Policy for Conservation and Management of Rocky Plateau Biodiversity

J.P. Naik Road, Off Karve Road, Near Solaris Gymnasium, Pune.

Hosted by: Biome Conservation Foundation,

One day workshop on

Policy for Conservation and Management of Rocky Plateau Biodiversity

2nd February 2013

At

Indian Institute of Education,

J.P. Naik Road, Off Karve Road, Near Solaris Gymnasium, Pune.

Hosted by: Biome Conservation Foundation, Pune

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Policy for Conservation and Management of Rocky Plateau Biodiversity

J.P. Naik Road, Off Karve Road, Near Solaris Gymnasium, Pune.

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Background: Conservation needs of Rocky plateaus: Rocky plateaus in the Western Ghats and Konkan-Malabar region of India are a highly specialized habitat. The geology, geomorphology, climate and edaphic conditions together produce a unique combination of microhabitats that support endemic biodiversity. Flora as well as fauna has diversified into narrow-niched endemics in this habitat. Cycling of nutrients and of water in this habitat is also different than any other habitats such as forest or grasslands. Scientific recognition of this uniqueness has come only within the last decade. They are identified and treated as wastelands, as they remain dry and look lifeless for most part of the year. Many threats affect them, not least is the threat of overall ignorance by the society. In the northern part of the Western Ghats and in the Konkan region of Maharashtra state, rocky plateaus are a very prominent part of the landscape. Many organizations and researchers working on this area have been researching plateau sites and actively helping in conserving them. Maharashtra Forest Department has also taken a leading role in the region by identifying rocky plateaus of special conservation significance and taking steps to include details of rocky plateaus in the regional working plans. Since many of the plateaus fall outside the reserve forest boundaries, regional planning departments and tourism departments have also been involved in management of sites such as Mahabaleshwar and Matheran. Project background: However, till recently most of these efforts were dispersed and a common goal and objectives of conservation have not been recognized. In 2012, we as Biome Conservation Foundation, Pune undertook the task of networking these various agencies and individuals to increase interactions and scientific information exchange about the special habitats. Our aim was that these exchanges and knowledge sharing should result in giving recommendations for future conservation, management and creating a policy framework for protecting these sensitive habitats. . The project “NETWORKING AND INFORMATION SUPPORT FOR CONSERVATION OF ROCKY PLATEAUS IN THE SAHYADRI-KONKAN CORRIDOR” of Biome Conservation Foundation, was funded by CEPF-ATREE Western Ghats initiative from 2012-2013. A meeting was held in Pune (26th -27th May, 2012) to bring together researchers and organizations and understand the practical issues in conservation of the habitat and its biodiversity. As a follow up of this meeting, the participants, all coming from the western Maharashtra, interacted formally and informally and supported Rocky Plateau conservation efforts through direct action and scientific information. The interactions helped monitor the sites for one growing season, collate the knowledge about specialized biodiversity, nature of threats and management problems of rocky plateau sites spread across the Northern Western Ghats. New initiative of research and conservation were started by the diverse groups which focused on rocky plateaus and are working to deal with immediate local threats. After a year of these activities, a second workshop was planned, which involved senior administrators, government agencies and experienced policy makers in the deliberations along with NGOs and researchers. This workshop titled “Policy for Conservation and Management of Rocky Plateau Biodiversity” was the crucial step towards framing the policy for this habitat. The one day workshop was held at the Indian Institute of Education, Pune on 2nd February 2013.

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Details of the workshop: Morning session (Timings)- Presentations and talks It was an honour to have Shri. A. K. Joshi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (HoFF), Maharashtra as the Chief Guest. Dr. Ram Boojh, Programme Specialist, Natural Sciences, UNESCO, New Delhi, graced the occasion as a special invitee. Total of 60 participants, including forest department officials, policy makers, regional planning board members, senior scientists, research students, NGOs, local community representatives participated in the workshop. A list of participants and their contact addresses is attached separately. In the morning session, Dr. Aparna Watve, welcomed the various guests and briefly discussed the workshop programme, its aims and objectives. She mentioned that Maharashtra Forest Department is certainly the first in India, to recognize and prioritize conservation of rocky plateaus. Shri. A K Joshi, P.C.C.F. HoFF Maharashtra, in his remarks as the Chief Guest at the occasion said that “Available knowledge about Rocky Plateaus must be presented to the public in order to raise awareness about the ecological importance of these plateaus. The Biodiversity Act 2002 can provide protection to such areas effectively, particularly with identifying ecologically fragile areas.” He also expressed the need for bringing together all relevant data to inform decision making for management. He suggested that in a specific case of habitat such as Rocky Plateaus, identifying all important Rocky Plateaus with exact number in Maharashtra, followed by proper scientific floral and faunal study with respect to this habitat should be done. Their importance as habitats of endangered species, carnivores, functioning as corridor and other ecosystem services needs to be understood to help the managers to decide appropriate conservation measures.

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Following his remarks, Dr. Aparna Watve, (Biome Conservation Foundation), presented “ Conservation Needs of Rocky Plateaus in Maharashtra: An Overview of regional threats”. She discussed the distribution of rocky plateaus, special biodiversity and ecological strategies and the fact that they function as terrestrial habitat islands, leading to high diversity in relatively small areas. She also described the serious implications of rocky plateaus being categorized as wastelands. This has allowed rampant quarrying, mining, windfarms and land use changes without any proper impact assessments. They cause irreversible changes in the landscape and alter the ecology, leading to threatened species loss. Mass unregulated tourism and wrong management of soil and water are recent threats which are affecting the biodiversity. She ended her talk by saying that policy making is a long process, and this workshop would prove to be the first step towards it.

Dr. Sanjay Molur (Director, Zoo Outreach Organization) presented “Approaches to Threatened Species Conservation”. He pointed out that the conservation problem becomes serious when we consider it for non charismatic taxa, such as those found on rocky plateaus. Preparing baseline data on endemic and threatened flora and fauna would be the first step in conservation studies. For this, he urged upon taxonomists and ecologists to work as a team on lesser known taxa like fungi, lichen, freshwater fish etc He mentioned the recent publication by Dr. Pande and others, the first one in India, which recommends need for EIA of windmills based upon bird collision risk studies done in Maharashtra. He ended by saying that “it is very important for Rocky Plateau researchers to carry out taxonomic studies so that when we are faced with the dilemma of conservation vis-a-vis development, it can be resolved with a strengthened baseline data to stand up to the threats”.

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Dr. Ram Boojh, Programme Specialist, Natural Sciences UNESCO, in a presentation on “Policy Guidelines for Conservation and Management of World Natural Heritage sites” described the diverse policies of UNESCO that talk of conservation of the natural sites of high biodiversity. He mentioned that the Western Ghats clusters were on the list of the World’s ten largest natural heritage sites. He outlined the process of declaration of natural heritage sites, and discussed case-studies from across the world, where innovative steps have been taken by local communities (such as creation of special currency), that help green economy and sustainable livelihoods based on tourism to heritage sites. His lecture was followed by discussions on future steps in conservation planning of world heritage sites in Maharashtra focusing on the special case of Kas plateau. Nirmal Kulkarni (Director of Mhadei Research Center) presented Research and monitoring studies on Goa plateaus. He described many years of efforts of organized data collection regarding biodiversity and ecosystem processes on the Goa plateaus. Involvement of students, researchers has led to collection of robust data, which has even been used by the Honorable High Court in one of its judgments. This was considered only because it was done in a scientific manner and this is why in environmental legal battles, scientific study of biodiversity is crucial.

A presentation by Shri. Varad Giri, Herpetologist, on ‘Herpetofauna of Rocky Plateaus’ discussed the diversification of amphibians and reptiles on rocky plateaus. He mentioned that herpetofauna are a good indicator group of environmental changes, as they are comparatively immobile and have specialized needs. At least 37 species of caecilians have been identified in Rocky Plateau Habitats in the Western Ghats. This is a representative study of one group of organisms and more studies on other taxa will reveal interesting scientific information. The last presentation of the morning was a little known aspect of rocky plateaus on the Northern Western Ghats. However, it was one of the most important from the point of view of local communities living in and around the habitats. Dr. Jared Buono of Grampari, Panchgani in a presentation on ‘Lateritic springs: A threatened resource’ shared how many communities around the Northern Western Ghats depend upon perennial springs which are fed by micro drainage from the rocky plateau tops. Based on several years of study and work in rural development, he showed how perennial springs originate just below the rocky caps and can supply clean drinking water throughout the year. He said, the ‘rocky plateaus act like sponge to hold water and release it slowly through the year, they are the water columns of Western Ghats! But instead of protecting them, ill-advised people are trying to break the drainage pattern due to ignorance of science of hydrology’. This is one of the greatest ecosystem service provided by the rocky plateaus of the region, and is hardly ever considered during EIAs of mining. These presentation highlighted different kinds of research and current state of knowledge about the rocky plateaus. This was followed by a session of group discussions, led by Manasi Karandikar and Ketaki Ghate of Oikos, Ecological Services.

Session two: Group Discussions- Participants were divided into six groups, each specifically focusing on one issue and giving suggestions, recommendations for framing of policy on rocky plateaus. Each groups consisted of a moderator, Maharashtra Forest Dept personnel, researchers, local organizations and experts on policy. They deliberated on the issue taking help of diverse case-studies. The moderators of each

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group presented recommendations in the post lunch session. They posed questions that were answered by various experts in the meeting. GROUP 1 : Direction for future research Moderator: Dr. Sanjay Molur Issues to be addressed: How to prioritize conservation oriented research? Methodology for the same and requirements in terms of team, funds etc.

Dr. Sanjay Molur, representing the first group suggested that baseline data should be collected for all taxa on rocky plateaus including insects , lichens, spiders and rodents. The methodology of research should aim at conservation oriented research, which can give feedback to area managers. The problem of finding funds for the lesser-known taxa and lesser-known habitats was discussed, for which Dr. Asad Rehamani , Director BNHS, agreed to help. Issue of permissions for collections of organisms was brought up. Senior Forest Department officials advised that the legal procedure for permissions should be followed. Following which the applications will be reviewed by technical committee which will surely understand the critical need of research on this habitat. The major outcome of this activity was that the participants decided to form a working group of various taxonomic and ecological experts, who can take a lead in publication of scientific papers on this habitat, in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, which has funding support for Western Ghats related papers.

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Dr. Asad Rehmani (BNHS), Dr. Sanjay Molur (ZOO Outreach), Priyanka Iyer(ZOO Outreach), Dr. V. Sawarkar, Siddharth Kulkarni, Dr. Ganesan (ATREE), Dr. Sharma (ZSI), Dr. Sanjay Rahangadale, Varad Giri, Dr. Pramod Patil, Kedar Bhide, Parthasarathi Mishra(BNHS), Sujit Narwade(BNHS),, Sameer Bajaru(BNHS), Rahul Khot(BNHS),, Intesar Suhail Wildlife Warden J & K, Group 2: Conservation with local communities Moderator: Ketaki Ghate(Oikos, Pune) and Neema Pathak (Kalpavriksh, Pune) Issues to be addressed: Involving communities in conservation, social and legal aspects, Identification and protection of ecological services, How to reduce pressures on ecosystem? Ketaki Ghate presented suggestions of this group which discussed conservation with local communities. The group highlighted that the issues differ widely with respect to the sites and it is therefore necessary to identify local problems and strive to find local solutions. Local communities’ interaction with rocky plateau through activities such as cattlegrazing, collection of fuel wood, medicinal plants extraction, food plants collection and assessment of its sustainability and impacts on the wild biodiversity need to be studied to prevent overexploitation. The wide scale sale of land, over publicizing of certain ecologically harmful practices on the plateaus such as floral agriculture, strawberry cultivation etc. can harm the rocky plateaus ecosystems. She stressed upon an important point that needs to be immediately addressed, is the change in nomenclature of the land. According to the group, referring the plateaus as barren land/ wasteland/ rocky scrub or “blanks” takes no cognizance of their special biodiversity and ecology. The group suggested following steps: - Research study with the help of local community need to be done to find threshold level of any

kind of harvest and grazing on rocky plateaus. - Capacity building through presentation, workshop and training at three levels a)Village/Taluk/

Government department b) Women c) School children - Governance and management –JFMC and BMC (Biodiversity Management Committee) will play

an important role, Community Biodiversity Register. Clear output should be defined for JFMC and BMC.

Policy brief to the community living near the plateau should be circulated in simple language. It should also mention benefits of conserving rocky plateaus to the local communities. This will help to make the real stakeholders aware of the importance of rocky plateaus and reasons of why should they protect them.

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Dr. Jared Buono and Renie Thomas (Grampari), Shri. Jeet Singh, CCF, Pune (Terr.) , Shri. Sai Prakash CCF, Nashik (Terr.) , Neema Pathak (Kalpavriksha), Ketaki Ghate (Oikos) Apeksha Patil (FergussonCollege), Dr. Savita Rahangadale (Alephata College) and Dr. Sanjay Rahangadale (Waghire College Otur), Radhika Kanade (ATREE), Amruta Joglekar, Jui Pethe, Amit Tillu (Nature Conservation Society), Adv. Gauri Joshi, Saili Palandhe, Rohan Korgaonkar, Mahadeo Bhise, Sainath More (Malabar Nature Conservation Club) Group 3: Land-use change and conversion to urban landscapes Moderator: - Manasi Karandikar Issues to be addressed: Addressing land use changes and land conversion from rural to urban around the plateau habitats Manasi Karandikar, presented suggestions from group 3 which discussed land use change and conversion to urban landscape. She stated that baseline data deficiency is the major challenge and ecosystem service study is a must. A rapid survey followed by comprehensive study on land use needs to be done which will give a clearer idea about the ground situation and how one can proceed for targeted research and conservation activities. She pointed out that the issue is more urgent for lands outside forest areas which are affected by infrastructure development, mining, stone quarries, conversion to horticulture among others.

These can be addressed by : - Giving special legal status to rocky plateaus besides their present management regimes using

some already available laws - Do’s and Don’ts activity list should be prepared considering all kind of stakeholders - Alternative option to resources from plateaus area e.g. finding alternative options to lateritic

blocks.

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Adv. Jayant Joshi, Dr. Jagdish (ATREE) Shri. Nitin Kakodkar, CCF, Pune, Shri. Jayant Kulkarni (Envirosearch), David Cardoz (member Matheran HLMC), Shri. Kaustubh Moghe(Envirosearch), Shri. Nirmal Kulkarni & Atul Borkar (Mhadei Research centre).

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Group 4: Management of plateaus in forest lands Moderator: - Dr. Aparna Watve Issues to be addressed: How to identify plateaus within working plan, suggestions for conservation of biodiversity and protection of ecological processes, addressing pressures for forest conversion, upgrading conservation status Aparna Watve presented fourth group’s discussion regarding management of plateaus in forest lands. She pointed out that many of the rocky plateaus are within WLS or NP or have some RF areas. However, they are often considered blanks. There is a need to give same amount of protection to the habitat as is given to the prime forest areas. Converting them into plantations, parking places, or dumping grounds needs to be avoided by taking help of the strict forest laws. PCCF, Shri. Joshi advised that rocky plateau sites of conservation priority need to be identified separately, their uniqueness needs to be proved with scientific research and ecologically fragile nature emphasized. In addition to this, the current threats and their impacts also need to be considered to provide management solutions. This will help the Forest Department officers to identify appropriate conservation and management practices for these sites. Maharashtra Forest Department has already set up an example of protection of rocky plateaus (Kas, in Satara district, stopping bauxite mining inside PAs and in the buffer areas of Sahyadri TR). This demonstrates that at least for rocky plateaus of high biodiversity which are within forest lands, protection can be given as per area needs.

Shri. A.K. Joshi, PCCF, HoFF, Shri. M. K. Rao, CCF Pune (Terr.), Dr. Ram Boojh,(UNESCO) Shri. Terence (ERC), Dr. Swapna Prabhu (BNHS), Shri. Sanjay Thakur(Biome CF), Mrs. Poorva Joshi, (Bioconcepts), Dr. Aparna Watve( Biome CF).

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Group 5: Tourism and public awareness Moderator: - Suhas Gurjar Issues to be addressed: How to prepare for “ecotourism” and conservation tourism, how to ensure public awareness for protection of habitat and reducing aesthetic/recreational tourism demands, ethical guidelines for tourism Shri. Suhas Gurjar presented the outcomes of the discussion on tourism and public awareness regarding rocky plateaus. He pointed out that at present the plateaus can be divided into those already degraded, those which are degraded but are receiving some management attention, and those which are as yet not degraded and also are not known to general society. The awareness strategy needs to be different for all these categories. The awareness strategy should aim primarily at local people to sensitize them regarding the special nature of rocky plateau habitat and ecosystem services. Tourism should be directed to those sites which have a tourism management plan. The group stressed that the carrying capacity of each site needs to be defined. The aim of tourism should be “conservation tourism” and sensitization regarding the national natural heritage value. The income from tourism should be used for providing livelihood support to local communities and address needs of the village which will encourage them to continue with the conservation action. There should be restriction of encouraging mass tourism and land conversion for tourist resorts etc. for newly popularized spots such as Kas. Home stays should be encouraged.

Shri. Anurag Choudhari, APCCF, (Research and training), Shri. Devrath Mehta(MP HLMC), Dr. Bhaskar Acharya(ATREE), Prerna Agarwal (independent researcher), Suhas Gurjar, Poorva Joshi (Bioconcepts)

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PCCF Shri. Joshi, discussed the management actions taken on Kas in response to the growing tourist numbers every year and their effect on biodiversity. He hoped that over the coming years the tourists will be sensitized about the fragility of the area, and the ways to reduce negative impact of tourism will be implemented. The case study of Kas pathar was discussed by Prerna Agarwal, who is working on assessment of the impact of tourism; Apeksha Patil on the issue of solid waste management and Yatish Lele on conservation planning for Kas. Prerna pointed out the practical problems in tourist management on Kas plateau, observed during six months (June-December) while working with the Kas pathar JFMC members. Shri. Devrath Mehta, IAS said that based on his extensive experience in tourism development, defining carrying capacity of an area is the most important part of management and it should form the basis of deciding the permitted numbers of both tourists and vehicles in an area. Group 6: Regional Planning Moderator: - Hema Ramani Issues to be addressed: How land-use and legal status should be made conducive to conservation? Addressing issues of plateaus outside forest lands The last group presentation was by Mrs. Hema Ramani, of the group discussing regional planning in relation to rocky plateaus. She pointed out that regional planning comes as the last logical step after all the baseline data collection has been completed. It requires inputs from other sectors such as the forest department, revenue department, scientists, local NGOs and people who are involved with the micro level planning. Shri. David Cardoz, member Matheran HLMC, pointed out that already 14 peaks and plateaus in Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani ESZ have been declared as conservation zones and this can be extended to other areas if careful baseline report is prepared. For effective implementation, a committee or task force can be formed including collectors, NGOs and other stakeholders. He mentioned that special heritage laws are possible for plateaus.

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Shri. Bagul, DFO, APCCF Nashik (WL), Dr. Jay Samant, Regional Planning Board (Satara, Kolhapur), Kirtida Unawala (Satara Regional Planning) Hema Ramani, BEAG, Priti Kulkarni, Fergusson College, Yatish Lele, Fergusson College, The group discussions resulted in many suggestions and ideas for future planning of conservation and management of the rocky plateaus. The suggestions from the groups were actionable working plans which aimed at solving the immediate problems faced by field researchers. The members of the Panel used these various inputs to give comments and suggestions for the future action research. These were also discussed by the other participants. Shri A.K Joshi, PCCF, Hoff, Maharashtra said that “A community biodiversity register must be compiled using which the issues can be brought into much sharper focus and action can easily be implemented”

He suggested that :

• Exact number of plateaus per village should be identified. • Creation of biodiversity registers would be the first step as each village can enumerate the

number of plateaus in the region this will help in implementation. • A selected priority sites can be protected by use of diverse acts such as EPA 1986,

Biodiversity Act 2002. Dr. Rehmani commented that the use of the term ‘wasteland’ should be immediately discontinued as nothing is wasted in nature. Areas such as Kas, are similar to globally recognized endemic hot

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spots such as fynbos of Africa which are strictly protected by the government. Similar examples can be used for framing rules and regulations to govern Kas in the future.

Dr. V. Sawarkar, ex-Director of the Wildlife Institute, Dehradun, supported Mr. Rehmani’s point by saying that the African government has a very strong baseline data on these sites. He said that the suggestions by the PCCF were very relevant and practical for the protection policy. He said that the larger objective must be to safeguard Eco fragile habitats and what can be done in the context of working plans and the Wildlife protection Act. “We need to define categories of fragile habitats by including rocky plateaus and other eco fragile habitats as well and seeking inspiration from the Biodiversity Act and collecting credible scientific data.” Shri. Anmol Kumar, member secretary of State Biodiversity Board, discussed provisions of the Biodiversity Act 2002. He suggested the possibility of declaring some areas as biodiversity heritage sites. Only requirement being that all related stakeholders should pass it and then state government should include it in their document as biodiversity heritage sites. It will also be possible under the Biodiversity Act 2002, to define entities of unique importance outside forest area and make some regulations for these. He mentioned that there was a move in the MOEF to come up with guidelines to declare entities of high biodiversity value but it could not see the light of the day. He suggested that I advised to change the name of the working plan of forest divisions to Biodiversity Managemant Plan with some modification of prescriptions.

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Dr. Devrath Mehta, a senior IAS officer and former chairman of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani and Matheran High Level Monitoring Committee said there is an urgent need to bring the scientific knowledge to the notice of regional bodies and develop regional plans of development accordingly. Dr. Ram Boojh commented that most legal problems are now clarified through discussion. He again emphasized the need of research inputs for management planning and conservation. Importance of education and public awareness in the process is immense and the possibility of linking it with curriculum for future should be explored. Shri. Nitin Kakodkar CCF Pune stated that taxonomy is the most important part of the conservation and should be encouraged as science. Dr. Aparna Watve stated that management of biodiversity and ecology requires research in ecology and ecosystem science, unfortunately there is a scarcity of even simple vegetation studies in the Northern Western Ghats with only a few scientific publications on ecology over the last 150 years. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address ecological knowledge regarding lesser-known habitats which will be useful for conservation. Other suggestions were, developing a zoning plan to mark sites that are still in a relatively natural state compared to those that already have projects like windmills; creating a map database to mark rocky plateaus with relation to protected areas; declaring Community Reserves; and creating a master tourism plan to be submitted to the local groups who are involved in controlling a specific area. Dr. Jagdish, ATREE commented on behalf of CEPF-ATREE Western Ghats initiative that it is indeed good to have diversity of opinions from the field of taxonomy, hydrology, forest management, regional planning, tourism and awareness, local community initiatives and NGOs along with senior officers of the forest department, which will help in deciding the future measures for rocky plateau conservation. Dr. Aparna Watve, on behalf of the host organization thanked all the senior officers and policy makers for taking time out of their busy schedule to converse with and guide young researchers. She mentioned that the young members of the audience are dedicated towards the conservation of rocky plateaus and that indeed gives one hope for the special habitat. She said, “This meeting is not a concluding meeting, but a beginning of targeted efforts towards creating a policy for rocky plateau conservation and management”. She expressed gratitude towards CEPF-ATREE, for the Small Grant funding which made the meeting possible and to the members for showing their confidence in the networking effort with a special thanks to Dr. Bhaskar Acharya, the programme coordinator for constant support and guidance through the entire project period. The meeting ended by various members expressing the need to continue interacting in the future as a network for special habitat conservation.

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