PROJECT Addressing pangolin trade in the transboundary landscape: Darjeeling, Eastern Himalaya, by Sunita Pradhan, Sarala Khaling, Rohit George and Susadhna Gurung |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND
Pangolins are one of the most trafficked mammals in the world. Studies have shown that drivers of pangolin poaching and trafficking are complex, requiring interventions like effective protection at source sites, strong law enforcement along trafficking routes and changes in consumer behaviour. Our engagements with Pangolin conservation indicate that the tea landscape of Darjeeling (including Kalimpong) is a significant distribution range of the Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla and the Endangered Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata.
PROBLEM
However, conservation is not a priority in the tea landscape, leading to inadequate legal protection for the pangolins. Our findings show as many as nine sites with a ‘significantly decreased pangolin population’ indicating a strong probability of local extirpation. More than factors like climate change, use of pesticides and habitat loss, hunting is responsible for the decline in the pangolin population in the landscape. Hunting is for meat, trade and fun. The landscape is a source site with pangolin trade reported in approximately 50% of the areas (n=79). Most of the pangolin trade is transboundary, facilitated by the open Indo-Nepal border where coordination among the local enforcement agencies is still weak.
SOLUTIONS
Our focus: i) research, documentation and outreach for effective protection in source sites; and ii) facilitation to strengthen the enforcement process (through coordination among local enforcement agencies) and the civil societies to curb pangolin trade across the borders. This is being done through transboundary Indo-Nepal coordination meetings, enabling local-level cooperation between enforcement agencies, local NGOs and communities. OUTCOMES
There has been systematic documentation of the presence and the probable absence of the Chinese Pangolin and the Indian Pangolin, along with reported trade of the species in the landscape, leading to protection and conservation strategies for the landscape.
There has been an understanding of the challenges and opportunities in transboundary cooperation at the local level to combat pangolin trade across the Indo-Nepal border along with a local-level action plan, networking and sustained engagement.
| | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
PROJECT Nature positive solutions, by Milind Bunyan, Ravikanth, Arpitha K.S. and Zishan Wani |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND Tree planting takes up a large share of the ambitious restoration commitments made across the globe. India has also committed to sequester 2.5–3.0 Gt of carbon dioxide and reverse land degradation across 26 Mha – through the Bonn Challenge and its NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) made at the Paris COP – by increasing its tree cover. These goals are expected to align with India’s National Afforestation Programme and National Mission on Green India (GIM), which envision large-scale aggressive tree-planting. However, these tree-planting drives often fail, or have a low impact, due to species-site mismatches, low interspecific and intraspecific diversity, inappropriate silvicultural techniques, lack of benefits and land tenurial uncertainties. Information on plant functional and physiological traits as well as identifying the ecological niche of a species can help address some of these concerns. This should involve fostering complementarity between sites and species, promoting socio-ecologically responsible restoration and securing stable multifunctional ecosystems.
SOLUTIONS
The Diversity for Restoration (D4R) is a Decision Support System (DSS) that helps users identify suitable tree species for restoring degraded ecosystems. D4R integrates an analysis of plant functional trait data, habitat suitability for present and future climates and local knowledge to match species with sites. Users can also include restoration objectives (such as biodiversity conservation, agroforestry, ecosystem services and commercial or traditional use) to nuance these recommendations, maximizing the odds and benefits of restoration. D4R generates three different recommendations for species combinations. The first strikes a balance between site aptness and functional diversity. The other two options focus on diversity and site aptness, respectively.
OUTCOMES The D4R aspires to promote socio-ecologically responsible restoration as a nature-positive initiative by providing site characteristics and restoration objectives through a scalable, open-access online tool. | | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
PROJECT
Estimating the impacts of ecosystem restoration on soil carbon stocks in semi-arid grasslands in India, by Manan Bhan, Chetan Misher and Abi Vanak |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND
Semi-arid grasslands support the lives and livelihoods of many people in Peninsular India and are also important for biodiversity conservation. They can serve as a key ally in tackling climate change. One of their important attributes, often overlooked, is their ability to contribute to effective and long-term climate action. These ecosystems have the potential to store large amounts of carbon in their soils. Restoring them can go a long way in realizing this potential.
SOLUTIONS
To evolve effective strategies for protection and restoration, it is important to know how much carbon currently exists in grassland soils and whether restoration shows a significant increase in carbon stocks. To estimate these soil carbon stocks and carbon gains, we carried out a field activity in March 2023 in Solapur district, Maharashtra, and found very encouraging results! Soils in these grasslands store carbon stocks similar to identical grasslands across Africa and South America. We also compared soil carbon stocks across sites where ecosystem restoration had been initiated by planting native grass species over the last 1–3 years. We found appreciable increases in soil carbon stocks, which at least partly could be attributed to the restoration activity itself.
OUTCOMES
Our results show that effective management of semi-arid grasslands can lead to them storing large amounts of carbon in their soils. This is very encouraging and demonstrates the role these grasslands can play in national and international climate action goals. | | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
PROJECT
Conserving wildlife corridors in the Western Ghats, by Prathamesh Amberkar, Niranjana C., Afna P., Md. Shanid, Bhashita A., Ganesh T., Siddappa Setty, Seshadri K.S. and Soubadra Devy |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Funds (CEPF) identified a few critical links and potential corridors in the Western Ghats. One of these key corridors is the Edyarahalli-Doddasampige corridor, which serves as a link between Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve and Male Mahadeshwara Hills. These two protected areas have been fragmented by a linear strip of agricultural land and a few scattered settlements, extending from Lokanhalli in the north (south of Kollegal) to the Dhondenling Tibetan settlement (north of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve) in the south. In 2003, two NGOs bought 25.5 acres of land near the Andipalaya village and handed it over to the Karnataka Forest Department to ensure the connectivity of animals between the two fragmented patches.
ISSUE While the narrow stretch of the land is protected, the land towards the north and south of the land, which was identified as a critical link by the CEPF, remains unprotected. Protection to this corridor can be improved by ensuring effective protection to the adjacent areas. This region primarily consists of agricultural land, resulting in frequent instances of crop damage by elephants and wild boars, making it a hotspot for human-wildlife interactions. To safeguard their crops from wildlife, local communities have implemented measures such as solar fences and elephant-proof trenches around their farmlands and settlements aided by the Forest Department. Conflicts arising from human-wildlife encounters are on the rise. Expanding the corridor or establishing pathways within the agroecosystem for safe animal movement is a challenge.
OUTCOMES Our research is focused on determining the feasibility of establishing animal movement corridors in this landscape. A potential intervention to facilitate safe movement and reduce conflicts with wildlife could be identifying government-owned land in the region and protecting it as a conservation reserve or a biodiversity heritage site. If such land is unavailable, we aspire to develop a conservation model where both the local communities and the wildlife benefit, by working at the local village-level scale. To do this, we have started a survey of the landscape for signs of animals. We conducted a preliminary investigation into how intense human-wildlife interactions are. In the coming field season, we will undertake a detailed social survey to understand cropping patterns, people’s perception towards wildlife and the potential for participatory management and conservation of the landscape. | | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
PROJECT Applied experimental ecology to investigate and promote sustainable and biodiversity-friendly livestock grazing practices in Community Forest Resource (CFR) areas of Vidarbha, Maharashtra, by Atul Joshi and Sharachchandra Lele |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND
Grazing-based livestock plays a vital role in India’s rural economy. Across the country, more than 50% of the livestock is dependent on grazing in forests, community spaces and other areas. Over the last five decades, India has witnessed an increase in livestock population and shrinkage in open access areas for grazing. This, in turn, has resulted in increased grazing pressure that often leads to adverse impacts on the productivity and biodiversity of grasslands. In that context, it has become essential to evolve grazing management strategies that are sustainable and biodiversity-friendly.
SOLUTIONS
With the enactment of the Forest Rights Act in 2006, increasing forest areas are now being recognised as CFR areas. Some of the villages in eastern Maharashtra entitled to Community Forest Management have shown keen interest in developing and adopting sustainable grazing practices. In collaboration with a village council, Payvihir, and a local civil society organization, KHOJ Melghat, we have initiated experimental in-situ research to investigate sustainable and biodiversity-friendly ways of livestock grazing management in the CFR areas of eastern Maharashtra. We set up four grazing enclosures in the village's grazed and ungrazed CFR areas in 2022 and extracted the above-ground herbaceous biomass periodically and systematically during the growing season to simulate grazing management practices. This long-term in-situ experiment aims to test the efficacy of different grazing management practices in biomass production and biodiversity conservation. We hope to identify and promote sustainable and biodiversity-friendly livestock management practices through this project in the near future. | | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
PROJECT
Revisiting siang valley: An Epic Journey to Explore Insect diversity after a century,
by Sahanashree R, Ranjith A.P., Seena N. Karimbumkara & Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| BACKGROUND The misty forests and towering mountains of the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh are a treasure trove of biodiversity. Accompanying a military expedition, a group of British colonial scientists set out in 1911 to document the biodiversity and geography of the Siang Valley, and they called it the ‘Abor expedition’. Eminent entomologists such as Claude Morley, C.A. Paiva and W.M. Wheeler contributed to the expedition's documentation, and some specimens were later examined by a group of scientists from the Indian Museum, the present-day Zoological Survey of India, led by its first director, Dr Annandale. Over a century later, the National Geographic Society accepted a proposal from a team of scientists, including the entomologists from ATREE, to explore the biodiversity in the Siang Valley and compare it to the century-old expedition.
APPROACH The previous expedition was during the winter, and the diversity of insects collected was very less. To compensate for this, we planned multiple expeditions in different seasons and used multiple methods to collect a broad diversity of insect groups. Dung-Baited Pitfall Traps and open dung baits were used for dung beetles, Pitfall Traps, the Winkler extractor and aspirators for ants, Yellow Pan Traps, Malaise Traps, and Sweep Netting for parasitic wasps, etc.
OUTCOMES Our expedition added thousands of insect specimens belonging to various orders and several families to the ATREE Insect Museum-Bangalore (AIM-B) collections. Of this large collection, we have so far identified about 75 species of parasitic Hymenoptera. This includes nine new species of Ichneumonids, two new species of Braconids and one new species of Bethylid. The Ichneumonid subfamilies Ateleutinae and Microleptinae (Ichneumonidae) are two subfamilies recorded from India for the first time. The ichneumon wasp genus Hypamblys is recorded for the first time in the Oriental region and the genera Diospilus and Prorops are recorded for the first time from India. All genera except Elaphropoda are newly reported from Arunachal Pradesh. We collected about 80 species of ants, of which four are potentially new species and fifteen are new reports to India. The expedition yielded more than 100 species of dung beetles, including several interesting species. Ten dung beetles are new reports and many are new species. The most noteworthy finding is that of a species of the Peripatus genus belonging to the phylum Onychophora (velvet worms), which are soft-bodied, worm-like invertebrates considered to be an intermediary link between annelids and arthropods. The discovery of Peripatus species was considered the most remarkable zoological result of the 1911 Abor expedition, as no member of the group had ever been recorded from India. Another specimen we found resembles Typhloperipatus Kemp and is most likely the second species of this genus. | | |
|
|
|
|---|
|
You could create a huge impact, we look forward to your contribution |
|
|
|
|---|
|
ATREE, Royal Enclave, Sriramapura, Jakkur Post, Bangalore 560 064
Phone: +91-80-23635555 | www.atree.org | info@atree.org
|
| | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
