PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from Protected Areas in India and South Asia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia Vol. XV No. 5 October 2009 (No.81) LIST OF CONTENTS Rajasthan 10 EDITORIAL 2 Great Indian Bustard sighted in Tal Chappar Do we want the cheetah back? Wildlife Sanctuary Tamil Nadu 10 NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Animal census in Point Calimere WLS Assam 3 Uttarakhand 11 Habitat protection vital to save River Dolphin in SC abandons elevated corridor for elephants in the Brahmaputra Rajaji NP Study on implications of the Forest Rights Act Uttar Pradesh 11 around Nameri NP and Sonai Rupai WLS ‘Steering committee’ for tiger conservation Opposition to proposal of gifting rhino horns More stringent punishment for poaching in Assam NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA 12 Opposition to eviction for expansion of the Proposal to re-introduce the cheetah to India Kaziranga NP Report on Ecologically Sensitive Areas in India Gujarat 5 Four PAs proposed for inclusion on UNESCO MoEF rejects proposed port at Poshitara adjoining heritage list the Gulf of Kutch Marine NP SCB’S Distinguished Service Award to Dr Jharkhand 6 Kamal Bawa Mobile phones and flying squads to tackle man- National Green Tribunal approved elephant conflict CEE plans Hoolock gibbon conservation Karnataka 6 programme in NE NEAA rejects thermal power station close to 1st installment of CAMPA money for eight states; Anshi-Dandeli TR dissatisfaction with amount of money being Night traffic banned through Bandipur NP released Madhya Pradesh 7 Centre sends teams to assess situation in eight Displaced fisherfolk ask for full fishing rights in tiger reserves Tawa reservoir in Satpura TR Maharashtra 8 SOUTH ASIA 15 Rise in Giant squirrel population in Bhimashankar Bangladesh WLS US, Germany pledge US $19 million for Forest Dept employees warn of strike reforestation of Chunati WLS Large scale transfers; PAs left unprotected Nepal Meghalaya 9 121 breeding tigers counted in PAs in Nepal Land adjoining Balpakram NP reclaimed from illegal miners UPCOMING 16 Orissa 9 Great Himalayan Bird Count, Winter – 2009 223 tribal families to be shifted from Similipal TR International Conference on Wildlife & Punjab 10 Biodiversity Conservation Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir to be declared a World Tiger Summit in Ranthambore TR in 2010 wildlife sanctuary Global Tiger Workshop in Kathmandu Call for Papers: People and Protected Areas - EDITORIAL India case studies OPPORTUNITIES 17 Research position for project on Snow leopard Do we want the Cheetah back? phylogeography and conservation Research position for Population genetics of a It is not anymore a question only of academic montane bird in the Western Ghats interest. The ball, in some senses, is already Research positions on bio-resource ecology and rolling. A meeting was held in Rajasthan in climate change in the Sikkim Himalayas September (see national news) where a host of Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation international and national experts including Practice representatives from state and national Part time environment education work in Mumbai governments met to discuss and debate a proposal for the re-introduction of the cheetah IN THE SUPREME COURT 19 to India. A decision may not be taken for a PRESS RELEASES 19 while as the issues related to availability of National Conference of Ministers of Environment habitat and prey, of management and possible and Forests, 18/08/09 conflict with humans are studied, analysed and Future of Conservation Network, 19/08/09 decided upon. There are many areas where the READERS WRITE 23 feasibility of the re-introduction will have to be carefully studied and this is what the meeting Protected Area Update has proposed to do. But the question really is a more fundamental one. Why do we want the cheetah Vol. XV, No. 5, October 2009 (No. 81) back? There seem to be two different answers Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria to this. One it would seem, and the Minister for Editorial Assistance: Reshma Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan too referred to that - is to regain a part of the Produced by: Kalpavriksh lost glory and history of this country. The other, as has been pointed by some wildlife Ideas, comments, news and information may experts, is that the cheetah, like the tiger, is the please be sent to the editorial address: apex species of the grassland habitat and it’s KALPAVRIKSH , Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, presence would, both, indicate and ensure the 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, health of this badly abused ecosystem. Maharashtra, India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239. Prima facie the arguments seem valid, Email : [email protected] but if looked at carefully, both have serious Website: www.kalpavriksh.org problems. It is certainly important to realize *** that grassland habitats are extremely Publication of the PA Update Vol. XV, No. 5 has productive but undervalued and abused. There been supported by the Duleep Mathai Nature is no doubt they should be conserved but Conservation Trust , the Foundation for introducing the cheetah from Africa hardly Ecological Security , Greenpeace India , the seems to be the way to do that. There are far Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and simpler and effective ways to do it if we have the common sense and political will for it. the Indian Bird Conservation Network . It is also an extremely unfortunate part of our history that this glorious animal was shot into extinction nearly six decades ago. What is a scarier reality is that many species of plants, birds and animals stand today on the verge of joining the cheetah into that void Protected Area Update Vol XV, No. 5 2 October 2009 (No. 81) called extinction. Flagship programs - Project Research has also shown that accidental killing Tiger and Project Elephant, for instance, face through fisheries by-catch, poaching for oil, serious challenges and some might even say that dam building and the proposed seismic survey they are floundering. How prudent would it then in the Brahmaputra River are the major threats be to get into something new without ensuring to the dolphins. (Also see PA Updates Vol XV, the success of what we already have on hand? No. 1; Vol XIII, No 2; Vol XII, No.3; Vol XI, Rather than spending huge amounts of No 5 and No. 46) time, human resources, energy and money towards an ‘esoteric’ bringing back of the Source: ‘Ganges River Dolphin in dire straits’ ‘dead’ the effort has to be concentrated on 20/07/09 preventing it happening again – with other http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/brah species. That would be a far more worthwhile maputra_river_dolphins___psf_final_re and valuable endeavour. port.pdf We can’t undo the extinctions we have Contact: Sarah Horsley , IUCN caused already. Let the fate of cheetah be a grim Email: [email protected] pointer to that reality. Lynne Labanne , IUCN Species Programme. Email: [email protected] NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Study on implications of the Forest Rights Act around Nameri NP and Sonai Rupai WLSs ASSAM Kalpavriksh recently conducted a short Habitat protection vital to save River exploratory study on the Scheduled Tribes and Dolphin in the Brahmaputra Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 in the areas around A study carried out under an IUCN Sir Peter Nameri National Park and Sonai Rupai Scott Fund project has expressed the need to Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam. The objective protect the habitat of the Ganges River Dolphin was to gauge the status of implementation of to save the species from extinction. the Act, understand people's perceptions and According to the study the total also the possible implications for, both, the population of the Ganges River Dolphin is biodiversity and forest-dependent communities around 2,000 and of these between 240 to 300 of the area. can be found in the Brahmaputra river system. Given the historical context of this This study was conducted in the 1,044km area, the findings of the study suggest that stretch of the Brahmaputra River system, some modifications are needed to the Act and primarily in Assam. A similar study carried out certain conservation safeguards should be in 2005 had estimated the dolphin population to integrated before the Act is implemented here. be 250. Some of the possible resolution Oil India Limited (OIL) has proposed measures suggested for this particular context to start prospecting for oil along the bed of the include the need for: Brahmaputra River using air guns and (a) an amendment of the cut-off date of the Act explosives; hence the need was felt for the study from 2005 to 1980 - to get an estimate of the population here. (b) steps to highlight conservation aspects of The research has identified eight river the Act, such as community forest rights sections as potential protected areas and provisions suggested that community-based dolphin (c) steps to prevent ethnic conflict resulting conservation is the best strategy to save the from varying eligibility of claimants under the dolphins. The project also carried out 32 Act awareness campaigns along the Brahmaputra (d) steps to actively involve communities in valley, focusing on fishing communities. conservation efforts Protected Area Update Vol XV, No. 5 3 October 2009 (No. 81) (e) steps to prevent fresh encroachments About 500 rhinos are reported to have (f) steps to regenerate forest areas on which died in Assam in the last 30 years and many of claims have been rejected these are believed to have been poached (see (g) steps to expeditiously recognize the rights of PA Updates Vol XV, Nos. 3, 2, & 1; Vol XIV, eligible claimants No. 2; and Vol XIII, Nos. 6& 5). A number of rhino horns that were Contact: Arshiya Bose , Kalpavriksh (for a copy of seized from poachers or retrieved from dead the report.