PROTECTED AREA Update (Formerly JPAM UPDATE : News on Action towards Joint Protected Area Management) No. 21 JULY 1999 CONTENTS EDITORIAL Manipur Loktak lake threatened NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Three new PAs in Manipur soon Maharashtra Arunachal Pradesh Nisarg Vihar inside Sanjay Gandhi NP opposed Poaching on the rise in Namdapha Developmental threats to Melghat Assam Orissa Army to the rescue of Kaziranga Trouble in Chilka Ecodevelopment plan for Kaziranga Olive Ridley nesting at Gahirmata Successful Pygmy hog conservation project Satkosia to be transferred Demand for new protected areas in Assam Akhand Shikar in Simlipal Police withdraw from Manas Rajasthan Orang in trouble Plastic bags banned in Keoladeo Ghana NP Bihar Controversy in Ranthambore Mass hunt in Dalma Cattle compensation scheme for Ranthambore Goa Sambhar lake under threat Two new PAs created Sikkim Gujarat Large scale tree felling affecting PAs “Involve industry in saving marine park” - expert Tamil Nadu Salt farms in Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary Chital population up in Mudumalai; threat from dam Himachal Pradesh Tamil Nadu / Karnataka Part of the Great Himalayan NP deleted Threats to Cauvery WLS Jammu & Kashmir Uttar Pradesh City NP cleared for golf course Forest fires, weeds affect Corbett Karnataka Pesticides threaten Corbett ecosystem Villagers set fire to Dandeli forests Protest against train deaths of elephants in Rajaji Threats to Kudremukh West Bengal Controversies in Nagarhole Large scale timber smuggling from Buxa Ecodevelopment plan in Nagarhole Poachers, illegal settlers threaten Sundarbans Kerala Land for Sabrimala pilgrims NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA Madhya Pradesh 3rd National Consultation Pachmari designated as Biosphere Reserve New siting rules for industries near PAs Sal borer plague dies out in Kanha Project Tiger being strengthened Part of Madhav NP given away for dam Fund for children of parents killed by wild animals Illegal mining in PAs in MP Turtle sensitive areas to be identified Madhya Pradesh / Rajasthan Forest staff insurance scheme Inter - State Chambal waters sharing treaty signed Ecodevelopment: World Bank Meet; WWF Study WWF Case in Supreme Court Protected Area Update 21 1 July 1999 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) NEWS FROM SOUTH ASIA New Conservation Sub-Committee at the BNHS Bangladesh New organisation to support conservation work ‘World Heritage Site’ status for Sundarbans Nepal WHAT’S AVAILABLE Wild buffaloes cause terror near Koshi Tappu Judgements under the WL(P)A- 1972 Pakistan People and Parks Programme documents Suggestion for national park in Indus delta region World Bank Inspection Panel on Nagarhole Sri Lanka Indian Journal of Biodiversity. Illegal mining threatens nature park Environ First mangrove park to be set up in Sri Lanka Study on Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary Protected area adversely affects Veddah tribals Ecodevelopment in Corbett Tiger Reserve ANNOUNCEMENTS Global Tiger Forum conference Rhino / Tiger Fund invites proposals EDITORIAL The WWF case on protected areas (PAs) in the A positive move has been made by WWF- Supreme Court, about which we have been reporting India and Kalpavriksh, by asking the Union Ministry in every issue, continues to take its toll (pl. see of Environment and Forests to set up a process of NATIONAL NEWS, below). Given the lack of preparing guidelines and monitoring mechanisms. guidelines for carrying out the process of settlement Only time will tell if this will have its intended effect. of people's rights in PAs, widespread problems have Meanwhile, just as a couple of issues back been reported regarding the manner in which state we pointed out the unusually large number of stories governments are handling the process. On the one relating to mining in PAs, this time we have to point hand, in many PAs people's rights are not being readers to yet another menace: river valley projects. recorded or settled properly, and on the other, vested There are as many as 5 stories in this issue, of PAs interests are taking advantage of the situation by affected by such projects. While the country pressing for deletion/denotification of substantial undoubtedly needs to tap hydel energy, a national parts of the PAs. The latter step is ostensibly being debate and policy is needed on where to site these, taken to ease the shackles on local populations (and especially so that critical wildlife habitats are off- in several cases this is the genuine intention), but in limits to them. In the absence of such a policy, many cases is only an excuse for wildlife officers and NGOs will continue to fire-fight, industrial/commercial interests to gain entry. The grappling with proposal after proposal by power- example of Great Himalayan National Park (see hungry state governments and central agencies. below, pg. 6), is indicative of this. On the positive side, the third successive Unfortunately, there continues to be no National Consultation on Wildlife Conservation and concerted national response to this crisis being faced People's Livelihood Rights was held in Bhopal on by both PAs and their wildlife and human May 1-3, 1999 (see NATIONAL NEWS). Over 50 inhabitants. Most of the country's conservation participants, including social activists, villagers, agencies (including NGOs) have failed to take it forest officers, and researchers, agreed to formally set seriously, or to gather together into a powerful up a Conservation and Livelihoods Network, to response. Without this, decision-makers and the work on various aspects of participatory judiciary is likely to remain unmoved, as indicated by conservation. This Network's primary challenge will the Supreme Court's recent dismissal of a detailed be to help in resolving the conflicts that PAs and intervention on these issues by several NGOs and other wildlife habitats are facing. community-based organisations. This intervention Finally, readers would have noticed a had presented evidence of the ground situation in the change in the newsletter's name, from JPAM wake of the Court's order, and had asked it to direct Update to Protected Areas Update. A number of you the government to frame detailed guidelines and have pointed out that the news we are carrying is not monitoring procedures for carrying out the settlement restricted to joint PA management issues, but rather process. Its rejection ("we don't want the scope of the covers a broader array of issues relating to PAs. petition to be expanded", Justice Bharucha apparently Hence, taking a cue from one of the favourite told our advocate) exposes the weaknesses of a engagements of botanists and zoologists, this judicial system in which victims are hard-pressed to nomenclature change. Your reactions to this would make their voice felt. be most welcome. Protected Area Update 21 2 July 1999 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) The Director also said that the park area was NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES to be increased and six extension areas would be added in phases, nearly doubling the area of the park from the present 430 sq. kms. ARUNACHAL PRADESH This year too reports of flooding of the Brahmaputra are beginning to come in, but it is yet to Poaching on the rise in Namdapha be seen if Kaziranga is also affected. Poaching in the core of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve Source: C Shekhar Nambiar. 'Army to the rescue of is on the rise. In February 1999 forest officials seized `Kaziranga’, Newstime, 04/02/99.) a number of animals including a dead sambar and R Dutta Choudhary. 'Bid to involve villagers barking deer from a camp within the park. Lisu in wildlife conservation', The Assam tribals have migrated into India from Myanmar and Tribune, 17/02/99.) settled in and around the core area of Namdapha. Nirmalya Banerjee. 'Kaziranga animals to Although initially helpful to wildlife officials, they get flood protection', The Times of India, now appear to have turned to poaching under the 13/04/99. influence and support of traffickers from across the Myanmar border. Contact: Field Director, Kaziranga National Park, PO Bokaghat – 783612, Assam. Source: ‘Poaching on the rise’, Tigerlink, Vol.5, No.2, June 1999 Successful Pygmy hog conservation project ‘Namdapha National Park’, Nature's Beckon News, Vol. C / No. 1, June 1999. A project for the breeding in captivity of the endangered pygmy hog has been very successful. The Contact: Moloy Baruah, President, Early Birds, 26 number of pygmy hogs in the breeding centre on the Surujmukhi, PO Silpukhuru, Guwahati, outskirts of Guwahati has increased from six to fifty Assam. one in just three years. ASSAM The programme had been embroiled in a major controversy when the scientists involved in the Army to the rescue of Kaziranga project were accused of smuggling blood samples Ecodevelopment plan for Kaziranga and rare bio-diversity out of the country for cloning and genetic breeding. A Public Interest Litigation An Indian army project in Kaziranga National Park is was also filed in the matter before the Guwahati High expected to help marooned animals during the floods. Court. Recently however the court dismissed the In less than three months after the devastating floods petition, saying it found nothing wrong in the here last year, army engineers had constructed 10 activities of the centre and additionally, it highlands that will serve as a refuge for animals from commended the good work that was being done. the flood waters of the Brahmaputra. (See Update 10 The centre had been set up under the Pygmy Hog & 19) Conservation Programme (PHCP) in 1995, after the The entire cost of Rs. 2 crores, for animal, which was believed to be extinct, was sighted constructing the highlands, was met by the army. in the Manas National Park. According to Dr. Some of the old forest camps are being replaced by Gautam Narayan, the director of the project, the only permanent concrete ones, and some educational and viable population of the species now exists in this awareness activity is also to be undertaken under an park.