National wildlife conservation projects

NATIONAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PROJECTS

PROJECT TIGER

Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation project initiated in India in 1972 to protect the Bengal Tigers. It was launched on April 1, 1973 and has become one of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures. The project aims at tiger conservation in specially constituted tiger reserves representative of various bio-geographical regions throughout India. It strives to maintain a viable tiger population in their natural environment. In 2007, there were 28 Project Tiger wildlife reserves covering an area of 37,761 km². Project Tiger helped increased the population of these tigers from 1,200 in the 1970s to 3,500 in 1990s.

At the turn of the 20th century, one estimate of the tiger population in India placed the figure at 40,000. The first ever all-India tiger census was conducted in 1972 which revealed the existence of only 1827 tigers. Various pressures in the second half of the 20th century led to the progressive decline of wilderness resulting in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats. At the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) General Assembly meeting in Delhi in 1969, serious concern was voiced about the threat to several species of wildlife and the shrinkage of wilderness in India. In 1970, a national ban on tiger hunting was imposed and in 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act came into force. A task force was then set up to formulate a project for tiger conservation with an ecological approach.

The project was launched in 1973, and various tiger reserves were created in the country based on a 'core-buffer' strategy. The core areas were freed from all sorts of human activities and the buffer areas were subjected to 'conservation oriented land use'. Management plans were drawn up for each tiger reserve based on the principles outlined below:

- Elimination of all forms of human exploitation and biotic disturbance from the core area and rationalization of activities in the buffer zone.

- Restricting the habitat management only to repair the damages done to the eco-system by human and other interferences so as to facilitate recovery of the eco-system to its natural state.

- Monitoring the faunal and floral changes over time and carrying out research about wildlife.

Initially, 9 tiger reserves were established in different States during the period 1973-74, by pooling the resources available with the Central and State Governments. These nine reserves covered an area of about 13,017km² -- viz Manas (Assam), Palamau (Bihar), Similipal (Orissa), Corbett (U.P.), Kanha (M.P.), Melghat (Maharashtra), Bandipur (Karnataka), Ranthambhore (Rajasthan) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).

The project started as a Central Sector Scheme with the full assistance of Central Government until 1979-80: later, it become a 'centrally Sponsored Scheme' from 1980-81, with equal sharing of expenditures between the center and the states. The World Wildlife Fund For Nature has given Project Tiger assistance in the form of equipments, expertise and literature worth US $ 1 million. The various States have given up forestry operations in the reserves leading to a loss of revenue. Project Tiger was a pet project of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India.

Reports of widespread poaching of tigers in two of the premier Tiger Reserves of North India - Sariska and Ranthambore have prompted a high level inquiry by CBI and also the constitution of a National level supervisory committee to supervise the implementation of the project. Senior wildlife scientists and conservationists have been chosen for this committee to be headed by the Prime Minister himself.

The main achievements of this project are excellent recovery of the habitat and consequent increase in the tiger population in the reserve areas, from a mere 268 in 9 reserves in 1972 to above one thousand in 28 reserves in 2006. Tigers, being at the apex of the food chain, can be considered as the indicator of the stability of the ecosystem. For a viable tiger population, a habitat should possess a good prey base which in turn will depend on an undisturbed forest vegetation. Thus, 'Project Tiger' is basically the conservation of the entire ecosystem and apart from tigers, all other wild animals population have also increased in the project areas. In the subsequent Five Year Plans, the main thrust was to enlarge the core and buffer zones in certain reserves, intensification of protection and eco-development in the buffer zones of existing tiger reserves, creation of additional tiger reserves and strengthening of the research activities.

PROJECT ELEPHANT

Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in the country for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors. It also seeks to address the issues of human-elephant conflict and welfare of domesticated elephants. The Project is being implemented in 13 States / UTs , viz. Andhra Pradesh , Arunachal Pradesh , Assam , Jharkhand , Karnataka , Kerala , Meghalaya , Nagaland , Orissa , Tamil Nadu , Uttranchal , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 25 Elephant Reserves (ERs) extending over about 58,000 sq km have been formally notified by various State Governments till now. The estimated population of wild elephants in 2002 was 26413.

Main activities of the Project are as follows:

- Ecological restoration of existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants;

- Development of scientific and planned management for conservation of elephant habitats and viable population of Wild Asiatic elephants in India;

- Promotion of measures for mitigation of man elephant conflict in crucial habitats and moderating pressures of human and domestic stock activities in crucial elephant habitats;

- Strengthening of measures for protection of Wild elephants form poachers and unnatural causes of death;

- Research on Elephant management related issues;

- Public education and awareness programmes;

- Eco-development

- Veterinary care

PROJECT HANGUL

The Kashmir stag (Cervus affinis hanglu) also called Hangul is a subspecies of Central Asian Red Deer native to northern India. This deer lives in groups of two to 18 individuals in dense riverine forests, high valleys, and mountains of the Kashmir valley and northern Chamba in Himachal Pradesh. In Kashmir, it's found in Dachigam National Park at elevations of 3,035 meters. These deer once numbered from about 5,000 animals in the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, they were threatened, due to habitat destruction, over-grazing by domestic livestock, and poaching. This dwindled to as low as 150 animals by 1970. However, the state of Jammu & Kashmir, along with the IUCN and the WWF prepared a project for the protection of these animals. It became known as Project Hangul. This brought great results and the population increased to over 340 by 1980.

INDIAN CROCODILE CONSERVATION PROJECT

The Indian Crocodile Conservation Project is considered among the more successful of conservation initiatives in the world. It has pulled back the once threatened crocodilians from the brink of extinction and place them on a good path of recovery. The Project has not just produced a large number of crocodiles, but has contributed towards conservation in a number of related fields as well.

The broad objectives of activities under crocodile project were as follows :

- To protect the remaining population of crocodilians in their natural habitat by creating sanctuaries.

- To rebuild natural population quickly through `grow and release' or `rear and release' technique - more than seven thousand crocodiles have been restocked - about 4000 gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), 1800 mugger (Crocodylus palustris) and 1500 salt- water crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus)

- To promote captive breeding,

- To take-up research to improve management.

- To build up a level of trained personnel for better continuity of the project through training imparted at project-sites and through the (erstwhile) Central Crocodile Breeding and Management Training Institute, Hyderabad.

- To involve the local people in the project intimately

The Himalayan Musk Deer Ecology and Conservation Project, Project Lion, the Snow Leopard Project and several Pheasant Projects have also been initiated.

PROTECTED AREA NETWORK

Protected Area network has increased from 1.33 lakh sq. km. to 1.56 lakh sq. km. adding about 23092 sq. km. The Protected .Area network now comprises 586 Protected Areas (89 National Parks and 497 sanctuaries) as against 426 Protected Areas (63 National Parks and 363 sanctuaries) in 1997 to. The present P.A. network represents about 4.5% of total geographical area of the country. It also includes 4 additional Tiger Reserves under Project Tiger. National Parks and sanctuaries have been provided grants under the scheme of `Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries’. Under this scheme a total of Rs.72.28 crores have been provided to the States during IX Plan period. For more than 200 Protected Areas, scientific management plans have been prepared which provide the basis for financial assistance. This scheme provides 100 percent Central assistance to States for non-recurring items of work. However, for selected items of recurring nature 50 percent assistance is also provided in case of National Parks only. The funding pattern under the scheme of Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries has been upgraded during 2000-2001 and a provision has been made for reimbursement of both the capital cost and recurring cost including salary of incremental staff in respect of the Protected Areas in coastal areas, deserts and high mountain regions supporting endangered species. There has been an increase in the capacity of the National Parks and sanctuaries for carrying out various developmental works and an amount of Rs. 83.00 crores has been spent during the IXth Plan as against an amount of Rs. 49.50 crores during the VIIIth Plan. Another striking feature has been the developmental activities in the North-Eastern States. During the VIIIth Plan total expenditure in North-Eastern States was Rs. 3.00 Crores which has gone up to Rs.13.00 crores during the IXth Plan .

Another important step taken during this period has been to improve human interface by introducing scheme of Eco-development in and around the National Parks and sanctuaries. Rs.41 crores were provided for this purpose. In addition, a World Bank-funded India Ecodevelopment Project has also been implemented in 7 protected areas in 7 States with a total outlay of Rs.294.93 crores, out of which Rs.134 crores were provided during the IXth Plan period. A total of 18 villages were shifted outside the Protected Areas during this period involving 900 families.

GOI – UNDP SEA TURTLE PROJECT

A significant proportion of world’s Olive Ridley Turtle population migrates every winter to Indian coastal waters for nesting mainly at eastern coast. With the objective of conservation of olive ridley turtles and other endangered marine turtles. Ministry of Environment & Forests initiated the Sea Turtle Conservation Project in collaboration of UNDP in November, 1999 with Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun as the Implementing Agency. The project is being implemented in 10 coastal States of the country with special emphasis in State of Orissa. Total financial allocation for the project is Rs.1.29 crores. The project has helped in preparation of inventory map of breeding sites of Sea Turtles, identification of nesting and breeding habitats along the shore line, and migratory routes taken by Sea Turtles, development of guidelines to safeguard and minimize turtle mortality, development of national and international cooperative and collaborative action for Sea Turtle Conservation, developing guideline plans for tourism in sea turtle areas and developing infrastructure and human resources for Sea Turtle Conservation. One of the important achievements have been demonstration of use of Satellite Telemetry to locate the migratory route of Olive Ridley Turtles in the sea and sensitizing the fishermen and State Government for the use of Turtle Exclusion Device (TED) in fishing trawlers to check turtle mortality in fishing net.

GOI-UNDP WILDLIFE PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT IN JALDAPARA SANCTUARY, WEST BENGAL

Ministry also initiated another small project in collaboration with UNDP entitled Wildlife Protected Area Management in Jaldapara Sanctuary, West Bengal with the total financial outlay of Rs.86 lakhs. The objectives of the project are updating and implementing an integrated management and ecodevelopment plans, enhancing capacity of State wildlife authorities to integrate and implement management and ecodevelopmnt plan along with strengthening and supporting the conservation measures taken by States by involving people. This programme has successfully implemented and has contributed in capacity building of wildlife staff as well as training of community representatives including women. It has also helped in preparation of micro-plans for 8 villages in the protected areas and initiating the same in other 20 villages. It has brought general awareness among the people for the wildlife conservation and have sensitized them for the wildlife conservation. Harmonious relationship between the wildlife staff and local people would ensure long term conservation of biodiversity. Once successfully implemented, it could be replicated in other protected areas also.

ACTION PLAN FOR VULTURE CONSERVATION IN INDIA

India has nine species of vultures in the wild. These are the Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Slender billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), Long billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Red Headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) and Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus). The population of three species i.e. White-backed Vulture, Slender billed Vulture and Long billed Vulture in the wild has declined drastically over the past decade. The decline of Gyps genus in India has been put at 97% by 2005.

The phenomenon of ‘Neck drooping’, where birds would exhibit this behaviour for protracted periods over several weeks before collapsing and falling out of trees, is the only obvious behavioural indication that birds are ill. Experiments showed that captive vultures are highly susceptible to Diclofenac, and are killed by kidney failure leading to gout within a short time of feeding on the carcass of an animal treated with the normal veterinary dose.

The ecological, social and cultural significance of vultures in India may be summed up as: scavenging on animal carcasses of animals and thereby helping keep the environment clean; and the disposal of dead bodies as per the religious practices of the Parsi community. In some areas the population of feral dogs, being the main scavenging species in the absence of vultures, has been observed to have increased. Both increases in putrefying carcasses and changes in the scavenger populations have associated disease risks for wildlife, livestock and humans.

Because of the evidence of widespread and rapid population decline, all three vulture species were listed by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, in 2000 as ‘Critically Endangered’. Unfortunately, the current captive populations in India are also not viable for any of the species and, therefore, complete extinction is likely to occur if no action is taken immediately. India also moved a IUCN motion in 2004 for vulture conservation, which was accepted in the form of the IUCN resolution which “called upon Gyps vulture Range countries to begin action to prevent all uses of diclofenac in veterinary applications that allow diclofenac to be present in carcasses of domestic livestock available as food for vultures; establishment of IUCN South Asian Task Force under the auspices of the IUCN; Range countries to develop and implement national vulture recovery plans, including conservation breeding and release.”

The workshop to prepare an Asian Vulture Recovery Plan held at Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh, India in February 2004 recommended the establishment of captive holding and captive breeding facilities for three species of Gyps vultures at six different places in South Asia, besides implementing a ban on veterinary use of Diclofenac. These centres would serve as source for reintroduction of the birds after removal of the cause of mortality from the environment.

INDO-RUSSIAN COOPERATION

Ministry has also signed a protocol with Russian counterpart for conservation of migratory bird species between the two countries. It has been agreed to develop joint projects of mutual interest on migration and nesting behaviour of Siberian Cranes and common cranes and also to exchange scientific and official information on issues relating to wetland management, conservation of avi-fauna etc.