PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia No. 33 October 2001 EDITORIAL Eco-tourism project for Shendurnney Plea against reinstatement of official NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Madhya Pradesh Andhra Pradesh All protected areas proposed for full / partial Study for radio tracking of leopards proposed denotification Wildlife management suffers due to eco-tourism Update on developments in Kuno Rs. 3.5 cr. proposal for Mahaveer Harini Vanasthali Tigress killed, social activists attacked in Bandavgarh NP Maharashtra Assam Irrigation project threatens Tipeshwar 18 elephant deaths in Nameri Inquiry demanded into illegal felling in Nagzira Human-cum-veterinary camp in Pobitara Survey and Monitoring of Tadoba Andhari Goa Workshop on NGO Networking in Melghat State to seek SC approval to denotify Netravali, Tunnel through Sanjay Gandhi NP Madei Orissa Funds for Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary Elephant census in Chandka Illegal felling in Cotigao Habitat destruction, illegal fishing threaten crocodiles Gujarat in Bhitarkanika Project to study leopards in Gir Tagged turtles missing State opposed to shifting of lions from Gir Rajasthan Road for temple inside Gir Large scale poaching in Bishnoi areas Wild Ass Sanctuary to be denotified Sikkim Himachal Pradesh Butterfly smuggling from Khangchendongza NP State to wind up forest flying squad Tamil Nadu Jharkhand Plastic ban inside Mudumalai, Indira Gandhi WLS Railway line through Hazaribagh scrapped Uttaranchal Karnataka Payment for offensive against poachers in Corbett Upper Tunga project threatens Mandagadde Bird stalled Sanctuary Staff in Corbett attacked, killed Mysore varsity to study mammals outside PA Poaching on the rise in Nandadevi Network Two mountaineering expeditions to Nandadevi Kaiga-Narendra power line opposed denied permission ‘Bird park resort’ proposed near Bandipur Nandadevi to be opened to tourism? HC admits petition against firing range near West Bengal Bannerghatta 150 human, 30 elephant deaths due to human-animal Wildlife trade around Bannerghatta conflict in last three years in N Bengal Physical barrier at Bannerghatta to keep elephants in Rescue homes for leopards, bears Meeting on human-wildlife conflict in Chamrajnagar Howrah station major point for wildlife trade district Sahara tourism project in Sundarbans, Teesta Valley Joint Karnataka Kerala, Police Department, Forest National Waterway proposal through Sundarbans Department meeting rejected Kerala Figures for tiger, human casualties in Sundarbans Crocodile population increase causes problem in Anti-poaching training programme in Sundarbans Neyyar Protected Area Update 33 1 October 2001 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA Information needed on crop damage by wildlife EDITORIAL Website of Nilgiri Tahr Foundation Suggestion for inclusion of animal welfare in legal studies The Human –Wildlife Conflict Delhi is major transit point for smuggled wildlife goods In this issue of the PA Update alone there are at least License policy for air guns to be reviewed eight stories of human –wildlife conflict from Marine species added to Scheduled lists different parts of the country. It is the same story Insurance cover for forest guards everywhere, be it the Nameri National Park on the National Seminar on the elephant held Assam – Arunachal Pradesh border, the mangrove Elephant conservation project for the NE swamps of the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, or the National Workshop on sea turtle conservation large areas of elephant country in Karnatakata. Areas Eviction of tribals from national parks opposed that were wildlife habitat earlier have been destroyed, forests have been encroached, and in many cases SOUTH ASIA human settlements have been put up bang in the Nepal middle of wildlife corridors. Also in places where Rise in illegal beetle trade wild populations have increased, traditional methods Pakistan of keeping them away from fields and settlements are Houbara being hunted to extinction often no longer allowed. It’s the ideal recipe for disaster. The increasing number of reports of wide INTERNATIONAL scale crop damage and human deaths by animals and Conference on Conservation of Marine Turtles of the the retaliatory killing of wild animals is a clear Indian Ocean and South East Asia indicator that some creative solutions are needed Society of Wetland Scientists' Ramsar Support grant quickly to deal with the matter. program invites proposals We must also be clear that most of these killings of the wild animals are not the same as those OPPURTUNITIES for wildlife trade or to make a quick buck. It is the Field researchers needed for Uttar Pradesh project anger of the poor villager or tribal whose toil of an Director for ATREE Eastern Himalayan Program entire year and only source of food is wiped out in a Research Fellowship in Andhra Pradesh one night rampage by elephants or wild boars. Faculty Positions In Environment-Development A range of solutions have been suggested Studies and are also being tried. They include the more drastic ones like asking for permission to shoot WHAT’S AVAILABLE? raiding animals, particularly the wild boar to creating Community based conservation of sea turtle nesting borders and fences to keep the animals in. There are sites in Goa, Kerala and Orissa other suggestions too: change in crops and cropping Population Pressure and Biodiversity: A Case Study patterns to dissuade the wild animals from entering of Keoladeo National Park fields and for the creation of live (green) fencing for Root Causes of Biodiversity Losses in Chilika Lake the fields which the animals cannot penetrate. There Protected area network in Indian Himalayan region: has also been the long felt and articulated demand Need for recognising values of low profile from all sectors that loss by wildlife, either to crops, protected areas houses or human life should be swiftly and sincerely Conservation and Tribal Communities: A study of compensated. Finally, the growing sense of the Paliyars of the Palni Hills community alienation caused by centralised control over wildlife habitats, because of which wild animals UPCOMING are now seen as ‘sarkari’ needs to be reversed….and National Workshop on Community Conserved Areas a situation like that of the Sariska Tiger Reserve Workshop on ‘Conservation, Propagation, Utilisation brought back. Here villagers willingly tolerate and Marketing of Medicinal Plants’ damage by wild animals since their increasing Workshop on People’s Control over Natural numbers are partly, and interestingly enough, a result Resources of community empowerment and conservation International Conference on Eco-Restoration initiatives. National symposium on ‘Elephant Conservation, All these steps will go a long way in Management and Research’ reducing the rising hostility towards wild animals of people living in and around our PA network and also PA UPDATE MATTERS other forests. It has also been seen that there is a lack of comprehensive information in the matter from across Protected Area Update 33 2 October 2001 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) the country, in the absense of which decisions taken Ecodevelopment programme in Nagarhole in end up being arbitrary and sometimes even wrong. Karnataka for similar reasons. See PA Update 24) An effort has been initiated to gather information on this for a national picture (see National News). Source: P Balu. ‘Wildlife posts fall vacant’, The Contributions and inputs from all are urgently Times of India, 29/08/001 needed. Rs. 3.5 cr. proposal for Mahaveer Harini Vanasthali NP NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES The Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation has forwarded a proposal for the development of the Mahaveer Harini Vanasthali ANDHRA PRADESH National Park (MHVNP) as ‘Nishal Van’ to the New Delhi based Bhagwan Mahaveer 2,600th Janma Study for radio tracking of leopards proposed Kalyana Mahotsava Maha Samiti. The samithi is chaired by the PM, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. With increasing incidents of leopards straying into villages in different parts of the state, the Andhra It is proposed to use the 3600 acre national Pradesh Forest Department (FD) has decided to take park for the development of different sectors such as a dhyan Van (for meditation), ayurveda van (for up a leopard tracking study using radio collars medicinal plants and herbs) and a prani van (for Recently two leopards were caught in the conservation of wildlife and birds). Mrugavani National Park, a deer park abutting It is also proposed to create water bodies and Himayatsagar Lake in the Rangareddy district. In the lay self guided five kms long nature trails apart from last couple of years there have been four incidents of improving amenities for visitors and introducing leopards straying into the Indira Gandhi Zoological catering services. There will also be a provision for Gardens in Visakhapatnam from the Kambalakonda cottages, dormitories and pitched tent forests, and there are regular such reports from the accommodations for visitors. The installation of a villages in the Tirumala foothills as well. According to the Principal Chief statue of Lord Mahaveer is also planned. Conservator of Forests (PCCF) of the state, the Source: T Lalith Singh. ‘Proposal sent for Rs. 3.5 cr. number of leopards in the state has increased from national park’, The Hindu, 13/09/2001. 280 in 1998 to 531 this year and this study would Contact: CWLW, Office of