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Gnaked Meetingstrippeddevi En 1999 1999 OH September Meeting Stripped Devi JPAM Newsletter 16

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Source: See What's Available?, below.

MAHARASHTRA

Several state-wide meetings and activities

Activity relating to protected areas in Maharashtra has considerably stepped up:

1. A group of about 25 wildlife conservationists, Government officials and media persons met in November 1997, at Kolkhas, Melghat Tiger Reserve, Dist. Amravati, Maharashtra. This meeting was called by the Mobile Tiger Conservation Action Force of the Nature Conservation Society of Amravati (NCSA), in an attempt to explore new working policies for the protection and conservation of wildlife and forests in Central India. A summary of the discussions:

(i) Pench National Park (Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh): The residents of the Todladoh colony (M.P.) continue fishing in the reservoir, rejecting alternate suggestions being provided to them by the Forest Department. Commercial fishing too is carried on in violation to the directives of the Supreme Court This should be contested in the Supreme Court and evidence in the form of video recordings and photographs should be provided. Media persons have offered to provide support against illegal fishing in Totaladoh reservoir.

(ii) New PAs in Vidarbha : The seven new sanctuaries created in the Vidarbha region require special protection from grazing. Sanctuaries such as the Ambabarawa and Pal are facing a tremendous problem due to the influx of thousands of migratory sheep. There appears to be a nexus among some politicians, forest officials and the sheep owners. An Ordinance to deal with this needs to be developed.

(iii) Proposed PAs: A decision regarding the conversion of five more areas into protected areas is suggested. The areas include Pohara Malkhed, Mahendri (Dist. Amravati), Mansinghdeo (Nagpur), Lonar and Budhaneshwar Girda (Buldhana).

(iv) The Bhingara forest near Dist. Buldhana which links Ambabawara and Yawal (Pal) Sanctuaries is also facing the problem of land encroachment by influx of tribals from M.P. The Maharashtra government should take steps to curb this influx.

(v) Melghat Tiger Project: Participants strongly opposed the Maharashtra government's decision of deleting certain areas from the Melghat Sanctuary. This deletion, they feared, is for the purpose of the Rs. 1,400 crore Upper Tapi Irrigation Project.

(vi) A newly created Aurangabad Wildlife Division was suggested to control the biotic pressure and divert traffic from the road passing through the Gautala Sanctuary and to specify the boundaries of the Jayakwadi Bird Sanctuary.

Additional recommendations that came forth in the meeting include :

(i) NCSA would immediately conduct a village study in Melghat for collecting information and the peoples' opinions.

(ii) Traffic should be banned on the Paratwada Dharani road at/during the night.

(iii) The water contribution data (by rivers and forest in Melghat) should be used by the Tiger Project Office to focus on the Tiger Reserve as a water conservation/recharging unit.

(iv) Joint patrolling of the M.P.- Maharashtra border area is essential.

(v) A monthly inspection should be made in core areas of PAs, by a committee appointed by the Forest Department, comprising journalists, lawyers, NGOs and nature lovers.

(vi) The next meeting of the State Wildlife Advisory Board should be held in the Vidarbha region to give the PAs here more attention.

Contact: Kishore Rithe, Nature Conservation Society - Amravati, Pratishtha, Bharat Nagar, Akoli Road, Nr. Sainagar, Amravati 444 605, Maharashtra. Tel: 91-721-672 359.

2. A meeting on people and protected areas of Maharashtra, earlier scheduled for 16-18 January, has been postponed. The meeting, being organised by the Sahbhagi Vanjivan Sanwardhan Samanvay, Maharashtra, is being held at Sevagram, Wardha. Issues for discussion include official and people's perceptions of PAs, and possibilities of participatory management. NGOs and forest officials are expected to participate.

Contact: Organising Committee, 4th Maharashtra Protected Areas Meeting, 509 Juni Ramdaspeth, Nagpur 440 010, Maharashtra.

3. With the completion of the draft Directory of National Parks and Sanctuaries in Maharashtra, prepared by a team at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, a state-level meeting on the management of protected areas is to be called towards the middle of this year. The draft, which runs into several hundred pages of data, maps, and analysis, has been reviewed by several experienced conservationists and forest officials of the state, and is soon to go to press.

Contact (regarding draft directory): Pratibha Pande, c/o Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi 110 002 or Neema Pathak at the editorial address.

Contact (regarding proposed meeting): M.G. Gogate, Chief Wildlife Warden, Government of Maharashtra, Jaika Motors Building, 4th Floor, Civil Lines, Nagpur 440 001, Maharashtra. Tel: 91-712-526 758.

ORISSA

A serious situation has emerged along the Orissa coast as wanton killing of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles by fishing trawlers continues unabated. The Orissa government's professed measures for protection of the Olive Ridley turtles off the Gahirmatha coast in Kendrapara district appears to have yielded little result.

The Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), estimated over 10,000 turtles to have been killed between December and February alone. The WII, which is undertaking a research programme on this rare species, maintained that the actual casualty figure could be much more as it had only listed those washed ashore on a 282 km. coastline stretching from Gahirmatha in the north to Dankur village bordering Andhra Pradesh in the south. There is also an alarming increase in the number of dead turtles along the Paradeep, Jatadhara and Devi coasts. 7,300 turtles out of about 20,000 seen close to Devi river edge had already been killed.

This points to a complete lack of enforcement of the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982, prohibiting trawling within five km. from the shoreline. Neither are steps being taken for the mandatory use of the turtle excluder device (TED) in the trawler nets operating in the area. On the contrary, according to environmentalist Banke Behary Das, the trawlers and gill netters have stepped up their activities even in the marine sanctuary area during the current nesting season.

Fisheries secretary Abhayananda Rath, however, insisted that trawling was the last cause for the deaths. He suggested excessive 'fatigue' due to long migration, apart from the ageing process and swallowing of toxic substances released in the sea as the probable reasons. He did not deny the role of trawlers in the killing of turtles, but suggested that a post-mortem should be undertaken to arrive at a definite conclusion.

Forest officials and environmentalists are worried over the absence of Olive Ridleys at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, their traditional nesting site. Meanwhile, three to four thousand female Olive Ridley turtles have been reported to have gone ashore to nest on the night of March 23rd, 1998, at Orissa's second major nesting site, a 2 km. long beach north of the mouth of the Rushikulya river.

Readers are requested to send notes of concern and requests for urgent action against the trawlers to :

1. The Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa (fax: 91-674-400244)

2. The Honourable Minister of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Paryavaran Bhavan, CGO Complex, New Delhi 110 003. Fax : 91-11-436 2222; Email: mosef@envfor.delhi.nic.in

Contact: Banke Behary Das, Orissa Krushak Mahasangh, 'Parivesh Bhawan', 14-Ashok Nagar, Bhubaneswar 751 009, Orissa, India. Tel: 91-674-400 305; Fax: 404 222, 409 125. Belinda Wright, Executive Director, Wildlife Protection Society of India, Thapar House, 124 Janpath, New Delhi 110 001, India. Tel: 91-11-621 3864; Fax: 91-11-336 8729; Email: blue@nda.vsnl.net.in (or ) wpsi@nde.vsnl.net.in. B.C. Choudhry, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun. Tel: 91-135-620 912-5; Fax: 91-135-620 217.

Sources : Satpathy, R. Endangered turtles dying off Orissa coast. Times of India 19/1/98. Satpathy, R. Trawlers' slaughter of Olive Ridley turtles causes concern. Times of India. 23/3/98. Information posted by WPSI at nathistory-india@lists.princeton.edu.

sRAJASTHAN

Circular on eco-development committees for protected areas

In an interesting move which implicitly acknowledges the need to integrate people's livelihood concerns in the objectives of protected areas, Rajasthan has issued a circular authorising the creation of eco-development committees (EDCs) both inside and adjacent to protected areas. Circular No. F11/4/Van/96, dated 2 December, 1997, states in it preamble that the extensive wildlife conservation programme launched by the state government cannot succeed without people's active participation. In addition, it notes that the "World Bank funded" Eco-development Project also requires such participation.

The circular deals with the formation, composition, functioning, and rules of procedure of EDCs, which will be set up in every village or cluster of villages. Two members from every family, one woman and one man, will be members. The head will be chosen by the members, but the Secretary will be the area's Forester. A 6-member Executive Committee (EC) will be elected by the EDC, and the Sarpanch of the area, the Forester, and two NGO representatives, will be non-voting members of this EC. The EDC will be given requisite authorisation by the area's Deputy Conservator of Forests.

The EDC will be responsible for drawing up and monitoring micro-plans for eco-development, handling funds, maintaining relations with senior forest officers, jointly protecting wildlife and forests with forest staff, catching offenders and handing them over to the staff. The EDC will ensure that villagers contribute 25% of the micro-plan expenditure, in the form of monetary or labour or material inputs. Inputs in the form of reporting illegal activities will also be considered.

Villagers will be entitled to benefit-sharing from the PAs. EDCs which perform well according to the approved micro-plans, will be allowed to collect, distribute, and sell non-timber forest produce, fallen timber, grass, etc., from within the PAs. This will be in accordance with the conservation values of the area. These usufruct arrangements will not be considered rights of people. Contact: Secretary (Forests), Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Source: Rajasthan State Government Circular No. F11/4/Van/96, dated 2/12/1997.

NATIONAL NEWS

Latest forest survey shows alarming decline

The country has lost nearly 5,500 sq km. of forest cover since the 1995 assessment, according to the 1997 assessment by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

While Madhya Pradesh has lost nearly 4,000 sq km. of forest cover, Andhra Pradesh is not far behind at 3,822 sq km. Surprisingly, Maharashtra has shown a significant increase of around 2,300 sq km., with even Gujarat recording an addition of 258 sq km. to its green cover. Though the open forests (crown density between 10-40%) increased by 12,001 sq km. and mangroves by 294 sq km., dense forest depleted by 17,777 sq km. This may indicate that the efforts at regeneration of many degraded forest areas are bearing fruit, but that good standing forests are continuing to be depleted at an alarming rate.

The situation in the North East has improved slightly, losing 316 sq km. of forests as compared to 783 sq km. in the previous assessment, the report says.

Further analysis of the dynamics of the green cover reveals that, from the total dense forest area, about 19,456 sq km. had degraded to open forest, 392 sq km. to scrub and 3,129 sq km. to non-forest. On the other hand, from the total scrub and non-forest area, 1474 sq km. improved to dense and 7972 sq km. to open forest.

Source: Indian Express 7/2/98.

ssINTERNATIONAL NEWS

BANGLADESH

Natural calamities and pilferage threaten ecosystem of Sunderbans

The ecosystem of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sunderbans in Bangladesh, is being ravaged both by natural calamities and pilferage of forest resources. Ecologists and local people point to rampant tree-felling, hunting, fishing, and unplanned construction of roads and embankments, increased salinity in rivers, canals and marshes, and natural calamities like cyclones.

Covering approximately 2,300 sq miles, the Sunderbans is almost half (44%) of the total reserve forests in the country. But protecting and managing this area is being hampered by shortage of manpower and infrastructure, as well as reported irregularities on part of some foresters. According to some forest officials, the existence of the famous Sundari tree has been endangered due to widespread pest attacks on the tree tops. No measures have so far been taken by the concerned authorities to prevent the disease.

In addition, some species of fish and fish fry are being destroyed every year during the period of shrimp fry collection, in violation of fisheries rules. Unbridled fishing with unauthorised gearnet is causing depletion of many species. Forest officials say that faunal species have dwindled to 123 from 334. Despite the ban on felling of all kinds of trees, since 1989, tree felling continues. Shrimp cultivation, too, is taking a major toll on the forest. Experts have suggested the introduction of eco-tourism for saving the Sunderbans.

Source: The Independent, Dhaka, 26/12/1997. As reported in nathistory-india@lists.princeton.edu by nalinm@aol.com.

PAKISTAN

Exploration activities in Kirthar National Park

Premier Oil, Pakistan, has stated that it will not carry out any exploration activity in the Kirthar National Park unless the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report is approved by the relevant Government authority. It pledged this in response to the apprehensions expressed by various environmental groups to the effect that exploration in the Dumbar Concession, north of Karachi, which includes protected areas such as Kirthar National Park and areas outside it, would endanger wildlife there. The licence to explore the area had been given in July 1997.

Source : Dawn newspapers, Pakistan, as reported in nathistory-india@lists.princeton.edu, 15/3/1998.

ssCORRESPONDENCE

Jagdish Krishnaswamy of the Duke University, USA, reports that:

"Two articles published in the latest issue of Environmental Conservation relate to issues that constantly come up in JPAM Update and in discussions about use and abuse of protected areas.

One is on the PAs in the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh (by Dr. Rawat, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun), and anothe yGnaked Meetingstrippeddevi En 1999 1999 OH September Meeting Stripped Devi JPAM Newsletter 16 t h Meeting Stripped Devi pGnaked Meetingstrippeddevi En 1999 1999 OH September Meeting Stripped Devi JPAM Newsletter 16 q l Meeting Stripped Devi Meeting Stripped Devi