PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from Protected Areas in India and South Asia
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PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia Vol. XII No. 1 February 2006 (No. 59) LIST OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL 2 Karnataka 9 Jungle Lodges and Resorts plans expansion A film festival with a difference Bannerghata NP elephants to be radio-collared NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Kerala 10 Andhra Pradesh 3 Ganja mafia prospers around Silent Valley Telugu Ganga Canal project to impact Sri Madhya Pradesh 10 Lankamaleswara and Sri Penusila Narasimha Controversy over shepherd death in Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuaries WLS Polavaram Dam to submerge 3267 hectares of forest including 85 ha in Papikonda WLS Maharashtra 11 Leopard gecko found in Melghat TR Arunachal Pradesh 4 Water tunnel proposed through Pench NP Now Namdapha loses all tigers Orissa 12 Assam 4 No kerosene for personnel in Gahirmatha Two tigers found dead in Orang NP – poisoning Giant waves lash Pentha coast along Gahirmatha suspected Marine Sanctuary Pressures mounting on Amchang WLS Patrol vessels attacked along Gahirmatha coast Elephants from Amchang WLS cause serious damage in Panikhaiti area Turtle Witness Camp Villages demand proper arrangements for 61 elephants killed in Orissa in last five years relocation from Dibru-Saikhowa NP Nearly 200 tribals arrested in Simlipal for Akhand Camera traps installed in Manas NP Shikar FD eco-tourism resorts near three PAs Sikkim 14 News from Kaziranga 6 Eco-clubs to be set up in schools Tourists throng Kaziranga on New Year’s Day Tamil Nadu 14 No plan to divert National Highway presently Biosphere Reserve in Agastyamalai Range passing through Kaziranga NP Uttaranchal 14 Assam Assembly employment review panel Jhilmil Jheel and Asan Barrage declared Conservation Reserves visits Kaziranga Corbett Tiger Viewing Rules Biswanathghat – Kaziranga NP river cruise Stone quarry proposed at Mikir Chang near Uttar Pradesh 15 State proposes new elephant reserve Kaziranga NP Efforts on to eradicate mimosa from Kaziranga West Bengal 15 Proposal for Wildlife Crime Cell Program for dealing with human-elephant conflict Two injured in firing in Mahananda WLS in Manas and Kaziranga NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA 16 Gujarat 9 The Sanctuary – ABN Amro Wildlife Awards New Egroup for Gujarat Birdwatchers National Tiger Conservation Authority Himachal Pradesh 9 Vatavaran film festival awards Rs 1,800 cr project for Pong sanctuary 11 more biosphere reserves to be set up Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) SOUTH ASIA 17 Bangladesh EDITORIAL Tree fellers turn protectors in Lawachara National Park Alternative energy fair to protect forests of A film festival with a difference Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary Bhutan Vatavaran – 2005, the Environment and Wildlife Black necked cranes arrive in Bomdeling Pakistan Film Festival organized by the Centre for Media Four Markhor hunting permits issued at US$ Studies in November offered many pleasant 52,000 each surprises – least of all the number of films that INTERNATIONAL NEWS 20 were submitted. The organizers received a record Burma number of nearly 250 films from across the Dolphin survey in proposed protected area on country. It is proof, perhaps, of two significant River Irrawady developments– that film making technologies UN-sponsored report urges stronger protection for have become cheaper and more accessible endangered sea mammals allowing possibilities that were not there earlier Mountain Invasions Research Network and importantly that there is tremendous interest UPCOMING 20 in the issues related to the environment, International workshop for conservation of snow development and wildlife itself. This can only leopard augur well in a situation where inspite of the rd 3 International Conference on Monitoring and boom in media and access to it there is a Management of Visitor Flows in Recreational perennial shortage of films on wildlife and the and Protected Areas environment that inform, question and challenge OPPURTUNITIES 21 in a meaningful manner. Volunteers needed for wildlife work in But its not about numbers alone. Many Maharashtra of the films were outstanding – a combination of The Friends of the Doon Society seeks a Wildlife great subject matter, fearless questioning and & Conservation Officer WHAT’S AVAILABLE 21 good technical quality that made for powerful Ropar Wetland viewing. This was perhaps best highlighted by Fish Biodiversity in Wetlands of Punjab – A Field Praveen Singh’s: ‘Indian Leopards - The Killing Guide Fields’ that won the award for the best film of the Field Guide on Indian Dragonflies festival. The film deals with the issue of human- In the Supreme Court 22 leopard conflict that has reached serious Readers Write 23 proportions in certain parts of the country and highlights realities in the Indian landscape that Protected Area Update are extremely complex. Similarly ‘The Last Flight’ by Nutan Manmohan, winner of the best Vol. XII No. 1 February 2006 (No. 59) wildlife film award tracked the crisis facing the Produced by: Kalpavriksh vulture in the country today in a manner that was Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan both, precise and engaging at the same time. Ideas, comments, news and information may please And then there was ‘Vikas, Bandook ki be sent to the editorial address: naal se’ (Development flows from the barrel of KALPAVRIKSH, Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 the gun) by Ranchi based Biju Toppo and Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, Meghnath. Winner in the category ‘Forest for India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239. life’, the theme of the festival, it was a powerful Email: [email protected] indictment of the development process that we Website: www.kalpavriksh.org have chosen to follow. The film tracks the Production of PA Update 59 has been supported histories of five development projects in the tribal by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), belt of Eastern India, each one of them being Anand. Additional support was provided by forced upon a reluctant local population, where Greenpeace India 2 Protected Area Update Vol. XII. No. 1 February 2006 (No. 59) Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) state repression and the gun have come to b) The canal will permit the extension of irrigated embody ‘development’. It’s a film that’s agriculture in areas outside the sanctuary that extremely important and has come not a day are presently scrub jungle and important too soon – a critical wake up call that we must courser habitat. pay heed to. Just the last issue of the PA c) Extension of agricultural activity will increase Update had commented upon the mindless human use of the areas in the sanctuary and mining and mining related activities that are outside it, increasing pressure on the bird and being pushed aggressively in Orissa. Just a few its habitat. weeks ago 12 tribals protesting take over of The study concludes that the construction of the their lands for a steel plant in Kalingnagar in canal will make the conservation status of the Orissa were shot dead by the police. The film is Jerdon’s Courser even worse in the SLWLS. a grim reminder that Kalingnagar is not the first The study has made a series of and will certainly not be the last – that the recommendations, including importantly that threat to wildlife conservation and the survival pending a review of its impact on the habitat of of tribal communities comes not from each the threatened Jerdon’s Courser the construction other, but an entirely different, more powerful work of the canal around the Sri Lankamaleswara and ruthless entity. That the festival chose to WLS should be stopped immediately. award this film was significant in itself. Its an indication that all hope may not be lost. Source: P Jeganathan and Dr. Asad Rahmani’. Vatavaran will now be traveling to ‘Construction of Telugu Ganga Canal in different parts of the country and hopefully a and around two protected areas in lot more people will get an opportunity to see Cuddapah District, Andhra Pradesh, India. the films. Its an opportunity that must certainly Immediate threat to the world population not be missed. of the critically endangered Jerdon’s Courser, Rhinoptilus bitoquatus’. BNHS, December 2005. http://www.bnhs.org/article.php?cid=MjI% NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES 3D&sid=MTg3&aid=MjE0&t=Mg%3D% 3D Contact: P Jeganathan & Dr. Asad Rahmani, ANDHRA PRADESH BNHS, Hornbill House, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai 400023, Maharashtra. Tel: 022-22821811. Fax: Telugu Ganga Canal project to impact Sri 22837615. Email: [email protected] Lankamaleswara and Sri Penusila DFO, Wildlife, Sri Lankamaleswara WLS, Narasimha Wildlife Sanctuaries Cuddapah. Andhra Pradesh. Tel: 08562- 244480 A recent study by the Bombay Natural History Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Society (BNHS) has revealed that the Telugu (PCCF), Muzam Jahi Circle, Tuljaguda Ganga Canal Project will seriously damage Complex, APHB Buildings, M J Market, critical Jerdon’s Courser habitat in around the Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Sri Lankamaleswara Wildlife Sanctuary (SLWLS) and the Sri Penusila Narasimha Polavaram Dam to submerge 3267 hectares of Wildlife Sanctuary (SPNWLS) in the forest including 85 ha in Papikonda WLS Cuddapah district. The right canal will impact SLWLS while the left canal will impact the About 3,267 hectares (ha) of reserve forest area SPNWLS. spread over 2,820 ha in Khammam, 112 ha in The study points that the canal poses at Visakhapatnam, 149 ha in East Godavari, 136 ha least three types of threats of the courser: in West Godavari and 49 ha in Krishna districts a) Construction of the canal is likely to destroy respectively is likely to be submerged by the the remaining scrub jungle habitat of the Polavaram Dam project. courser in the SLWLS This includes an estimated 85 ha in the 3 Protected Area Update Vol. XII. No. 1 February 2006 (No. 59) Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Papikonda Wildlife Sanctuary, where forest animal too is said to have been spotted by officials have identified about 10 patches where Chakma villagers and not the staff of the Forest habitations of wild animals are likely to be Department.