1 MINUTES OF FIRST MEETING OF TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL APPRAISAL COMMITTEE (TFAC) OF THE R&D SCHEME FOR CONSERVATION & DEVELOPMENT OF THE MoEFCC HELD ON 15.03.2019 AT INDIRA PARYAVARAN BHAWAN, MoEFCC, NEW DELHI The first meeting of the Technical and Financial Appraisal Committee (TFAC) of the Scheme on R&D for Conservation & Development of the MoEFCC was held under the chairmanship of Prof C.R.Babu on 15th March 2019 at MoEFCC in Indus Conference Room, Ground Floor, Jal Wing, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, New Delhi. Advisor (RE), MoEFCC, and Member-Secretary of the TFAC welcomed the Chairperson and members of the TFAC and special invitees for the meeting. List of participants is at Annexure-1. 1.2 The Committee was informed that the new R&D Scheme for Conservation & Development has been revised to identify specific research projects that could address gaps and priority areas of various on-going programmes and Schemes of the MoEFCC. Recognising that there are many areas/issues/problems pertaining to environment requiring research, the MoEFCC has launched the new revamped Scheme to specifically address the core issues and problems confronting MoEFCC. Research areas pertaining to agriculture, health, water supply and sanitation, etc are required to be taken up by the respective ministries for achieving their mandates for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) on agriculture (Zero Hunger) (SDG2), good health and well being (SDG3), drinking water and sanitation (SDG6), etc through research institutions such as the ICAR, ICMR, SERB of the DST, CSIR of DSIR, DBT, etc. The MoEFCC is also keen to avoid duplication/overlap of research that is being undertaken/will be taken up amongst these and various other research institutions of the country, and also to not take up such research proposals that relate to the core competencies of these institutions. Even within the MoEFCC, there are several schemes such as AICOPTAX for funding research proposals on taxonomy related areas, forestry is funded through ICFRE. Similarly, research on environmental health is funded through Scheme on Environmental Health. The MoEFCC has also laid emphasis on funding ‘Integrated Projects’, since environment is a complex system and environmental issues should be studied and gaps identified and addressed by multi-disciplinary approach. 1.3 The Committee was also informed that a dedicated MIS Portal has been created on which the projects are applied on-line and processed for approval and thereby achieving 100% digital compliance. The Scheme has identified 8 thematic areas of the MoEFCC under which proposals can be applied on line for funding. These include: (1) Biodiversity Conservation including Issues of Alien and invasive species and Human-wildlife Interface. (2) Ecosystems Conservation & Management (Mountain, Forest, Coastal, Wetlands, Pastoral, etc) and Evaluation of Ecosystem Services. (3) Socio-economic issues of environment and Sustainable Development. 2 (4) Conservation and Management of Landscapes and Ecologically sensitive areas including issues of sustainable livelihoods. (5) Sustainable Management of Natural Resources. (6) Climate Change: Vulnerability & Risk Assessment, Process, Mitigation and Adaptation. (7) Pollution Prevention - Clean Technologies and Processes, Cleaner Production, 3Rs, Resource Efficiency, Waste Minimisation and Management, etc. (8) Use of remote sensing technology for inventorisation, assessment and monitoring of country’s natural resources such as land, water, forests, wetlands, glaciers etc. and for environmental conservation and protection on areas given above. Project proposals can be formulated as integrated projects by integrating one or more thematic areas. Several institutions can also collaborate for one project under a ‘Lead Institution”. 2.0 In the first meeting, 19 proposals of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun were being taken up for consideration. These 19 projects have been prepared by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun from plan of action identified under various Chapters of National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) (2017-2031). The Committee was also informed that these proposals have been already considered by the Steering Committee of the R&D Scheme; however as the TFAC has now been constituted, the MoEFCC has desired that these may be relooked by the TFAC and recommend specific issues, if any on technical and financial aspects of these proposals. The 19 proposals of Wildlife Institute of India were taken up as per the agenda listed in Annexure-2. 3.0 The 19 proposals of WII were taken up for consideration. 3.1 “Ecological impacts of major Invasive Alien Species (IAS) on native flora and fauna in the Protected Areas (PAs) of North, Central and North-East India” PI of the project is Dr. Amit Kumar, Scientist – C, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Co-PI: Dr. B.S. Adhikari, Scientist F, Wildlife Institute of India. Details of the Project: The project is for a period of 3 years. The geographical location of the project is in 3 Protected Areas (PAs) in Uttarakhand (Rajaji National Park), Madhya Pradesh (Kanha National Park), Arunachal Pradesh (Pakhe National Park), Objectives of the project: i. To study the invasion patterns of alien plants in terrestrial ecosystems of selected PAs ii. To assess the ecological impacts of invasive alien plant species on native flora and fauna in selected PAs 3 iii. To assess the efficacy of various management practices in controlling the invasion of alien species etc. Expected outputs of the project: i. Technical report highlighting the results of the study ii. Baseline information on the status and distribution pattern of IAS iii. Evidence based experimental design to curb the invasion for better management of PAs iv. Training of front line staff of forest department to monitor IAS Expected outcome of the project: i. Patterns of diversity of IAS as well as native flora (inter-species competition). ii. Influence of IAS on native flora and ungulates across the invasion gradients. iii. Spread and patterns of invasion for conservation planning. iv. Mapping and management guidelines for the control of IAS The proposed cost of the project and year-wise break-up of the cost is given below: Tenure of the project Budget Budget Budget Total Budget 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year (in Rs.) (in Rs.) (in Rs.) (in Rs.) 3 years 34,82,960 22,42,960 20,08,960 77,34,880 The component-wise break-up of cost of the project is given below (in Rs.): COMPONENT COST Salary 4574880.00 Equipment 740000.00 Consumables 500000.00 Travel Cost 1400000.00 Contingency 150000.00 Any Other 370000.00 Total Budget 77,34,880.00 4 The details of manpower and equipment required for the project is given below: 1 Research Associate and 3 Research Fellows (JRF/SRF), 3 Field Assistants are required for the project. Details of equipment required under the project are given below: S.N. Name of Equipment No of Unit 1 Camera traps 15 2 Camera SLR 3 3 Binocular 3 4 GPS 3 5 Field gear 3 6 Herbarium materials 3 7 Fencing materials for plots 3 PI/Co-PI made a presentation before the Committee. It was informed that an estimated 2.6% of the geographical area of the country is covered with invasive alien species (IAS). It was that exhaustive studies on Lantana and Parthenium have been carried out. It was stated that the present project is to undertake studies on present status of invasive alien species in on PAs of three different geographical regions of 3 Tiger Reserves – Rajaji NP in Uttarakhand, Paki NP in Arunachal Pradesh and Kanha NP (MP) in Central Highlands of India and the ecological impacts of weed infestation in these PAs. The project would involve studies on biotic pressures, soil characteristics and wildlife movement. The Committee noted that studies on specific nutritional status of weed infested habitats and ecosystems have been already done. The most effective method of removal of weeds would be to physically remove the weeds and repeat the process for few years until the weed has been completely removed from such areas. However, the success of the exercise depends upon the restoration of weed free landscapes to their original natural state of ecosystem. The Committee was of the view that the project should be revised focussing on this issue and restrict studies to one PA. The Committee was also of the view that the cost of travel of Rs 15 lakhs and Contingency of Rs 15 lakhs provided in the budget is on the higher side. The Committee after deliberations, decided that the proposal can be resubmitted after revision in the light of committee’s observations for reconsideration. 3.2 “Ecology and Recovery of critically endangered Vulture species in Pong Dam Protected Area (PA) and its Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) in district Kangra, Himachal Pradesh”. PI of the project is Dr. Gautam Talukdar, Scientist - E, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Co-PI of the project: Dr.K. Sivakumar, Scientist F, Wildlife Institute of India. 5 Details of the Project: The project is for a period of 3 years. The geographical location of the project is the protected area of Pong Dam and its ESZ in Kangra in the State of Himachal Pradesh. PI/Co-PI made a presentation before the committee. The Committee was informed that 8 of the 9 endangered vulture species belong to Gyps genus. The species of vultures that are to be studied under the project are the following: - White backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) - Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) - Red-Headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus). - Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnoplens) Objectives of the Project: 1. Ecological monitoring by extensive field survey and satellite telemetry of the vultures. 2. Identification of Vulture safe zones. 3. Capacity building of forest department for long-term conservation of Vultures by mainstreaming it in the conservation plan of the PA and in the Zonal Management Plans of Eco-sensitive Zone of the Pong Dam PA.