Editor CONTENTS Asad R. Rahmani, Director, BNHS Assistant Editor Raju Kasambe, Project Manager, IBA-IBCN Design Gopi Naidu Conservation initiatives by the Layout Nagaland Forest Department for Abhijit Malekar, Noor Khan 4 the migratory Amur Falcon Consultant Editor — Zuthunglo Patton, IFS and Gayatri W. Ugra Kamdi Hemant Bhaskar, IFS Contributions should be sent to Editors, MISTNET, IBA-IBCN Bombay Natural History Society Hornbill House, S.B. Singh Road Mumbai 400001, INDIA Tel: +91 22 22821811 Tracking the incredible journey of Email: [email protected] a small raptor www.ibcn.in 14 Amur Falcon from India — R. Suresh Kumar Our Mission Conservation of nature, primarily biological diversity, through action, based on research, education and public awareness. Amur Falcon Conservation in BNHS is a BirdLife International partner Nagaland www.bnhs.org 19 — Steve Odyuo BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations, represented in over 100 countries, working for the diversity of all life through the conservation of birds and their habitats. BirdLife International Wellbrook Court, Girton Road Working together to Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK face a crisis Email: [email protected] 22 www.birdlife.org — Neha Sinha www.rspb.org.uk This Newsletter is supported by the RSPB Cover: Amur Falcon Doyang Reservoir: A Falco amurensis potential IBA in Nagaland by M.N. Srinivasa Raju 24 — Raju Kasambe Views expressed by the contributors in MISTNET are not necessarily those of the IBCN/BNHS. (For private circulation only) EDITORIAL From One Hundred Thousand to Zero ndia is a land of contradictions. Whatever is true in one place, the opposite is true in another. For example, take wildlife protection and hunting. While in some states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, IMaharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, you will find birds strictly protected even inside crowded cities and villages, in Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, even the tiniest bird is killed for the pot or simply for fun. While you can feed gulls and ducks in Jamnagar town and enjoy the beauty of flamingos inside Porbandar town, in Arunachal Pradesh or Nagaland you can go for miles inside forest without seeing a single bird. The type of welcome given to Spot-billed Pelican and Painted Stork by villagers in Kokkarebellur in Karnataka is rarely seen in some states. In India wheels turn slowly, and for every inaction there is an excuse. However, when the government wants to do something, it is done on a grand scale. Our democratic elections are the biggest in the world, and largely happen peacefully. Every 12 years, we hold the largest human congregation in the world – the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, where planning and management are an example for other countries to emulate. We have successfully eradicated polio in a population of 1.3 billion, while our western neighbour is still struggling to combat this dreadful disease. To these examples, I would add the successful prevention of poaching of Amur Falcons in 2013 by the Government of Nagaland and several NGOs. Just after the very successful Conference of the Parties (COP) of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) at Hyderabad in October 2012, the world was shocked to see gory pictures of the trapping and trade of thousands of Amur Falcon in Nagaland, sent by Mr. Ramki Srinivasan, founder of Conservation India. As soon as I got the pictures, I showed them to the then Minister for Environment and Forests, Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, who immediately took action and wrote to the Government of Nagaland to take steps to stop this massacre. Meanwhile, the pictures went viral and almost every major newspaper in India and the world covered the news. In nearly 40 years of my career in wildlife, and 17 years as Director of BNHS, I have never received as many queries as I did in the case of Amur Falcon poaching. Such was the outrage. We were told that not much could be done, as hunting is a tradition in Nagaland. However, the Forest Department swung into action and tried to stop the trapping which, anyway, is against the law of the land. By the time strict action could be taken, the birds had left for their onward migration. I will not go into the details of Amur Falcon hunting and migration, as you will read all that in this special issue, but I must acknowledge the tremendous work done by the Nagaland Forest Department in the year 2013, with the help of NGOs and local people. The role of BirdLife International and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in raising awareness and generating funds is also enormous. As I said in the beginning, if the government wants to do something, there is no stopping it. The Nagaland Government was ready in 2013 to make sure that poaching of Amur Falcon was stopped. The Forest Department deployed two young forest officers to ensure that a conservation education programme was implemented, people and administrative support were in place, and poachers were warned when the birds arrived. Reputed NGOs were also roped in. Many people were skeptical, believing that poaching could not be stopped (although it may be reduced) as hunting is ingrained in the minds of Nagas, but when you have people’s power and administrative support, anything can be done. From more than one hundred thousand killed in 2012 to zero killing in Pangti village in 2013 was no mean achievement. Such a dramatic change has never happened anywhere else in the world in such a short time. For the last 30 years, conservationists in our neighbouring country are struggling to stop the massacre of Houbara Bustard by Arab sheikhs in the name of “Arab tradition”, the massacre of small song birds has not stopped in the so-called modern countries like Malta, Greece, and Italy, despite various educational campaigns and international protests, and while our northern neighbour has become a black hole of wildlife products from the world as “TCM cannot be stopped due to deep tradition”, we have shown that even the oldest tradition if it has no place in the modern world can be stopped. Admittedly, it is premature to say that all hunting of birds and animals will be stopped in Nagaland, but a beginning has been made on which to build up a larger attitudinal change in our Naga friends. The people of Pangti and Wokha and the Nagaland Forest Department have shown us the path, for which we have to thank them. Asad R. Rahmani 3 MONITORING FOR CONSERVATION Conservation initiatives by the NagalandNagaland ForestForest DepartmentDepartment forfor thethe migratorymigratory AmurAmur FalconFalcon ASAD R. RAHMANI MONITORING FOR CONSERVATION community owned, and only 11.70% are warriors, and love wild meat. Hunting under the ownership of the State by means of snares or traps, catapults, Text by: Zuthunglo Patton, IFS Government. Moreover, special and airguns is a way of life for them. and provisions have been attributed to the The ‘insurgency’ or underground Kamdi Hemant Bhaskar, IFS state of Nagaland by Article 371A of resistance movement over the last few the Indian Constitution. This article decades, and the occupation by the ituated in the extreme north- guarantees that no Act of Parliament in defence forces are believed to have led eastern part of India, respect of religious or social practices to a major influx of firearms, transforming Nagaland has a geographical of the Nagas, Naga customary law and low-level traditional hunting into a area of 16,579 sq. km with a procedure, administration of civil and much more destructive practice. Sforest cover of 80.33% (SFR 2011). It criminal justice involving decisions Apart from being known as the Land borders the states of Assam to the west, according to Naga customary law, of Festivals, Nagaland was recently Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam ownership and transfer of land and its declared as the Falcon Capital of the to the north, Myanmar to the east, and resources, shall apply to the State of World by the Raptors MoU of the Manipur to the south. Nagaland unless the Legislative Convention on Migratory Species Physiographically, Nagaland is Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution (CMS) because a staggering number of predominantly hilly and mountainous, so decides. Amur Falcon visit this land during and is covered by a rich and varied About 90% of the population of October and November every year. assemblage of floral and faunal diversity. Nagaland is tribal. The predominant It is a part of the Indo-Malayan global occupation is agriculture, with over 85% THE GREAT MIGRATION biodiversity hotspot and the Eastern of the population directly dependent on Around October-November, winter Himalaya Endemic Bird Area, indicative it. Till the 19th century, the Nagas lived sets in over the northern hemisphere of the region’s rich biological wealth. a life centred around hunting, gathering, and temperature falls below freezing Nagaland is distinctive in its system and subsistence agriculture. Nagas are point. Water freezes over and various of property ownership wherein 88.30% known for their traditional head-hunting life forms go into hibernation. Survival of the forests are either individual or practices, they are fearless and brave becomes a concern for non-hibernating ZUTHUNGLO PATTON Passage migration of Amur Falcon through Nagaland and other states is one of the most spectacular sights in the world MISTNET Vol. 15 No. 2 April-June 2014 5 MONITORING FOR CONSERVATION ASAD R. RAHMANI Development of Doyang Reservoir has possibly created conducive conditions for congregation of millions of Amur Falcon (below) birds like the Amur Falcon, hence they adopt a different but difficult strategy for survival. They undertake an epic marathon migration covering a distance of around 22,000 km during their onward and backward elliptical journey.