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
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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!
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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.
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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
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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
