Vol. XXXVII : No. 2 · tiger attacks. Their information is based on forest department data, newspaper clippings, and interviews with staff at local hospitals and other people for

Regional Quarterly Bulletin on Wildlife and National Parks Management

REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (RAP), BANGKOKFOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Vol. XXXVII : No. 2

Featuring

Vol. XXIV: No. 2

April-June 2010

Spotlight on the 23rd Session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission held in Bhutan – the Land of the Thunder Dragon

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relating to wildlife and national parksmanagement for theAsia-Pacific Region.ISSN 1014 - 2789

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Front cover: Rufous-bellied eagle (Hieraaetus kienerii) in nest (Photocourtesy: H. Bandula Jayaneththi)

The opinions expressed by thecontributing authors are notnecessarily those of FAO. Thedesignations employed and thepresentation of the material in theTIGERPAPER do not imply theexpression of any opinion on the partof FAO concerning the legal orconstitutional status of any country,territority or sea area, or thedelimitation of frontiers.

Some observations of nesting behavior of the endangered rufous-bellied hawk eagle in Udagama-Kegalle Mountains of Central Sri Lanka....................................... 1Examining the extent of human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans Forest, Bangladesh........................................ 4Seasonal dietary composition of sloth bear in the reserve Forest of Vijaynagar, North Gujarat, India.......................... 8Odonates of Baripada Division of Similipal Biosphere Reserve......................................................................... 13Does Asian elephant co-exist with human beings? A case study from the Rajaji National Park................................. 17Forest vegetation as the cuscus feeding plants in Udopi Wosi Village Forest Complex................................................... 26First hand observation and study of Pallas’s Gull.................. 29Conservation for development: Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Nepal............................................. 31

Twenty-third session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission held in the Land of the Thunder Dragon......... 1Summary of Recommendations........................................... 7Welcome Addresses............................................................9Finding happiness in the forest?........................................... 12Threats to the forest: pathways of biological invasions........... 14Forest inventory and monitoring in montane ecosystems........ 15FAO Asia-Pacific Forestry Calendar………………................16

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Vol. 37: No. 2 April-June 2010

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SOME OBSERVATIONS OF NESTING BEHAVIOR OFENDANGERED RUFOUS-BELLIED HAWK EAGLE(Hieraaetus kienerii) IN UDAGAMA-KEGALLE MOUNTAINSOF CENTRAL SRI LANKA

by H. Bandula Jayaneththi

Introduction

The rufous-bellied hawk eagle (Hieraaetuskienerii) is easily identified by its black upper

parts, chestnut under parts and under wing-covertsand white throat and breast. The size is 21-25 in.,wing is 14-16 in. and the tail is 8.5-9.5 in.

The head has a dark cape and a small crest which isnot normally erect. Upper parts are normally black,slightly shaded with brown. Ear coverts are mixedwhite, black and rufous; cheeks, throat, and breastare pure white with a few narrow black shaft lines;the rest of the under surface, including under the

wing and tail coverts, are a tawny rufous, streakedwith black shaft stripes broader on the flanks. Thewings are black, with some of the feathers externallybrownish; the inner lining of the quills is whitish ashywith a few blackish bars on the inner webs of theprimary feathers and the secondary feathers arenarrowly tipped with white. The black tail is verynarrowly tipped and whitish brown and with 6-7indistinct bars of dark brown; the lower surface isashy white with sub terminal brown bars. The feetare yellow and the bill is plumed.

The two sexes are physically alike but the female isslightly larger than the male.

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The breeding season seems to be from Decemberto March. The nest is large and made of stickslined with green leaves, placed in a forest tree. Asingle egg is laid; white, speckled and blotchedwith various shades of brown and red andmeasuring about 58.7x47mm.

The range of the rufous-bellied hawk eagle’sdistribution covers south of the Himalayas, Java,Philippines, Borneo and Sumatra, lower Bengal,Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

It is a resident of Sri Lanka, scarce in the hills,rare elsewhere, endangered but widely distributedin the island. The eagle favors patana woods andthe like in the medium elevations of the hill zonefrom about 1,000-4,000 feet, though it may beseen at times at other elevations.

Observations

The rufous-bellied eagle’s characteristic behaviorwas observed at Sabaragamuwa Province inGamthuna village in Kegalla District. Located closeto Kegalle City limits, the village consists of threesub-villages. Udugama is the village at the highestpoint, in the middle is Medagama and at the lowestpoint is Pathagama. Udugama is surrounded by ascenic mountain 900 to 1,060 meters above sealevel; it also includes a few astonishing waterfalls.Cloves and tea are mainly grown in this area whichlies between northern latitudes 7o 5’ - 7o 10’ andeastern longitudes 80o 20’ - 80o25’.

This eagle’s nest building was observed while theauthor was walking halfway through the mountainpassing a Dothaluya tea plantation at around 9 inthe morning.

The nest was located on a dried tree top, 20 metershigh. One bird was making a racket of noise. Itcould be identified as a female because of the bodysize. The male, which has a relatively smaller bodysize, was in a big tree at a height of 25 metersnearby. This tree had a thick trunk and grewstraight (vertically) for 20 meters. The nest wasbuilt among the 3 main branches, and the malewas perched on the nest. Suddenly the male tookflight from the tree where the nest was and flewhigh in a spin, targeting another dried branch.Flying at top speed while holding onto that small

branch, the branch broke off from the force ofthe speed of the bird. The male then flew over tothe nest and the small tree branch was laid acrossthe nest accordingly. Once again, the male perchedon top of the tree where the nest was for a fewminutes in the silence. More branches werecollected in the manner as observed before untilthe nest was completely built. The nest buildingwas observed for 45 minutes.

Discussion

Birds of the Falconiformes Order are predators;they are at the top of the food chain. The populationdensity or numbers of these carnivorous birds isnot great. Because their numbers are low, itincreases the chance of their becoming endangered.

Even though Sri Lanka contains 20 birds from thisorder, a high percentage are reported only rarely.Some birds, after first and second sighting reports,were not found again. According to the observationsabove, the rufous-bellied hawk eagle is also a rarebird in Sri Lanka. Even though in Sri Lanka theirnests have been recorded, studies on their behaviorare recorded only rarely. Therefore, the nestbuilding seen is important to be documented.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to express gratitude to Mr.Jagath Gunewardene, Mr. Deepal Warakagoda &Mr. Sampath Gunathilake for giving valuableadvice to complete this paper. Thanks also to Mr.Priyankara Sedawaththa, Pubudu Weerarathne,Paramee Vidyarathne, Wajira Kanth, MenakaGunasekara, Mahesh Chathuranga, SameeraMolligoda, who gave their encouragement andparticipation for the field visit, and Ms. MagaGaneshan for her help in the preparation of thisreport.

References

Henry, G.M. (Revised by T. Hoffman, D.Warakagoda and U. Ekanayake). 1998. A

Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka (3rd

edition). Oxford University Press, Oxford.Legge, V. 1983. A History of the Birds of

Ceylon. (2nd edition). Tissara PrakasakayoLtd, Colombo.

Kotagama, S.W. and P. Fernando, P. 1995. A FieldGuide to the Birds of Sri Lanka. TheWildlife Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka, Colombo.

Harrison, J. 1999. A Field guide to the Birds ofSri Lanka. Oxford University Press, NewYork.

Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., and T. Inskipp. 1998.Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. OxfordUniversity Press, New Delhi.

Author’s address: c/o Young Zoologists’Association of Sri Lanka, National ZoologicalGarden, Dehiwala, Sri lanka.

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44


EXAMINING THE EXTENT OF HUMAN-TIGER CONFLICTIN THE SUNDARBANS FOREST, BANGLADESH

by Gertrud Neumann-Denzau and Helmut Denzau

Introduction

The Sundarbans mangove forest in the Gangeticdelta is the largest continuous mangrove area

in the world (10,284 km²), with 4,267 km²(41.5%) in Indian territory and 6,017 km² (58.5%)in Bangladesh. It is the home of some 100endangered Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris),possibly one of the biggest remaining tigerpopulations on the globe.

Within the memory of man, Sundarbans tigershave been ill-famed as man-eaters. The earliestknown written document is found in the letters ofPortuguese Jesuit missionaries, among themFrancis Fernandez and Melchior Fronseca, whotravelled to Bengal in 1598 and 1599. For thefirst time they reported that tigers in the Gangeticdelta are fond of human flesh (Hosten, 1925).The reason for this behavior cannot so far beunderstood. The term “man-eater” is used herefor all tigers that attack people within the forest,regardless of the circumstances and regardless ofthe victim’s fate, be it getting injured, killed oreaten.

People who enter the Sundarbans face severalrisks. The area is prone to cyclones and othernatural disasters. The occurrence of pirates isanother problem. Among the dangerous animalslike sharks, crocodiles and snakes, the tiger is themost dreaded. Although humans are frequentlyattacked by tigers during their stay in the forest,the human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans doesnot attain much attention. The victims are usuallyvery poor people whose fate doesn’t reach thepublic eye at large. Resource extractors and otherintruders in this mangrove forest are nowadaysmainly fishermen, woodcutters, collectors ofhoney and other minor forest produce, but alsostaff of the forest department and tourists,

scientists, poachers and pirates. Most of the humanactivities are seasonal.

A small number of investigations regarding the man-eater problem in the Bangladesh Sundarbans havebeen carried out. Hendrichs (1975) undertook a 3month field survey in Bangladesh Sundarbans inJanuary – April 1971 and investigated tigercasualities between 1956/57 and 1970/71 in the filesof the forest department. He found 392 cases forthis period of 15 years. His analysis of man-eatingincidents produced basic new findings. Siddiqi andChoudhury (1987) analysed forest department dataon 554 human casualties for a period of 28 yearsfrom 1956-1983. JJS (2003) analysed data of 181tiger attacks. Their information is based on forestdepartment data, newspaper clippings, andinterviews with staff at local hospitals and otherpeople for the period January 1999 – March 2002.

So far, the total number of tiger victims in theSundarbans has remained hidden, since too manycasualties of illegal intruders have gone unreported.Blamed for their illegal entries their fate was passedover in silence, suppressing the justification of theforest staff for letting such a high degree of illegalentries happen.

Our aim (for Bangladesh) was to calculate anextrapolation of the total annual numbers of tigervictims, to determine the number of unreportedcases, and to estimate the percentage of victimswithout permission. By raising awareness of thereal extent of human-tiger conflicts, thedevelopment of solutions for reducing the loss ofhuman lives and saving tigers shall be supported.

Total number of tiger victims

Two independent data sets with individually knownnames of tiger victims allowed us to apply acorrelative method to extrapolate the total number

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of casualties for the Bangladesh Sundarbans forthe years 2003 – 2005. Furthermore, this approachallowed us to determine the percentage of permitholders, unreported cases and illegal entriesrespectively.

The first data set consists of cases for the period1984 – 2005 registered by the Bangladesh ForestDepartment (BFD) and includes name, age,profession and home village of the victim, as wellas date and place name of the incident, sometimesalong with the compartment number. This listingcontains only cases of people who have enteredthe forest with legal permission.

The second data set is formed on the basis ofnewspaper reports. Notes on tiger victims areirregularly scattered over various national and localnewspapers and are far from complete. Many casesprobably remain unreported. The followingBangladesh newspapers and news services werechecked for casualties which occurred between2003 - 2005: The Daily Star, New Nation, TheIndependent, New Age, The Bangladesh Observer,The News Today, News of Bangladesh, TheFinancial Express, Daily Dristipat, DailyPrabartan, Daily Folafol, Daily Kafela, GramerKagoj, Daily Purbanchal, Vore Kagoj, DailyJanmobhumi, Loksomag, Prothom Alo, Dainik

Thottho, Probambanber, along with releases of thenews agencies UNB, BSS and AFP.

We counted as tiger victims persons injured or killedby tiger attacks within the Sundarbans forest areain Bangladesh. Persons injured or killed by tigersstraying into human habitations in the fringe areawere not taken into account here, as it remainsunknown in most of the cases whether the tigerwas provoked to defend himself againstuncontrolled reactions of villagers or not.

To identify individual cases we looked at date,name, age, place of origin, profession and placeof incident whenever it was possible. We onlycounted cases where victims could be identifiedby names. This was an intricate procedure becausethe data of different sources were partly inaccurateand controversial. We took the earliest date ofincident if the date information was divergent. Thenumbers of BFD cases were always smaller(counting only permit holders). Newspapers alwaysreported on more cases, but contrary to allexpectations they reported only a small fraction ofthe BFD data.

Based on this overlap of newspaper reports andBFD data we developed the following formulaefor our extrapolations:

n = nf + nn – ovl (1)rc = ovl / nf (2)tv = nn x nf / ovl = nn / rc (3)ill = (tv – nf) / tv (4)

n = number of individually known tiger victimsafter combining BFD and newspaper data

nf = number of individually known tiger victimsas listed by the BFD (only permit holders)

nn = number of individually known tiger victimsas reported by newspapers (whether permit holders or not)

ovl = overlap of cases between nf and nn (ovl not equal 0)

rc = fraction of BFD cases reported by newspapers

tv = extrapolated number of tiger victims

ill = estimated fraction of persons, who enter theforest without permission

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Out of 15 cases listed in 2004 by the BangladeshForest Department (BFD), not more than 3 werereported in the newspapers. This supports theassumption that only 20% (3 of 15) of the tigervictims became known to the public, while 80%

have remained unreported. Applying thishypothesis to the number of 35 cases published innewspapers (=20%) would result in a total numberof 175 casualties (=100%) for the year 2004. Table1 shows the calculation for the period 2003 – 2005.

Table 1: Extrapolated number of tiger victims (tv) in Bangladesh Sundarbans as derived by comparison of individually reported casualties by BFD (nf) and newspapers (nn), based on the fraction of BFD cases overlapping with newspaper reports (rc). The last column contains the ascertained percentage of persons, who entered the forest without permission (ill x 100).

year n nf nn ovl tv rc un-reported

ill x 100

2003 83 20 72 9 160 0.45 55 % 87.5 % 2004 47 15 35 3 175 0.20 80 % 91.4 % 2005 47 14 36 3 168 0.21 79 % 91.7 % annual average for the period 2003 - 2005

167.7

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Monu Mullah, an ill-fated fisherman, badly injured in a first tiger attack in the Sundarbans in 1997, waskilled in a second tiger attack in 2009 (Photo: Gertrud & Helmut Denzau)

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The remarkable finding of Table 1 is that theextrapolated numbers of tiger victims for all threesubsequent years are quite similar, ranging from160 to 175, although the numbers of the forestdepartment and the newspapers differ considerablyfor one of these years. The ascertained number ofunreported cases, neither recorded by BFD norby newspapers, and the portion of victims whoentered the forest without permission are also listedin Table 1.

In 2003, the percentage of unreported cases wassignificantly smaller than in the other years. Thisis due to the fact that some newspapers gave longlists of tiger victims at the end of the year.

In our data set for 2003 to 2005 (36 months), 177casualties were reported, out of these were 49 bythe BFD (Table 1). Without knowing the namesof the victims one would consider that 27.7 % ofthe incidents were reported by BFD. Ourextrapolation, resulting in a total number of 503victims (founded on cross-checking by name),comes to the reasonable assumption that only 9.7% of the casualties are reported by the BFD. Thisis an alarmingly low portion.

Discussion

The total number of tiger victims for 2003-2005were extrapolated in this study to an annual averageof 168. Most unspecified estimations about thenumber of tiger victims in Bangladesh Sundarbansare far below this extrapolation. Solely,Helalsiddiqui (1998) supposed a number of 100 -150 people killed by tigers each year. JJS (2003)found 71 tiger attacks for the year 1999 and weresurprised to find only 12 cases reported by theForest Department. They also suspected that thediscrepancy could be related to the portion ofvictims having entered the forest illegally.

For these three years we came to the result that only10% of the casualties are reported by the ForestDepartment, 90 % of the victims were illegal entries.

Hendrichs (1975) found for some years before1971, “that about 70% of the tiger casualities reachthe Khulna Divisional Headquarter files”. For theSatkhira Forest Range he estimated 10% illegalentries yearly.

Illegal entries are entries without legal permission,either unseen entries or entries achieved by bribingthe forest staff. The resource extractors may notalways know the difference between legal and illegalentries when paying fees. For many years thesystem has been obviously very corrupt from topto bottom, coming finally to light when in 2007the chief conservator of forest was arrested andimprisoned (Anonymous, 2008).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to numerous individuals andinstitutions for the collection of data andtranslations of relevant information from Bengaliinto English language. We would like to thankGuenter Loew for improving our English.

References

Anonymous 2008. Ex-forest conservator Ganijailed for 12 years. New Age. http://www.newagebd.com/2008/jun/06/front.html.Accessed 8 July 2008.

Helalsiddiqui, A.S.M. 1998. Present status ofwildlife, human casualties by tiger, andwildlife conservation in the Sundarbans ofBangladesh. Tigerpaper 35(2): 28-32.

Hendrichs, H. 1975. The status of the tigerPanthera tigris (Linné, 1758) in theSundarbans Mangrove Forest.Saeugetierkundliche Mitteilungen 23: 161-199.

Hosten, H. 1925. Jesuit letters from Bengal,Arakan and Burma (1599-1600). Bengal Pastand Present 30, 52-76.

JJS (Jagrata Juba Shanha) 2003. Human-WildlifeInteraction Study. Sundarban BiodiversityConservation Project (SBCP), Internal NotesIN No.78. Dhaka: Government of Bangladesh,Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Siddiqi, N.A., and J.H. Choudhury. 1987. Man-eating behaviour of tigers of the Sundarbans– twenty-eight years’ record analysis.Tigerpaper 14(3): 26-32.

Authors’ address: Zoological Society forConservation of Species and Populations (ZSCSP,Munich), 24321 Panker, Germany; Email:denzau(at)t-online.de

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SEASONAL DIETARY COMPOSITION OF SLOTH BEAR(Melursus ursinus) IN THE RESERVE FOREST OFVIJAYNAGAR, NORTH GUJARAT, INDIA

by Tana Mewada and Nisith Dharaiya

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Introduction

Sloth bears are found widely in the Indiansubcontinent (Sri Lanka, Nepal, India,

Bangladesh and Bhutan). The bear lives in a varietyof habitats such as teak forest, sal forest, lowlandevergreen forest, riverside forest and tall grassareas on the floodplains of Nepal, and in theBrahmaputra valley of Assam (Cowan, 1972;Krishnan, 1972; Brander, 1982). Presently, slothbear occurs commonly and has a wide distributionacross the tropical forest of the Indian subcontinent(Yoganand, et al., 2006). In the past, until theearly 1800s, sloth bear may have occurred in mostnon-arid, low-altitude forests of India. They werereported to be abundant during the mid 1800s,but declined severely due to hunting and habitatloss from the late 1800s until the 1950s (Gilbert,1897; Dunbar-Brander, 1923; Prater, 1948;Phythia-Adams, 1950; Krishnan, 1972).

In India, sloth bear occurs frequently in moist anddry deciduous forest (42% and 33% respectively)and less frequently in wet evergreen (13%) anddry scrub (6%) types of forest (Yoganand et al.,2006). Sloth bears are reported to be present in174 protected areas in India, which includes 46national parks and 128 wildlife sanctuaries(Chauhan, 2006). However, baseline informationabout their distribution and present status in Indiais lacking.

Out of five protected areas where sloth bear occursin Gujarat, (Shoolpaneshwar, Jambughoda,Ratanmahel, Jassore and Balaram Ambaji wildlifesanctuaries) Balaram Ambaji and Jassore wildlifesanctuaries of the North Gujarat region havereported the highest sloth bear densities anywherein India (Garshelis et al., 1999). In North GujaratForest Division, sloth bears have created a very

formidable image among the people living in andaround the Balaram Ambaji Wildlife Sanctuary(BAWLS), Danta forest of Banaskantha and theVijayanar forest of Sabarkantha districts. Currently,man-bear conflicts are on the rise and immediateattention needs to be paid, not only to resolve theconflicts, but also for the conservation of thisthreatened species (Shankar and Murthy, 1995;Chauhan et al., 1999).

Study area

The Sabarkantha district of Gujarat State, issituated between latitudes 23o 13’ 15" and 24 o 35’30" north and longitudes 72 o 47’ and 73 o 37’ 30"east. The forests are mostly confined to thenorthern and eastern hilly regions of the district,but isolated patches are distributed over thesouthern and western parts of the district. Hillridges and rivers normally constitute the boundarieswith Rajasthan State in the north and east.

The total forest area in Vijaynagar taluka (sub-district) is 293.2 km2, which is divided in tworanges. Out of this, 168.1 km2 comprises denseforest, 100.4 km2 are open and a small part of thisis degraded, which harbors the sloth bearpopulation. This forest is being proposed for thesanctuary, but currently comes under the reserveforest. Vijaynagar forest has two forest rangeswhich support the sloth bear, namely Dholwaniand Vijayanagar ranges.

The Aravalli hill range extends from the northernto the eastern border and takes a southern turnalong the eastern border of the tract. Thecontinuous and detached hills of the district arethe part of the Aravalli range which starts fromKhedbhrahma taluka. Vijaynagar, Dholwani andparts of Bhiloda range are hillier. The hills of these

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| Seasonal dietary composition of sloth bear in the reserve forest of Vijaynagar |

ranges are either interlinked by ravines or form along continuous chain.

The climate of Sabarkantha district is sub-tropicalwith three main seasons: summer: March-June;monsoon: July-October; and winter: November-February. There is considerable variation betweenthe different parts of the district and between thesummer and winter months. Summer begins bythe end of February and continues up to the endof June, with gradual rises in temperature. Apriland May are the hottest months. However,Vijaynagar taluka enjoys a cooler climate duringsummer owing to its elevation and dense vegetativecover. Winter is quite pleasant; however, extremecold and frost are experienced in Dholwani andVijayngar areas.

According to the revised classification of foresttypes by Champion and Seth (1968), parts of theforests lying in the northeast region (VijaynagarRange, Dholwani, Poshina, Devnimori, Mudeti,Chandarni, Pal, etc.) fall under type 5A/C-1b-DryTeak forest. These are mixed dry deciduous forestswith teak usually forming the major portion of thecrop. It is interesting to note that the nationalboundary of teak passes through these forests ofSabarkantha. Teak is absent in Poshina range andthe major parts of Vadali and Dholwani ranges.The present forest crop is mostly middle-aged tomature. The top canopy, middle canopy andunderstorey are easily distinguishable. The groundcover is mostly open, but seasonally clothed withherbs and grasses.

Manvel bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) occursmainly in Dholvani, Bhiloda and Vijayanagar areas.The bamboo crop was once very rich in Righadand Poshina ranges, but now it is observed to bedeteriorating.

There was a time when tigers roamed the area.Polo forest, a rich biodiversity area, is the northernlimit of teak forest in the country. Sloth bear,leopard, and four-horned antelope are frequentlyseen in the forests of Vijaynagar, especially in theforests of Polo and Vanaj. A forest guard at Vanajclaimed that he saw a group of eight bears in Vanajforest in 1999 (Singh, 2001).

Materials and methodology

The nocturnal foraging habits of sloth bears arethe primary reason for the lack of adequate datagathered based on direct observations on theirfeeding behavior. But in many places where therewere less disturbances, bears were also seen activeduring the daylight hours. So data on compositionand seasonal variation in bear diet were based onscat analysis.

Scats were collected from different habitats duringthe transect work and while surveying the forestfor animal signs. During the monsoon season therewas a sudden bloom of the vegetation cover.Faeces were also collected opportunistically fromthe feeding and resting sites and along trails. Faeceswere collected in polythene bags, sun dried, andthen stored for further analysis. Efforts were madeto collect scats every month; however, this wasdifficult during the monsoon period.

Results and discussion

Variations in dietary composition in the summer,monsoon and winter seasons were estimated.

Despite their adaptations for myrmecophagy,results of past studies indicate that diets of slothbears may vary seasonally and geographicallyacross their range from Nepal, south through Indiato Sri Lanka, depending on the availability of fruitand the hardness of mounds that harbour coloniesof termites (Baskaran, 1990; Davidar, 1983;Eisenberg and Lockhart, 1972; Gokula et al., 1995;Gopal, 1991; Laurie and Seidensticker, 1977;Schaller, 1967). Sloth bears in Royal ChitwanNational Park in Nepal, moved seasonally betweenlowland and upland habitats (Joshi et al., 1995)and it was hypothesized that changes in theavailability of food prompted these shifts in homerange.

In the present study we analysed 132 scats (summer(n=52), winter (n=25) and monsoon (n=57)),which were further analysed with the percentfrequency of the seasonal diet. Analysis revealed12 kinds of plant matter, and animal matter thatincluded insects (large red ant, large black ant,honey bees and beetle). In 2-3 scat samples birdfeathers and the hair of the small mammals was

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found (Table 1). Other materials which were foundto have been ingested with the food were stones

Table 1: Food items found in the scats of sloth bear Plant matter Carrisa congesta Cassia fistula Cordia dichotoma Cucurbita spp Diospyros melanoxylon Ficus spp. Madhuca indica Mangifera indica Miliusa tomentosa Syzygium spp. Unidentified plant material Zizyphus spp.

Animal matter Insects (large red ants, large black ants, termites, bees, beetles) Hair Feathers

Non- food matter Mud Stones

In Wilpattu National Park iin Sri Lanka, Eisenberg& Lockhart (1972) found that sloth bears fedheavily on termites and fruits when in season.Schaller (1967) examined 92 sloth bear droppingsin Kanha National Park in Central India, and foundthat termites were the year-round staple, with fruitsimportant primarily from April to June.

In summer, the sloth bear was found to feed moreon Ficus spp. (35%), which is very common inthis area and present in good numbers throughoutthe year. The vegetation survey in this arearecorded Ficus benghalensis, Ficus religiosa,Ficus racemosa, Ficus arnottiana and Ficusvirens. Ficus spp. also appeared in the monsoon

and summer season diets (60 & 34 % respectively).Most of the Ficus species are fruiting throughoutthe year and they comprise the major source ofdiet for sloth bear in the monsoon and summerseasons.

In winter, Cassia fistula was the fruit mostfrequently taken (84%), along with insects (35%).

With the onset of the monsoon, the rain watersoftens the soil and bears have been documenteddigging extensively for termites and ants at thistime (Schaller, 1967; Davidar, 1983; Gopal, 1991;Joshi et al., 1997).

Summer Diet (n = 52)

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Fig. 2: Monsoon diet

Sabarkanth

Vijaynagar Reserve Forest

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Map not to scale

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Map showing the study area in the north Gujarat’s District Sabarkantha, and the forested area ofthe Vijayanagar Reserve forest (source: FSI report 2003)

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The sloth bear’s insect diet again supports diversityin the different forms eaten like red ants, black ants,beetles and honey bees. This is clearly observed inthe monsoon and winter diets. We believe that therelative importance of plant matter in bear scatsduring summer is due to seasonal flowering andfruiting. In contrast, hard soil during summerprobably deterred bears from digging for termitesand ants (Davidar, 1983; Gopal, 1991; Joshi et al.,1997).

In the degraded habitats of Vijayanagar, Sabarkanthadistrict of North Gujarat, both animal and plantmatter contribute to the diet of sloth bear. However,Ficus spp. plays an important role by providing aconstant supply of food throughout the year. Thisis particularly important during summer when thereare no crops in the fields to raid and fewer fruitingspecies, and bears find it difficult to dig for termitesand ants.

Recommendations

We recommend that cutting and lopping of Ficustrees around sloth bear den sites and inside theforested area should be prohibited. To lessenconflicts, villagers should avoid the collection ofminor forest product inside the forests which arepreferred by bears.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. S. A. Bhatt, Head of theDepartment of Life Science, HNG University,Patan, for his help and support in conducting thestudy. Thanks are also due to the State ForestDepartment, PCCF Wildlife, the CF of the NorthGujarat circle, the Divisional Forest Officer andthe field staff of North Gujarat Forest for theirhelp and cooperation in conducting the field work.This study was funded by the International BearResearch and Management Association.

References

Baskaran, N. 1990. An ecological investigationon the dietary composition and habitatutilization of sloth bear (Melursus ursinus)at Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, TamilNadu (South India). M.A. thesis,

Bharathidasan University, Mannampandal,India, 57 pp.

Brander, A. A. D. 1982. Wild animals in centralIndia. Natraj Publishers, Dehradun, India.296 Pp.

Champion, H.B. and S.K. Seth. 1968. A revisedsurvey of forest types of India. Governmentof India. Pp 404.

Chauhan, N. P. S. 2006. The status of slothbear in India. In: Understanding Asianbears to secure their future, pp: 26-34, JapanBear Network, Ibaraki, Japan.

Chauhan, N. P. S., H. S. Bargali, and N. Akhtar.1999. Human- sloth bear conflict in thestate of Madhya Pradesh, India. Presentedin the 12th international Conference on BearResearch and Management, Romania.Unpublished MS.

Cowan, I. Mc T. 1972. The status andconservation of bears (Ursidae) of theworld-1970. International Conference onBear Research and Management. 2:342-367.

Davidar, E.R. 1983. Sloth bear’s (Melursusursinus) method of hunting of termitenests. Journal of Bombay Natural HistorySociety 80:637.

Dunbar-Brander, A. A. D. 1923. Wild animalsin central India. First Indian Edition (1982),Natraj Publishers, Dehradun, India, Pp: 296.

Eisenberg J. F., and M. Lockhart. 1972. Anecological reconnaissance of WilpattuNational Park, Ceylon. SmithsonianContributions to Zoology, 101:1-118.

Garshelis, D. L., Joshi, A. R., Smith J. L. D. andC.G, Rice. 1999. Sloth bear conservationaction plan. In: (Eds. Servheen, C. and B.Peython) Bear status survey andconservation action plan. IUCN/SSC bearand polar bear specialist groups. IUCN,Gland, Switzerland. 309 Pp.

Gilbert, R. 1887. Notes on the Indian Bear(Melursus ursinus). Journal of BombayNatural History Society, 10: 688-690.

Gokula, V., Sivaganesan, N., and M. Varadarajan.1995. Food of the sloth bear (Melursusursinus) in Mundanthurai Plateau, TamilNadu. Journal of the Bombay NaturalHistory Society, 92:408-410.

Gopal, R. 1991. Ethological observations onthe sloth bear (Melursus ursinus). IndianForester, 117:915-920.

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ODONATES OF BARIPADA DIVISION OF SIMILIPALBIOSPHERE RESERVE, INCLUDING NORTH ORISSAUNIVERSITY CAMPUS, ORISSA, INDIA

by S.K. Das, H.K. Sahu and S.D. Rout

Joshi, A. R., Garshelis, D. L. and D. Smith. 1995.Home ranges of sloth bears in Nepal:implications for conservation. The Journalof Wildlife Management, 59:204-214.

Krishnan, M. 1972. An ecological survey of thelarger mammals of peninsular India.Journal of Bombay Natural History Society.69: 26-54.

Laurie, A., and J. Seidensticker. 1977. Behavioralecology of the sloth bear (Melursusursinus). Journal of Zoology (London),182:187-204.

Murthy, R. S. and K. Sankar. 1995. Assessmentof bear-man conflict in North BilaspurForest Division, Bilaspur, M. P. WildlifeInstitute of India, Dehradun.

Phythian-Adams, E. G. 1950. Jungle memories:Part V – Bears. J. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc. 49:1-8

Prater, H.S. (1948). The book of Indian animals.Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai,India Pp 324.

Schaller, G. B. 1967. The deer and tiger: a studyof wildlife in India. The University ofChicago Press,

Schaller, G. B.1985. Ecology of the giantanteater. Myr, Chicago, 370 pp.

Singh H.S. 2001. Natural heritage of Gujarat.Gujarat Ecological Education and ResearchFoundation, Gandhinagar, India. Pp 262.

Yoganand, K., Rice, C. G., Johnsing, A.J.T., andJ. Seidensticker. 2006. Is the sloth bear inIndia secured? A preliminary report ondistribution, threats and conservationrequirements.

Authors’ address: c/o Department of Life Science,Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University,Patan (North Gujarat); Corresponding author:[email protected]

Introduction

Among the insect world Odonates occupy avital position in ecosystems as both adult and

larvae are valuable indicators of water quality andlandscape disturbance (Watson et al., 1982;Caastella, 1987). They are also an important andwidespread component of freshwater ecosystems,being top predators (Corbet, 1962).

According to Silsby (2001), eight superfamilies,29 families and some 58 subfamilies of dragonfliesfor approximately 600 genera and 6,000 namedspecies have so far been described all over theworld. Prasad and Varshney (1995) gave a checklist

of Indian odonates listing three sub-orders, 17families, 139 genera and 499 species andsubspecies. Fraser (1933-36) dealt in detail withthe odonate fauna of India including some speciesfrom Orissa.

Previous works on odonate fauna in the state ofOrissa were undertaken by Laidlaw (1915), Fraser& Drover (1922), Srivastava & Das (1987) andMitra (2000). As recorded earlier, 16 species ofodonates were reported from Similipal BiosphereReserve (Sethy & Siddiqi, 2007).

The study area is a semi-urban area and comesunder Similipal Bisphere Reserve (SBR), Orissa.

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Urban areas are highly modified and complexlandscapes, within which green or open areas areseen as valuable for human well being as well aswildlife (Pickett et al., 2001, 2004). The mostimminent threat to odonata species persistence isthe loss of suitable habitat. Diversity and extent ofhabitat will continue to decline as humanpopulations increase and alter landscapes foragriculture and development. Therefore, this studywas designed to get precise information about theodonata diversity of this particular area withrelation to different seasons.

Study area

Baripada Division of Similipal Biosphere Reserve(SBR) is situated in Mayurbhanj in Orissa (India),lying at the extreme northern end of the EasternGhat (21o55’ N and 86o45’ E). It is just 10 km eastto Similipal Biosphere Reserve (Tiger Reserve andproposed National Park) and within the bioticprovince Chhotanagpur Plateau. It is therepresentative ecosystem under the MahanadianBiogeographic Region. The township issurrounded by large open areas comprised ofbarren lands, grasslands scattered with smallpatches of shrubs, city parks, home gardens,orchards, perennial water bodies and with somereserve forests. The study area includes NorthOrissa University (N.O.U) campus, located 5 kmsouth of the district headquarters, Baripada, in thedistrict of Mayurbhanj and comes under SimilipalBiosphere Reserve. The university areaencompasses 110 acres of land with varied habitat.

There are two reserve forests also present insidethe study area. One is Manchabandha (underJFM), just 3 km south of the university campus.The area is sal (Shorea robusta) dominated andthe ground vegetation is also covered by newlygrown sal trees. The other forest is Budikhamarireserve (under JFM) forest, 7 km. south of theuniversity campus with the same characteristicsas Manchabandha.

Methodology

The survey of Odonates was carried out in threedifferent locations for 1 year from September 2008to August 2009 in all three seasons, viz. summer(March to June), monsoon (July to October) and

winter (November to February). The directsearching method, which includes visual encountersurveys (Heyer et al., 1994).) was used. Transectswere randomly selected and species were collectedfrom different locations. Collected odonates wereidentified with the help of Subramanian (2009).


In all, 58 odonate species are known to inhabitOrissa (Srivastava and Das, 1987). This studyrecords the distribution of 31 species of odonatesin the Baripada Division of SBR under 25 generaand 6 families. A detailed systematic list ofodonates is presented in Table.1. Of theseodonates, family Libellulidae (19) is wellrepresented followed by Coenagrionidae (6),Calopterygidae (2), Gomphidae (2), Lestidae (1),and Ashenidae (1). Among the collected Libelluids,Pentala flavescens (Fabricius) and Orthretumsabina sabina (Drury) were more abundant duringthe monsoon season. In the case of Zygopterans,Ischnura aurora (Brauer) was more abundant thanothers inside the study area. The family andspecies level classification follows Davies andTobin (1984, 1985) and Prasad and Varshney(1995).The prey of the adults consists mostly ofthe harmful insects of crops, orchards and forests,and thus has a regulatory impact on agroforestry.Their aquatic larvae constitute a natural biologicalcontrol over mosquito larvae and thus help tocontrol several epidemic diseases like malaria,dengue, filarial, etc. (Mitra, 2002). But severaldevelopmental activities such as the constructionof buildings, roads, and stone crushers in theperipheral areas have a direct impact on thepopulation of the odonates as their habitats andfood are being destroyed by such activities. Intemperate regions, the greatest threat to manyodonata species is the intensification of modernagriculture (Moore, 1991a). It may lead to thelocal extinction of sensitive species. Publicawareness is required to conserve these odonatesand their habitats. An extensive odonatologicalsurvey needs to be carried out to explore the richdiversity of these elegant insects.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. K.A. Subramanian,Zoological Survey of India for his valuable

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suggestions and support. The first author wouldalso like to thank Mr. Kamal Azad, WildlifeBiologist, Aaranyak (N.G.O.) and other classmatesof the Department of Wildlife and ConservationBiology, for their help during the field survey.

References

Castella, E. 1987. Larval Odonata distributionas a describer of fluvial ecosystems: theRhone and Ain rivers, France. Adv.Odonatol., 3, 23-40.

Corbet, P. S. 1962. A biology of dragonties.Witherby, London.

Davies, D.A.L and P. Tobin. 1984, 1985. Thedragonflies of the world: A systematic listof the extant species of Odonata. Vol. I&II.Soc. Internat. Odonatol. Rapid Comm.(Suppl.), Nos.3&5. Pages 1-127&1-151.

Fraser, F.C. 1933. The Fauna of British- Indiaincluding Ceylon and Burma, Odonata. Vol.I. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London.

Fraser, F.C. 1934. The Fauna of British- Indiaincluding Ceylon and Burma, Odonata. Vol.II. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London.

Fraser, F.C. 1936. The fauna of British- Indiaincluding Ceylon and Burma, Odonata. Vol.III. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London.

Fraser, F.C. and C. Dover 1922. The fauna ofisland in Chilka lake-Dragonflies.Recordsof the Indian Museum 24(3) : 303-311.

Heyer, W. R., Donnelly, M. A., Mcdiarmid, R.W., Hayek, l. C., and M. S. Foster. 1994.Measuring and monitoring biologicaldiversity: standard methods for amphibians.Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington.

Laidlaw, E.F. 1915. Fauna of the Chilika LakeNo. 2 Odonata, Memories Indian Museum5: 177-188.

Mitra, T.R. 2000. A note on Odonatacollection from Orissa, India. Notul.Odonatol. 5:60-61.

Mitra, T. R. 2002. Geographical Distribution ofOdonata (Insecta) of Eastern India.Memories of the Zoological Survey of India.19(1): 171.

Moore, N. W. 1991. The development ofdragonfly communities and theconsequences of territorial behaviour: a 27-year study on small ponds at Woodwalton

Fen, Cambridgeshire. United Kingdom.Odonatologica, 20, 20333 1.

Pickett, S. T. A., Cadenasso, M. L., Grove, J.M.,Nilon, C. H., Pouyat, R. V., Zipperer, andW.C. 2001. Urban ecological systems:linking terrestrial ecological, physical, andsocioeconomic components ofmetropolitan areas. Ann Rev Ecology Syst;32:127– 57.

Pickett, S. T. A., Cadenasso, M. L. and J. M.Grove. 2004. Resilient cities: meaning,models, and metaphor for integrating theecological, socio-economic, and planningrealms. Landsc Urban Plan 2004; 69:369–84.

Prasad, M. and R.K. Varshney. 1995. A checklistof the Odonata of India including data onlarval studies. Oriental Insects 29: 385-428.

Sethy and Siddiqi. 2007. Observation onOdonates in Similipal Biosphere Reserve,Mayurbhanj. Zoos‘ Print Journal22(11):2893-2894

Silsby, J. 2001. Dragonflies of the world. NaturalHistory Museum in association with CSIROPublishing, UK and Europe.

Srivastava, V. K. and S. Das 1987. Insecta:Odonata, pp.135-15.In: Fauna of Orissa,Part-I, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.

Subramanian. 2009. Dragonflies of India-A FieldGuide, Vigyan Prasar, India Offset Press,New Delhi.

Watson, J. A. L., Arthington, A. H. and D. L.Conrick. 1982. Effect of sewage effluent ondragonflies (Odonata) of Bulimba Creek,Brisbane. Aust. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res., 33,517-28.

Authors’ addresses: Sunit Kr. Das, Dr. H.K. Sahuand Dr. S.D. Rout, P.G. Department of Wildlife andConservation Biology, North Orissa University, SriRamchandra Bihar, Takatpur,Baripada,Orissa-757003, Email:[email protected]

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Table.1: Checklist of Odonates of Baripada Division, SBR

Sl NO.

Family Name as in Fraser, 1933-36 Name as in Prasad & Varshney, 1995

I Coenagrionidae 1 Agriocnemis pygmea Agriocnemis pygmea (Rambur,1842) 2 Ceriagrion

coromandelianum Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabr.,1798)

3 Ceriagrion olivaceum Ceriagrion olivaceum Laidlaw,1914 4 Ischnura delicata Ischnura aurora (Brauer,1865) 5 Ischnura senegalensis Ischnura senegalensis (Ramb.,1842) 6 Pseudagrion microcephalum Pseudagrion microcephalum

(Rambur,1842) II Lestidae 7 Lestes viridula Lestes viridulus Rambur,1842 III Calopterygidae 8 Neurobasis chinensis Neurobasis chinensis (Linnaeus,1758) 9 Vestalis apicalis Vestalis apicalis Selys,1873 IV Gomphidae 10 Ictinus rapax Ictinogomphus rapax Rambur,1842 11 Mesogomphus lineatus

Paragomphus lineatus (Selys,1850)

V Aeshnidae 12 Anax guttatus Anax guttatus (Burmeister,1839) VI Libellulidae 13 Acisoma panorpoides Acisoma panorpoides Rambur,1842 14 Aethriamanta brevipennis) Aethriamanta brevipennis (Rambur,1842) 15 Brachythemis contaminata Brachythemis contaminata (Fabr.,1793) 16 Bradinopyga geminata Bradinopyga geminata (Rambur,1842) 17 Crocothemis servilia Crocothemis servilia (Drury,1770) 18 Diplacodes trivialis Diplacodes trivialis (Rambur,1842) 19 Neurothemis fulvia Neurothemis fulvia (Drury,1773) 20 Neurothemis tullia Neurothemis tullia (Drury,1773) 21 Orthetrum pruinosum Orthetrum pruinosum (Rambur,1842) 22 Orthetrum sabina Orthetrum sabina (Drury,1770) 23 Pantala flavescens Pantala flavescens (Fabr.,1798) 24 Potamaracha obscura Potamarcha congener (Rambur,1842) 25 Rhodothemis rufa Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur,1842) 26 Rhyothemis variegata Rhyothemis variegate Linn.,1763 27 Tholymis tillarga Tholymis tillarga (Fabr.,1798) 28 Tramea basilaris Tramea basilaris Kirby,1889 29 Trithemis aurora Trithemis aurora (Burmeister,1839) 30 Trithemis festiva Trithemis festiva (Rambur,1842) 31 Trithemis pallidinervis Trithemis pallidinervis Selys,1889

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DOES ASIAN ELEPHANT (Elephas maximus) CO-EXISTWITH HUMAN BEINGS? A CASE STUDY FROM THERAJAJI NATIONAL PARK, INDIA

by Ritesh Joshi

Introduction

The Shivalik forest represents a good deal ofvariations in altitude, topography and climatic

conditions. As a consequence, this region is oneof the richest in faunal diversity and a verycongenial home for the Asian elephant (Elephasmaximus). Keeping the view of conserving theelephant in its natural habitat, a few research-oriented studies have been conducted in this park.The present note is a part of a long-term study onthe behavioral biology of Asian elephant in theRajaji National Park area. The author has been

conducting research activities in this area for thelast eight years.

The Shivalik hills offer the most prominentgeomorphic features of this tract and the riverGanges has cut across these hills at Hardwar.Rajaji’s biological system provides an opportunityto study the behavioral biology of the world famousAsian elephant, due to the rich floral diversity,complexity and accessibility. However, a few ofthe areas under the park are fragile; mainly due toincreasing anthropogenic activities. As many of theforest ranges of the national park are associatedwith human habitation, therefore, there are strong

Learning the life: Calves with their mothers in the Rajaji National Park(Photo: Ritesh Joshi)

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reasons for depleting forest resources and toprovide new land for cultivation and that is one ofthe major strong pressures that has caused seriousman-elephant conflicts in this region. All of thesefindings may have wider implications fordeveloping predictive models of human-elephantinteractions.

During the last 4-5 years the wildlife in the parkappears to be under constantly increasing stress.It has been mainly due to increasing anthropogenicencroachments into the deeper forest areas, eitherto meet the daily requirements of the rural peopleliving on the periphery of the park or due to anumber of developmental activities and park-related management works. The status of theelephant in the adjoining countries is equally poor.Nepal, which has the lowest country population,has lost over 80% of its elephant habitat onaccount of human settlements. Bangladesh,Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka,etc. are also rapidly losing their natural forest cover,especially the elephant habitats. In Thailand, inspite of the elephant having been a protectedspecies since the 18th century, over-exploitationof the habitat and the pressure of human populationhas made the species highly vulnerable (Daniel,1996).

The problem of existence is more acute for thelarge-sized mammals, including the elephants. Theincreasing number of accidents in the area isanother indicator of straying outside the park ofthese wild animals besides the increasing instances

of man-animal conflict. The most noteworthy pointis that in many places the elephants of Rajaji havelost their traditional migratory routes over the last4-5 years. Formerly, the elephants of the Rajajifollowed a fixed route for entering the adjoiningareas and for re-entering the forest area, butpresently their traditional routes are denied to them,as they have been replaced by human habitations.This may cause changes in their inter-breeding inintra-breeding, which generally leads to changesin their genetic material.

Hardwar-Dehradun railway track, which passesthrough the Rajaji National Park, acts as anunnatural death trap for many wild animals,including the major species elephant. During thelast decade so many accidents resulting in deathsof elephants have taken place on this part of thetrack. However, the most dangerous part of therailway track for animals is between Motichur toKansrao (Hardwar-Dehradun railway section),which has caused the accidental deaths of 19elephants since 1987 besides many other wildanimals. A preliminary study has focused on therecurrence of rail accidental deaths of elephant inthe Rajaji National Park and gives safety suggestivemeasures in relation to its conservation (Joshi &Joshi, 2000). Though not common, there are ofteninstances of human beings attacked, thrashed andkilled by elephants. The Rajaji area is no exceptionto this phenomenon. In the recent past a numberof such direct attacks on human beings, especiallywhen they are solitary, have occurred morefrequently than in the past.

Elephant died due to collision with train in 2000 inside the Rajaji National Park (Photo: Ritesh Joshi)

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Methodology

Study area

Rajaji National Park (29o15' to 30o31' northlatitude, 77o52' to 78o22' east longitude) is spreadover an area of 820.42 km2 in and around theShivalik foothills, which lies between the lesserHimalayas and the upper Gangetic plains. Spreadacross Hardwar, Dehradun and Pauri districts ofUttarakhand state, Rajaji National Park has beendesignated as a reserved area for “ProjectElephant” by the Ministry of Environment andForests, with the sole aim of maintaining a viablepopulation of elephants in their natural habitat. TheShivalik Hills offer the most prominent geomorphicfeatures of this tract. The river Ganges has cutacross these hills at Hardwar. The Chilla forestarea of the Rajaji National Park lies to the east ofthe river Ganges and is attached to the GarhwalForest Division. The study has been ongoing inHardwar (District-Hardwar), Chilla (District-Pauri)

and Motichur (District-Dehradun) forest ranges ofthe Rajaji National Park since 1998. The altitudelies between 302-1,000 m asl. The study site fallsin the sub-tropical moist deciduous forest type.

To study the various aspects of conservation theentire area of Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhandwas surveyed in depth for about seven years(1999-2006). The traditional feeding grounds andmovement patterns of elephants were located andobserved and plotted on maps. The causes ofconflicts and the major problems were thoroughlyinvestigated from an environmental conservationpoint of view. The natural behaviors of elephantswere observed both during day and at night withall precautionary safety measures. Different forestblocks of the concerned forest ranges were chosenone after another sequentially and searched forelephants for about approximately 10 – 12 hours(depending upon climatic conditions) in a singleday search. The observations started in the earlyhours of the morning, as it is the best time to search

Figure 1. Map of the study area.

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for and observe the elephants in open areas, andfor four hours in the afternoon, i.e., before sunset.Field binoculars were also used to observe theelephants’ feeding behavior from an adequatelysafe distance without disturbing the animals.

The data collected was part of the animalmonitoring activities. The daily record was basedon direct sightings of animals, indirect evidencesuch as feeding signs, footprints (approximate timethe were made), etc. The direct sightings werenoted in duly prepared proformas, recording theherd composition, age and sex, whether observedin groups and also the place of sighting, time andvegetation type. Villagers of adjoining areas, Gujjars(where available), forest department staff,researchers from various scientific institutions, non-government organizations and other individualsworking on this problem were interviewed.


A substantial amount of work has already beendone on the wildlife biology of Asian elephants(Johnsingh et al., 1990, 1999; Williams et al., 1998;Singh, 1987). However, no in-depth study of man-elephant conflicts with reference to socio-economicupliftment of local rural agricultural communitieshas been made; therefore, it was desirable toundertake work on this aspect. At the dawn of the20th century the Gujjars of Jammu and Kashmirmoved into the Shivaliks hills. Here they raisedbuffalo and practiced transhumance pastoralism,spending autumn (approximately October to April)in the Shivaliks and the summer and the rainyseasons (May to September) in the alpine pasturesof the Himalayas. Migration between these grazingzones took up to three months. The Gujjars aretotally dependant on the forests for their needs offodder, fuelwood and timber for their dwelling hutscalled “Deras”. Their current unsustainable lifestyle is a major drain on the resources of the park.There was stiff competition for fodder and waterbetween wildlife and the cattle of Gujjars.Traditionally, the Gujjars who lived in and use theShivaliks were absent during the monsoon, themain growing season, when they migrated to thealpine pastures of the Himalayas. The diversevegetation of Shivaliks accumulated during therainy season, and when the Gujjars returned in

the autumn their animals benefited from the fodderreserve.

As per the directions of the Hon. Supreme Courtof India, most of the Gujjars families have beenresettled outside the park area. But in few of theareas (some of the forest compartments/ranges)they are frequently living outside or peripheral tothe park area. They have been resettled in Pathri,one of the two rehabilitation sites. Two acres ofland was allotted to each family for cultivation,but unfortunately during the last four years, manyof these Gujjar families are not interested to liveoutside the park area mainly due to of lack ofproper fodder for their animals. The secondrehabilitation site is at Gaindikhata. It was observedand inferred from the present investigation thatafter the resettlement of Gujjars outside the parkarea, the movement activities of the elephantcontinued to increase after all the natural waterholes were freed from their deras and cattle. InRajaji National Park area they still exist in few ofthe forest ranges, as the rehabilitation process iscurrently ongoing.

The Motichur area of the Rajaji lies to the west ofthe river Ganges, whereas the Chilla area lies toits east. There are four islands within the river inthis region, which form part of the park. However,in the 1950s and 1960s a number of developmentshaving drastic effects on the land use came up onthe western bank. The BHEL set up a major plantto the west of the Ganges in the southern park ofthis trans-Ganga corridor for wildlife, especiallyelephants. Later, the IDPL set up a large factoryin the northern part of the corridor, also to thewest of Ganga. The Army has utilized the area inbetween for a large ammunition dump andsubsequently some remaining land was given awayfor the rehabilitation of Tehri Dam oustees.

On the east bank yet another major developmentactivity has destroyed one of the biggest ecologicalcorridors. A hydel power project was set up in the1970s and a barrage was constructed across theGanga at Kunnao area just outside the park in themiddle of the northern boundary. From here, adeep power channel runs parallel to the east ofGanga for about 14 km up to Chilla, where thepowerhouse is located. Although there are a coupleof narrow bridges over the channel, these are not

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generally utilized by the animals. There have beencases of deer and even elephant mortalities inattempts to cross these bridges. In rare instanceselephant bulls and identified groups are known tocross, but otherwise there is complete isolationbetween the western and eastern components ofthe ecological unit now managed as Rajaji NationalPark.

A military complex, including an ammunitiondump, based at Raiwala in Dehradun district issituated in the center of the park and covered bypark ranges on both sides. This army complex isadjacent to the famous corridor area of the park,which is commonly known as Chilla-Motichurcorridor. There are reports of elephants trying toenter the fenced area of the army ammunitiondump. The presence of the army camp in theelephant corridor has also adversely affected themovement of wild animals. Almost at the sameplace, one relocated village has 29 families,originally from Khand village of the submergencezone of the Tehri dam. The village occupies anarea of 48.56 ha and 18 houses have beenconstructed by the villagers. Out of 29 families atpresent, there are 18 families located inside thepark area and 11 families who have yet notconstructed their houses in Johra block but whoare occupying the land. The village is located inthe elephant migration corridor and is an obstacleto their movement. Elephants follow this route fortheir seasonal movement and migration to and fromthe Chilla/Motichur forest. Rajaji National Parkfalls under the sub-tropical moist deciduous forestvegetation type, therefore, there are seasonalvariations in fodder species. Elephants use thewhole of the park area for their movements, butmostly they leave some areas for few months,when there is less vegetation cover, and movetowards other forest ranges which are richer infodder species. At that time a few of them (mostlysolitary bulls) use the same feeding grounds.

A large mammal like the elephant could be expectedto move considerable distances even within a shorttime period and at the same time families of a clanseemed broadly coordinated in their seasonalmovements (Sukumar, 1989). In the dry months,i.e., from January to April, when no rainfalls occur,the herds seek the neighborhood of considerablestreams and shady forests and from the month of

June, after the first showers, they emerge to roamand feed on the young grass. By July and Augustthis grass in the hill tracts becomes long and course.The elephants then descend and move again tothe lower areas, where the grasses are not so faradvanced. One of the reasons for the elephantsand other animals migration is the highlandscontinuous and uninterrupted hilly terrain forgrazing, assured food, an ideal breeding ground,thick population, etc. (Sinha, 1981).

Hardwar-Dehradun National Highway in Motichurforest range, BHEL roads in Hardwar forest range,Hardwar-Ranipur by-pass road in Hardwar forestrange, Hardwar-Chilla-Rishikesh motor road,Hardwar-Laldhang-Kotdwar motor road, andHardwar-Bijnor National Highway in Hardwarforest division are a few of the motor roadwayswhich have too much heavy traffic passing alongthem. Holy temples like Goddess Mansa devi,Chandi devi, Sureshwari devi, Bilkeshwar, etc.,are also situated inside this park area, as a resultof which the visiting devotees and workers of theabove-mentioned temples are also hindering thelocal movement of elephants. In a few of the areasthe elephants’ natural paths are also peripheral tothese temples; therefore, when any elephant herdis on the move their movement is restricted by thepresence of local people. In addition, someirresponsible local people also restrict the elephants’movement inside the park area with recreationalactivities, setting off firecrackers and throwingstones to shoo away the elephants or other wildanimals. There are many instances when religiousbanquets on a large scale are organized in thesetemples. Hordes of visitors disturb the elephantsthat come to drink water in the afternoon. Morethan 600,000-700,000 people visit the Mansa devitemple every year. In other temples more than50,000 people visit annually. The crowds areespecially noticed during the Shivratri and SawanPurnima fairs.

During the study, it was noted that the cultivators-elephant problems were quite conspicuous. Cropdamage problems, along with human and elephantcasualties, especially around the villages peripheralto the park area and around the railway track whichpasses through the park area, are too high. Duringthe recent past, the park authority has faced severalquestions about the problems of this endangered

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animal. In fact, this has emerged as a very seriousproblem recently.

Park officials mentioned that a few villages, dueto their proximity to the park area, face morecrop raiding problems, especially during the night.It is difficult to observe and force the animal backto the forest area from a safe distance, due to alack of facilities. This may lead to casualties.During the author’s period of investigation, healways contacted the villagers personally, todiscuss such problems and to find possibleremedial measures, which may come up as aresult of long association and experiences of theserural people of the area. One day when returningback from the forest area in the evening, theauthor saw on the Hardwar bypass road(industrial area road) that a crowd was looking atan object towards the forest area. A few personswere making loud noises and throwing stones atthe object. Upon a closer look, the authorobserved that a solo bull elephant was feeding

on bamboo. The next day, when discussing somematter with the forest officer at Hardwar forest rangeoffice, the Range Officer told me about the casualtyof a villager in the same area of the elephantdisturbance the previous night.

It was inferred that most of the villagers are unawareof the rules and regulations of the national park,though their participation in the conservation ofvaluable forest and endangered wildlife is highlyrequired. Many of the villagers are also ignorant asfar the elephants of this area are concerned. Whena villager was asked a question about what are thereasons for this serious crop raiding by elephantsand what the concerned department has done tocontrol this problem, he replied that he was notsure, but 8-10 years back perhaps the elephantpopulation was not as big as it is today on the onehand and the vegetation cover is less, but that itwas also said that the elephants are dropped byhelicopter to the park area and forest officials allowthem to raid the fields.

Two bull elephants walking along the Hardwar - Bijnor National Highway (Photo: Ritesh Joshi)

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This type of answer was heard from a number ofvillagers. In a few of the villages the author becameaware of the bad image of the concerneddepartment due to various reasons. This is one ofthe most important factors which give rise to theseriousness of man-animal conflicts in this part ofthe globe. If occasionally an elephant injured avillager or damaged the crops, the villagersrequested the author to help them to getcompensation from forest officials. This shows thatthere is a communication gap or some sort of fearpsychology among the villagers towards theconcerned staff. Under such conditions, strong andwell-planned conservation strategies need to beimplemented by using various scientific researchesfor conserving the highly endangered Asianelephant; otherwise they are bound to becomeextinct in the near future.

Management problems

Some of the common management problemsassociated with elephants in the park are relatedto the inevitable consequences of their large bodysize and high intake of food. The elephant is thelargest terrestrial mammal on earth and requires agreat amount of food and water. In the wild, anadult male elephant will spend as many as 18 hoursfeeding, consuming as much as 280 kg of foodand 140-200 liters of water per day (John &Subramanian, 1991). The seasonal movement ofelephants in the park is also affected by theavailability of food and water. A preliminary studyhas described the crop-raiding problem in southIndia along with elephant’s migration during dryseason (Nair, 1990). One of the reasons for raidingof crops by elephants is due to the unavailabilityof their natural food (Dorji, 1997).

The plantations that adjoin the park along the north-west boundary are situated on land that was oncepart of the elephant’s home range. Therefore, thepresent escalation of the man-elephant conflict isunfortunate but inevitable. The present boundarywall along the foothill margin from Ranipur to theHarnol area has failed to check the elephants fromstraying out of the park. The electric fence fromMotichur forest rest house up to Raiwala aroundthe railway track is presently damaged due to lackof proper maintenance. During the present studyit was observed that regulating the animals’

movement near the railway track hinders theirroutine movements for range utilization for theiressential biological requirements, because bothsides of the track comprise park areas with plantspecies that elephants feed on. In a few of thevillages the concerned department has alsoenclosed sensitive areas to restrict the elephants’movement with electric fencing, but due to lackof maintenance and unawareness of the localpeople, the fencing has become damaged and failsto control the movement of elephants.

In the absence of an adequate buffer zone toseparate the elephants and human beings from eachother (which is practically impossible), a powerful,well-constructed electric fence may have somechance of mitigating the present elephant-manconflicts. Seasonal water streams are anothermajor problem as far the straying of animals isconcerned. Broad iron pillars buried deeply instrengthened concrete bases with strong, widehorizontal iron bases at the upper side could beanother way to keep the elephants from strayingout of the park. They would need propermaintenance in the rainy season when floods areat their peak and rainwater carries floating refuseand debris along with raw timber pieces.

Rajaji National Park represents one of the importantsub-tropical moist deciduous protected areas forelephants in India. At present, observations fromthis study indicate that the elephant population isbelow the park’s carrying capacity since there areno obvious signs of any over-utilization and habitatdeterioration. The long-term survival of elephantsand the viability of the park itself as a self-sustaining eco-system would depend very muchon wise management practices that incorporateboth socio-economic as well as ecologicalconsiderations. Rajaji National Park serves as agood natural home for Asian elephants, butincreasing crop depredations and the strayingtendencies of elephants reveal their increasinguneasiness within their habitat, which is forcingthem to move out of the park area. The situationin the park conforms to the last category in that itinvolves elephants inhabiting an area that is capableof maintaining them yet they still carry out cropraiding along the boundary where small scaleplantations, small holdings and human settlementsabound.

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With the increase in the human population, thedemand for cultivated land is also ever increasing.To meet the demand and supply chain more andmore forests are being converted into agriculturalland, which disturbs the ecological balance. Thisdiversion of the inhabitants from traditional naturalsources to new ones is primarily due to the shortageof food and water resources in the forest, whichforces them to divert their search for the foodtowards the villages and settlements, which in turngives rise to various accidents sometimes leadingto the death of the animal. The presence of humanbeings in the forest areas makes the animals feelinsecure and unsafe. This includes railway tracksand highways which run between the forests.

Conclusion

The Asian elephant has became a seriouslyendangered species and is listed as such in theRed Data Book of the International Union for theConservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN). On the basis of this study and availableinformation, a large number of recommendationscould be suggested. However, promoting thegeneral awareness among the local people aboutthe animal is most urgently required, which couldbe done through the media and by organizingawareness programmes in this area. It is notpossible for elephants to be restricted to eatingonly few plant species which are left in the parkarea, as they need more variety of plant species tofuel their large body size. Therefore, the mosteffective way to deter the elephants from strayingto areas outside the park would be to stop thelocal people/villagers from lopping and felling thefodder plant species.

Controlling the movement of human beings insidethe park area and stopping the poaching of wildanimals are other ways for conserving theelephants. The long-term survival of elephants insuch a restricted area as the Rajaji National Parkcalls for the skillful management of elephants ator below the carrying capacity of the park. Thefuture park management emphasis should not beon its declaration as a protected area, but on theproper maintenance of the elephants at a level atwhich benefits outweigh the costs.

Recommendations

To control the heavy traffic between Haridwarand Raiwala, a fly-over is needed, which willhelp in reducing the number of accidental roaddeaths of wild animals and which would allowthem to move freely within the Motichur –Chilla corridor. There is also need to educatethe local people and tourists not to feed wildanimals in the forest stretch, which also attractselephants to feed on the remains.Complete the Gujjar relocation/rehabilitationfrom Rajaji National Park area from the fewforest pockets where they still live.Strengthening of the Chilla –Motichur and theRajaji – Corbett corridors.The army ammunition dump should be shiftedelsewhere, along with their settlements.Islands on the river Ganges (including Dudhiaforest beat of Hardwar forest range) shouldbe restored and free from any anthropogenicdisturbances.Traffic should be stopped along the Chilla –Rishikesh road during night hours.Artificial water holes must be created, spreadwithin the park area at short distances. In Chillaforest, artificial water ponds will be constructedusing the Ganga canal, which will help duringhot periods.As the park area is mainly within the Dehradun/Hardwar region, it is proposed that the timeof the night trains be shifted approximatelyhalf an hour earlier than the present scheduletime. By employing this method the train couldbe made to move slowly and can be easilystopped in an emergency through the park areaup to Hardwar.A few sub-ways (elephant underpath ways)may be constructed at the places whereelephants cross the railway track and thenational highway.The foothills near the track must be widenedand cleared for better and distant visibility ofthe train drivers as well as for the wild animals.

Acknowledgements

The author is thankful to the Science andEngineering Research Council (SERC),Department of Science and Technology (DST),Government of India for providing financial

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References

Daniel, J.C. 1996. Conservation of Asianelephant. Gajah, 16, 9-16.

Dorji, P.J. 1997. Status, distribution andconservation of the Asian elephant inBhutan. Tigerpaper, 24(1):1-3.

John, M.C. and R. Subramanian. 1991. Theelephants. Zoo’s Print, VI (II), 1-4.

Johnsingh, A.J.T., S, Narendra Prashed and S.P.Goel. 1990. Conservation status of theChilla-Motichur for elephant movement in

support. Thanks are also due to Dr. R. C.Srivastava, Scientist ‘G’, Dr. Jagdish Chander,Scientist ‘F’ and Mr. Rambir Singh, Scientist ‘F’and Director – ESS Division, DST, for theircooperation and valuable suggestions. Dr. U.Dhar, Director, G. B. Pant Institute of HimalayanEnvironment and Development, Kosi – Katarmal,Almora and Dr. R. K. Maikhuri, Scientist Inchargeof the Garhwal Unit of G. B. Pant Institute ofHimalayan Environment and Development areacknowledged for providing facilities,encouragement and suggestions. Shri SrikantChandola, Additional Principal ChiefConservator of Forests (Wildlife), Government ofUttarakhand and Shri G. S. Pande, Director ofthe Rajaji National Park are acknowledged forgranting permission to carry out the researchwork in the said area. Prof. B. D. Joshi,Department of Environmental Sciences, GurukulKangri University, Hardwar and Dr. S. P. Sinha,Sr. Scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradunare highly acknowledged for providing guidelinesduring the field investigations. Thanks also tothe various concerned forest officials and stafffor providing help during the field investigation.

Rajaji-Corbett National Park area, India.Biological Conservation, 51, 125-138.

Johnsingh, A.J.T. and A. Christy Williams. 1999.Elephant corridors in India: lessons forother elephant range countries. Oryx, 33(3), 210-214.

Joshi, R. and B.D. Joshi. 2000. On the recurrenceof rail accident death of anelephant (Elephas maximus) in Hardwarrange of the Rajaji National Park. Him. J.Env. Zool., 14 (2), 123-128.

Nair, P.P. 1990. Problem of crop raiding byelephants in Kerela. In Ecology, behaviourand management of elephants (ed. C.K.Karunakaran), pp. 208-212. Wildlife Wing,Kerala Forest Department, Thiruvanan-thapuram, India.

Singh, V.B. 1987. The elephant in UP (India).The change in status in two decades.Cheetal, 28, 39-43.

Sinha, M.K. 1981. Elephant migration inKaziranga. Tigerpaper 8(1):16-18.

Sukumar, R. 1989. The Asian elephant: Ecologyand management. Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge.

Williams, A. Christy, A.J.T. Johnsingh, S.P. Goyal,G.S. Rawat, A. Rajvanshi and P. Krausman.1998. The inter-relationship between largerherbivores, habitat and humans in Rajaji-Corbett National Park, UP. TechnicalReport, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun,India.

Author’s address: G. B. Pant Institute ofHimalayan Environment and Development,Garhwal Unit, Srinagar, Garhwal – 246 174,Uttarakhand, India; Email: [email protected]

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FOREST VEGETATION AS THE CUSCUS FEEDINGPLANTS IN UDOPI WOSI VILLAGE FOREST COMPLEX,MANOKWARI DISTRICT, PAPUA

by Obeth Nakoh, Petrus I. Bumbut and Matheus S.E. Kilmaskossu

Introduction

The native mammal fauna of the island of NewGuinea is depauperate, meaning that many

kinds of mammals found in adjacent regions arelacking here. New Guinea here refers to the wholelarge island of Irian, composed of Indonesia’sPapua province and Papua New Guinea.

New Guinea’s mammal fauna is made up of twokinds of monotremes (egg-laying mammals),around 60 species of marsupials (pouchedmammals) and about 60 species of rodents.However, marsupials are far more diverse. Therodents are represented by just one family thatincludes rats and mice (Muridae). Marsupialsconsist of seven families and they range from tinymouse-sized carnivores to large herbivorouskangaroos. Belonging to this group are the cuscus,which New Guinea can claim as a native.

Going west from New Guinea through Indonesia,one can also find other kinds of mammals. In theisland of Sulawesi, for example, are found nativemonkeys, buffaloes and various wild pigs, rodentslike the porcupine and squirrels, as well as twokinds of cuscuses.

Petocz (1987) mentioned that of the 11 cuscusspecies found in New Guinea, 5 of them are nowprotected by the Government of Indonesia througha decree issued by the Ministry of Agriculture (SKMenteri Pertanian Nomor 247/KPTS/UM/11/1979). The five protected species are: Phalangerorientalis, P. gymnotis, P. rufoniger, P. vestitusand Spilocuscus maculatus. However, thelivelihoods of the people in Papua are linked withthe natural environment; which is why cuscusesare still being hunted as food. As the huntingactivities are still increasing, management steps

must be taken to prevent their extinction in thefuture.

For this purpose, information about the cuscusfeeding plants is very important, related to theefforts in their conservation ex situ, as their currentcondition in nature is threatened due to frequenthunting. Menzies (1990) noted that the cuscus ishunted not only for its meat, but also for its beautifulfur, which is utilized for several decorations andhandicrafts like bags, purses, hats or ornaments,in addition to being kept as pets.

Based on the conditions mentioned above, theefforts for ex situ conservation of cuscus arenecessary. Preliminary information required tosupport the effort concerns the forest plants whichare used by the cuscus as feeding plants.

Materials and methods

The study was conducted in Udopi Wosi VillageForest Complex, Manokwari District, Papua,Indonesia, from May 27– June 22 2006. Themethod used was a descriptive method withobservation technique. The variables in this studyconsist of plant species and the parts of plantseaten by cuscus. The data was analyzed using thetabulation method and presented in the form oftables, graphics and photos.


The results of identification based on morphologicalcharacteristics according to Menzies (1991) showthat there are two cuscus species in Udopi WosiVillage Forest Complex, i.e., Spilocuscusmaculatus and Phalanger orientalis. Based oncolor, Spilocuscus sp. is a bright brown color andspotted, while Phalanger sp. is brown to darkbrown and has a black line (stripe) at the dorsal.

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The feeding plant species of cuscus

Based on the field observations, the forest plantsthat are consumed by cuscus consist of 21 speciesfrom 16 families. The food plants of cuscus atUdopi Wosi Village Forest Complex are shown inTable 1.

According to Table 1 the highest number of forestplants that the cuscus consume belong to FamilyMoraceae (5 species), Family Meliaceae (2 species)and the other 14 families are represented by onespecies each.

Parts of plant consumed by cuscus

Field observations also revealed which parts of theplants the cuscus feed on, as shown in Table 2.

From Table 2 it is seen that cuscus consume thefruits of 18 forest plant species and the leaves fromonly five plant species.

The cuscus consume the fruits because they containwater and are more fibrous, which is good for thedigestion. The parts of leaves consumed are mostlyyoung leaves or shoots.

Table 1: Food plant species of cuscus

No. Family Species 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Anacardiaceae Araceae Caesalpinaceae Casuarinaceae Elaeocarpaceae Euphorbiaceae Fabaceae Meliaceae Mimosaceae Moraceae Musaceae Myristicaceae Piperaceae Rubiaceae Sapindaceae Verbenaceae

1. Spondias dulcis Forst 2. Scindapsus sp. 3. Intsia bijuga OK 4. Casuarina rumphiana Miq 5. Elaeocarpus sphericus 6. Macaranga mappa M.A 7. Cynometra rhamiflora L 8. Chisocheton sp. 9. Aglaia sp. 10. Paraserianthes falcataria Nielsen. Berg. 11. Ficus glomerata Roxb 12. Ficus grandis BL 13. Ficus variegata BL 14. Ficus septica Burm.f 15. Ficus sp. 16. Musa achisocarpa Ness 17. Knema sp. 18. Piper aduncum L 19. Nauclea orientalis L 20. Pometia coreacea Radlk 21. Premna corymbosa L

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Table 2: Parts of plants consumed by cuscus

Scientific name The parts of forest plants that are

consumed No Family Species Leaf Fruit

1. Anacardiaceae 1. Spondias dulcis Forst ? ? 2. Araceae 2. Scindapsus sp. * ? 3. Caesalpinaceae 3. Intsia bijuga OK ? * 4. Casuarinaceae 4. Casuarina rumphiana Miq * ? 5. Elaeocarpaceae 5. Elaeocarpus sphericus * ? 6. Euphorbiaceae 6. Macaranga mappa M.A * ? 7. Fabaceae 7. Cynometra rhamiflora L ? *

8. Chisocheton sp. * ? 8. Meliaceae 9. Aglaia sp. * ?

9. Mimosaceae 10.Paraserianthes falcataria Nielsen. Berg.

? *

11. Ficus glomerata Roxb * ? 12. Ficus grandis BL * ? 13. Ficus variegata BL * ? 14. Ficus septica Burm.f * ?

10. Moraceae

15. Ficus sp. * ? 11. Musaceae 16. Musa achisocarpa Ness * ? 12. Myristicaceae 17. Knema sp. * ? 13. Piperaceae 18. Piper aduncum L * ? 14. Rubiaceae 19. Nauclea orientalis L * ? 15. Sapindaceae 20. Pometia coreacea Radlk ? ? 16. Verbenaceae 21. Premna corymbosa L * ? Total 5 18

? = consumed * = not consumed

Conclusion

The species of cuscus found in Udopi WosiVillage Forest Complex are Spilocuscusmaculatus and Phalanger orientalis. Forestplants identified as cuscus feeding plants consistof 21 species from 16 families. The parts ofplant consumed by cuscus are the fruits from18 species and leaves or shoots from fivespecies.

References

Alikodra. 1990. Wild Animal Management.Cover I. Bogor Agriculture Institute.Bogor, Indonesia.

Menzies, J.L. 1990. A Handbook of NewGuinea Marsupial and Monotremata.Kirsten Press. Madang, Papua New Guinea.

Muller, Kal. 2005. The Biodiversity of NewGuinea. The State University of Papua.Manokwari, Indonesia.

Petocz, Ronald. 1987. Natural Conservation andDevelopment in Papua. Graffitipers. Jakarta.

Authors’ address: c/o The Faculty of Forestry,The State of Papua University, Manokwari,98314E-mail: [email protected]

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FIRST HAND OBSERVATION AND STUDY OF A PALLAS’SGULL (Larus ichthyaetus Pallas 1775) OFF THE COAST OFGANJAM, ORISSA

by Pranjalendu Ray, Siba Prasad Parida and Manaswini Parida

Introduction

The existing records of the distribution of Pallas’sgull or Great black-headed gull list it as a winter

visitor to coasts and large rivers of the Indiansubcontinent (Baker, 1929; Ali, 1996; Grimmet etal., 1998), India and Pakistan (Ali and Ripley,1981) and India (Alfred et al., 2001). Also, recentpublications (Dev, 1997; Kumar et al., 2005)mentioned its occurrence as a winter migrant tothe Orissa Coast. The present paper puts on recordthe first hand observation and study of a Pallas’sgull (Larus ichthyaetus Pallas 1775) recovered offthe coast of Ganjam, Orissa.

Collection

A seagull was recovered on 8th January 2006 at9:30 hrs., while floating in sea-water approximatelyten nautical miles off the coast of the Rushikulyariver mouth in Ganjam District, Orissa. Initially,the bird was handled with care for its recoveryand release into nature, but in vain! It could notfly on its own and subsequently it was brought tothe museum for further observation and study.

Field behavior

Interestingly, during field observations, some gullswere seen snatching away fishes about to beswallowed by little cormorants just on watersurface near the shoreline. The calls of these gullswere much similar to the call ‘kraa-a’ mentionedby Ali (1996). The Great black-headed gull issolitary while feeding and gregarious duringroosting. (pers. com. Dr S.S. Saha)

Observation in captivity

In captivity the rescued gull survived for sevendays and showed no external injuries. Its post-

mortem x-ray examination negated any skeletalinjury to the bird. Although the gull appearedhealthy it showed little interest in eating anyartificial marine fish food and regurgitated wholefish at times. It could not stand or fly for long onits own and died on 14th January 2006. Thereasons for such behavior are not known.

The specimen took considerable time for specificidentification, as there are variations withinpopulations at different stages of the life cycle inconsonance with continental migration. With theavailable literature and on the basis ofmorphometric details, it was identified as a Greatblack-headed gull.

Morphometric details:

Wing : 494 mmCulmen : 70 mmTarsus : 74 mmTail : 185 mmTotal wing span : 740 mmTotal body length : 706 mmSex : MaleShape of testis : OvalApprox. size of testis: Right = 7 mm; Left = 3mm(after 7 days preservation in 70 % alcohol)

The Great black-headed gull is bigger in size thana domestic duck; a wingspan exceeding 450 mm(Baker, 1929) extending beyond the tail is peculiarto the species. The specimen was a male. Thehead had a long slender yellow bill suffused withcrimson red, concentrating more in the base oflower beak at an angle and a black band on theside. The bill has a distinctive sub-terminal blackband stretching across the beak. The eyes are dark,marked with distinctive white upper and lower

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crescents and a red circumorbital ring. The headand upper neck feathers are grey with a slightbrownish tinge and greyish white bases varyingfrom its true winter plumage. In winter, the blackon the head is lost and the head and neck becomeswhite liberally streaked with black (Baker, 1929)or brown (Ali, 1996), which turns black again byFebruary (Ali, 1996). The present description thusclearly suggests a plumage in the state of transitionfrom its true winter to true summer plumage. Whileits back and wing feathers were ashy grey, therest was snowy white. Although Baker (1929)described the presence of eleven primaries as thekey to family character, the present specimen boreten primaries in both the wings. The first primarywas black on the outer edge up to 240 mm frombase with a narrow black sub-tip; its inner edgehas a broad black band of 90 mm. The outer sixprimaries had sub-terminal black bands tipped withwhite, the first two having mirrors (right wing - Istprimary mirror = 41 mm; IInd primary mirror =21mm; left wing - Ist primary mirror = 40 mm;IInd primary mirror = 27 mm). The rest of theprimaries and secondaries were tipped grey andwhite. The second primary is the longest of all,measuring 330 mm in length when the wings arein a folded condition. There are twelve tail feathers;the 4th, 9th and 10th feathers bear dark black ovalspots on the upper side near the tips, with a lightershade on underside when viewed from right toleft. The middle six tail feathers are shorter thanthe outer ones such that when fanned out, all tailfeathers are aligned along the outer margins. Thegull’s legs and feet are a greenish-yellow color,fully webbed, bearing three toes and a small hindtoe at the back and all terminating with black claw.The tarsus is scutellated in front.

Bird on display

The taxidermy preparation of the gull along withits complete skeleton is presently on display in themuseum in a small exhibition corner titled “Body’sHardware” with the skeletons of reptiles, birds andmammals, giving valuable clues to the animals’habits and habitats and for a better and comparativeunderstanding of the arrangement of differentbones of the animals and their functions.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Director, NationalMuseum of Natural History, for providingnecessary facilities and encouragement and wouldalso like to thank Shri A.K. Pathak, DivisionalForest Officer, Berhampur Forest Division, forsparing the specimen for further studies andsubsequent display after its natural death.

References

Baker, E.C.S. 1929. The Fauna of British Indiaincluding Ceylon and Burma. Aves. - Vol.6. 2nd ed., 100-109.

Ali, S. and S.D. Ripley. 1981. Handbook of theBirds of India and Pakistan. Vol-3. OxfordUniversity Press, Delhi.

Ali, S. 1996. The Book of Indian Birds. BombayNatural History Society, Oxford UniversityPress, Bombay.

Dev, U.N. 1997. A Checklist of the Birds ofChilika. Bihang Institute for Ornithology andMass Eco-Development. Pg. 48.

Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and T. Inskipp. 1998.Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. OxfordUniversity Press, Delhi.

Alfred, J.R.B., Kumar, A., Tak, P.C. and J.P.Sati.2001. Water birds of Northern India. Zool.Surv. India, Kolkata.

Kumar, A., Sati, J.P., Tak, P.C. and J.R.B. Alfred.2005. Handbook on Indian Wetland Birdsand their conservation. Zool. Surv. India,Kolkata. Pg. 226.

Authors’ addresses: Dr. Pranjalendu Ray isScientist -in-Charge at Regional Museum ofNatural History, PO- RRL, Acharya Vihar,Bhubaneswar-751013;E-mail: [email protected];Shri Siba Prasad Parida is a research scholar atZoology Department, Utkal University, VaniVihar, Bhubaneswar-751004 (Orissa);Ms. Manaswini Parida is serving as MuseumInterpreter at the Regional Museum of NaturalHistory, PO- RRL, Acharya Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751013.

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Fig. 1 Pallas’s gull released on the ground, unableto fly

Fig.2 Close-up view of head, eye and bill withsub-terminal black band on tip

Fig.3 Mirror mark on primaries

Fig.4 Appearance of oval black patches on tailfeathers

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CONSERVATION FOR DEVELOPMENT: ANNAPURNACONSERVATION AREA PROJECT (ACAP) NEPAL

by Neeru Thapa

Launched in 1986, the Annapurna ConservationArea Project (ACAP) is the first and largest

conservation area in Nepal. In 1992, ACAP wasofficially gazetted and given the authority tomanage the conservation area. ACAP aims at“Achieving sustained balance between natureconservation and socio-economic improvement ofthe people living within in the AnnapurnaConservation Area (ACA)”.

Located in north-central Nepal, ACA enjoys aworld renowned reputation as a premier trekkingdestination. The Annapurna Range comprises theworld’s well-known tallest peaks, Annapurna I(8,091m) and the scared mountain ofMachhapuchhhre (6,993m). The world’s deepestvalley, the Kali Gandaki River Basin, numerousimpressive waterfalls, glaciers, one of the highestpasses, namely Thorang- La, and the fabulousTrans-Himalayas zone fall under the ACA. Anextremely diverse flora ranging from subtropicalto alpine grasslands exist in ACA. The ACAharbors 1,226 species of plants, 9 species ofmammals, 474 species of birds and 39 species ofamphibians. The area also harbors rare andendangered wildlife species such as the Snowleopard (Uncia uncial), Himalayan musk deer(Moschus chrysogaster - Syn. Moschusmuschiferous), Tibetan argali (Pantholopshodgsonii), Impeyan pheasant (Lophophorusimpejanus) and Crimson-horned pheasant(Tragopan satyra). The ACA provides a habitatgradient from subtropical to temperate forests andperennial snow, which maintain the biodiversityand integrity of the central Himalayas.

ACAP has adopted people’s participation, thecatalytic role of ACAP and sustainability of theprogram as three guiding philosophies towards theachievements of its goals. The underlying principleof the ACAP is to strengthen the linkage betweenethics and environment by making localcommunities both the principal actors andbeneficiaries of the conservation undertakings.

Recognizing that local participation is afundamental aspect of environmental conservation,ACAP integrates local communities in all stages ofdevelopment, from planning to execution andevaluation phases. Since 1986, ACAP has evolvedan experimental Integrated Conservation andDevelopment Program (ICDP) model to becomethe largest protected area in Nepal. Formanagement of the ACA, the area has been dividedinto 7 Unit Conservation Offices (UCOs) and theseUCOs have 57 Village Development Committees.

More than 10 ethnic groups inhabit the region. Afteragriculture, livestock farming is the secondaryoccupation. ACAP allows local residents theirtraditional rights and access to the use of naturalresources.

The tourism business has been a source of cashincome for the people living in the ACA for adecade. It ensures sustainability by encouragingthe local inhabitants to invest in cash or kind inthe conservation and development activities. Inevery initiative, communities are motivated tocontribute in kind to program implementation toguarantee continuation of optimal management ofthe schemes. The Nepal government has allowedACAP to collect an ACA conservation entry fee.

ACAP has launched various programmes fornature conservation; alternative energy;conservation education and extension; sustainablecommunity development; agriculture, livestock andgender development; sustainable tourismmanagement; heritage conservation; and healthprogrammes all designed and based on the needsand demands of the local people. This is anexemplary achievement of the ACAP to managethe country’s largest conservation area fordevelopment.

The author is Programme Officer, AnnapurnaConservation Area Project; E-mail:[email protected]

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Vol. XXIV: No.2 April-June 2010

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FOREST NEWSFOREST NEWS

Vol. XXIV: No. 2 Apr-Jun 2010

Introduction

At the invitation of the Government of Bhutan,the twenty-third session of the Asia-Pacific ForestryCommission (APFC) was held in Thimphu, Bhutan,9 - 11 June 2010. Delegates from 28 membercountries and 4 United Nations organizationsparticipated in the session, along with observersand representatives from 17 regional andinternational inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Mr. Eduardo Rojas-Briales, FAO Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, welcomedparticipants on behalf of FAO. He thanked theGovernment of Bhutan, and especially the

Department of Forest and Park Services, forthe preparatory work and arrangements for thetwenty-third session of APFC. Mr. Rojas-Briales noted a range of opportunities andchallenges confronting forestry in Asia and thePacific; vast plantation programmes are beingimplemented in some countries, whiledeforestation, loss of biodiversity, and weakforest law enforcement and governance occursin other countries. He stressed that, while carbonfinancing may assist in addressing these issues,such financing also will come tagged with itsown expectations and requirements.

His Excellency, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, Ministerof Works and Human Settlement, provided the

Twenty-third session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commissionheld in the Land of the Thunder Dragon

Vol. XXIV: No. 2 April-June 2010

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keynote address. He outlined the concept of GrossNational Happiness, and noted the importance ofenvironmental conservation, including communityforestry, in the country’s development paradigmand policies. The Minister enumerated a varietyof roles played by forests and noted thatdeforestation remains a challenge for manycountries. He expressed concern over negativeimpacts of climate change and noted potential rolesfor forests in climate change mitigation.

State of forestry in the Asia-Pacific region:forestry in transition

The Commission considered the state of forestryin the region. Delegates provided informativesummaries of recent developments and issues intheir countries.

Significant achievements were noted inafforestation, reforestation and forest rehabilitation,with several countries reporting ambitious plantedforest establishment programmes and tree-plantingtargets. Delegates noted efforts to provide supportand incentives for small-scale and community tree-growing. The Commission was apprised of effortsto prevent and mitigate the impacts of forest fires,pests and diseases.

Delegates highlighted the increased emphasis beinggiven to ecosystem services of forests. Theimportance of biodiversity conservation and forestprotection were underscored by many delegates.The Commission was informed of efforts topromote ecotourism, improve watershed protectionand ensure clean and reliable water supplies.Delegates emphasized the growing potential forecosystem services to contribute to financingsustainable forest management.

The Commission noted regional trends towardscommunity forestry, devolution of forest userrights and participatory forestry. Opportunities forrevitalizing forest sectors to contribute to povertyalleviation, economic recovery, employment andrural development, including through public-privatepartnerships, were also highlighted.

The Commission noted ongoing efforts to reviewand reformulate forest policies and revise or enactnew legislation. The importance of national forest

programmes in improving forest governance,including within FLEG frameworks, washighlighted. The Commission highlighted thebenefits of ongoing international collaboration andprovision of technical support. The contributionsof forest certification and forest codes of practiceas tools for achieving sustainable forest managementwere noted.

Delegates highlighted the importance of nationalforest inventories and the need to strengthen relatedcapacity for this work, including in support ofemerging programmes related to climate changemitigation. The Commission was apprised of severalrecently conducted or proposed national forestinventories, as well as programmes to delineate anddemarcate forest lands.

The Commission expressed concern over thepotential negative impacts of climate change onforests. Delegates reported on national forestryresponses to climate change including enhancedcarbon sequestration capacities, efforts to reducecarbon emissions, development of “climatecompatible” strategies, and development of REDD-plus strategies and readiness. The Commissionrequested FAO to take a leading role in supportingtechnical aspects of REDD-plus in collaborationwith UNEP and UNDP.

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010

The Commission noted with satisfaction the releaseof preliminary findings of the Global ForestResources Assessment (FRA) 2010 and lookedforward to the publication of a comprehensive FRA2010 report. Delegates reiterated the importanceof reliable data and information on forest resourcesin achieving progress towards sustainable forestmanagement in the region.

A special in-session seminar highlighted newlyreleased findings from the Global Forest ResourcesAssessment 2010 of relevance for the Asia-Pacificregion

The Commission acknowledged the need forcontinuous improvement in forest monitoring,assessment and reporting to improve the accuracyand comprehensiveness of collated FRA data. TheCommission noted that the quality of FRA is largely

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dependent on national forest information systemsand reporting, although an FAO remote sensingsurvey will provide new and additional global andregional forest data.

Delegates noted that the complexity of nationalreporting under the FRA process creates significantchallenges for countries. The Commissionacknowledged that society’s increasing demandson forests and requirements for morecomprehensive information will likely increase thecomplexity of FRA reporting in the future.

The Commission requested FAO to assist countriesin developing and implementing efficient andpractical forest monitoring and assessmentmechanisms, to assist in accessing availabletechnologies, and to help build capacities forutilizing such systems. The Commission requestedthat FAO develop methodologies to includeevaluation of environmental services into nationalforest resources assessments for countries thatmight wish to include these in their nationalassessments.

Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study

The Commission congratulated FAO and membercountries on the publication and release of theRegional Report of the Asia-Pacific Forestry SectorOutlook Study (APFSOS) and encouraged FAOto complete and publish planned country reports,thematic studies, policy briefs and sub-regionaloutlook study reports.

Delegates emphasized the importance of ongoingforward-looking analysis of issues, challenges andopportunities affecting forests and forestry. TheCommission urged FAO and member countries tomake full use of the wealth of information andanalysis that has been generated by the APFSOS,by integrating it into national strategic planning,national forest programme processes, and forestpolicy formulation.

Recognizing the wide range of challenges andconditions across the region and the consequentneed for specific analyses and responses, the

Commission requested FAO and partnerorganizations to support sub-regional workshopson strategic planning in forestry and furtherscenario development.

Considering the critical relationships betweenforests and indigenous peoples, the Commissionemphasized the importance of free, prior andinformed consent with respect to all forestry-related policies, programmes and activities thatmight impact indigenous peoples.

Forests and biodiversity: conservation andsustainable use of our forest treasures

The Commission considered the conservation andsustainable use of forests and biodiversity andnoted significant achievements in expandingprotected area networks and efforts to enhancebiodiversity. The Commission was informed ofefforts to enlist local communities in biodiversityconservation activities and noted the need forconservation efforts to protect the rights ofindigenous peoples.

The Commission noted strong synergies betweenREDD and biodiversity conservation, withsignificant potential for joint implementation ofbiodiversity conservation and REDD initiatives.The Commission expressed satisfaction at thedevelopment of tools1 to assess areas of highcarbon and high biodiversity values.

The Commission noted that plantations providemany ecosystem services including biodiversityfunctions, but these functions are not a substitutefor the biodiversity functions of natural forests.The Commission emphasized that planning for,and management of, planted forests shouldencompass provisions for biodiversityenhancement and other ecosystem services.

The Commission recognized the importance ofincorporating biodiversity dimensions withinnational forest programmes as a way ofmainstreaming biodiversity conservation withincentral government policies. The Commissionnoted broad support for biodiversity conservationwithin international arrangements, nationallegislative and policy frameworks, and specificnational biodiversity action plans. The

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Commission urged member countries to enhanceparticipation of foresters in multilateral biodiversitydialogues and to strengthen internationalarrangements, including due attention to financingand international assistance, as a means offacilitating action at national levels.

The Commission requested FAO, in collaborationwith other international partners, to assist countriesin identifying and studying key problems of regionalsignificance related to biodiversity conservation,determine strategic priorities and to supportimplementation of recommendations. TheCommission recommended that countries shareexperiences and advice on efforts to enhancebiodiversity conservation, including opportunitiesto capitalise on bioprospecting.

The Commission requested FAO, the Secretariatof the Convention on Biological Diversity and otherpartners to provide advice and tools to assess forestdegradation, forest fragmentation and relatedbiodiversity loss and to further address theharmonizing of forest-related definitions throughthe Collaborative Partnership on Forests.

Progress in improving forest law enforcementand governance in the region

The Commission considered progress in improvingforest law enforcement and governance (FLEG)in the region and noted its satisfaction at thepublication of the APFC stocktaking exercise Forestlaw enforcement and governance: Progress inAsia and the Pacific.

The Commission noted recent important changesto national laws and policies governing imports ofillegal timber including the European Union’simpending due diligence regulations, amendmentsto the United States’ Lacey Act, “green”procurement policies in Japan, and New Zealand’snew illegal logging policy reflecting increasingmarket sensitivities to illegal timber. TheCommission acknowledged that while suchregulations can provide a positive incentive forimproving forest law enforcement, they may alsobe perceived as barriers to trade. The Commissionnoted the importance of establishing bilateraldialogues between timber exporting countries andimporting countries to express views and share

concerns. The Commission was apprised of theestablishment of bilateral memoranda ofunderstanding in this regard.

The Commission welcomed the emergence ofvarious multilateral initiatives including the AsiaForest Partnership, the Responsible Asia Forestryand Trade (RAFT) programme, Asia FLEG,FLEGT and ITTO initiatives, and the developmentof various certification and verification systems.The Commission noted that harmonization ofvarious FLEG-related processes may be desirable.

The Commission noted that domestic forest lawenforcement issues require significant attention;these may relate to small-scale illegal felling,agricultural, industrial and fisheries encroachmentand urbanization. Delegates acknowledged theimportance of involving local governments andreinforcing intersectoral linkages. The Commissionnoted the need to ensure that sustainablecommunity forestry practices are enabled.

The Commission acknowledged that weaknessesin the adjudication of environmental laws mayresult in failures to enforce forest laws. Trainingand capacity building for the environmentaljudiciary can enhance enforcement andprosecution. Delegates noted that wider issues ofcorruption, including collusion between illegalloggers and elite segments of society, constituteobstacles to forest law enforcement in somecountries.

The Commission urged FAO to collaborate withother international organizations and partners tofacilitate additional regional dialogue on FLEG todiscuss shared concerns, identify best practices inFLEG implementation, and establish mechanismsfor cooperation. Delegates proposed topics fordiscussion including defining forest legality andlegality verification systems. The Commissionemphasized that other stakeholders, including theprivate sector and civil society, should be includedin such dialogue. The Commission requested FAOand other international organizations and partnersto provide assistance to build capacities to fightillegal logging and other forest crimes, and to helpcountries secure financial resources for effectiveFLEG implementation.

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Heads of forestry dialogue

A special Heads of Forestry dialogue provided anopportunity for direct exchange of views amongdelegates on Forests, climate change and REDD:beyond Copenhagen and Harnessing newopportunities for financing sustainable forestmanagement

Forests, climate change and REDD: beyondCopenhagen

Delegates noted that the global economic crisis hadcreated a hiatus, which has temporarily dampenedinterest and slowed progress in developing carbonmarkets. However, delegates highlighted that theoutcome of the UNFCCC COP 15 was promisingfor forestry, including significant progress inLULUCF negotiations and recognition of carbonstorage in wood products.

The Commission noted that engagement of allstakeholders is critical if environmental, economic,and social benefits potentially achievable throughREDD and REDD-plus are to be sustainable.Delegates highlighted that while achieving “REDDreadiness” is important, investment in thefundamentals of improved forest governance andmanagement must continue.

The Commission urged adherence to the true spiritof the Bali Action Plan by inclusion of the role ofconservation, sustainable management of forestsand enhancement of carbon stocks in REDD-plusmechanisms.

The Commission acknowledged that carbon marketmechanisms are highly complex. While this maypresent significant challenges for implementation,it may also be a signal that the market is maturing.Delegates noted that high carbon markettransaction costs threaten benefits received on theground, thus, innovative solutions to createworkable mechanisms are needed.

Delegates noted accessing carbon markets was aparticular challenge for rural communities andstressed the need for fully engaging localcommunities. In this respect, lessons learned fromefforts to access funding for forestry-related

activities under the Clean Development Mechanismof the Kyoto Protocol may be applied.

The Commission emphasized FAO’s strategic rolein providing continued support for fundamentalissues surrounding climate change and sustainableforest management, including capacity building,sharing of information and experience, partnershipbuilding, and facilitating the exchange oftechnologies and best practices.

Harnessing new opportunities for financingsustainable forest management

Delegates observed that, despite an increase ininterest and funding for forestry as a result ofconcerns over climate change, huge funding gapsexist in many countries. The Commission notedthat key challenges for developing countriesinclude: a) inadequate financial resources; b)inadequate capacities; and c) inadequate access totechnologies.

The Commission emphasized that sustainableforest management requires funding from a diverserange of sources, including both public and privateentities, and from traditional as well as new andinnovative approaches. Delegates acknowledgedthat investment was likely to flow most rapidly tocountries that have addressed key areas of concernsuch as resource tenure, corruption, and excessivebureaucratic regulation; but, that this may not helpthose countries most in need.

The Commission recognized the importance of aconducive enabling environment to attract andretain investment in the forestry sector. Commonconstraints across the region included unclear tenurerights, weak judiciaries, excessive regulation, andlack of political will.

The usefulness of formulating national strategicplans for forest financing that address constraints,establish priorities, and facilitate the involvementof other related sectors, was considered veryimportant. The Commission urged FAO to assistmember countries in developing viable strategiesfor attracting investments.


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APFC and FAO-supported activities in theregion

The Commission reviewed APFC and FAO-supported activities carried out during the past twoyears, including follow-up to the recommendationsof the twenty-second session of the Commission,and priorities for future work. The Commissionnoted its satisfaction with the work programmethat had been implemented and commended FAOon the number and quality of initiatives beingundertaken in the region.

The Secretariat clarified that many regionalactivities supported by FAO were carried out withinthe framework of APFC. Activities generally hadbeen concentrated in three areas: (a) economics,policies and institutions; (b) improvement in forestmanagement for multiple benefits; and (c)involvement of people in forestry.

Delegates expressed particular appreciation for theAsia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study,regional policy studies, and the forest policy shortcourse. The Commission requested FAO tocontinue support for policy-related work under theAPFC-initiated Asia-Pacific Forest Policy ThinkTank.

Delegates applauded the work of the Asia-PacificForest Invasive Species Network (APFISN),established by the Commission at its twentiethsession in 2004, and noted with appreciation thatit was viewed as a model for effective regionalcooperation on invasive species throughout theworld. The Commission encouraged FAO andmember countries to maintain the strong level ofactivity and collaboration of APFISN.

The Commission noted the importance of soundmanagement of coastal ecosystems and urged FAOto continue active engagement as a partner of theMangroves for the Future Initiative and to providetargeted project support for mangrove and coastalresources management.

The Commission highlighted the importance ofcapacity building on a wide range of topics, andemphasized the potential for member countries toprovide quality resource persons and infrastructurefor hosting regional and sub-regional workshops

and other training activities. The Commissionrequested FAO to facilitate and support capacity-building in priority technical, management andpolicy-related areas needed to make furtherprogress towards sustainable forest management.

Delegates emphasized the need for increasedsupport for forestry education at various levels.The Commission encouraged FAO and membercountries to continue efforts to establish a regionalsupport network for forestry education, and tosupport forestry-related education of youth,university students and forestry practitioners.

The Commission requested FAO to continueassisting forestry agencies in reviewing structures,policies and functions to better align with the newdemands and expectations being placed on forestsand forestry.

The Commission urged FAO to carefully monitorand evaluate activities to ensure effectiveness andincrease efficiency of future delivery. TheCommission noted that activities in the regionshould support FAO’s broader strategic plans. TheCommission requested FAO to report moreextensively on APFC and FAO-supported activitiesin the Pacific at future sessions.

International Year of Forests – 2011

The Commission was informed of preparations forcelebrating and supporting the International Yearof Forests (IYF), which has been designated for2011. The Commission was informed that nationalactivities would constitute the foundation of IYFand delegates were encouraged to identifyopportunities for national events and activities.

Regional issues identified by the commissionfor the attention of the committee on forestry

Recognizing COFO’s stated desire to see FAO’sregional forestry commissions strengthened, theCommission wished to bring to the attention ofCOFO the vibrancy and vitality of APFC, asdemonstrated by the large number of inter-sessional activities implemented during the past twoyears, including completion of the second Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study, regionalforest policy studies, the third forest policy short

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course, FLEG stock-taking exercise, numerousactivities of the Asia-Pacific Forest Invasive SpeciesNetwork, and others.

The Commission wished to highlight to COFOthe completion of the analytical phase of theAsia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Studyand publication of the main report. Consideringthat several regions have now completedforestry sector outlook studies, COFO maywish to consider how FAO can best supportmember countries in making effective use ofthe wealth of information and analysisproduced by the outlook studies in nationalstrategic planning, national forest programmeprocesses and forest policy formulation.The Commission wished to bring to theattention of COFO the need for increasedsupport for forestry education, particularly inlight of the rapidly changing demands andexpectations being placed on forests andforestry by society. COFO may wish toconsider how FAO can best provide supportthrough regional networks of educators anddirect support for forestry-related educationof youth, university students and forestrypractitioners.Noting the increasing demands for data andinformation on a wide range of forestcharacteristics and values, in relation to growingrecognition of forest-related ecosystemservices, the Commission wished to bring tothe attention of COFO the need for FAO todevelop methodologies for including evaluationof environmental services into national forestresources assessments.

The Commission wished to bring to COFO’sattention its request to FAO to take a leadingrole in supporting technical aspects of REDD-plus in collaboration with UNEP and UNDP.Recognizing that people-centred developmentis increasingly the focus of forestry policies,the Commission wished to highlight to COFOthe need to continue efforts to enhance socialforestry, including community-based forestmanagement. COFO may wish to reflect onevolving relationships between people andforests, societies’ perceptions of forests, andthe need for the forestry sector ’scommunications to reflect this evolution.The Commission wished to bring to theattention of COFO the need to strengthenmonitoring, reporting and assessment ofstatistics relating to community forestry,including within the Global Forest ResourcesAssessment process.The Commission wished to highlight to COFOthe need to develop greater appreciation ofthe full range of benefits that society derivesfrom forests. In this regard, COFO may wishto consider how broader measures, such asthe concept of Gross National Happinesspioneered by Bhutan, may be utilized to betterreflect forestry contributions to society.

Date and place of the next session

The Commission noted with appreciation the offerof the delegation from China to host its twenty-fourth session and the second Asia-Pacific ForestryWeek.

For the attention of Governments and FAO

The Commission recommended:

assisting in developing and implementing efficient and practical forest monitoring and assessmentmechanisms, assisting in accessing available technologies, and building capacities for utilizing suchsystems;

making full use of the wealth of information and analysis that has been generated by the APFSOS, byintegrating it into national strategic planning, national forest programme processes, and forest policyformulation;

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enhancing participation of foresters in multilateral biodiversity dialogues and strengthening internationalarrangements, including due attention to financing and international assistance, as a means of facilitatingaction at national levels;

collaborating with other international partners, to assist countries in identifying and studying key problemsof regional significance related to biodiversity conservation, determine strategic priorities and supportingimplementation of recommendations;

sharing experiences and advising on efforts to enhance biodiversity conservation, including opportunitiesto capitalise on bioprospecting;

in collaboration with other international organizations and partners, providing assistance to build capacitiesto fight illegal logging and other forest crimes, and helping countries secure financial resources foreffective FLEG implementation;

adherence to the true spirit of the Bali Action Plan by inclusion of the role of conservation, sustainablemanagement of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks in REDD-plus mechanisms;

assisting member countries in developing viable strategies for attracting increased investment in forestry,including formulating national strategic plans for financing that address constraints, establish priorities,and facilitate the involvement of other related sectors;

maintaining the strong level of activity and collaboration of the Asia-Pacific Forest Invasive SpeciesNetwork (APFISN);

continuing efforts in establish a regional support network for forestry education, and supporting forestry-related education of youth, university students and forestry practitioners.

For the attention of FAO

The Commission recommended:

taking a leading role in supporting technical aspects of REDD-plus in collaboration with UNEP andUNDP;

developing methodologies to include evaluation of environmental services into national forest resourcesassessments for countries that might wish to include these in their national assessments;

completing and publishing planned country reports, thematic studies, policy briefs and sub-regionaloutlook study reports;

in collaboration with partner organizations, supporting sub-regional workshops on strategic planning inforestry and further scenario development;

in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other partners,providing advice and tools to assess forest degradation, forest fragmentation and related biodiversityloss and further addressing the harmonizing of forest-related definitions through the CollaborativePartnership on Forests;

collaborating with other international organizations and partners to facilitate additional regional dialogueon FLEG to discuss shared concerns, identifying best practices in FLEG implementation, and establish-ing mechanisms for cooperation;

providing continued support for fundamental issues surrounding climate change and sustainable forestmanagement, including capacity building, sharing of information and experience, partnership building,and facilitating the exchange of technologies and best practices;

continuing support for policy-related work under the APFC-initiated Asia-Pacific Forest Policy ThinkTank.;

continuing active engagement as a partner of the Mangroves for the Future Initiative and providingtargeted project support for mangrove and coastal resources management;

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facilitating and supporting capacity-building in priority technical, management and policy-related areasneeded to make further progress towards sustainable forest management;

assisting forestry agencies in reviewing structures, policies and functions to better align with the newdemands and expectations being placed on forests and forestry;

carefully monitoring and evaluating activities to ensure effectiveness and increase efficiency of futuredelivery;

reporting more extensively on APFC and FAO-supported activities in the Pacific at future sessions;

in collaboration with member organizations of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, developingjoint communication materials to convey key messages relating to forests during the International Yearof Forests.

Welcome Addresses

Excerpts from the Welcome Address by His Excellency Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, Minister of Worksand Human Settlement

Today, as we gather here on this auspicious day, I want to take the privilege of welcoming you all toBhutan.

Bhutan is undergoing profound changes and has witnessed significant historical events in the last fewyears. Most profoundly, we celebrated the enthronement of a young, dynamic and compassionate monarchas the 5th King of Bhutan in December 2008. And we have successfully transitioned into a constitutionalmonarchy.

As a young democracy, we have every intention of wanting to bring vibrancy and transparency to this newsystem of governance for ensuring a just, vibrant and healthy Bhutanese society. Nevertheless, ourdevelopment paradigm is still inspired and guided by the philosophy of Gross National Happiness championedby His Majesty the 4th King of Bhutan.

One of the four pillars for achieving and ensuring Gross National Happiness is environmental conservation.Today, Bhutan has over70% of its land area under forest cover. And our constitution mandates that 60%of our land area remain forested for all times to come. Forests therefore are central to the discourse ofenvironmental conservation in Bhutan.

Bhutan has long championed conservation and the Bhutanese with their inherent respect for nature havebeen exemplary stewards of the forests and environment. With enlightened leadership under the 4th King,Bhutan is now regarded as a model for conservation across the world. Today, we have more than 50% ofour land under protected areas and wildlife corridors. And scientific principles are the cornerstone onwhich management of landscapes for timber and other resources extraction are based.

Recognizing environmental conservation as one key factor for the well being of all, all infrastructuredevelopment in the country ensures environmental-friendly construction. One of the Vision elements in theconstruction sector therefore is that, “the physical infrastructure will not pose any threat to the pristineenvironment by its existence and during its construction. It shall draw upon the natural resources in an eco-friendly and sustainable basis from the environment”.

We are also increasingly cognizant of the fact that people and communities must partner and bear in themanagement of our forests and water. Through conscious interventions and efforts, we have over 230


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community forests. This has been achieved in less than 5 years. We also acknowledge that our communitiesare not only guardians of our forests, but that they also possess an incredible wealth of knowledge aboutour forests. We must make every effort to document and treasure such traditional knowledge. In this ageof synthetics, the forests still hold the promise of the organic and natural.

This movement of engaging communities has come of age. In our region, where poverty is endemic andwidespread, the practice of forestry cannot be discussed in isolation of its possible benefits to our ruralpoor. I believe that forests have the power to not only heal in a spiritual sense, but also to provide for theneedy in terms of tangible material outputs. We must, therefore, manage and nuture our forests to ensurethe health of both humans and wild species.

A concern close to my heart is one associated with a warming planet. Bhutan being in the Himalayas isespecially prone to bearing the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change. While the science may bedebated, there is no doubt that climate change is happening. It is immensely disturbing that we neither havethe data nor the knowledge to predict the rate of change and the severity of possible impacts. At both localand global scales, within the immediate and the long term, forests appear to offer a possible solution to haltthe rate of climate change by acting as carbon sinks and offering a renewable source of energy. Whilehumanity has lived and thrived off forests, never has there been a time when the worth of a forest has beenconsciously appreciated.

This great coming together here in Bhutan today should be geared toward ensuring that forests remainforever in our Asia-Pacific region. I believe that forests should continue to provide basic requirements offood, wood and energy for all those in need. I believe our forests should be conserved, protected andmanaged to provide for the greater ecological services of maintaining our water catchments and regulatingour weather cycles while it serves as a carbon sink. Furthermore, I believe that our forests should continueto inspire us and provide the much needed space for contemplation and enlightenment. As we all know,there are many wonders in the forest. And we must keep the forest alive – for ourselves and our children.

I wish you all a successful conference.

Excerpts from the Opening Address by Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director-General,Forestry Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

It is my honour and great pleasure to convey the warm welcome, greetings and best wishes of FAODirector-General Jacques Diouf and the FAO Forestry Department at the opening of this 23rd session ofthe Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission.

I also extend FAO’s gratitude to the Government and the people of Bhutan for having graciously offered tohost our meeting and for the excellent preparations and facilities placed at our disposal for this event. Iparticularly wish to offer appreciation at the outstanding efforts of Mr. Karma Dukpa and his staff from theDepartment of Forests and Parks in bringing together the many strands involved in organization of anevent of this magnitude. The enthusiasm, dedication and competence they have brought to this task reflectgreat credit on the Department of Forests and Parks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems fitting that we are holding the 23rd session of APFC in Bhutan, given thatour meeting coincides – in 2010 – with the International Year of Biodiversity and as a precursor to the 2011Year of Forests. Bhutan is rightly famous for its efforts in balancing economic growth and modernizationwith its traditional culture and environmental values. This has enabled the country to avoid much of theecological damage – including deforestation, forest degradation and loss of biodiversity – inherent in muchof the rest of Asia and the Pacific, and indeed the rest of the world.

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These trends in forest loss, degradation and decreasing biodiversity have once again been brought to theforefront of our attention, with the publication of the preliminary findings of the Global Forest ResourcesAssessment 2010. Across the Asia-Pacific region, the findings of the FRA 2010 are mixed. In somecountries, afforestation efforts have led to an enormous turnaround in forest cover, to the extent that in theregion as a whole the area of forests increased by 14 million hectares in the past decade. However, in manycountries the rate of deforestation, especially the loss of natural forests, remains deeply concerning. Theregion has lost 3.5 million hectares of primary forests and 7 million hectares of naturally-regenerated forestarea. Colleagues – we must find ways to do better, and I am pleased that we have several agenda items thatgive the Commission opportunity to consider these trends.

We can hope to draw much guidance from the Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study. This enormouseffort by APFC and the member countries is coming to fruition with the release of the Main Report of thestudy scheduled during an in-session seminar this afternoon. The wealth of information and analysisgathered in the various country reports, thematic studies and regional and subregional reports should helpto prepare us to confidently face the challenges of the future.

And we should make no mistake – the challenges to the forestry sector in this region will be extremelydemanding. It goes without saying that climate change has topped the international environmental agendaover the past year and forests featured prominently in the negotiations. Important decisions in the CopenhagenAccord, crafted in December 2009, produced significant new financing commitments through ReducingEmissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD-plus) activities. This is, of course, extraordinarilygood news for the forestry sector since most countries struggle to secure adequate financing to enable thesort of progress towards sustainable forest management that society is demanding.

However, we should be under no illusions – with the money will come great expectations – and forestryneeds to be ready to deliver on its potential and its promises. We need to be preparing for that future now.In this respect, the Heads of Forestry Dialogue – being organized for the first time during this APFCsession – offers a great opportunity to share experiences and discuss effective approaches in the areas ofForests, climate change and REDD; and Harnessing new opportunities for financing sustainable forestmanagement.

Some of these approaches will be found in better policies, better legislation, stronger institutions and bettergovernance. An agenda item on Progress in improving forest law enforcement and governance in theregion will enable us to consider some of these issues.

A variety of other sessions and events – including some organized by, or in collaboration with partnerorganizations – will enable us to holistically address the overall theme of this APFC session – Forests: OurHeritage, Our Future. At the same time, I remind you that the Committee of Forestry (COFO) will haveits 20th session in October this year. COFO will need to define the program for FAO Forestry for thecoming biennium, and in doing so, it will consider developments in other major processes and the bestways to provide inputs to them.

Regional Forestry Commissions have a golden opportunity now to make a great impact on global negotia-tions and at the same time, strengthen the linkages between policy and implementation. In this spirit Iinvite you to be bold and visionary in identifying issues to be brought to the attention of COFO and provideyour input to help shape the global dialogue on forests.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an extremely rich program in the coming three days that will provide anexcellent opportunity to consider major challenges and appropriate responses. Using the best informationand drawing on the wide knowledge of participants here this week, I am optimistic that practical responsescan be developed to take forestry into a successful future.


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Finding happiness in the forest?

Introduction

The pre-session workshop on Forests: Movingbeyond GDP Contributions to Gross NationalHappiness was jointly organized by FAO, TheCenter for People and Forests (RECOFTC) andthe Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (Bhutan).Sixty-four representatives from 26 countriesparticipated. The background to the workshopowes to the fact that Gross Domestic Product(GDP) and other similar quantitative economicmetrics do not capture effectively the contributionsfrom forestry, especially the goods and ecologicalservices which are important for the wellbeing ofsocieties. As a result, the forestry sector’scontribution to sustainable development remainsunder-reported, and consequently the sectorreceives less development funds. The workshopwas organized to review economic metrics systems

which can help address the reporting of the truevalues of forests’ benefits to society.

The objectives of the workshop were to:enhance awareness of the broader issues ofsocietal well being encapsulated under GrossNational Happiness (GNH) and other relatedconcepts; anddiscuss adequacy of existing measures/indicators in providing an indication offorestry’s contribution to societal wellbeing.

The introduction to the workshop was made byMr. S. Appanah (FAO/RAP), who provided thebackground and objectives. Mr. B. Debroy (Centerfor Policy Studies, New Delhi) reviewed the gamutof existing metrics available for measuringeconomic development of countries. All theseindicators which use quantitative data have their

Side events held at the APFC

During the 23rd Session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, numerous side events were also held,including:

Workshop: “Forests: Moving Beyond GDP Contributions to Gross National HappinessConsiderations”Organized by APFC, Government of Bhutan, FAO, and The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC)Partners’ event: “Sustaining Forest Biodiversity”Organized by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Convention on Biological

Diversity (CBD)Workshop: “Pathways of biological invasions into forests”Organized by the Asia-Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network (APFISN)“Roundtable for Climate Change Mitigation in the Himalayan Region”Organized by the IUCN Regional Office, Bangkok and the Environment and Health Foundation

(India)Partners’ Meeting: “Forest Inventory and Monitoring in Montane Ecosystems”Organized by the USDA Forest ServiceSide event: “Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”Networking Event: “Open Forum”

Following are reports on three of the events.

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limitations. Simple metrics like GDP can onlyquantify the total value of goods and servicesproduced over a designated time.However, notions of economicdevelopment have evolved overtime, and measures of poverty,education, health, child mortality,etc. are being captured throughmore complex metrics such asthe Human Development Index.Nevertheless, subjectiveelements such as “happiness”raise difficulties in measurement,sample designs, sample sizes,and even the questionnaires tobe used. As such, metrics likeGross National Happiness(GNH) are unlikely to findacceptance easily. Until reliablesurvey systems are developed,it would be difficult to take them forward.

Dasho Karma Ura (Center for Bhutan Studies,Thimphu) provided the background and historyof the development of the concept of GNH, andthe technical tools being used for making“happiness” surveys. According to Dasho Ura,GNH is not against change, it propoundsdevelopment which balances economicdevelopment, preservation of the environment andreligious-cultural heritage. The underlying messageis that people should not give up elements whichare important for their happiness to gain materialbenefits. Under this approach, the GNH surveytakes into account not only the flow of money,but also other less quantifiable and subjectiveelements such as time spent with family,conservation of nature, and other non-economicsources which human beings depend on. Theguiding principles in the formulation of GNH aresustainable and equitable socio-economicdevelopment, conservation of the environment,preservation and promotion of culture, and goodgovernance. This novel approach, while stillregarded as work in progress, has already beenencapsulated in Bhutan’s constitution and is givenstrong emphasis in the policies of the naturalresource sector.

Mr. T. Enters (RECOFTC, Bangkok) explored thevarious contributions of forestry to societal

wellbeing, the recognized sustainability andwellbeing indices, and what they measure. He

pointed out that these indices aretoo simple to be meaningful, tooaggregated to be realistic, and aresuffering from a questionablemix of weighting and valuationtechniques. In the case offorestry, there are manydifficulties arising frommeasurement problems,unavailability of data,subjectivity andcomprehensibility. Mr. Entersargued for a simpler system torelay the forestry case.

The panelists presented differentperspectives, ranging fromconcerns of the private sector,

how people value forest services, education forsustainable development, and how rural societiesvalue their spiritual aspects vis-à-vis that of theirenvironment.

Conclusions

The discussions did not arrive at specificrecommendations considering the issues are newto the group. Nevertheless, some conclusions wereenunciated. Some held the view that existingeconomic metrics that work on quantitativemeasures cannot be spliced together with thosethat are subjective in nature, as the concept of“happiness” is a very subjective matter. On theother hand, there was argument that the subjectof “happiness and wellbeing” are too critical to beleft out, which argues for using both thequantitative and non-quantitative models forevaluating the contributions of natural resourcesto society’s wellbeing. While not arriving at ageneral agreement, the group expressed the viewthat this area should be further explored, so futurepolicy formulations can benefit from suchdevelopments. It was also pointed out that asurbanization increases, the role and value of forestsis likely to shift, which would need to fuse bothsubjective and objective valuations for ensuringthe greatest goods from forests for the greatestnumber of people.


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Threats to the forest: pathways of biological invasions

The Asia-Pacific Forest Invasive Species Network(APFISN) workshop was organized as a partners’event during the 23rd session of the APFC held atThimphu, Bhutan. A total of 35 delegatesrepresenting 13 countries attended the workshop.The workshop aimed to: take stock of current and potential invasive

species transport pathways both within andacross countries;

identify agencies at national and internationallevels that need to be sensitized in biologicalinvasions.plan awareness programs targetinggovernments, media and businessestablishments; and

identify linkages within APFISN and multi-agency systems within member countries for atargeted campaign at regional levels.

Country reports on pathways of biological invasionsinto forests were presented by representatives fromBangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia,Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines andSri Lanka. Zhao Wenxia of the Research Instituteof Forestry (Chinese Acadamy of Forestry), madea special presentation on the pest risk analysisprotocol for non-crop plants in China. There alsowere presentations on detecting target pests andrisk analysis by Ross Wylie of the BiosecurityQueensland Control Centre, and on pathways ofplant invasions and mechanisms and factorscontributing to success of invasion by InderjithSingh of CEMDE, Delhi University.

The workshop continued with the followingpresentations: Forest surveillance and pathwayanalysis (by Ross Wylie); Global invasive speciesprogram by Tim Christophersen of the Secretariatof the Convention on Biological Diversity;Phytosanitary standards in forestry by Jose AntonioPrado (FAO, Rome); Country report on invasivespecies from Bhutan by Tandin Wangdi of theNational Biodiversity Centre of Bhutan; and

Interventions at pathways – problems andprospects by T.V. Sajeev of the Kerala ForestResearch Institute. Each of the presentations wasfollowed by discussions on the topic. In theconcluding session, the participants deliberated ontopics such as: target pests of the region; majorpathways; action plans for forest surveillance andrisk analysis; institutional mechanism forintervention at transport phase; listing ofstakeholders; and awareness literature for theregion and decided on action points for the future.

The workshop made the followingrecommendations:

Neighbouring countries showing similarinvasive species problems should worktogether to facilitate training based on commonneeds. Five regional groups were identified forthis as follows:

India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives,Pakistan, Myanmar, BangladeshLao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, CambodiaChina, Korea, Japan, MongoliaMalaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, TimorLesteFiji, Samoa, PNG, Solomon Islands,Vanuatu, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A.;

APFISN has drawn up excellent action plansbut has inadequate resources to support theseactivities, therefore, it is hoped thatinternational organizations may earmark fundsfor the network activities;There is a lack of communication amongscientists, foresters, policy makers andquarantine personnel in most membercountries. The APFC may recommendmember countries to promote suchcommunications so as to enable them to fightinvasive species issues better.

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Forest inventory and monitoring in montane ecosystems

Exerpts from a report by Elizabeth Lebow, USDA Forest Service

Increasing concerns for accurate carbonaccounting, determining baseline forest conditionsin changing climates, biodiversity conservation, andecosystem services have led to a greater emphasison timely forest inventory throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Countries are at various stages inthe planning, execution, and reporting of forestinventory information, with some countriesrequiring capacity building and other countriesserving as forest inventory role models.

The main objectives for the session were: 1) toprovide a forum for exchanging technicalinformation on forest inventory and monitoringsystems in montane ecosystems; 2) to shareinformation on managing data and using theinformation from forest inventories for multipleuses related to climate change; and 3) to provide asummary of regional needs and recommendationsrelated to forest inventory.

This session was sponsored by the USDA ForestService, Bhutan’s Ministry of Agriculture andForests and FAO with presentations by Bhutan,India, Nepal, the USFS Forest Inventory andAnalysis (FIA) and FAO.

Forest inventory status in the EasternHimalayas

The Eastern Himalayan mountains span multiplecountries and a regional approach to managing thelandscape is becoming increasingly desirable as thecountries experience similar and related impactsfrom climate change. India, Nepal, and Bhutanare interested in exchanging technical informationon their forest inventory methods and informationuse.

Forest inventories are important for both nationalneeds and international reporting. They arenecessary for establishing baseline information forREDD+ purposes, as well as establishing a baseline

against which future climate change impacts onforests can be measured. Approaches to forestinventories in the region vary widely dependingon national circumstances, population needs,legislative mandates and natural resourcemanagement policies.

BhutanBhutan’s population is highly dependent on forestsand vulnerable to climate change impacts, and theyhave a constitutional mandate to maintain 60%forest cover, making accurate data on forestsessential. Bhutan has been working with YaleUniversity to design and field test a new “nationalforest inventory and ecosystem health monitoringsystem”. The inventory design takes a holisticecosystem management approach and includesdata collection on timber, biodiversity, non-timberforest products (NTFPs), soil, and social factors.

IndiaOne-tenth of the forest area in India is sampledbiennially, focusing on timber, meaning that a totalforest inventory is completed in 20 years. Indiahas its own satellites that capture forest cover ona two-year cycle, producing forest cover mapswithin two years of data acquisition. Remotesensing is heavily relied upon in some areas. India’sNFI does not collect data on smaller trees, shrubs,litter, dead wood, bark, or below ground roots. Inpotential REDD+ areas the NFI will need to berevised to include this information in order to geta total forest biomass and carbon estimate.

NepalA five-year Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) inNepal began in 2010, supported by the Embassyof Finland. While the previous inventory of 1986-1997 was focused on timber, the 2010 inventorywork will provide data and maps of forests,biodiversity, and NTFPs. The inventory willprovide a national and limited sub-national estimateof forest resources. Provincial mapping is possible


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and maps will be used on the ground to examinechanges in forest extent and to inform REDD+.Additional work will be needed in some areas toprovide accurate biomass and carbon estimationfor markets.

Regional needs

Technical- Biomass equations;- Biomass equations for trees < 10 cm dbh

(diameter at breast height);- Remote sensing technologies, including LiDAR;- Modifying inventory design/analysis for

comprehensive carbon assessments;- General capacity building.

Communications- Software sharing;- Sharing of methodologies and technical

information

Financial- Forest inventories are labor intensive and

expensive. Bhutan is seeking funds frominternational donors for its planned four-yearinventory. Modifying design and data collectionfor climate change purposes, or intensifyingsampling in certain areas for REDD+ purposes,will likely require additional resources and/orcapacity building.

Recommendation

To continue the dialogue on forest inventory andmonitoring, participants of this partner’s sessionrecommended creating a forest inventory networkunder APFC for exchange of forest inventorymethodologies, technology, software, andpotentially data.

FAO ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY CALENDAR

14-17 September 2010. Regional workshop on Development of Forest Information System. PatumThani, Thailand. Contact: Masahiro Otsuka, Forestry Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and thePacific, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand; E-mail: [email protected]

20-22 September 2010. Regional workshop on linking communities to forestry-related voluntarycarbon markets. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Contact: Marija Spirovska-Kono, Forestry Consultant, FAORegional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand; E-mail:[email protected]

27 September - 1 October 2010. 30th FAO Conference for Asia and the Pacific. Gyeongju, Korea.Contact: Purushottam Mudbhary, APRC Secretary, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 39Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand; E-mail: [email protected]

4-8 October 2010. 20th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO). Rome, Italy. Contact:[email protected]

FOREST NEWS is issued by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific as part of TIGERPAPER. This issue ofFOREST NEWS was compiled by Patrick B. Durst, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO/RAP.

FORESTRY PUBLICATIONS: FAO REGIONALOFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (RAP)

For copies please write to: Senior Forestry Officer for Asia and the Pacific,FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

Or visit the FAO website for an electronic version: http://www.fao.or.th/publications/publications.htm

Report of the twenty-second session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (RAP Publication2008/06)Re-inventing forestry agencies. Experiences ofinstitutional restructuring in Asia and the Pacific(RAP Publication 2008/05)Forest faces. Hopes and regrets in Philippineforestry (RAP Publication 2008/04Reaching consensus. Multi-stakeholderprocesses in forestry: experiences from the Asia-Pacific region (RAP Publication 2007/31)Trees and shrubs of the Maldives (RAPPublication 2007/12)Coastal protection in the aftermath of the IndianOcean tsunami: What role for forests and trees?(RAP Publication 2007/07Developing an Asia-Pacific strategy for forestinvasive species: The coconut beetle problem –bridging agriculture and forestry (RAP Publication2007/02The role of coastal forests in the mitigation oftsunami impacts (RAP Publication 2007/01)Taking stock: Assessing progress in developingand implementing codes of practice for forestharvesting in ASEAN member countries (RAPPublication 2006/10)Mangrove guidebook for Southeast Asia (RAP2006/07)Proceedings of the workshop on forests forpoverty reduction: changing role for research,development and training institutions (RAPPublication - 2005/19)APFC - The unwelcome guests: Proceedings ofthe Asia-Pacific Forest Invasive SpeciesConference (RAP Publication 2005/18)Helping forests take cover (RAP Publication2005/13)Elephant care manual for mahouts and campmanagers (RAP Publication 2005/10)Forest certification in China: latest developmentsand future strategies (RAP Publication 2005/08)Waves of hope – report of the regionalcoordination workshop on rehabilitation oftsunami-affected forest ecosystems: strategiesand new directions (RAP Publication 2005/07)Forests and floods – drowning in fiction orthriving on facts? (RAP Publication 2005/03)

In search of excellence: exemplary forestmanagement in Asia and the Pacific (RAPPublication 2005/02)What does it take? The role of incentives in forestplantation development in Asia and the Pacific(RAP Publication 2004/27)Forests for poverty reduction: opportunities forClean Development Mechanism, environmentalservices and biodiversity (RAP Publication 2004/22)Forests for poverty reduction: can communityforestry make money? (RAP Publication: 2004/04)Advancing assisted natural regeneration (ANR) inAsia and the Pacific (RAP Publication 2003/19) -2nd editionBringing back the forests: policies and practicesfor degraded lands and forests (RAP Publication2003/14) out of printPractical guidelines for the assessment,monitoring and reporting on national level criteriaand indicators for sustainable forest managementin dry forests in Asia (RAP Publication: 2003/05)Giants on our hands: proceedings of theinternational workshop on the domesticated Asianelephant (RAP Publication: 2002/30)Communities in flames: proceedings of aninternational conference on communityinvolvement in fire management (RAP Publication:2002/25)Applying reduced impact logging to advancesustainable forest management (RAP Publication:2002/14)Trash or treasure? Logging and mill residues inAsia-Pacific (RAP Publication: 2001/16)Regional training strategy: supporting theimplementation of the Code of Practice for forestharvesting in Asia-Pacific (RAP Publication: 2001/15)Forest out of bounds: impacts and effectivenessof logging bans in natural forests in Asia-Pacific:executive summary (RAP Publication: 2001/10)Forest out of bounds: impacts and effectivenessof logging bans in natural forests in Asia-Pacific(RAP Publication: 2001/08)Trees commonly cultivated in Southeast Asia: anillustrated field guide - 2nd edition (RAPPublication: 1999/13)

Documents

Vol. XXXVII : No. 2 · tiger attacks. Their information is based on forest department data, newspaper clippings, and interviews with staff at local hospitals and other people for