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Sustainable Green Religious Tourism, Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve: An emerging model with multi-stakeholder engagement
No full textThe National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) which oversees the Tiger reserve network in the
country has clearly articulated guidelines for regulated tourism of wildlife , especially related to the
impact on tiger populations that adheres to the carrying capacity of the Tiger reserve. Guidelines on
management and regulation of pilgrimages by religious tourists to temples within such reserves have
not received proper attention in the past. Active pilgrimage sites are found in a number of Tiger
reserves, the most notable being the Lord Ayyappa temple in Periyar Tiger Reserve. NTCA
Guidelines indicate every Tiger reserve to draw a plan of action to manage and regulate religious
tourism within 3 years of notification of the NTCA guidelines.
Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in the State of Rajasthan, has an ancient Trinethra Ganesha temple
which is visited regularly i.e., daily, weekly, monthly and during the annual Ganesh Chaturthi
festival by local, regional and national pilgrims. It is estimated to attract not less 8-10 lakh people
annually2. A project to meet the clause on Religious tourism indicated by NTCA guidelines was
perceived and jointly implemented by ATREE and ARC in association with the Forest Department
for Ranthambhore Tiger reserve along with local conservation and community NGO partners, -Tiger
Watch and Prakratik Society.
The model comprised co-management of regulating the festival impact. It involved multiple
stakeholders including the Forest department (assisted by local district administration, wherever
necessary), Trinethra Ganesh Temple Trust, Conservation organizations such as Tiger Watch, World
Wildlife Fund, Ranthambhore Foundation and community NGOs under the flagship of Prakratik
Society, namely Bhu Premi Parivaar, Kids for Tigers, Ranthambhore Art & Wildlife Conservation
Society (RAWCS), Dalit Vikas Sahayata Samithi, etc. (see Appendix-2 for list of participating
stakeholders).
The Outreach component had some of these multiple stakeholders formulating various
components of a Green Ganesha-Clean Ganesha (GG-CG) campaign to target various audiences. A
popular theme song of the campaign announcing the ban on plastics and associated penalty was
composed in the local dialect; a mobile tableau with the theme song, banners, posters and pamphlets
espousing religious beliefs supporting nature conservation spread the message in Sawai Madhopur
town and many nearby villages. Awareness and education banners, posters, signature campaigns,
appeals by the Temple trust, talks with educational institutions/community organizations were
undertaken a month prior to the festival. A major intervention component this year was frisking
and replacement of polythene bags by cloth bags, by community volunteers with the help from the
Ranthambhore Forest Department. The cloth bags were tailored by under privileged women groups
which emerged as a social spin off to the entire effort.
The model had a monitoring component of which assessment of pilgrim flow, garbage generation,
pre and post festival impact on water quality tests of water bodies and road kills was a part. Social
surveys of pilgrim perception and attitude to assess their willingness to reduce impact was done prior
to, during and post-festival. Use of religious beliefs supporting conservation was also assessed.
The project effectively brought conservation groups, community groups and religious institutions
together. More engagement by the District Administration and Panchayats in this program can
further reduce the negative environment impacts drastically. Additionally, monitoring should extend
to biodiversity aspects in the pilgrimage area related to the flora, fauna and their ecosystems, to serve
as an important feedback for further action/intervention by forest managers. Community outreach
can also be fined tuned as many "place of origin of pilgrims' (see Appendix 6 and 7) have been
identified through surveys. We propose this effort to become a part of the annual management plan
of forest department to be implemented every year
Ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging of rohitukine, a chromone anti-cancer alkaloid, during seed development in Dysoxylum binectariferum Hook.f (Meliaceae)
No full textRohitukine, a chromone alkaloid, possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and immuno-modulatory properties. It has been reported from four species, belonging to the families, Meliaceae and Rubiaceae.
Stem bark of Dysoxylum binectariferum (Meliaceae) accumulates the highest amount of rohitukine
(3–7% by dry weight). In this study, we examine the spatial and temporal distribution of rohitukine and related compounds during various stages of seed development in D. binectariferum using desorption
electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI MSI). Rohitukine (m/z 306.2) accumulation increased from early seed development to seed maturity stage. The spatial distribution of rohitukine was largely restricted to the cotyledonary tissue followed by the embryo and least in the seed coat. Besides rohitukine, rohitukine acet ate (m/z 348.2) and glycosylated rohitukine (m/z 468.2) were also detected, both through mass fragmentation and exact mass analysis through Orbitrap mass spectrometry. These results indicate a dynamic pattern of chromane alkaloid accumulation through seed
development in D. binectariferum
Saving India’s rivers and riverine ecosystems
Get PDFThe Prime Minister in a speech some months ago very rightly remarked that “future generations will not forgive us for the manner in which we have treated our water”. It would be really nice if this concern was also extended to the plight of India’s last remaining free-flowing streams and rivers. The dominant paradigm is that rivers which flow freely all the way to their estuaries and deltas do not serve any purpose and one often hears politicians and bureaucrats stating that so much water is going “waste” into the Arabian Sea. The ecosystem functions, ecosystem services and livelihoods that rivers and streams provide to communities is rarely mentioned
Co-operative procurement and marketing of tendu leaves in Madhya Pradesh: Image and reality.
Get PDFThe collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) forms a significant part of the livelihoods of forestfringe communities in India, with an estimated 10-27 crore people involved in it. The leaf of tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon), which is used to roll beedis (Indian cigarettes), is one of the most socially and economically important NTFPs. Its collection provides employment to at least 75 lakh leaf pluckers, largely in central India. Madhya Pradesh produces the largest volume of tendu leaf in the country, accounting for more than 25% of the national production.All central Indian states have ‘nationalized’ tendu leaves in order to control its trade, and ostensibly follow policies to enhance incomes for tendu leaf pluckers. After the passing of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) in 1996 and the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, the states are under pressure to transfer rights over tendu leaf and all other NTFPs to forest-dwellers. But no practical approach has been worked out for this transition.The MP (and Chhattisgarh) model, in which a three-tiered federation of co-operatives procures and markets tendu leaf, has been lauded by various committees as being the best approach to enhancing forest-dweller incomes and assuring their rights, and coming ‘closest to the soul and spirit of the PESA’. The MP government claims that it has ‘transferred ownership of NTFPs to Gram Sabhas’ through this model. There are, however, no systematic assessments of this model after 1998.This report presents the results of a study of tendu leaf procurement and marketing in Madhya Pradesh during 2010-12. The objective of the study was to understand how well the MP model has worked along different dimensions, and the factors influencing these outcomes, so as to inform the debate on future policy regarding NTFP procurement and marketing in light of the PESA and FRA
Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Irrigation Water — A Case Study of Malaprabha Irrigation Project in Karnataka, India
No full textIn principle, the approach toward irrigation management in India has gradually shifted from a government dominated, supply-side paradigm toward a user-preferred, demand-side paradigm. Yet, decisions regarding water allocation and irrigation charges do not adequately incorporate farmers' preferences and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improved irrigation. Since public investment on irrigation projects is sizeable and the opportunity cost of irrigation water is increasing, there exists a need to estimate the economic value of irrigation water in order to utilize it in an efficient manner. This paper presents results of a contingent valuation (CV) study conducted in a semi-arid region, namely, the Malaprabha Irrigation Project in Karnataka, India, which elicited farmers' preferences and their WTP value for improved irrigation. The results suggest that farmers predict a significant increase in agricultural benefits due to additional irrigation and they are willing to pay significantly higher than what they are currently paying to secure these benefits. It implies that improved irrigation increases not only the farmers' benefits but could potentially increase the government's revenue, resulting in a win–win outcome
Vegetation change and fragmentation in the mega city of Delhi:Mapping 25 years of change
No full textDelhi, the worlds' second most populous city, has experienced rapid, planned and unplanned expansion
at the cost of its green cover in recent decades. In this study, we use satellite images from 1986, 1999 and
2010 to map changes in urban and green cover, assess the fragmentation of green spaces, and identify the drivers of change. We find that urban patterns of development have shaped the distribution and fragmentation of green spaces, with the city center containing more green spaces with less fragmentation compared to intermediate areas and the peri-urban periphery. Yet, the city core has also experienced the greatest degree of vegetation clearing and fragmentation over time due to infrastructural expansion, while the peri-urban periphery has shown an increase in vegetation and a decrease in fragmentation due to recent compensatory plantation in these peripheral areas. Forests, archaeological sites, and military and academic campuses have played a major role in protecting green cover and limiting fragmentation in the core and intermediate areas of the city. This research helps in advancing our understanding of the patterneprocess relationship between urbanization and land cover change/fragmentation in India's largest city
Assessing Habitat Quality of Forest-Corridors through NDVI Analysis in Dry Tropical Forests of South India: Implications for Conservation
Get PDFMost wildlife habitats and migratory routes are extremely threatened due to increasing demands on forestland and forest resources by burgeoning human population. Corridor landscape in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT) is one among them, subjected to various anthropogenic pressures. Human habitation, intensive farming, coffee
plantations, ill-planned infrastructure developments and rapid spreading of invasive plant species Lantana camara, pose a serious threat to wildlife habitat and their migration. Aim of this work is to create detailed NDVI based land change maps and to use them to identify timeseries trends in greening and browning in forest corridors in the study area and to identify the drivers that are influencing the observed changes. Over the four decades in BRT, NDVI increased in the core area of the forest and reduced in the fringe areas. The change analysis
between 1973 and 2014 shows significant changes; browning due to anthropogenic activities as well as natural processes and greening due to Lantana spread. This indicates that the change processes are complex, involving multiple driving factors, such as socio-economic changes,
high population growth, historical forest management practices and policies. Our study suggests that the use of updated and accurate change detection maps will be useful in taking appropriate site specific action-oriented conservation decisions to restore and manage the degraded critical wildlife corridors in human-dominated landscape
Morphology, natural history and molecular identification of tadpoles of three endemic frog species of Nyctibatrachus Boulenger, 1882 (Anura: Nyctibatrachidae) from Central Western Ghats, India
No full textWestern Ghats of India is known for its high amphibian diversity, but very little is known about their tadpoles. Here, for the first time, we describe tadpoles of three
species of an endemic genus, Nyctibatrachus, namely N. kempholeyensis, N. jog and N. kumbara using morphology and molecular techniques. Tadpoles were found in the streams and Myristica swamps of evergreen forests of central Western Ghats. They have a robust body, complete marginal papillae and lack keratodonts. The morphology indicates that these tadpoles are adapted to lotic
habitats. In recent years, many of the streams these tadpoles inhabit have been diverted for agriculture and areca plantations. The descriptions of these tadpoles
bear relevance for their conservation and can help in understanding amphibian larval ecology
Mud-packing frog: A novel breeding behaviour and parental care in a stream dwelling new species of Nyctibatrachus (Amphibia, Anura, Nyctibatrachidae)
Get PDFReproductive modes are diverse and unique in anurans. Selective pressures of evolution, ecology and environment are attributed to such diverse reproductive modes. Globally forty different reproductive modes in anurans have been described to date. The genus Nyctibatrachus has been recently revised and belongs to an ancient lineage of frog families in the Western Ghats of India. Species of this genus are known to exhibit mountain associated clade endemism and novel breeding behaviours. The purpose of this study is to present unique reproductive behaviour, oviposition and parental care in a new species Nyctibatrachus kumbara sp. nov. which is described in the paper. Nyctibatrachus kumbara sp. nov. is a medium sized stream dwelling frog. It is distinct from the congeners based on a suite of morphological characters and substantially divergent in DNA sequences of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. Males exhibit parental care by mud packing the egg clutch. Such parental care has so far not been described from any other frog species worldwide. Besides this, we emphasize that three co-occurring congeneric species of Nyctibatrachus, namely N. jog, N. kempholeyensis and Nyctibatrachus kumbara sp. nov. from the study site differ in breeding behaviour, which could represent a case of reproductive character displacement. These three species are distinct in their size, call pattern, reproductive behaviour, maximum number of eggs in a clutch, oviposition and parental care, which was evident from the statistical analysis. The study throws light on the reproductive behaviour of Nyctibatrachus kumbara sp. nov. and associated species to understand the evolution and adaptation of reproductive modes of anurans in general, and Nyctibatrachus in particular from the Western Ghats
Genetic Structure, Diversity and Long Term Viability of a Medicinal Plant, Nothapodytes nimmoniana Graham. (Icacinaceae), in Protected and Non-Protected Areas in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot
Get PDFBackground and Question: The harvesting of medicinal plants from wild sources is escalating in many parts of the world, compromising the long-term survival of natural populations of medicinally important plants and sustainability of sources of raw material to meet pharmaceutical industry needs. Although protected areas are considered to play a central role in conservation of plant genetic resources, the effectiveness of protected areas for maintaining medicinal plant populations subject
to intense harvesting pressure remain largely unknown. We conducted genetic and demographic studies of Nothapodytes nimmoniana Graham, one of the extensively harvested medicinal plant species in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India to assess the effectiveness of protected areas in long-term maintenance of economically important plant species. Methodology/Principal Findings: The analysis of adults and seedlings of N. nimmoniana in four protected and four non-protected areas using 7 nuclear
microsatellite loci revealed that populations that are distributed within protected areas are subject to lower levels of harvesting and maintain higher genetic diversity (He50.816, Ho50.607, A518.857) than populations in adjoining non-protected areas (He50.781, Ho50.511, A515.571). Furthermore, seedlings in protected areas had significantly higher observed heterozygosity (Ho50.630) and privatealleles as compared to seedlings in adjoining non-protected areas (Ho50.426). Most populations revealed signatures of recent genetic bottleneck. The prediction
of long-term maintenance of genetic diversity using BOTTLESIM indicated that current population sizes of the species are not sufficient to maintain 90% of present
genetic diversity for next 100 years. Conclusions/Significance: Overall, these results highlight the need for establishing more protected areas encompassing a large number of adult plants in the Western Ghats to conserve genetic diversity of economically and medicinally important plant species