Regional Quarterly Bulletin on Wildlife and National Parks Management Vol. XLI : No. 4 2014 Featuring Vol. XXVIII : No. 4 Contents Human-tiger conflict in Sundarban Tiger Reserve and its mitigation through management strategies in India............. 1 Distribution and status of Pig-tailed macaque in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh...........................................................10 Current status of wild olive in Bajura District of Nepal..........15 Vertebrate diversity of Lalpur Sub-District, Natore, Bangladesh.................................................................... 21 Annual migration of the gangetic dolphin and the fish Tenualosa: A correlation or coincidence? A report from the Barak River of Assam, India...................................... 30 Some notes on Rat snake (Ptyas mucosa)...........................32 REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Ten years since Indian Ocean Tsunami: Progress in TIGERPAPER is a quarterly news bulletin mitigating impacts of natural disasters...............................1 dedicated to the exchange of information New software for monitoring forest resources..................... 4 relating to wildlife and protected area Sixth World Parks Congress - Parks, People, Planet: management for the Asia-Pacific Region. Inspiring solutions........................................................... 5 Strengthening forest tenure for securing livelihoods and ISSN 1014 - 2789 generating income...........................................................6 GREEiNSECT................................................................ 8 Address. Forestry and climate change experts meet in Bangkok to pave the road to Paris..................................................... 9 TIGERPAPER EU FLEGT Week: Stakeholders discuss progress and look FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific to the future................................................................... 13 Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road UN REDD Phase II Programme in Vietnam supports Bangkok, 10200, Thailand sustainable forest management in State Forest Companies. 15 Tel: (662) 697-4000 FAO Asia-Pacific Forestry Calendar................................... 16 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/ rap/nre/links/tiger-paper/en/ Editor: Janice Naewboonnien Advisor: P. Durst TIGERPAPER is dependent upon your free and voluntary The opinions expressed by the contributions in the form of articles, news items, and announcements in contributing authors are not the field of wildlife and nature conservation in the region. In order to necessarily those of FAO. The better serve the n eeds of our readers please write to us and send in the designations employed and the information you have or let us know if there is any information that you presentation of the material in the need. We appreciate receiving your letters and make all efforts to TIGERPAPER do not imply the respond. expression of any opinion on the part Front cover: Royal Bengal tiger of Sundarban Tiger Reserve (Photo: of FAO concerning the legal or Courtesy of Prasanta Kumar Pandit) constitutional status of any country, Back cover: Fishing in Sundarban Tiger Reserve (Photo: Courtesy of territority or sea area, or the Prasanta Kumar Pandit ) delimitation of frontiers. Vol. 41: No. 4 2014 | Human-tiger conflict in Sundarban Tiger Reserve Human-tiger conflict in Sundarban Tiger HUMAN-TIGER CONFLICT IN SUNDARBAN TIGER RESERVE AND ITS MITIGATION THROUGH MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN INDIA by Prasanta Kumar Pandit | Introduction The areas where wild tigers can still survive are diminishing at an alarming rate, with tiger habitat he tiger was declared a threatened species now 7% of its historical extent (Sanderson et al., Tfacing extinction in 1969 and at that time the 2006). The remaining tiger habitat continues to be approximate number surviving in the world was depleted gradually through conversion of land and 10,000. In 1976, international trade in tigers and their increasing demand of forest-based natural resources body parts was banned with placement of tigers in from the fringe population (Linkie et al., 2003; Appendix – I of the Convention on International O’Brien and Kinnaird, 2007; Dinerstein et al., 2007), Trade in Endangered Species of Flora & Fauna where tiger habitat is still subjected to heavy biotic (CITES). Since then, every tiger range country pressure such as grazing, unsustainable resource (TRC) has banned the hunting of tigers and created use, encroachment and direct killing of tiger and its protected areas (PAs) in tiger habitats, but the tiger prey species, all of which threaten the tiger’s remains endangered on the IUCN Red list of survival (Barlow, 2009). In many tiger reserves, the threatened species. tiger’s future survival faces further difficulties due 111 Vol. 41: No. 4 2014 | to human-tiger conflicts manifested in the killing Study area of human beings as well as livestock. Causes of mortality other than natural for tigers may have a Sundarban Tiger Reserve is situated mostly within substantial impact on the long term viability of the 24-Parganas (South) and partly in 24-Parganas tiger population (Kenney et al., 1995). Human- (North) districts (Arbesi block) of West Bengal, tiger conflicts have already led to the extinction India, and is a part of the famous “Sundarbans”. of the Bali ( Panthera tigris balica) and Javan It falls a little south of the Tropic of Cancer and tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) subspecies in lies between 21° 31’ & 22°31’ North Latitude and 1960s and 1970s respectively (Hoogerwerf, 1970; 88°10’ and 89°51’ East Longitude. Out of the total Seidensticker, 1987a) and threatens many of the forest area of 4,263 km2 of Indian Sundarbans an remaining populations in tiger range countries area of 2,585 km2 has been designated as (Nyhus and Tilson, 2004; Dinerstein et al., 2006). Sundarban Tiger Reserve with effect from 23 December 1973. Within this area, 1,330.12 km2 Tiger attacks are an extreme form of human– was declared as Sundarban National Park in 1984, wildlife conflict which occur for various reasons which was later declared as a World Heritage Site Human-tiger conflict in Sundarban Tiger Reserve Human-tiger conflict in Sundarban Tiger and have claimed more human lives than attacks by UNESCO in 1985. Outside the National Park, | by any of the other big cats. The most 362.33 km2 was declared as Sajnekhali Wildlife comprehensive study of deaths due to tiger attacks Sanctuary in 1976. In 2001, it was included in the estimates that at least 373,000 people died due to Global Network of Biosphere Reserves. tiger attacks between 1800 and 2009, the majority Sundarban Tiger Reserve is bounded by of these attacks occurring in South Asia. In Bangladesh in the east, South 24 Pargana Forest Southeast Asia, attacks gradually declined after Division in the west, fringe villages in the north peaking in the nineteenth century, but attacks in and the Bay of Bengal in the South (Fig-1). Many South Asia have remained high, particularly in the rivers, khals (streams) and creeks criss-cross the Sundarbans (Nyhus et al., 2010). As tigers in Asia area of Sundarban Tiger Reserve. Out of the total often live in close proximity to a large number of landscape approximately 65% is land mass and humans, tigers have killed more people than any 35% is water bodies. Sundarban Tiger Reserve other cat. Between 1876 and 1912, tigers killed has a necklace of 32 fringe villages at the northern 33,247 people in British India. In Sumatra Island and part of the western sides where the human- between 1978-1997, a total 146 people were killed tiger conflicts take a major toll. by tigers at an average 7.1 human deaths per year (Nyhus and Tilson, 2004). Human-tiger conflicts The management challenges of Sundarban Tiger in Nepal are also a serious conservation problem Reserve include a porous international boundary where 88 people were killed in Chitwan from 1970- with Bangladesh Sundarbans, illegal fishing, 2006 by tigers. It is interesting to note that the collection of crabs, honey and tiger prawn seeds, rate of human killing has increased from 1.2 human poaching of tiger prey species, increase of salinity, deaths per year (1976-1997) to 7.2 human deaths unstable land mass and inaccessibility, etc. (Pandit, per year from 1998-2006 (Gurung et al., 2008) in 2012). Nepal. The Sundarbans may have highest number of human fatalities caused by tiger attacks (Packer Historical trend of human-tiger conflicts et al., 2005). Future conservation efforts to increase the tiger population are expected to The man-eating behavior of Sundarban tigers has increase human-tiger conflicts, as has happened been historically authenticated but for how long is recently in Nepal (Gurung et al., 2008). not known. The information collected (Figure-2) gives an idea of the casualties in the undivided The objectives of the present study were: i) to Sundarbans during the last century (Gupta, 1964). assess the scale of historical trend of tiger and This behavior of the Sundarbans tiger does not human killing by analyzing the data; ii) probable have any intra-specific or intra-generic similarity reasons of human-tiger conflicts; and iii) adoption with any of the Panthera species from anywhere of different management strategies to mitigate in the world. The Sundarbans tigers eat fish, crabs, human-tiger conflicts. water monitor lizards, turtles, and even raid bee 2 Vol. 41: No. 4 2014 | Fig-2: Number of human and tiger casualties in undivided Sundarban during the period from Reserve Human-tiger