Holocene Year 4 (10-12)June to August 2019

YEAR 4/ISSUE 10-11-12/JUNE - AUGUST 2019

Special Issue on Nature and Wildlife of Bangladesh Cover: Buffy Fish Owl at Sundarbans, by Sadat Amin Khan

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Year 4/Issue 10-11-12/June – August 2019 The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years BP and continues to the present. As Earth warmed after the Ice Age, the human population increased and early man began to change the planet forever. For Exploring Nature, our newsletter Holocene is our platform to convey our concerns on human threat to biodiversity. We will use our newsletter as a media to highlight the current local and global issues which could impact biodiversity of Mother Nature and promote awareness of biodiversity in alignment with our group’s mission of promoting awareness of different aspects of Mother Nature among people.

In this newsletter our readers will get information and periodic updates on.  Recent significant discussions on biodiversity, going on across the world.  Major recent research and studies on biodiversity.  Biodiversity explorations planned and conducted by national and international groups as well as Exploring Nature.  Information and interesting readings on wildlife photography and biodiversity modelling etc.

Holocene Year 4/Issue 10-11-12/June - August 2019 © Exploring Nature

Content:  Editorial Election, New Government and Environment….…Largest democracy of the world has gone through most expensive election in parliamentary democratic system, What was promised before election and what to expect from the new government as far as environment protection strategy of the nation in concerned…..

4|Page  Cover Story The Mighty Sundarbans by Foridi Numan The history and significance of mysterious freshwater swamp forest narrated in Bangladesh special issue of Holocene 5|Page  Story Room A Trilogy on Beautiful Bangladesh: Tribute to Nature and Wildlife of Bangladesh  The Honey Hunters of Sundarbans by – Emdadul Islam Bitu Life and work of Honey Hunter community of Sundarban of Bangladesh.

10|Page  For the Love of Birds by – Nazmul Kamal Rony Love, emotion, disappointment and excitement of birding on river Padma.

11|Page  The Sundarbans: Status of Environment and Biota by – Amit Kumer Neogi, Kazi Ahsan Habib A comprehensive ecological account of the mysterious land.

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Cover, Design and Illustration © Exploring Nature All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without proper prior permission in writing from Exploring Nature.

Editorial Board Team Exploring Nature Holocene Cover: Sadat Amin Khan and Emdadul Islam Bitu Logo and Title Design Arijit Das Majumder and Saikat Chakraborty Website www.exploringnature.org.in

 Expert Speaks  People Celebrating Their Own Doom by Vrushabh Borkar 17|Page  Red Panda (Compiled) by Soumajit Nandi 20|Page  Endangered Hoolock Gibbon of Bangladesh by Dr. Syed Jamal 22|Page  Bio Enterprising Archelon Project by Katrina Sutherland 24|Page  Voice of Nature When Nature is in Focus… A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

25|Page  Theme-Poster Message on World Environment Day, by Global Sustainability Consulting Firm ERM 30|Page

e-mail info@exploringnature.org.in

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Editorial: Election, New Government and Environment

Exactly a month ago on 30th May, 2019, 17th Parliament was constituted when minsters took oath after conclusion of months’ long election across the country. The 2019 Indian general election was held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Parliament. The votes were counted and result was declared on 23 May. About 900 million people were eligible to vote and turnout was over 67 per cent – the highest ever as well as the highest participation by women voters. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats, further increasing its substantial majority and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 353 seats. The Indian National Congress party won 52 seats, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 91. Other parties and their alliances won 98 seats. Indian National Congress again failed to secure the requisite 10% of the seats (54 seats) in the Parliament and hence India remains without an official opposition party.

Clearly, a substantial population of India put their faith on BJP led, NDA and made them return to power. Before election, when all major political parties released their election manifestos, as Natural History Commentator, we tried to analyse and narrate political parties’ promise for Environment Conservation strategies of the Nation. It’s a fundamental duty of state after all, as Article 48 -A of the Constitution says that “the state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country”.

When we begin our analysis of manifestos from the perspective of environment, forest, wild life and forest dwellers, we found among all political parties, Indian National Congress emphasised most on such issues.

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Congress mentioned, constitution of an independent, empowered, and transparent Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to implement, enforce, and monitor the compliance with environmental norms and regulations of the country, and this Authority will supersede all existing environmental regulatory bodies. Now, our first question is, does independent mean autonomous? If yes, then EPA will be more effective than, current so called independent authorities. But if not, then the proposed EPA might have same faith as that of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and National Board of Wildlife (NBWL). Rather Industrial lobbyist will take advantage of a Single Window system and their influence over clearance related to water, forest and land will be even more stronger; 2. It was promised in election manifesto of Congress, that Clean Air India Initiative will be made more effective by declaring Air pollution as National Public Health Emergency. However, it would not be an easy task to identify and control all primary sources of emission. Again Industry lobbies, as well as agriculturists of the states like Punjab and Haryana, may oppose such initiative. Cooperation of all states is very crucial over here, but if it’s implemented, then definitely will turn out as a good initiative.

3. In the manifestos, there was mention of formulating a strategy on usage of land and water, after considering conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem and wild life, without affecting the rights of forest dwellers on such resources. If this can be made possible, then this would resolve the conflict between current Wildlife Protection Act, Forest (Conservation) Act and The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. But again, more clarity needed on independent or autonomous status of proposed EPA. But people of this country have chosen BJP led NDA, over Congress led UPA. Therefore, analysis and narration of BJP’s election manifesto is now more relevant for us.

We all have witnessed Environmental Policy of BJP in recent past, a radical changes in that should not be expected. In a four point agenda, there was only clear mention of environment was a promise for 35% reduction of air pollution, in next five years, in 102 polluted cities of the country.

Again, Article 21 guarantees fundamental right to life. Right to environment, free of danger of disease and infection is inherent in it. Right to healthy environment is important attribute of right to live with human dignity. Therefore, as citizen of India, our four point environmental demand from the current Government are, 1. Habitat loss is key concern for National Animal – Bengal Tiger, therefore all potential tiger corridors should be under the jurisdiction of Project Tiger; 2. Government should ensure number of Independent Individual Experts is always 15 and number of Independent Expert Organizations is always 5, to comply with constitution and structure of NBWL; 3. Increasing national forest cover by 25% from the current status and in relation to that, giving utmost importance to classical wildlife habitat restoration; and 4. Public Hearing and consultation with all Village and District level committee, as part of Environmental Impact Assessment and Forest Clearance, should be mandatory.

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Cover Story: The Mighty Sundarbans

By Foridi Numan Translated from original Bengali by Arnab Basu Sundarbans – an enormous, extensive, vast, reticent, quiet, tranquil, harrowing, and mysterious forest; the habitat of fearsome carnivores and predators; the largest mangrove delta of the world; commonly known as Swampland, an inexplicable wonder of earth.

It is true that no one knows what lurks behind the dark dense forests of these mysterious mangroves. All the research work done so far on this diversified forest, has never been enough to reveal the complete awesomeness of this bewildering woodland.

Picture by Sadat Amin Khan, Sundarban National Park, Bangladesh

Mughal Emperor Akbar was the first who surveyed the forest, with his chieftain Todarmal. But getting an accurate and effective survey of such large area with multifarious flora, fauna and waterbodies, was not possible back in time.

After the de thorn of last independent ruler of undivided Bengal, Nawab Siraj ud Daulah, by the conspirator and paymaster of his army Mir Jaffar, East India Company was bestowed with the vast area of Bengal, and Sundarbans was part of that. The senior officers of East India Company were attracted by the rich natural resources of the woodland and envisaged that as a treasure for the future. Primarily that was the beginning of exploitation of Sundarbans, marked by a more efficient survey by Company in 1811 and distribution of forest land to farmers for cultivation, after clearing the forest.

During 1860 AD, British rulers of this subcontinent, started lumbering of valuable trees at commercial scale. Sine time memorial, forest dwellers always collected timber and non-timber forest produces for their daily need, from the forest. But British rulers, changed this trend for their business interest and started large scale exploitation of forest as well as planting of commercially valuable exotic species instead of indigenous species. Till 1947, British Government of this undivided land, continued “Clear Felling” process to create man made forest, in the existing mixed evergreen and deciduous teak forest.

After the partition of the country, first Pakistan Government and after that Forest Department of independent Bangladesh, continued this trend till 90s of last century. However, Sundarbans was escaped from this type of tree felling, for being a land of mudflats, populated by reptiles and tigers, which was not suitable for human habitation.

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Although, when exactly the destruction of Sundarbans forest started is a difficult question to answer – as ancient ruins of Gupta era (320 BC to 600 AD) was excavated from the deep inside of Sundarbans, similarly trunks of Sundari trees were found from the places like Bikrampur, Gopal Gunj, Jashore and Kolkata, by the palaeontologists. The characteristic tree of the forest is the sundari (Heritiera littoralis), which can’t be found anywhere else. Also within 3-4 meters beneath the surface, of the marshy areas of Gopal Gunj and different places of Terkhada and Mollahat of North Khulna district, semi solid loamy soils can be found. These all suggests, Sundarbans was spread across among this area. Natural calamities and irresponsible mankind were responsible for the destruction of this huge forest land. Two places of Madaripur and Gopal Gunj – Keorakandi and Orakandi – symbolize Sundarban. The Sundarbans flora is characterised by the abundance of ora or goran (Ceriops decandra) and keora (Sonneratia apetala) all of which occur prominently throughout the area.

An Ancient Human Settlement Area of Sundarbans has reduced significantly over a period of time. Of course development of human habitat, public settlement, roads, market, farmland – are the main reasons. However, it was not possible to keep it as human settlement for long time. Deep inside forest and its adjacent areas, ruins of ancient houses, temples, ponds could be found. All these suggest, once the forest land was converted into human settlement, again with time engulfed by forest. Wild lives of forest ran away from forest once human settlement started growing, and again came back as time passed. Remains of palatial buildings and temples not only in newly reclaimed land, but actually many miles within the muddy mangrove swamps of the reserved forests, clearly indicates that once populous Sundarbans became uninhabitable owing to earth subsidence Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, has mentioned in one of his books, that Islamic Spiritual Guides (known as Peer in Persi), visited Jashore and nearby area for missionary activities during 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. That time human settlements were established and villages of Islamkathi, Mamudkathi, Hosenpur, and Hasnabad are the evidences of such period. In 1450 AD, Hazrat Khan Jahan Ali, built the famous Sixty Dome Mosque (commonly known as Shaṭ Gombuj Moshjid). It is part of the Mosque City of Bagerhat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest mosque in Bangladesh from the sultanate period (1204-1576). For the purpose farming, when forest clearing started, remains of another ancient mosque was discovered, at the bank of Kapotakshya River, near Chandkhali. Local people named that place as “Masjidkur” (Moshjid is Arabic word of Mosque). It’s believed this Mosque too was built in the era of Khan Jahan Ali. Historical evidences tell us, Sundarbans was spread across the Southern Gangetic Delta. Islamic missionaries, extensively converted the forest for growing of rice and opening the land for settlement, in order to make their living. That’s how plenty of public amenities, building, and mosque were built up during that period, by Khan Jahan as well. Evidences of the existence of roads made by him was found up to Bagerhat from Barbazar of Jashore to Murlikseva, Payagram, Digholia and Senhati. Khan Jahan 6

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began a new era by creating Islamic culture and civilization, in the coastal area of Bay of Bengal, in this land of Sundarbans. As per L. R. Fawcus, “Peer Khan Jahan Ali ruled South Bengal for long time during 50th Century, and is remembered not just as a forest pioneer, but as a civilization builder in the wildest sense.”

After the demise of Khan Jahan Ali, Khalifatabad or current Bagerhat became the capital of Independent ruler of Bengal Hosen Shah’s son Nasrat Shah.

It’s also believed Jhalmalia pond of Rampal and Kale Khan’s pond of Bede was built during Khan Jahan’s period. Besides these, also there are Narikel Buniya Pond and Falpukuria Pond in Pedikhali village; at the north of the village police station, there are two ponds of Rampal and Shyampal brothers; even there were existence of old pond and markets in Chadpai village. As hear say goes, two prophets – Bacher prophet and Mecher prophet did prophesy of Islam and cultivation in this area. They are known as prophets of Taibari.

At about three kilometres north of Jatrapur market of Bagerhat, there is famous Ayodhya Monastery. A 17th century, shikhara-style Hindu temple called Kodla Math, named after the alternate name for the village Kodola.

Standing at 18.28 metres, this tall structure has a square base. There is no definite information on who built this skyscraper temple, by clearing forest of Sundarbans swampland. Although this Ayodhya Monstery has no correlation with Ayodhya of Ramayana, but based an inscription on one of the earthen pillars of this monastery, it was assumed that a Brahmin priest might built this temple in order to receive blessings of god.

During Mughal Emperor Akbar’s period, to establish the Jashore Kingdom, King Pratapaditya’s son Vikramaditya and his brother Basant Rai, cleared a huge 20 square kilometres area of dense forest. The capital of ancient Jashore kingdom was also built here. Probably that was the start of rapid development of human settlement in Sundarbans.

Ancient remains of a temple was found near Shivbati of Kaligunj, at Satkheera. Also, it was found that first magistrate of British Government of Jashore district – Mr. O. Jorge Henkel established a city after his name – Henkelgunj (current Hingal gunj) for farming in Sundarbans. He divided the land into 16 administrative districts and started allocating land on lease in nominal tax for the purpose of cultivation.

Henkel defined Kachua of Bagerhat and Chandkhali of Khulna as northern periphery of Sundarbans and started lease of land for cultivation. He established another city in Chandkhali similar to Henkelgunj.

There were lot of salt manufacturing factories in Sundarbans. Mongoloid traders established those factories and made lot of profit by making salts from the saline water of Sundarbans. There were plenty of such factories on the riverbank of Malancha, Raimongal, Shivsa, Pashar, and Alki River.

About 20km west of Raimangal check post, inside forest, remains of an ancient palace was found. The ruins of human settlement around the palatial remains, were believed to be houses of Dakshin Rai (folk deity of Sundarbans) and his brother Mukut Rai. Also as per folklore, Ghazi and Kalu crossed the canal

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of Dara, around that area with his tiger disciples towards Brahmanagar during battle against Mukut Rai, once Ghazi’s marriage proposal with Mukut Rai’s daughter was turned down.

At the east riverbank of Shibsa River, from where the Shekh’s Canal flown towards east and meets the sea, the forest patch there is known as Shech’s Tek. The remains of Shekh’s tek can be seen there, and tourists of Sundarbans are also more or less familiar with this place. However, historians are not in agreement with the history of Shekh’s tek. As narrated by Historian Omali, the Portuguese map of Mughal Emperor, describes presence of five key cities at the coast of Bay of Bengal. Shekh’s tek could be one of them.

There is disagreement on whether there were human settlement in forest in ancient time. As per Professor of Medieval History at Leiden University, W. P. Blockmans, there was a mere attempt for development human settlement inside Sundarbans. Omali mentioned, referring survey of Todarmal during Akbar’s era that even in 16th century there were dense forest.

Forest Management The area was mapped first in Persian, by the Surveyor General as early as 1769 following soon after proprietary rights were obtained from the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II by the British East India Company in 1757. Systematic management of this forest tract started in the 1860s after the establishment of a Forest Department in the Province of Bengal, in British India. At the beginning of 18th Century, the area of the forest was twice of what it is now. The human dependency and settlement pressure had shrunk the forest significantly over a period of time. The first Forest Management Division to have jurisdiction over the Sundarbans was established in 1869. In 1875 a large portion of the mangrove forests was declared as reserved forests under the Forest Act, 1865 (Act VIII of 1865). The remaining portions of the forests were declared a reserve forest the following year and the forest, which was so far administered by the civil administration district, was placed under the control of the Forest Department.

A Forest Division, which is the basic forest management and administration unit, was created in 1879 with the headquarters in Khulna, Bangladesh. The first management plan was written for the period 1893–98.

In 1911, it was described as a tract of waste country which had never been surveyed nor had the census been extended to it. It then stretched for about 266 kilometres (165 mi) from the mouth of the Hooghly River to the mouth of the Meghna River and was bordered inland by the three settled districts of the 24 Parganas, Khulna and Bakerganj. The total area (including water) was estimated at 16,900 square kilometres (6,526 sq mi). It was a water-logged jungle, in which tigers and other wild beasts abounded. Attempts at reclamation had not Landsat 7 image of Sundarbans, released by been very successful. The Sundarbans were NASA Earth Observatory intersected by river channels and creeks, some of which afforded water communication throughout the Bengal region both for steamboats and ships.

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The mangrove-dominated Ganges Delta – the Sundarbans – is a complex ecosystem comprising one of the three largest single tracts of mangrove forests of the world. Larger part is situated in Bangladesh, a smaller portion of it lies in India. The Indian part of the forest is estimated to be about 40 percent, while the Bangladeshi part is 60 percent. To the south the forest meets the Bay of Bengal; to the east it is bordered by the Baleswar River and to the north there is a sharp interface with intensively cultivated land. The natural drainage in the upstream areas, other than the main river channels, is everywhere impeded by extensive embankments and polders. The Sundarbans was originally measured (about 200 years ago) to be of about 16,700 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi). Now it has dwindled into about 1/3 of the original size. The total land area today is 4,143 square kilometres (1,600 sq mi), including exposed sandbars with a total area of 42 square kilometres (16 sq mi); the remaining water area of 1,874 square kilometres (724 sq mi) encompasses rivers, small streams and canals. Rivers in the Sundarbans are meeting places of salt water and freshwater. Thus, it is a region of transition between the freshwater of the rivers originating from the Ganges and the saline water of the Bay of Bengal.

In many of the Bangladesh's mangrove wetlands, freshwater reaching the mangroves was considerably reduced from the 1970s because of diversion of freshwater in the upstream area by neighbouring India through the use of the Farakka Barrage bordering Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Also, the Bengal Basin is slowly tilting towards the east because of neo-tectonic movement, forcing greater freshwater input to the Bangladesh Sundarbans.

As a result, the salinity of the Bangladesh Sundarbans is much lower than that of the Indian side. A 1990 study noted that there "is no evidence that environmental degradation in the Himalayas or a 'greenhouse' induced rise in sea level have aggravated floods in Bangladesh"; however, a 2007 report by UNESCO, "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage" SPOT satellite image of has stated that an anthropogenic 45-centimetre (18 in) rise in sea Sundarbans, released by CNES level (likely by the end of the 21st century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), combined with other forms of anthropogenic stress on the Sundarbans, could lead to the destruction of 75 percent of the Sundarbans mangroves. Already, Lohachara Island and New Moore Island/South Talpatti Island have disappeared under the sea, and Ghoramara Island is half submerged. In a study conducted in 2012, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) found out that the Sunderban coast was retreating up to 200 metres (660 ft) in a year. Agricultural activities had destroyed around 17,179 hectares (42,450 acres) of mangroves within three decades (1975– 2010). Shrimp cultivation had destroyed another 7,554 hectares (18,670 acres).

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Story Room: A Trilogy on Beautiful Bangladesh: Tribute to Nature and Wildlife of Bangladesh

The Honey Hunters of Sundarbans Story and Photo by Emdadul Islam Bitu Honey hunting is the collecting honey from the wild bee is one of the most threatening professions in the world. Usually honey collectors are called “Mouals”.

The Mouals are seasonal professional who work for three to four months inside the forest during the flowering seasons. After winter seasons, the forest department issues permit to individual for collecting honey from the forest then hurriedly rush off towards the forest to choose their collection sites.

The Mouals are among the oldest professionals in the Sundarbans and they undoubtedly pursue the most dangerous job in the world. They virtually have to travel every inch of the forest floor through the apparently impenetrable mud and slush. They walk bare foot like a herd of deer over the Shula-ridden jungle floors and swim easily across creeks and canals while searching huneycomb.

The ‘gunin’ or the spiritual guide of the team selects the island for honey collection, tiger attacks happen in the sundarban throughout the year but the number of incidents goes up during the honey collecting seasons. At least 70 people are killed by the tigers every year in Sundarbans most of them are moualies.

A group of mouals usually in odd number (5-11 persons) and most of them are blood reletives searching the wild bee homes first, when they cited bee homes calls other member by firing small noise bomb. Two to three members of the group arranging fire for smoke by tiger fern for emptying wild bee’s home, when bee goes out of their home honey cutter

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goes up to that house and separate the honey. Each member of the team knows what to do and when to do. Soon after collecting honey all member of the team rush to walked from that area. If their luck is good every day 30kilogram honey possible to manage. When empty drums are full of honey they return home, and sell the pure honey to the market.

The quality of the honey is determined by its colour, smell and density. The most prized honey is the sweet smelling thick, cream colored’ which is collected from the nectar of khalshi flower well known as River Mangrove tree, hental flower well known as Mangrove Date Palm etc . In this three months, each member of the team earns excluding all expenses 20,000 to 24,000 Bangladeshi taka (240-290 USD).

Most of the honey producing plants, the basic mangroves grow abundantly in the Burigoaliny range area of Sundarban’s Bangladesh part.

For the Love of Birds Story and Photo by Nazmul Kamal Rony Translated from original Bengali by Arnab Basu 14th October, 2016, Friday: Already there is a nip in the air, indicating winter’s around the corner; day is warm, although night requires a wrap over body! Friday for me, is waking up before the dawn and getting into River Padma. Today I have a new boatman, unaware of my early morning boat ride, is bit perplexed after seeing me getting on boat with a huge camera set up, in this murky early hour. My regular guy is busy with other customers today.

Rainwater which keeps Padma flowing and fluvial, are drying up now. In couple of months, the riverbed will emerge out of the river as scorched and barren desert. Now only parched piece of lands are visible here and there. I asked my boatman to navigate his boat alongside of those parched lands.

Day light is becoming bright and brighter, it’s already quite warm now. We keep crossing parched river beds, one after another – no sign of lives anywhere!

Gradually it becomes noon, gleaming sun on top. Started feeling peckish, I tell my boatman to anchor somewhere near the riverbank. We see a small market of 8-10 huts on the riverbank and call off the journey for refuelling. A skinny dog shows its displeasure upon our arrival and starts burking. Thankfully doesn’t approach towards us - “Barking dog seldom bites" after all!

Other curious people, over there, are measuring us, while sipping in hot black tea.

“We have rice, egg curry, and small fishes!” the owner of a hut, surrounded by fence, tells us.

“Give some water please” Happy to know about availability of rice, we sits there on a wooden bench inside that hut, after washing mouth and face. Boatman sits next to me.

The dog is not burking anymore. Rather there is an appeal for compassion in its eyes. It is a ravenous look, asking for food.

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Food is hot and spicy, as I start eating, the dog makes a soft sound to draw my attention. I keep a lump of rice with curry on the ground, beside a small mango sapling, near the fence. The dog devours it - “Hunger never saw bad bread.”

Lunch is over now, time to relax for some time under tree canopy before we start our boat ride again. Boatman brings black tea for me – strong liquor with high doses of sugar – an extremely sweet drink. Anyway I down it all, without thinking whether its tea or sugar syrup – sugar gives instant energy and I am in need of that.

Our boat ride resumes, the dog is still staring at us from the distant riverbank.

Its afternoon three o’clock now, nothing is seen except few Lesser Cormorant and Pied Kingfisher. I am feeling little disheartened now, could foresee another “flop day” in my birding endeavour. Everybody wants to hear stories of success, but no one is bother to know amount of failure goes to build one small tint of success.

Although, these days of failure provides me more enthusiasm for my days ahead, as famous British author Clive Staples Lewis has said “Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.”

Afternoon on Padma, is hot and humid. Droplets of sweat dripping from eyebrows are causing eye irritation.

Rubbing eyes and face by scooped up water in palm from the river makes me feel a bit refresh. A big sigh comes out – really another “flop day”?

Boatman points towards a faraway riverbed, and asks “How far shall we go?”

I decide to stop over there, where he points his finger, and then start retreat. Considering the distance we have covered so far, it would take another three hours to go back, and it would be dusk before that.

While looking at the destined river bed, I get a kick in heart. On a 500 square yards of small parched land, there are about thousands Small Pratincole skipping and hopping, as I see through my camera lens. The parched land is little elongated and then becomes narrower before submerging into river. At the point of submergence there are two Gulls. I am quite ecstatic now. My heart is flying high, that old but rare feeling of spotting a lifer for the first time on riverbed. Among thousands of Small Pratincole, few rare species of Oriental Pratincole! Recorded for the first time in Rajshahi.

There are few more - Pacific Golden Plover, few Little Stint, Kentish plover etc.

After reaching there, I put a cautious step on riverbed, typically such places are full of quicksand. Previously, three times in my life I got stuck into quicksand. Birds are not bother about us, just skipping away from us by 3-4 feet. It’s a newly emerged riverbed, so most likely they are not familiar with human being.

All of a sudden it struck me to take few shots of gulls. One of them is Pallas’s Gull, which is a regular species in Padma. Also I can see few small species of gull, maybe nestlings of Pallas’s Gull.

These “nestlings of Pallas’s Gull” will soon change the birding record of Rajshahi!

Now time for our return journey, it’s already quite late.

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The biggest surprise of this trip arrives later in the day. A tired me, after reaching home, and posting the images of the day, discover those “nestlings” are actually Slender billed gull. Respected ornithologists of Birds of Bangladesh group identify them and confirm these birds as primarily habitants of sea coast and after Coxbazar they are sighted in Rajshahi for the first time. First time sighted on land or river faraway from sea coast.

Clive Staples Lewis hence proved once again!

The Sundarbans: Status of Environment and Biota

By Amit Kumer Neogi, Kazi Ahsan Habib

Mangrove ecosystem provides important and unique ecosystem goods and services to human society, and coastal and marine systems. They are most productive and biologically important ecosystems of the world and supports a complex aquatic food web and provide a unique habitat for a variety of animals. They are found in coastal ecosystems throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. The waters surrounding the mangroves are a rich source of fish and shellfish. They act as vital breeding and nursing grounds for fish and invertebrates such as oysters, shrimp, and crab because a great deal amount of organic matter is concentrated in a relatively small area. Their deep and extensive roots typically host small marine organisms that need a hard surface, and their sturdy root systems growing in a dense tangle provide stable shelter for diverse species as the tides come and go. This characteristic of mangroves also means they can act as a deterrent to coastal erosion and may provide a buffer to extreme weather events such as tsunamis and tropical storm surge. The forests help stabilize shorelines and reduce the devastating impact of natural disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes. They also provide food, medicine, fuel and building materials for local communities. Mangroves, including associated soils, could sequester approximately 22.8 million metric tons of carbon each year. Covering only 0.1% of the earth's continental surface, the forests account for 11% of the total input of terrestrial carbon into the ocean.

Sundarbans Mangrove Forest The Sundarbans is the single largest continuous mangrove forest in the world, lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal. It is formed about 7000 years ago by the deposition of sediments from the foothills of the Himalayas through the Ganges river system (Chaudhuri and Choudhury, 1994). This deltaic mangrove forest extends across coastal India and Bangladesh, over the northern part of the Bay of Bengal. Sundarbans means the “forests of the Sundri” and the Sundri (meaning beautiful) is a dominant plant species especially in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans. The scientific name of this plant is Heritiera fomes. The Sundarbans mangrove forest is located in the southwest of Bangladesh and the southeastern portion of the State of West Bengal in India with a total area of about 114,000 hectare. The Sundarbans forests tract including the Indian part covers an area 10,000 km2 of which 66 % are land, the remainder is water. About 62% of the Sundarbans forest is in Bangladesh and the rest of in Indian region. It has been recognized as an 13

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international important Ramsar Wetland Site and declared as a World Heritage Site (WHS) by the UNESCO in 1997.

Sundarbans of Bangladesh In Bangladesh, the Sundarbans is located in the south-west of the country (districts of Bagherhat, Khulna and Satkhira) between the river Baleswar in the East and the Harinbanga in the West, adjoining to the Bay of Bengal.

It occupies the area between latitude 21° 27′ & 22° 30′ North and longitude 89° 02′ & 90° 00′ East. It has an area about C (6017 square kilometer) which is 4.13% of the country and 38.12% of the state forest land. The Forest Department of Bangladesh Government has divided the Bangladesh Sundarbans into four administrative ranges which are Satkhira, Khulna, Chandpai, and Sarankhola. A total of 2,279 sites with the area of 220,453,050 ha covering fresh water, estuarine and coastal marine habitats are recognized as a Ramsar Site including Sundarbans. Bangladesh signed the Ramsar convention in 1972 and came into force in December 1975. At first it was declared with around 596,000 hectares of total lands. The government of Bangladesh has recently updated Ramsar Information Sheet on Sundarbans Ramsar site enlarging its area from 596,000 to 6,01,700 hectares.

The drainage system of Sundarbans has three sub systems to the east, center and west, which formed the estuaries of Bangra, Kunga and Raimangal. The whole area is dissected by large tidal river, notably the Baleswar, Passur, Kobadak-Sibsha, Arpangasia and Raimangal with innumerable small channels and creeks.

The Sundarbans mangrove forests and other parts of coastal area support a wide range of biodiversity viz., mammals, birds, fishes, amphibian, reptiles, crustacean, etc. The coastal mangrove forests constitute about 60% of the commercial productive forests including plantations in Barisal, Noakhali, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar Coastal Area. This Ramsar and World Heritage site is one of the most important mangrove forests in the world and has been significantly threatened from a number of directions for many years. Recently, the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO has declared largest mangrove forest on earth, the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, as a “World Heritage in Danger” site.

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Figure: Map of Sundarbans

Biodiversity of Sundarbans The Sundarbans represents a complex estuarine ecosystem dominated by dense forest cover and may be classified as tropical moist ecosystem. The biodiversity of Sundarbans is noticeably rich in terms of plant and animal diversity. Patil (1962) reported that half of the total number of mangrove species found in the world occurs in Bangladesh and Indian part of Sundarbans. The Sundarbans is the biggest delta, back water and tidal phenomenon of the region and thus provides diverse habitats for several hundreds of aquatic and terrestrial species.

Biodiversity of Sundarbans In Sundarbans, vegetation type, plant distribution and their density depends on the effect of salinity. A total of 528 species of vascular plants belonging to 356 genera and 111 families are found in the Sundarban Mangrove Forest of Bangladesh. Among these species, 24 were pteridophytes and the rest were angiosperms, of which only 24 were true mangroves and 70 were mangrove associates (Rahman et al. 2015). A very recent study showed that the Heritiera fomes is very sensitive to at or above 1.0 % salinity while E. agalocha appears to be more tolerant to moderate levels of salinity, and Ceriops decundra is the most salt-loving plant of Sundarbans (Ahmed et al.

2011). Phytoplankton communities of Sundarbans consist of a total of 98 species including nano and picoplankton. On the other hand, a total of 35 benthic algae have been recorded including see weeds (Aziz et al.

2012).

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Sundarbans is a unique ecosystem for surviving of faunal community. Animals have to struggle for life in the Sundarbans due to the forest adverse and hostile environment. Almost all species are adaptive to tolerate high salinity and brackish water for their life cycle. All resident species of aquatic mammals, reptiles and amphibians are powerful swimmers and habituated to meeting food requirements partially from aquatic sources. In Sundarbans, a total of 447 species of vertebrate wildlife are reported to occur, of which 10 are amphibians, 57 reptiles, 339 birds and 41 mammals (BFD, 2010). A lot of globally threatened species of vertebrates viz., Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris), River Terrapin (Batagur baska), Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), Masked Finfoot (Heliopais personata), Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus),White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Pallas's Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus), Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga), Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) and Hoary-bellied Himalayan Squirrel (Callosciurus pygerythrus) inhabit here. In the other hand, the wetlands of Sundarbans are very rich in Biodiversity. Due to the existence of numerous cross connecting channels linking catchment areas and estuaries, the pattern of river sailinity is very complex. Resulting diverse aquatic resources. It is estimated that, 323 species of fishes belonging to 220 genera under 22 order and 94 families are inhabitant in Sundarbans (Habib et al.

2017). Additionally, 50 species of mollusks, 45 species of Arthropods have been recorded so far. Recently Chelonodontops bengalensis (Habib et al. 2018), one new species of puffer fish has been described from this unique habitat.

Sundarbans also inhabited by a variety of benthic invertebrates viz. brachyuran, polychaetes, crabs, gastropods, sipunculids, bivalves etc. Composition of these communities and their importance varies enormously from one habitat to another depending upon the sediment characteristics of Sundarbans. Invertebrates often show marked zonation patterns, and colonize a variety of specific micro-environments.

Conclusion Sundarbans supports an exceptional level of biodiversity in both the terrestrial and marine environments. It is also of great ecological and economic importance because it provides valuable natural resources such as fish, shrimp, crab, wood, grass, honey and wax. It also involved with the live of millions of people and many of these people are dependent on the forests for their survival. Moreover, the resources also the source of earning for the local community, who lives in the buffer or periphery zones of Sundarbans. It also acts like a green belt protecting the coastal belt and in fact the entire country from natural disasters such as Aila and Sidr. Hence, it acts as a natural shield protecting Bangladesh.

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References Ahmed, A., Aziz, A., Khan, A.Z.M.N.A., Islam, M.N., Iqubal, K.F., Nazma, M. and Islam, M.S. 2011. Tree diversity as affected by salinity in the Sundarban Mangrove Forests, Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Bot., 40: 197– 202.

Aziz, A., Rahman, M. and Ahmed, A. 2012. Diversity, distribution and density of estuarine phytoplankton in the Sundarban Mangrove Forests. Bangladesh J. Bot., 41: 87–95.

BFD. 2010. Integrated Resources Management Plans for the Sundarbans; Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Forests: Dhaka, Bangladesh, Vol. I: 1–281pp.

Chaudhuri, A. B. and Choudhury, A. 1994. Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Volume 1: India. World Conservation Union, Gland, 247 Habib, K. A., Kim, C. G., Oh, J., Neogi, A. K. and Lee, Y. H. 2017. Aquatic Biodiversity of Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology. 395pp.

Habib, K. A., Neogi, A. K., Oh, J., Lee, Y. H., and Kim, C. G. 2018. Chelonodontops bengalensis (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae): A New Species of Puffer Fish from the Northern Bay of Bengal Based on Morphology and DNA Barcode. Ocean Science Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-018-0054-7 Patil, R. P. 1962. Our Mangrove Resources. Trop. Ecol. 3(1/2): 70-103pp.

Rahman, M.S., Hossain, G.M., Khan, S.A. and Uddin, S.N. 2015. An Annotated Checklist of The Vascular Plants of Sundarban Mangrove Forest of Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 22(1): 17–41.

Expert Speaks:

People Celebrating their Own Doom…..

By Vrushabh Borkar Climate change, pollution and biodiversity destruction are some of the most urgent challenges, and a new generation of revolutionary activists are fighting them.

There is no doubt in saying that it is a responsibility of the state to protect the environment, under article 21 of the Indian Constitution the people of India have fundamental right to have a healthy environment. Some of the Directive Principles of state policy showed a minute inclination towards environmental protection, i.e., Article 39 (b), 47, 48 and 49 which individually and collectively impose a duty on the state to take measures for improving the general health of the environment, and provide clean environment to the country. However, later through an Article 48 (A) and Article 51 A (g) put a duty on the state as well as the citizens of India to protect and conserve environment.

The under reported failure of the Government, is all-out war against environment in recent years. Government fails to protect its flora and fauna. The biggest statistical evidence is the Environmental Performance Index, 17

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where India was ranked the fourth-worst country (177) in the world out of 180 countries last year. In 2013-14 it was 155th in rank.

The assault began as soon as NDA Government took over in 2014. In June 2014, the environment ministry (named as Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in India by the new Union Government) used a bureaucratic shortcoming to remove the ban on setting up factories in eight “Critically Polluted” industry belts.

[Ref: The Business Standard].

Environment clearances were eased to allow mid-sized polluting industries to operate within 5 km of ecosensitive areas, as against the earlier limit of 10km. Norms for coal tar processing, sand mining, paper pulp industries were also eased. [Ref: Section 3 (2) (v) and Section 5 (1) EIA Notification on Eco Sensitive Zone] In August 2014, the number of independent members in National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) was reduced from 15 to just 3. 682 of 687 proposals of industrial projects, got clearance from NBWL. Only 5 were rejected. More government members in this board meant more government influence. This decision was the key to environment damage. NBWL is chaired by Prime Minster with two ministers from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as Vice Chairpersons.

On 11th December, 2017 Central Pollution Control Board wrote to over 400 Thermal Power Units in the country allowing them to release pollutants in violation of the 2015 limits set by the Government, which were to be followed till another 5 years. It also wanted newer thermal power plants to follow the new norms of clean technologies set by the government. But “even the 16 new power stations that became operational in 2017 have failed to install clean technologies.” [Ref: 15 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India – World Air Quality Report – 2018].

Source: World Economic Forum

In July, 2017, Government tried to undetermine the independence of India’s environmental watchdog – National Green Tribunal. NGT often raised pointed questions about anti-environmental projects. They could do so only because of autonomy. NGT could only be headed by the formet Supreme Court Judge or Chief Justice of High Court. But the NDA Government through the provision of money bill, tweaked the rules, allowing five member committee, wherein four members could be from the government, to choose the Chairperson of NGT. Fortunately, the disastrous stay was put on stay by honourable Supreme Court.

Laws were changed systematically across the states and the country. NDA Government, declassified salt pans as wetlands. This move threatens to open up vast land of salt pans near Mumbai coast for housing projects.

[Ref: Wetland Rules, 2017 and CRZ Notifications 2018].

In 2018, the Environment Ministry proposed major changes to the forest policy, announced major changes to the National Forest Policy, announced a draft Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notifications and came up with new rules for Plastic Waste Management. All three moves, seen as beneficial for Industries, were criticised by environmental activist.

The fight to save Aravali, fight to save the Aurey. These are the last frontiers in this war because these biodiversity sites are the last remaining green areas in the two cities i.e., Gurgaon and Mumbai. In September, 2018, UP Government submitted a proposal to the centre asking for the Turtle Wildlife Sanctuary in Varanasi to

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be de-notified. If this proposal is cleared, this wildlife sanctuary will be the first to be erased since, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was introduced.

In MP, the proposed Ken-Betwa River linking project threatens to destroy 4000+ hectare of Panna Tiger Reserve, a home of critically endangered Gharial species.

In Maharashtra, 53,000 precious mangrove trees will be cut for the famous bullet train project.

In Chattishgarh, one of the most pristine and dense forests of India is about to be eliminated as the Government has given permissions for coal mining.

Now, in 2019 Lokshabha election people elected “Champions of Earth” again and they are celebrating their own doom …….

Reference: 1. The Wire (7th August, 2018) 2. The Hindu (2nd November, 2018) 3. Times of India (4th October, 2017) 4. The Hindu (13th February, 2019) 5. World Air Quality Report 2018 6. Environmental Performance Index – 2018 7. Draft CRZ Notification 8. Draft National Forest Policy

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Red Panda Compiled by Soumajit Nandi Translated from original Bengali by Arnab Basu Red Panda, Scientific Name Ailurus fulgens. State animal of Sikkim. Beautiful and colorful animal, very quiet and shy. People of Sikkim say, if human was as quite as this animal, then this world would have been a peaceful place.

They found in India, Nepal, China, Tibet, Bhutan and Burma. In India, they found in Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and temperate forests of the Himalayas. They have soft and dense furs, which helps to keep it warm during the winter. The underparts and legs are dark brown or black in color. They also have thick and woolly fur on the underparts and legs which not only helps to keep their feet warm but also prevents them from slipping on the wet branches. The face is light with tear markings and robust cranial dental feathers. They has reddish brown mask-like markings over the eyes. The color of eyes is dark brown. The light compact face has white badges with tear markings and robust cranial dental feathers, but each individual can have distinctive markings. Their roundish head has medium-sized with upright ears and the borders around the ears are primarily white. They has black nose. The tail is long and bushy with many alternating red and buff or yellowish rings and the soles of the feet are covered with thick white hair to provide warmth. The legs are black and short with thick fur on the soles of the paws. Red panda has semi-retractable claws to aid climbing and stability amongst the branches. Males are slightly larger than females.

Because of red colour, the myth among many is Red Panda get hunted easily by predators (Predators of the red panda include the snow leopard, mustelids, and humans.). However, it’s not true, hunting red panda is not easy by their predators, they are expert in escaping. Even there are information on their escape from zoological gardens of different countries. If they feel threatened or sense danger, they may try to escape by climbing a rock column or tree. If they can no longer flee, they stand on their hind legs to make themselves appear larger and use the sharp claws on their front paws to defend themselves. A red panda, Futa, became a visitor attraction in Japan for his ability to stand upright for ten seconds at a time.

The primary threats to red pandas are direct harvest from the wild, live or dead, competition with domestic livestock resulting in habitat degradation, and deforestation resulting in habitat loss or fragmentation. The relative importance of these factors is different in each region, and is not well understood. For instance, in India, the biggest threat seems to be habitat loss followed by poaching, while in China, the biggest threat seems to be 20

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hunting and poaching. A 40% decrease in red panda populations has been reported in China over the last 50 years, and populations in western Himalayan areas are considered to be lower. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because the wild population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 mature individuals and continues to decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and inbreeding depression.

We can find Red Panda in the logo of internet browser Mozilla Fire Fox. In China, Red panda is also known as Fire Fox. The red panda is territorial; it is solitary except during mating season. The species is generally quiet except for some twittering, tweeting, and whistling communication sounds. It has been reported to be both nocturnal and crepuscular, sleeping on tree branches or in tree hollows during the day and increasing its activity in the late afternoon and early evening hours. Red pandas are excellent climbers, and forage largely in trees. Red panda is an omnivorous animal. They eat mostly bamboo, and may eat small mammals, birds, eggs, flowers, and berries.

In captivity, they were observed to eat birds, flowers, maple and mulberry leaves, and bark and fruits of maple, beech, and mulberry.

Red Panda was first discovered in 1821, Males weigh 3.7 to 6.2 kg (8.2 to 13.7 lb) and females 3 to 6.0 kg (6.6 to 13.2 lb). A red panda's average lifespan is between eight and 10 years, but individuals have been known to reach 15 years.

The age of sexual maturity is between 18 to 24 months. Breeding season is between January to July. Both sexes may mate with more than one partner. Cubs 2 to 4, gestation period is between 3 to 4 months.

The red panda lives between 2,200 and 4,800 m (7,200 and 15,700 ft) altitude, inhabiting areas of moderate temperature between 10 and 25 °C (50 and 77 °F) with little annual change. It prefers mountainous mixed deciduous and conifer forests, especially with old trees and dense understories of bamboo.

In Chinese Panda means big bear cat. It has been previously placed in the raccoon and bear families, but the results of phylogenetic analysis provide strong support for its taxonomic classification in its own family, Ailuridae, which is part of the superfamily Musteloidea, along with the weasel, raccoon and skunk families.

In ancient China, Panda was most popular among emperors as pet and as gift to other kings.

Red panda has digestive system of carnivores, however through evolution it has adopted food habit of herbivores.

The People's Republic of China used panda diplomacy in the 1950s and has become known in recent decades for this practice. From 1958 to 1982, China gave 23 pandas to nine different countries.

In China, hunting the animal carries a 10 year prison sentence, and in some cases the death penalty.

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Endangered Hoolock Gibbon of Bangladesh Story and Photo by by Dr. Syed Jamal Translated from original Bengali by Arnab Basu Satchari National Park, one of the mixed evergreen forests of Bangladesh, located at Habigunj of Greater Sylhet. A favourite place for tourists, biologists, bird watchers, and photographers to venture for wild lives, birds, and trees – also favourite for poachers and illegal loggers!

I was walking through the dry leaves trail of Satchari, in high fever, with my childhood friend Titu and my guide cum mentor Rahim bhai, who has been accompanying me for almost a decade in my exploration of various areas of Sylhet.

Started feeling feverish since last night, after arriving at Satchari for forest trekking. Rahim bhai advised me not come with fever, but I didn’t listen. I didn’t want to go back without seeing those, whom I wanted to see and the reason I made this trip.

We were walking while looking around the forest, hearing our feet tread, hearing the cracking twigs and leaves underfoot and listening dawn chorus of birds. After couple of hours of trekking, we found them – two of them on a Chapalish tree (Artocarpus chama Buch-Ham), on the top of a hillock. Gibbons – Only representative of Lesser Apes in South East Asia. English name is Hoolock Gibbon or Western Hoolock Gibbon, scientific name Hoolock hoolock. IUCN status - Critically Endangered.

Two sub adult Hoolocks, climbed up further and started calling, the famous emotive call that echoes across long distances in the forest, and is used by individuals to attract mates, as well as securing territory. Other Hoolacks from different part of forest started responding in similar fashion, the forest became noisy all of a sudden in their calls.

Quickly clicked few pictures of them, before they started swinging from one tree to another with the help of their long and slender arms. Hoolock gibbons are swift creatures, they swing from tree to tree in a mode of locomotion known as Brachiating, and can brachiate at speeds up to 55 km/hr, covering up to six meters in just one swing!

Currently in Bangladesh, they can be found in few mixed evergreen forests of Sylhet, Cox’s bazar, land and mountains of Chattagram. Once they existed in teak forests of Mayamansingh and Karnajhora, but extinct now. An arboreal animal, loved to live on high canopy of tropical forest, barely needing to step on the ground.

Their diet comprises mainly of fruits, but they sometimes also consume leaves, shoots and flowers.

Ingestion and excretion process of Hoolock gibbons help in pollination and dispersion of seeds in forest.

Males and females are of similar size, but can be differentiated easily by the coloration of their dense hair. Males are black with a distinctive white brow, while females are copper-tan with dark brown hair on the sides of their face, and a clear central parting in the head hair. They form monogamous pairs that

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remain together for years, though mating outside the pair has been noticed in some individuals. Females give birth to one offspring every 2-3 years, and it remains within the family group for 7-10 years.

They live together in monogamous pairs, which stake out a territory. Young hoolocks areborn after a seven-month gestation, with milky white or buff-colored hair. After about six months, the hair of males will darken and turn black, while the female hair remains buff-colored throughout her life. After eight to 9 years, they are fully mature and their fur reaches its final coloration. Their life expectancy in the wild is about 25 years.

Populations of western hoolock gibbons have declined by almost 90% over the last 30 years, and it is now considered to be one of the most endangered 25 primate species in the world. Populations have been declining due to habitat destruction of various forms and hunting for meat. Poaching for so called alternative medicines, is also another contributing factor. Irresponsible behaviour of over enthusiastic “eco-tourists” in two National Parks of Bangladesh can also be considered as reason for their habitat disturbance.

Anyway, after posing for some time for us, both of them brachiated into deep forest, and we left the place after our satisfactory photography trek.

While leaving, I looked back and saw two rapidly fading out black spots in distant forest, symbolized the rate of acceleration in which they are disappearing from this planet.

Don’t’ know when we will start thinking about co-habitation of man and animal.

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Bio-Enterprising: Archelon Project

By Katrina Sutherland

ARCHELON Part 1: Preveza and Amvrakikos Shortly after finishing my final year exams, I signed up to volunteer with ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Preservation Society of Greece.

A few weeks later, I arrived at Monolithi, where ARCHELON has its Preveza base. The campsite is opposite the longest beach in Europe (I can confirm that it’s long!).

Each day in Preveza started with a morning survey, where we searched for sea turtle nests.

After each morning survey, we would go back to the campsite to update the databases with the information gathered that morning.

After two weeks at Preveza, it was time to go to Amvrakikos. My time at Amvrakikos was unlike anything I have ever done before.

At this project, we were on the boat from 8am to around 3pm, looking for and tagging the loggerhead sea turtles found in the bay.

“Turtle jumping” was like nothing else I have done before. Looking back, it still seems slightly surreal.

Our work there also included rescuing turtle caught in fishing gear, which was my first personal experience of the effects of fishing on wildlife. This was quite eye-opening, and something which I would like to try and mitigate during my future career.

PROJECT AREAS Western Greece (Preveza) Northwest of the town of Preveza and the entrance of the Amvrakikos Bay lies the Bay of Nicopolis. There is little information about sea turtles nesting in this area which host many visitors every summer in its wonderful sandy beaches. ARCHELON began in 2017 the seasonal recording of reproductive activity of Caretta on approximately 15 km of beach, from Kastroskia to Cape Mytikas.

Amvrakikos Bay is located in the Ionian Sea in north-western Greece and is a relatively shallow and semienclosed marine area. ARCHELON in recent years has confirmed a significant presence of turtles in the region, especially near the estuary of the rivers Louros and Arachthos in the north-eastern part of the bay, but no nesting of sea turtles has been observed there.

The area is included in the Natura 2000 site “AMVRAKIKOS KOLPOS, DELTA LOUROU KAI ARACHTHOU (PETRA, MYTIKAS, EVRYTERI PERIOCHI)” with the Site Code GR2110001.

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The marshes and lagoons in the Bay are wetlands of international importance. The need to protect and preserve the unique ecosystem of the area led to the establishment of the Amvrakikos Wetlands National Park in 2008.

PROJECT AREAS Amvrakikos Bay The ARCHELON project in the Amvrakikos Bay aims to collect data on the population of sea turtles living in the area and includes tracking, capture of turtles using the rodeo technique, identifying or adding tagging and satellite tracking and releasing them directly back to the sea. At the same time, various public awareness actions are being carried out in cooperation with the Center for Environmental Education in Koprena and the Management Agency of the National Park.

The area offers many opportunities for bird watching, and sightseeing including the Visitors Center of the Koprena Environmental Education Center, 18 km south of Arta.

(Katrina can be caught up in her blog at https://barreleyezoologyblog.wordpress.com. She is a third year student of Zoology with Conservation at Bangor University. She has wide-ranging interests, which are covered in her blog.)

Voice of Nature: When Nature is in Focus………

A complete coverage of a biodiversity and wildlife seminar in Bangalore.

On 7th, 8th and 9th of September, 2018 at Hotel Ottera, Electronic City, Bangalore, Nature in Focus organized its 5th Nature in Focus Festival. The aim was to get all the like-minded people who care for nature and wildlife on a single platform to meet, learn and interact The Third Day was a mixed day with focus on wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, conservation of less talked about species, conservation initiatives at grass root level, underwater photography, and two most interesting presentations on songs of birds and sustainable fish eating. The conference ended with an open house session on ethical photography.

First speaker of the day was Abhishekta, talked about basic animal rehabilitation and rescue. Abhisheka has several years of experience working as a wildlife researcher as well as a nature educator with research institutes like ATREE and BNHS and her research work was focused on wetland ecology and bird migration studies. She is currently part of the Education and Public Engagement team of NCF with the Early Bird Programme. In her talk she focused on urban wildlife rehabilitation and emphasized that everybody who goes to forest and thinks about wildlife, have something to contribute.

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She mentioned that it is important for people to learn, how to look after animals. Every baby animals have specialized diets.

Most of the time rehabilitation centers receive animals in conditions, that they take most of their time in repairing and reviving the animals, because of the lack of information and awareness among common people. We need to remember that, we might be very good with pet dogs and cats, but that doesn’t mean we can take good care of wild animals, as they are more powerful than pets. She ended by highlighting the importance of living in harmony. A small garden at our backyard can help a lot in animal rehabilitation; we may not need many rehabilitation centers.

Next speaker was Tiyasha, who is part of Fishing Cat working group, and talked about her work and experience with Fishing Cat. Tiasa Adhya is the co-founder of The Fishing Cat Project, the longest-running research and conservation program on the fishing cat in the world. She is also a member of the Fishing Cat Working Group (Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation), an international group of small cat ecologists and conservationists. Since 2010, the group has been actively involved in highlighting the ecology of the species and its conservation challenges in India. She mentioned India is a stronghold of fishing cat and 90% of it lies outside protected land. She syas her project is all about fostering ownership, tolerance and generating awareness.

She concluded by saying that fishing cats and we human beings are living together since time immemorable, so what are we doing today with them, we will be doing same with us tomorrow.

Next speaker was Cara Tejpal. Cara is a self-described conservation generalist who lends her skills to help confront the gamut of conservation challenges in India. She writes, fundraises, and works on policy documents and campaigns for the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, while also heading their unique Mud on Boots Project. As an independent writer, her articles on wildlife have appeared in publications such as Outlook, Sanctuary Asia, Conde Nast Traveller and National Herald. She has previously worked with the Bagh Foundation on conservation policy matters and The Gerry Martin Project on snakebite management and mitigation in India.

She talked about lots of grassroots conservationists across the country who are working relentlessly without being in limelight. They are forest guards, local farmers, village representatives, tribal group etc, whose conservation works range from managing wildlife conflict, rehabilitation, awareness building, conservation of medicinal plant, snake bite management and remediation etc.

Arvind Ramamurthy is a wildlife photographer and enthusiast from Bangalore. He was introduced to the world of wildlife via art at a very young age and has been fascinated ever since. He believes that unique perspectives are very important in wildlife photography and loves photographing the lesser-known species in unique and interesting ways such that they garner more attention. Arvind believes that good photographs are a result of a keen sense of observation and a strong thought process. Arvind's images have been published in National Geographic and several others publications. He took us through hid wildlife 26

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photography journey, and how has has evolved as a wildlife photographer. He mentioned wildlife photography is much more than just using camera techniques.

Next, was Nanda Kumar, to showcase his photography on lesser known underwater species. Nanda Kumar is a self-made entrepreneur from Mysore, with a Master’s Degree in Commerce. He is the proprietor of Nandana Idea Space, an offset print and packaging firm which provides employment to more than 60 people. In mid-2010, he took a break from work to travel and explore the wonders of the natural world.

Nanda's passion for swimming, naturally, saw him gravitate towards the oceans. He became a certified scuba diver and turned to photography soon after, to be able to document his magical adventures underwater.

Nanda has more than 700 dives under his belt, with visits to 30+ prominent dive destinations including Andaman, Maldives, Fiji and more - spread over more than 10 countries. He specializes in underwater macrophotography and showed us some of his nice images of nudibraches, octopus, sea horses, shrimps and crabs, from seas of Indonesia and Philippines.

Post lunch session was started by Deputy Range Forest Officer of Kali Tiger Reserve, C.R. Naik. He talked about his journey in taking part of research work on hornbill, bat, trees and finding new species of frogs and many more. Chandrakant R Naik, popularly known as CR Naik, is a forest officer, a keen naturalist and a citizen scientist. Although he is a student of Arts, his keen interest in learning Latin names of all the wild things around him has led him closer to science. Over the years, he has worked with several researchers and has studied hornbills, documented the fruiting and flowering patterns of trees, studied spider and butterfly diversity etc. Naik’s diligent documentation of the frog species around his home led him to be a part of a new frog species discovery. His active involvement in education programmes by delivering free talks at schools and colleges to create awareness and spread messages about conservation won him the prestigious Jumbo Award in 2012.

Next speaker Kulbhushan talked about Snow Leopard and his research work as a scientist on why snow leopards kill livestock. Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi is a scientist with the High Altitudes programme at Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and he heads the India Program of the Snow Leopard Trust. His work as a researcher has focused on building our understanding of the interactions between the Snow Leopard, its wild prey species such as bharal and ibex and livestock in the Himalaya and other Central Asian mountains. As a conservationist, he works with the local herding communities in the snow leopards landscape to facilitate conservation of wildlife alongside people and their livestock.

After this, we had Anup to break the myth that Sharks are dangerous creatures. Anup Joseph Kattukaran is a self-taught underwater filmmaker/photographer and a scuba diver. On dry land, he runs an award-winning production house called 1st December Films (FDF), which bagged 8 Cannes Lion awards for their recent film "Nike - make every yard count." He is the only Indian to have won a Clio award for cinematography. Of all the things he films and photographs, he loves shooting in the ocean the most.

Samira Agnihotri has a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences. This gave her the chance to step into the realm of birdsongs, and nothing makes her more content than walking in a forest with a mic and a recorder. After obtaining her PhD from the Indian Institute of Science studying Racket-tailed Drongos, she is currently finishing her post-doctoral studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Samira is also interested in conservation education and in exploring different ways to popularise the

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ecological sciences as well as encourage and aid in the preservation of traditional knowledge systems, especially those of the Soliga people of BR Hills. She talked about songs of birds and how they do mimicry and why they do mimic in wild. It was quite astonishing to know that racket tail drongo can mimic 40 birds, 3 mammals, and at least 2 frogs and one insect.

Although there are some possible reasons of their mimicry but exact reasons still not known. She said birds and other animals have vast network of communication with each other, which we are at very beginning stage of understanding.

The last speaker of Nture in Focus’s 5th festival was Aron Savio Lobo. Aaron is naturalist, fish fiend, forager and eater, which he believes are among the pre-requisites to becoming a marine conservationist.

He has worked on a range of conservation and development projects involving fisheries in South Asia and West Africa. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He loves his seafood and believes that fostering a healthy relationship with our food can actually be a crucial step towards its conservation. He talked about his experience as Maine Biologist. He touched upon a unique topic of how we can conserve biodiversity by eating.

He said, as part of Masters in Wildlife Institute of India, he got into research of sea snake and how sea snakes are getting affected by prawn trawler. More he got into this research on sea snake, he realized, that the biggest issue were with bi-catch of these trawlers, as he found the discard of bi-catch was he and has massive impact on ecology, food chain, as well as on livelihood. Huge amount of these bi-catch and fish meal goes into poultry and animal farm. In India it also goes into pharmaceutical and chemical industry.

He mentioned, we treat sea as food supplier, but the whole industrial fishery took it to a different level altogether and put marine conservation in threat. He emphasized upon the initiative like “know your fish” which suggest which fish should be eaten in a particular season. It’s not just on fish or hotel industries, it’s also on individual to influence the supply side of sustainable eating.

He also thrust upon correlation between aquaculture and wild fishery, and how aquaculture can take burden of wild fishery, to ensure sustainable eating and preventing losing diversity of fishes from our diet.

The last session of the festival was an open house discussion on ethics in wildlife photography. As far as ethics is concerned, the wildlife enthusiasts’ community is primarily a self-regulated community. Therefore, the whole issue of ethical photography itself is a grey area, which was quite evident during discussion as none in that session was taking any specific stand. In this whole subject of “Wildlife Photography” – “Photography” always takes precedence over “Wildlife” and if you consider yourself a photographer first and then a wildlife enthusiast, then of course there will be hesitation in taking

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stand over ethical photography related issues. That hesitation was quite prevailing in that session among all participants.

The discussion happened around following two questions:  What constitutes ethical practice in nature/wildlife photography and portrayal?  What thumb rules should we adopt to advance in ethical practice?

It came out through discussion that the line between what is ethical and unethical itself is very thin. It also depends on our tolerance level. However, we also need to use our common sense, and think about whether our activities during photography can cause harm to subjects. Although, it’s very personal, but whenever we are venturing into forest, it becomes our responsibility to take care of forest and other beings.

No consensus were there to the question of who and how we define and put ethics in wildlife photography, in black and white. However, everybody was agreed on existence of self-regulations and need of defining ethics in wildlife photography. But the question is, whether this self-regulation is working in reality.

One suggestion came from one of the academicians and faculty of Symbiosis School of Photography that, preaching about ethics to common public is not always possible. However, it should be part of curricula in academics.

At the end Kalyan summed up by saying, although we do not have any answers, but we need to continue questioning ourselves and this process of continuous questioning is the right start. Kalyan said, Nature in Focus, should not document any norms on ethical photography, but getting collective feedbacks on this issue from the community itself is a good start. Then he thanked the community and participants and ended the festival.

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Theme Poster

Message on World Environment Day, by Global Sustainability Consulting Firm ERM

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