BIODIVERSITY


The Community Biodiversity Conservation Movement was launched in 1989 with the aim of involving the local communities at the grassroots level in the conservation of biological diversity. The programme provides for small, intense and focused demonstration projects by field-based NGOs, institutions, community groups, and individual farmers. Financial and technical assistance, usually for a period of one year, is provided to the implementing agencies by WWF-India.

While the main focus of this programme is on practical field projects that demonstrate community-based conservation of biodiversity, it also encourages scientific and policy studies, education, training, and design of income generation schemes. The programme makes efforts to scientifically validate traditional community conservation approaches.

The programme has so far supported 44 projects in 14 Indian states. A positive outcome of the efforts is visible in the establishment of seed banks, gene banks or genetic gardens, conservation of medicinal plants, and the protection of sacred groves and endangered species of wild flora and fauna. Successful examples are the gene bank project at Susala island in the western state of Maharashtra, and a community seed bank near Jaipur in the desert state of Rajasthan. Another success story is a project undertaken in the north-eastern state of Assam to conserve the endangered Adjutant Stork with the help of the local village community.

The Biodiversity Hotspots Conservation Programme focuses on conservation of biological diversity in "hotspots" like the mountainous Eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats are a chain of hills running from north to south along India's west coast. Both these biologically rich regions have been under constant threat from badly planned development and over-exploitation. WWF-India has undertaken several projects in the area, including baseline surveys, identification of key species and conservation of medicinal plants and orchids.

Seven projects have been completed so far and 16 are ongoing.

WWF-India has tackled issues in other "hotspots" as well. It drew the attention of the government towards the denotification of a portion of the Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The result is that the decision to denotify this sanctuary has been revoked. In the neighbouring state of Sikkim, the government is actively reconsidering the construction of the Rathongchu dam on the basis of technical information provided by the WWF-India programme. And in Tamil Nadu in south India, a workshop organized by the Save Nilgiris Campaign and supported by WWF-India helped in revoking the state government's decision to construct the proposed Kallarpallam dam.

The WWF-India office in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, is conducting a project on conservation of orchids, bamboos, and broom grass in collaboration with the State Forest Research Institute, Itanagar. The species Cymbidium and Paphiopedilum have been selected for mass multiplication through tissue culture and cultivation in degraded jhum lands. And farmers are being encouraged to take it up as a commercial venture.

In its second phase, the programme is extending its focus to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an ecologically rich archipelago of islands in the Bay of Bengal. It will also undertake studies on marine biodiversity, sacred groves and the impact of climate change on biodiversity in the Western Ghats. And in Sikkim, a baseline survey of the proposed Pangolakha National Park is being conducted which will explore the possibility of the existence of the Sikkim Stag (Cervus elephus shou) in this region.

The Wetlands Programme aims to create awareness about the value of wetlands, improve their management, influence government policy and develop a comprehensive base of scientific data. The focus is on the Ramsar sites, which are wetlands of international importance. Illustrated booklets--one on each of the six Ramsar sites--have been produced, and a training workshop on wetland management has been conducted at the Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, a World Heritage Site.

A baseline survey for eco-restoration of the Pulicat lake in south India has been initiated by the Centre for Research on New International Economic Order, Madras with support from WWF-India. Based on this, a long-term study on Biodiversity Restoration and Sustainable Development with the participation of fisherfolk will be undertaken.

WWF-India is a member of the National Committee on Wetlands, Mangroves and Coral Reefs of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. It also has representatives on several wetland-related committees and advisory groups. In March 1995, it contributed to the Asian Regional Ramsar Meeting held in New Delhi.

As part of its larger strategy for biodiversity conservation, WWF-India has initiated a Forestry Programme. Its focus is on participatory joint forest management, eco-development around forest areas, and working on a national forest policy. It is also working on a National Forestry Action Plan and on developing forest information systems. WWF-India's Centre for Environmental Law has already begun work on National Forest Laws under a Ford Foundation supported project.

In the eastern state of West Bengal, WWF-India has formed a registered society to offer a support-cum-service facility to the West Bengal Forest Protection Committees, which were conferred the prestigious Paul Getty Award for 1992.

In another significant move, WWF-India recently took the initiative to counter the handing over of degraded forest lands to the corporate sector. It made a detailed policy analysis and brought out a document, Leasing of Forest Lands to Industry, which focused attention on the issue and attracted the support of other environmental NGOs.

The effort behind the Protected Areas Programme is to create a threat alert mechanism for protected areas with the involvement of local level NGOs. A database for Protected Areas has been built up. And an action plan has been prepared for the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, located in the central state of Uttar Pradesh. Next is an ecodevelopment plan which is being prepared for the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, an adjacent state.

Wildlife conservation, a key concern of WWF-India since its inception, continues to receive special attention. Project Tiger, started by the government in the early 1970s with support from WWF-India, has been successful in bringing the tiger back from the brink of extinction. However, a renewed threat to the species has prompted the organization to work towards strengthening the mechanisms to monitor the illegal trade in wildlife products, especially skins, bones and other organs of the tiger. WWF-India has established a Tiger Conservation Fund to mobilize material support and ensure proper utilization of finances for tiger conservation. The fund is associated with the National Tiger Action Plan. WWF-India has also been nominated to represent the WWF family on the Global Tiger Forum, a group comprising tiger range and other interested countries.

The Ranthambhor Eco-Development Project was initiated by WWF-India in September 1991. The project aims to make the communities living in the periphery of the 392-sq km Ranthambhor National Park in Rajasthan less directly dependent on the natural resources of the park and to help them develop a stake in protecting it. Its focus is on the regeneration of the buffer area with the involvement of the local people and the forest department.

As part of the project, the forest department-owned wasteland, which has been leased to the people of Gopalpura -- a village on the Park's periphery -- for the purpose of meeting their fuelwood and fodder requirements, was planted with grass and trees. Vaccinations for foot and mouth disease and paemorrhagic septicemia have been administered to cattle with the cost of vaccines being subsidised by the project. A nursery has been established in the project office at Khandar, another nearby village, to meet the needs of pasture land development. And three demonstration biogas plants have been constructed in the project area.


<<----BACK