PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia Vol. XIII No. 4 August 2007 (No. 68) LIST OF CONTENTS Himachal Pradesh 7 EDITORIAL 2 HP to allow hunting of wild boar Some lessons from Gir Chandratal to be declared a wildlife sanctuary NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Karnataka 7 Arunachal Pradesh 3 Windmills proposal for Kudremukh NP Villagers for protection of Pakhui TR Ban on NTFP collection impacting adivasis and Assam 3 BRT Wildlife Sanctuary Meeting held for Kaziranga protection Cap on visitors to some PAs in state Veterinary Camp around Pobitara WLS 16 elephant deaths in first half of 2007 in Kollegal Timber smuggling in Manas NP Wildlife Division Bihar 4 Kerala 9 Gautam Budha WLS under naxal control Kerala to use Wildlife Protection Act in Gujarat 4 Mullaperiyar Dam case Protection measures being augmented at Gir Kerala cabinet rejects Community Reserve proposal Court denies bail of those arrested in lion for Vembanad lake poaching in Gir Maharashtra 10 NGO organizes conservation awareness programs No plan to move out VIP guest house complex from around Gir Tadoba Gir staff to get insurance cover Tadoba Andhari TR’s Kolara Gate to be opened for Monthly Monitoring Committee for Gir lions tourists 168 Blackbuck washed away in flood in Manipur 11 Velavadar NP; two lions in Gir also perish Wetland International report expresses concern over Gujarat to set up Wildlife Crime Cell Loktak Orissa 12 Protected Area Update Steps to check encroachment of Chilika Lake Vol. XIII, No. 4, August 2007 (No. 68) Night safari proposed by Satkosia Wildlife Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria Division Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan NREGS for tribals affected by Satkosia WLS Produced by: Kalpavriksh Captive bred crocs released in Bhitarkanika Ideas, comments, news and information may please Eviction from Sunabeda WLS opposed be sent to the editorial address: Punjab 14 KALPAVRIKSH, Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Three new PAs in Punjab Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, Rajasthan 14 India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239. ‘Friends of Tigers’ for Ranthambor NP Email: [email protected] Rajasthan Police gets Bavin Wildlife Law Website: www.kalpavriksh.org Enforcement Award 2007 Rains hit Rajasthan wildlife census in May Production of PA Update 68 has been supported Tamil Nadu 15 by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Study of the Gulf of Mannar’s eco system Anand. Tiger numbers up in Mudumalai WLS Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Uttarakhand 16 High Court asks for reconsideration of FD order EDITORIAL for eviction of Ban Gujjars from Rajaji Reliance Energy team found digging illegally in Askot WLS Some lessons from Gir West Bengal 17 If one goes by news reports of the last couple of Zoo proposed in the East Calcutta Wetlands months (see stories from Gujarat in this issue of Narrow guage line proposed inside Senchal WLS the PA Update), a lot has been happening in the lion forests of Gir. A number of measures have NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA 18 been proposed or are being implemented by the Call for proposals – Small Grants Program for Gujarat Government and the Forest Department Eastern Himalayas for the protection of lions. There is a recruitment Centre urges apex court to wind up ‘forest bench’ US $ 105 million GEF environment Aid to India drive in Gir to add new protection staff and to fill Meeting of Field Directors of all Tiger Reserves up posts that have been lying empty for a long National Board for Wildlife reconstituted while. There is a realization that the average age Ex-servicemen for tiger protection of staff is on the higher side and unless younger Database of Ornithologists people are brought in, protection work will suffer. The State has decided to set up a Wildlife SOUTH ASIA 20 Crime Cell to track and deal with poaching and Bangladesh other wildlife related crimes and there is now Top Sunberban official arrested for corruption going to a ten member monthly monitoring Nepal committee to constantly keep an on the Simultaneous public protests in five PAs happenings in and around the forests here. Increasing number of Chitwan villagers involved Officers and staff are being given better in rhino poaching equipment, more vehicles and the communication Sacred sites trail project in Sagarmatha NP infrastructure too is being improved. Additional efforts are reportedly being INTERNATIONAL NEWS 21 made to work with the local communities with a Western/Central Asian Site Network for Siberian ‘vanyaprani mitra’ scheme and by recruiting Cranes and other waterbirds them as informers. An insurance scheme is also Call for Wildlife Reserve to Cover 30% of being put in place for the forest staff. Oceans At one level it all seems welcome; it’s good that vacant posts are being filled, that UPCOMING 22 Global Change and Pas younger staff is being recruited, that they are II Latin American PA Congress being adequately equipped, that a safety net with an insurance cover is being put in place and there WHAT’S AVAILABLE 22 is an acknowledgement of the need to work with Commentaries on Wildlife Law local communities. What is very striking, however, is that OPPORTUNITIES 23 the initiatives appear to have come like a sudden Field researchers for seed dispersal study in torrent and that too measures that should have Pakke Tiger Reserve always been in place. What can be the JRF for project on Shifting agriculture in the NE justification for posts lying vacant, for protection Research assistants for project on Trawl Fishing staff to be working with inadequate equipment or along the Coromandel Coast security? Why do we expect that our forests and our wildlife will be protected when this is the ground situation? Why is that that these lacunae are noticed only after a disaster strikes, after The PA Update needs your support nearly a dozen lions have been killed in an For details see Page 24 unprecedented spate of poaching incidents; after the proverbial horse has already bolted? Protected Area Update Vol XIII, No. 4 2 August 2007 (No. 68) Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) The lesson here is one that needs to be CWLW, Forest Department, Itanagar – taken across the country. Forest Departments 719111. Arunachal Pradesh. Tel: 0360 – and protected areas across most, if not all, 222310 (o)/ 224370 ®. Fax: 0360 – states in the country have been complaining of 222351/223556 exactly the situation that is now being corrected in Gir. ASSAM It is not that an acknowledgement of the situation does not exist. The recent meeting Meeting held for Kaziranga protection of the Tiger Reserve Directors held in June in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (see page 19) lists A public awareness camp for the protection of out pretty much the same problems. It is wildlife in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) was important that these be addressed and held recently at the office campus DAGROB, an corrective action be taken at the earliest. It is NGO of Dhansirimukh, a Mising dominated area unrealistic otherwise to expect that those at the adjacent to the KNP on the eastern fringe. The forefront of protecting our increasingly meeting was organized by the World Wide Fund threatened wildlife will be effective or be able for Nature (WWF) with the co-operation of the to perform. That is the minimum we owe them forest wing Kaziranga and the NGO, Bhumi. and it is certainly not too much. 200 local people also participated in the meeting. They assured the KNP authorities of extending full support in the matter of protection of wild animals. They however urged the forest NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES department to create a highland in the area for the distressed animals. They also asked the FD to initiate steps for vaccinating the cattle of the ARUNACHAL PRADESH neighbouring people, to allow the poor people to take temporary shelter on the embankment Villagers for protection of Pakhui TR adjacent to the park at times of need, to allow them to collect wood for making farm tools and to Heads of 16 villages bordering the Pakhui provide compensation for damage done to crops Tiger Reserve have formed a committee that by the wild animals of the park. will work jointly with the Forest Department for protection of the reserve. The committee, Source: ‘KNP wildlife protection awareness meet’, locally called the Ghora Aabhe, recently passed The Sentinel, 23/07/07. a resolution listing penalties for hunting of 17 Contact: Director, Kaziranga NP, PO Bokakhat, different wild species ranging from Rs 200 to Dist. Golaghat – 785612, Assam. Tel: Rs 30,000. 03776-268095(O), 268086(R Following the initiative that is also being supported by the Wildlife Trust of India, Veterinary Camp around Pobitara WLS about 32 illegal locally made guns were seized from poachers, who have also now promised to The Early Birds, an NGO for animal care, work for the protection of the reserve. conducted a free veterinary vaccination cum The committee would also work to treatment camp around the Pobitora Wild Life strengthen intelligence networks, enforcement sanctuary on 19th and 20th May’07. A total of 497 activities and create awareness for conservation heads of cattle in the villages of Morabori and among local the people. Kuchiani were treated as part of the camp. The DFO (WL) and the RFO, Pobitora Source: ‘Villagers join hands to protect Pakhui offered field support for the initiative that was the Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh’, 26th such camp organized at Pobitora in last 14 The Hindustan Times. years. Contact: Divisional Forest Officer, Pakhui Source: Moloy Baruah. Email dated 29/05/07. Wildlife Sanctuary Division, P.O.