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!
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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
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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

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