiger reserves, it ought to be an interesting story.
It was September 2010 and I was on my first visit to the famous Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the heart of India. It was our first safari of the trip and there were things we learnt from our guide Bhaskar (not his real name) that will remain with us for a long time to come.
Bhaskar was serious about his job as a wildlife guide and this was evident even as our Gypsy just about crossed the one-kilometre mark. He had shot off on the history, geography and politics of the park even before we had settled in. There was also a lesson on eco-logy—a well-scripted account of how the presence of the tiger meant that the deer were there and that the forests and the grasslands were thriving and how the “forest is the mother of the river”. Soon he was cursing Maharashtra’s politicians and senior forest officials for having failed to support Tadoba unlike their counterparts in Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Bhaskar had taken over.
Those who speak too much, particularly in forests, do it often to cover their serious lack of knowledge. Bhaskar was an exception. Birds, trees, reptiles and the tigers of Tadoba, he knew them well. “I’ll try to show you the tiger,” he said, “but it’s not in my hands. We guides take the credit, but you know,” he made a profoundly philosophical turn, “nobody shows anything to anybody. It’s your luck—rajyog.” Then poured the anecdotes and accounts incredible—the ‘circuit’ tigress, the royal wild boar, the drongo that dances on the termite mound, the crocodiles in the lake and the pythons by the forest guesthouse.
Bhaskar was enjoying our company and we were now enjoying his. He told us stories with riddles that tested our knowledge of wildlife, recited poems he had written on delicate treasures of the forest, narrated accounts of his interactions with long-lens-wielding wildlife photographers and the young researcher from Pune, who taught him how to handle snakes.
Swati, my colleague, pointed to a bare white tree that we drove past. Bhaskar knew it, of course. He told us that the bark of the tree changed colour at least three times a year. My knowledge of botany (incorrect, as it turned out) kicked in unexpectedly. “It’s the Naked Lady of the Forest,” I said and turned to Bhaskar, adding half in jest, “Why is it called the naked lady and not a naked man?” Bhaskar’s reply was prompt: “It’s the king who decides—and what are we to say?” It was only days later that I realised I was wrong. The tree was the Ghost Tree, Sterculia urens. Bhaskar hadn’t known either.
The serious wildlife lessons, meanwhile, were also getting interspersed with other juicy gossip—about tour operators from Nagpur and beyond, the resort owners around Tadoba and their rich clientele, wildlife researchers and their research, forest staff and their difficult life in the wilds, and how the new reserve director was a good fellow and how his predecessor was shunted out because of differences with the boss in Nagpur. (Now you know why I’ve called Bhaskar, Bhaskar!)
And, finally, about the halkat. We were on the last leg of that morning safari and Bhaskar had been telling us how the forest had so many different things to offer. “I don’t understand,” he said, “why tourists are interested only in the tiger.” As if on cue, a bright yellow Maruti Gypsy appeared around the bend by the stream. “These,” said Bhaskar, as they went by, “are the halkat tourists of Tadoba. They’re after the tiger as if their life depends on it. And look at that vehicle—do you go into a forest with a vehicle that colour?”
Tailpiece 1: Gossip is a wild sword that swings free in the wind. If on your next trip to Tadoba you hear stories of a group of tourists that was less interested in tigers and more in gossip, please let me know at psekhsaria@gmail.com.
Tailpiece 2: We didn’t see the tiger during our two-day stay at Tadoba; other halkat tourists did.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Conserving our varied heritage
Conserving our varied heritage
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 29 Jan 2011 09:57:00 AM IST
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/conserving-our-varied-heritage/242849.html
The Western Ghats are, without doubt, one of the richest eco-regional systems in the entire subcontinent. Straddling six states from Gujarat in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, the 1,600-odd km long mountain range extends from the River Tapti in the north to Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip of the Indian landmass. They are home to a wide diversity of life just as they support innumerable human communities and cultures. It is a mountain range with a history of nearly 50 millions years, with only the last 12,000 to 15,000 years having seen the gradual entry here of the human species.
The beauty of the landscapes here is unmatched, endemism in the forests is high and nearly 250 million people living in peninsular India are nourished by the many rivers that originate here. The forests here are also home to more than 300 globally threatened species including rare and unique ones like the Malabar torrent toad, the Nilgiri langur, Wroughton’s free-tailed bat, the Nilgiri laughing thrush and many species of caecelians, the limbless amphibians. Conservative estimates put the number of microorganisms, plants and animals here at about 15,000, 40 per cent of which are found nowhere else in the world.
Serious challenges
It is with good reason that the ghats have been recognised as one of the world’s top 34 biodiversity hotspots and a large number of protected areas dot their length. There are nearly 60 sanctuaries and national parks here, ranging from the tiny 4 square kilometres Karnala Sanctuary in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, to others that extend over hundreds of sq km like the Bandipur NP in Karnataka and the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Anaimalais of Tamil Nadu. The region has over 60 important bird areas and also a number of areas designated as tiger and elephant reserves for the protection and conservation of two of the subcontinent’s most charismatic mega fauna.
This richness and wealth notwithstanding, the Western Ghats face a range of serious and complex challenges: there is unregulated mining in large parts; a number of rivers have been (or continue to be) dammed resulting in the loss of riverine ecosystems and the submergence of pristine forests; a rapidly growing network of roads and rail lines is fragmenting the patchwork of existing forests; continued habitat loss due to urbanisation, agriculture and plantations is leading to an alarming rise in human-wildlife conflicts; and tribal communities like those in Nilgiris continue to face increased marginalisation, loss of access to resources and livelihoods. It is estimated that only a third of the mountain range is still under natural vegetation and this too, is highly fragmented and completely degraded. For the ghats that are spread over an area 1,60,000 sq km and support millions of people and heads of livestock, this is only to be expected.
Conservation efforts
The Western Ghats is perhaps the most-studied eco-system in the country, and has had the maximum number of initiatives and efforts towards conservation directed at it. The mountain range has also been lucky in that there have always been vibrant local communities, NGOs, researchers and officials who have continued to engage with the complexities and work with the challenges of this unique system.
There have been, in recent times, a number of small, localised efforts that are
extremely heartening: children in schools in the vicinity of the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra demanding that plastic be banned from within sanctuary limits; the creation of 12 new Important Bird Areas in Kerala; efforts to bring down deaths in traffic accidents inside forest areas either by banning traffic like in Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks or by strictly regulating it in many other forests areas; new public private initiatives to secure corridor forests so that animals can move without hindrance and a number of awareness and environment education activities across the entire region.
Significantly, there are a range of programmes that have an appeal and relevance cutting across state and political boundaries. A large conservation research and action initiative is being implemented under the aegis of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund; the iconic Save Western Ghats Movement that was initiated two decades ago is on the way to being revived; a new Nilgiri Natural History Society has been formed; the creation of the Sahyadri Ecological Authority has been mooted and the ministry of environment and forests’ expert panel on the Western Ghats has been working to ‘assist in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant region.’
In another commendable development a few months ago, the minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, organised a special meeting of 43 Members of Parliament from the 51 districts which have the Western Ghats running through them.
It has been argued often that if political constituencies had been carved out on ecological or even eco-regional criteria, politics would have been different. Ecological systems, be they mountain ranges, river systems or the coast often get looked at in a piecemeal manner. The integrity of what is a single unit is completely overtaken by other considerations and the consequences have only been adverse. The minister’s initiative could well be the starting point of a better, more holistic approach.
To say however, that things will suddenly be better now in the Western Ghats, would be putting the cart much ahead of the horse. The challenges, needless to say, are daunting. Speaking at the inaugural session of the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons in Hyderabad in the first week of January, Ramesh argued that the country will have to make trade-offs between attaining 9-10 per cent economic growth and maintaining an ecological balance. The more pertinent question is being asked by those who are being ‘traded off’. In the Western Ghats, this has been most starkly visible in the controversy surrounding the nuclear power park at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Local people here are strongly opposed to the project that they claim will destroy their livelihoods as also the environment that sustains them. There are many other such examples.
It is in this extremely complex and sometimes charged context that the conservation initiatives have to deliver. It is only with this mixture of apprehension and hope that the Western Ghats can look towards the future.
Forests in the Nilgiri Mountains, Tamil Nadu
Gaur in the small remnant forests of Longwood Shola close to Kotagiri in the Nilgiris
A ready to be harvested banana crop is destroyed by elephants in the Nilgiris
Tree felling in the catchment area of the dam on the Sharavathi river in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka
The Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra. In the background are the forests of the sacred grove
River Aghanashini as seen from the crest of the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka
— The writer is an environmental researcher, writer and photographer. psekhsaria@gmail.com
All photos by Pankaj Sekhsaria
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 29 Jan 2011 09:57:00 AM IST
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/conserving-our-varied-heritage/242849.html
The Western Ghats are, without doubt, one of the richest eco-regional systems in the entire subcontinent. Straddling six states from Gujarat in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, the 1,600-odd km long mountain range extends from the River Tapti in the north to Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip of the Indian landmass. They are home to a wide diversity of life just as they support innumerable human communities and cultures. It is a mountain range with a history of nearly 50 millions years, with only the last 12,000 to 15,000 years having seen the gradual entry here of the human species.
The beauty of the landscapes here is unmatched, endemism in the forests is high and nearly 250 million people living in peninsular India are nourished by the many rivers that originate here. The forests here are also home to more than 300 globally threatened species including rare and unique ones like the Malabar torrent toad, the Nilgiri langur, Wroughton’s free-tailed bat, the Nilgiri laughing thrush and many species of caecelians, the limbless amphibians. Conservative estimates put the number of microorganisms, plants and animals here at about 15,000, 40 per cent of which are found nowhere else in the world.
Serious challenges
It is with good reason that the ghats have been recognised as one of the world’s top 34 biodiversity hotspots and a large number of protected areas dot their length. There are nearly 60 sanctuaries and national parks here, ranging from the tiny 4 square kilometres Karnala Sanctuary in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, to others that extend over hundreds of sq km like the Bandipur NP in Karnataka and the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Anaimalais of Tamil Nadu. The region has over 60 important bird areas and also a number of areas designated as tiger and elephant reserves for the protection and conservation of two of the subcontinent’s most charismatic mega fauna.
This richness and wealth notwithstanding, the Western Ghats face a range of serious and complex challenges: there is unregulated mining in large parts; a number of rivers have been (or continue to be) dammed resulting in the loss of riverine ecosystems and the submergence of pristine forests; a rapidly growing network of roads and rail lines is fragmenting the patchwork of existing forests; continued habitat loss due to urbanisation, agriculture and plantations is leading to an alarming rise in human-wildlife conflicts; and tribal communities like those in Nilgiris continue to face increased marginalisation, loss of access to resources and livelihoods. It is estimated that only a third of the mountain range is still under natural vegetation and this too, is highly fragmented and completely degraded. For the ghats that are spread over an area 1,60,000 sq km and support millions of people and heads of livestock, this is only to be expected.
Conservation efforts
The Western Ghats is perhaps the most-studied eco-system in the country, and has had the maximum number of initiatives and efforts towards conservation directed at it. The mountain range has also been lucky in that there have always been vibrant local communities, NGOs, researchers and officials who have continued to engage with the complexities and work with the challenges of this unique system.
There have been, in recent times, a number of small, localised efforts that are
extremely heartening: children in schools in the vicinity of the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra demanding that plastic be banned from within sanctuary limits; the creation of 12 new Important Bird Areas in Kerala; efforts to bring down deaths in traffic accidents inside forest areas either by banning traffic like in Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks or by strictly regulating it in many other forests areas; new public private initiatives to secure corridor forests so that animals can move without hindrance and a number of awareness and environment education activities across the entire region.
Significantly, there are a range of programmes that have an appeal and relevance cutting across state and political boundaries. A large conservation research and action initiative is being implemented under the aegis of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund; the iconic Save Western Ghats Movement that was initiated two decades ago is on the way to being revived; a new Nilgiri Natural History Society has been formed; the creation of the Sahyadri Ecological Authority has been mooted and the ministry of environment and forests’ expert panel on the Western Ghats has been working to ‘assist in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant region.’
In another commendable development a few months ago, the minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, organised a special meeting of 43 Members of Parliament from the 51 districts which have the Western Ghats running through them.
It has been argued often that if political constituencies had been carved out on ecological or even eco-regional criteria, politics would have been different. Ecological systems, be they mountain ranges, river systems or the coast often get looked at in a piecemeal manner. The integrity of what is a single unit is completely overtaken by other considerations and the consequences have only been adverse. The minister’s initiative could well be the starting point of a better, more holistic approach.
To say however, that things will suddenly be better now in the Western Ghats, would be putting the cart much ahead of the horse. The challenges, needless to say, are daunting. Speaking at the inaugural session of the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons in Hyderabad in the first week of January, Ramesh argued that the country will have to make trade-offs between attaining 9-10 per cent economic growth and maintaining an ecological balance. The more pertinent question is being asked by those who are being ‘traded off’. In the Western Ghats, this has been most starkly visible in the controversy surrounding the nuclear power park at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Local people here are strongly opposed to the project that they claim will destroy their livelihoods as also the environment that sustains them. There are many other such examples.
It is in this extremely complex and sometimes charged context that the conservation initiatives have to deliver. It is only with this mixture of apprehension and hope that the Western Ghats can look towards the future.
Forests in the Nilgiri Mountains, Tamil Nadu
Gaur in the small remnant forests of Longwood Shola close to Kotagiri in the Nilgiris
A ready to be harvested banana crop is destroyed by elephants in the Nilgiris
Tree felling in the catchment area of the dam on the Sharavathi river in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka
The Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra. In the background are the forests of the sacred grove
River Aghanashini as seen from the crest of the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka
— The writer is an environmental researcher, writer and photographer. psekhsaria@gmail.com
All photos by Pankaj Sekhsaria
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