Holocene year 3 issue 1

Year 3/ Issue 01/September – October 2017

The World After 5th Extinction The 2nd Anniversary Special Issue

Central India – Eastern Ghats Landscape Complex

Whose Right of Passage!!!

Featuring Asian Biodiversity

A Conflict in Corridor

The Asiatic Lion Evolution, Social Structure Predation and Feeding

Frogs and Toads of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve

Sustainable Tourism

Monthly Newsletter of

in India

The Super Ape… Cover Photo : Samiran Halder

Year 3/Issue 01/September – October 2017

“They say an Elephant never forgets… What they don’t tell you is you never forget an Elephant…” ~ Bill Murray

“The Herd” Photography by Koushik Mondal

Year 3/Issue 01/September – October 2017

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 3/Issue 01/September – October 2017 © Exploring Nature 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 Dwaipayan Ghosh, Arnab Basu and Anwesha Ghatak Social Media Coordinators Vrushabh Borkar and Koushik Mondal

Content: Cover Story The Super Ape… by Arnab Basu 3|Page Editorial Indigenous Environment

People

and

the

12|Page Experts’ Voice Central India – Eastern Ghats Landscape Complex by Saurabh Shanu & Sudeepto Bhattacharya 14|Page Whose Right of Passage!!! A Conflict in Corridor… interview of Dr. Arun Venkatraman 16|Page Exploration Camp The Asiatic Lion Evolution, Social Structure, Predation and Feeding by Dwaipayan Ghosh 22|Page Voice of Nature Sustainable Tourism in India by Vrushabh Borkar 28|Page Cohabitation Frogs and Toads of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve by Ranveer Singh Gautam 34|Page Theme Poster Looking for a perfect Landing by Debasish Saha 36|Page

Logo and Title Design Arijit Das Majumder and Saikat Chakraborty Website www.exploringnature.org.in

The Monthly Newsletter of

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Year 3/Issue 01/September – October 2017

Arnab Basu

The Jungle Trek “Hey …. Kuch kuch hota hai”… or “Hello …. Kabhi khushi… kabhi gham…” shouted a local resident of the village of Bukit Lawang at me. That was the villager's first meeting with an Indian in person, in recent past. Before that they had seen Indians only in Hindi movies or TV serials (dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia).

This used to be a regular phenomenon for me, whenever I was moving around in the village.

Local villagers were curious and excited after knowing that there was an Indian in the village as it was quite rare for them to sight one, despite immense popularity of Hindi movies made in 90s. The reason for popularity of old movies could be the time it takes to dub such movies An aerial view of Bukit Lawang at the bank of Bahorok into local languages. It takes a decade or long before those movies reach there from India to be shown.

Gunung Leuser National Park is a large world heritage listed national park covering 950,000 hectares in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh.

The village of Bukit Lawang, is a small tourist village at the bank of Bahorok River in North Sumatra province of Indonesia, located within the park and situated 90 kilometers northwest of Medan. It is most famous for being one of the last places in the world where one can see orangutans in the wild.

Bukit Lawang is also the main access point to the Gunung Leuser National Park from the east side.

After a 4 hours long drive, I reached at Bukit Lawang village on the afternoon of 24th October, 2016.

The car could reach only up to the point where local traditional village market is situated and villagers come for shopping on every Friday. After that point, a two kilometres trekking and crawling through a cave would take to the main village where normally tourists would stay.

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My tour operator was EcoTravel, and their cottage comprised of a garden and a sun terrace overlooking the jungle and mountains. EcoTravel Cottages are situated in Bukit Lawang, right next to the Bahorok River. The cosy accommodation offers free WiFi access throughout the property. All rooms have a terrace or a balcony with views of the mountains and river. Every room is fitted with a fan and mosquito nets. They have a total of five spacious rooms in that village.

Sumatra EcoTravel stands for ecologically responsible travel in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

The tours they arrange for tourists are aimed at Entry to Village through a cave the conservation of the environment and the well-being of local people and animals in this region. They try their best to give travellers a taste of the colourful Indonesian culture and to protect the Gunung Leuser National Park, especially the habitat of the last Sumatran orangutans.

During these entire exploration series, I often noticed their intentions of working together with authentic local partners and villagers.

The trekking started on the next day morning at 8:30; it was a multinational team consisting of German, French and Malaysian nationals with local guides Antonio, Eno and Dia. After knowing that I had a specific objective of capturing biodiversity of Gunung Leuser through lenses, the tour operator and owner of EcoTravel, Kembar allocated Eno dedicated to me, so that I could walk faster than the other team members and reach deep inside the forest to get better views.

That was the task for day one ....... to reach forest we had to cross the river

Cottage of Eco Travel in Bukit Lawang

The first task for the day was to reach the jungle by crossing Bahorok River. The Bahorok River is a river of the Langkat Regency in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. A flash flood hit Bukit Lawang on 2 November 2003. The disaster ruined local tourist resorts and had a devastating impact on local tourism industry in the area. Around 400 houses, 3 mosques, 8 bridges, 280 kiosks and food stalls, 35 hotels and guest houses were destroyed by the flood, including 239 people (5 of them were tourists) were killed and around 1,400 locals lost their homes. Local authorities and an environmental NGO attributed it to illegal logging. Thanks to several international cooperation agencies, the 4|Page

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site, at the bank of Bahorok River was rebuilt and re-opened again in July 2004.

From one edge of the river, where the village was located, to the other edge, where the forest started, was about 10 meters of width. The depth was not more than 1 meter in that particular stretch which was used to reach the forest area. After crossing the river, there was another 1 kilometre of trekking to reach the range office of Park, where Guide Antonio went ahead to check status of permit and other formalities before the team started entering into the forest.

Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, 1/4th of which is straddling the border of North Sumatra and the rest is in Aceh provinces. The national park, settled in the Barisan mountain range, is named after Mount Leuser (3,119 m), and protects a wide range of ecosystems. An orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang is located within the park. Together with Bukit Barisan Selatan and Kerinci Seblat national parks, it forms a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra. Gunung Leuser National Park is 150 km long, over 100 km wide and is mostly mountainous. 40% of the park, mainly in the north-west, is steep, and over 1,500 m. This region is billed as the largest wilderness area in South-East Asia and offers wonderful trekking opportunities. 12% of the park, in the lower southern half, is below 600 meters. 11 peaks are over 2,700 m., Mount Leuser (3,119 m) is the third highest peak on the Leuser Range. The highest peak is Mount 'Tanpa Nama' (3,466 m), the second highest peak in Sumatra after Mount Kerinci (3,805 m).

It's a typical rain forest with insects, poisonous snakes, mud, humidity, near impossible climbs, thorny bushes, and huge canopy, beautiful and dangerous. And that's when an explorer falls in love with the forest. Gunung Leuser National Park is one of the two remaining habitats for Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii). In 1971, Herman Rijksen established the Ketambe Research Station, a specially designated research area for the orangutans. Other mammals found in the park are the Sumatran elephant, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros, siamang, Sumatran serow, sambar deer and leopard cat. After researchers put 28 camera-traps in July 2011, 6 months later they found one male and six females and predicted the population is not more than 27 Sumatran rhinos with the total population predicted as around 200 in Sumatra and Malaysia, half of the population 15 years ago.

People living in areas with a high biodiversity value, tend to be relatively poor. Hence, the highest economic values for biodiversity are likely to be found within institutions and people living in wealthy countries. Funds can come from several sources, including bio-prospecting, the GEF and grants from international NGOs (with donations possibly being proportional to biodiversity value) (Wind and Legg, 2000).

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Climbing difficult terrain

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Exploration in the forest went on by making ways through thorny bushes and crossing natural obstacles and water streams. Thankfully there was no rain last night, so the forest was less muddy than usual. There were lot of ups and downs in the hills. The 5 hours trekking in 10 km forest stretch, carrying basic first aid kits, drinking water on back and camera in one hand, was a bit tiring especially in humid conditions.

The Sumatran Lowland Rain Forests are one of the most diverse forests on Earth and also one of the most threatened. These forests contain comparable levels of species diversity like the richest forests in Borneo and New Guinea. The You have natural obstructions on your way Sumatra rain forests are home to some of the world's most charismatic flowering plants: Rafflesia arnoldii, which produces the largest flower in the world (up to 1 m wide), and Amorphophallus titanum, which stands more than 2 m tall and produces aroid flowers. The avifauna is also exceptionally rich. More than 450 bird species are found here, more than in any other ecoregion in the Sunda Shelf and Philippines bioregion, except the Borneo Lowland Rain Forests. In the past fifteen years, rampant logging, hunting, fires, and habitat loss in the lowlands have pushed many of this ecoregion's already endangered species to the edge of extinction. These include the Sumatran rhinoceros, Malayan tapir, tiger, Asian elephant, and orangutan. Illegal logging and pervasive corruption are contributing to more than 3,000 km2 of forest lost every year in this ecoregion. At the current rate, no mappable natural forests will remain beyond 2025.

Sumatra's rain forests are quite diverse and contain levels of species diversity comparable to those of the richest forests in Borneo and New Huge canopy Guinea and are much richer than Java, Sulawesi, and other islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. Large, buttressed trees dominated by the Dipterocarpaceae family characterize Sumatra's lowland rain forests. Woody climbers and epiphytes are also abundant (Whitten et al. 2000). The lowland rain forests of Sumatra support 111 dipterocarp species, including 6 endemics. The emergent trees, which can reach 70 m tall, are also dipterocarps (Dipterocarpus spp., Parashorea spp., Shorea spp., Dryobalanops spp.) and, to a lesser extent, species in the Caesalpiniaceae family (Koompasia spp., Sindora spp., and Dialium spp.). Dipterocarps dominate the canopy layer as well. Other canopy and understory tree families those are common, include Burseraceae, Sapotaceae, Euphorbiacae, Rubiaceae, Annonaceae, Lauraceae, and Myristicaceae (Whitten et al. 2000). Ground vegetation usually is sparse-mainly small trees and saplings of canopy species, herbs are uncommon.

Figs (Moraceae) are also common in the lowland rain forest. There are more than 100 fig species in Sumatra, and each species is usually pollinated exclusively by a single fig-wasp (Agaonidae) species.

Figs may produce (mast) from 500 to a million fruits twice a year and are important food sources for many forest animals (MacKinnon 1986). Dipterocarps also use mast fruiting, perhaps to escape seed 6|Page

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predation, by satiating the appetites of seedpredators and leaving the remaining seeds to germinate (Whitten et al. 2000). Sumatra once contained pure stands of rot- and insectresisting ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri) forests. Ironwood is a member of the laurel family and is distributed throughout southern Sumatra, Kalimantan, and the Philippines.

Ironwood forests are dominated by Eusideroxylon zwageri but may have also contained Shorea, Koompasia, or Intsia species as emergents (Whitten et al. 2000).

Enormous Girth

I and Eno were making their ways through this rain forest vegetation and I was pausing intermittently to take photos. After an hour of trekking, Eno stopped suddenly and whispered, “Basu, careful”, his eyes were fixed on the branch of a fig tree. He spotted a green temple viper. Tropidolaemus wagleri is a venomous pit viper species native to Southeast Asia. No subspecies is currently recognized. It is sometimes referred to as the temple viper, because of its abundance around the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaysia. This snake, that usually can be found hanging from the trees, has pretty dangerous bite and in case you are bitten, you should be acting rapidly. The area that is bitten, must be immobilized with the stretch bandage and the victim should be transferred to an emergency room to be observed. Anyway, the snake was not moving Immediately after entering forest we encountered venomous from its place and I and my guide Eno moved Green Temple Viper rapidly to other side of the forest.

After another 15 minutes of walking, Eno asked me to stop again, both of them heard sounds of moving tree branches, as if something heavy was shaking the trees at the top. Both of them looked up and saw something which never could be forgotten in whole life.

It was the largest arboreal mammal of this planet, closest primate to human being, which shared 97% of DNA symmetry, one of the last few of them, a Sumatran orangutan.

As of 2015, the Sumatran orangutan species has approximately 7000 remaining members in its population, only. Meena was one of them and considered most aggressive. But the one I spotted was not her, but her sister Flat Nose and her baby.

Flat Nose and her baby

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“It is good that she is not Meena”, whispered Eno. He was attacked once badly by her and showed me the wound on his hand.

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Flat nose and her baby stopped, they spotted people in forest. Climbed down a bit to get a closer look and then started moving again from one tree to another tree by displaying amazing acrobatic skill.

Orangutan has typical way of doing it, they first bend the branch of trees which they hold, by their body weight and then reach to the next branch and moved from the previous one to the next one.

Skill fully maintains body balance while doing so. Kids follow the exactly same route what their mother shows. If their mother climb down from one tree and climb up the next one, instead of jumping, the kids will do same without even understanding reasons behind it.

We kept following them for next 15 minutes and reached to a part of forest where they joined few more female and cubs.

The Sumatran orangutan is endemic to the north of Sumatra. In the wild, Sumatran orangutans only survive in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the northernmost tip of the island. The primate was once more widespread, as they were found farther to the south in the 19th century, such as in Jambi and Padang. There are small populations in the North Sumatra province along the border with NAD, particularly in the Lake Toba forests. A survey in the Lake Toba region found only two inhabited areas, Bukit Lawang (defined as the animal sanctuary) and Gunung Leuser National Park.

The species has been assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000. It is considered one of "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates."

A survey published in March 2016 estimates a population of 14,613 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, doubling previous population estimates. A survey in 2004 estimated that around 7,300 Sumatran orangutans still live in the wild. The same study estimates a 20,552 km2 occupied area for the Sumatran orangutans, of which only an approximate area range of 8,992 km2 harbors permanent populations. Some of them are being protected in five areas in Gunung Leuser National Park; others live in unprotected areas: northwest and northeast Aceh block, West Batang Toru River, East Sarulla and Sidiangkat. A successful breeding program has been established in Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park in Jambi and Riau provinces. The main reason for the endangerment of these orangutans is because of palm oil companies destroying the native rain forests.

Male Sumatran orangutans grow to about 1.4 m (4.6 ft) tall and 90 kg (200 lb). Females are smaller, averaging 90 cm (3.0 ft) and 45 kg (99 lb). Compared to the Bornean species, Sumatran orangutans are thinner and have longer faces; their hair is longer with a paler red colour.

After another 30 minutes of observing orangutans, they moved on. Eno heard calling of white gibbons, so they rushed to the spot but could not see any gibbons. However, soon after the place became very lively with the arrivals of pig tailed macaque. The southern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) is a mediumsized Old World monkey. Macaca nemestrina can reach a weight of 5–15 kg in large males.

These monkeys are buff-brown with a darker back and lighter lower parts of the body. Their common name refers to the short tail held semierect and reminiscent of the tail of a pig. They Pig tailed Macaque are mainly terrestrial but they also are skilled climbers. Unlike almost all primates they love water. They live in large groups split into smaller groups during the day when they are looking for food. They are omnivorous, feeding mainly on fruits, seeds,

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berries, cereals, fungi and invertebrates. There is a hierarchy among males, based on the strength, and among females, based on heredity. Thus, the daughter of the dominant female will immediately be placed above all other females in the group. The dominant female leads the group, while the male role is more to manage conflict within the group and to defend it. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 3–5 years. Female gestation lasts about 6 months. She will give birth to one infant every two years. Weaning occurs at 4–5 months. In Thailand, they have been trained for 400 years to harvest coconuts. As per IUN, their conservation status is Vulnerable.

This monkey was searching for food in the forest and couple of time showed its huge canine to scare me and Eno off and eventually left the place with a huge jump over their head.

When they were busy with pig tailed, there was already arrival of another curious creature, the funky Thomas’s leaf langur. Thomas's langur (Presbytis thomasi) is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to North Sumatra, Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. Its native names are reungkah in Acehnese and kedih in Alas. As per IUN, their conservation status is Vulnerable too.

Thomas’s Langur

After that they reached a clear place inside forest where they met other group led by guide Antonio and Dia. That was a time to get some energy.

Forest was hot and humid, and the day was quite bright. Even huge canopy cover was not always enough to protect from hit. Therefore they all were dehydrating fast and trekking in difficult terrain of forest with equipment, taking photos and hydrating at the same time was not always feasible. So, they were also waiting for a much needed hydration break.

Collected fruits from jungle trees are the only way to keep your energy supplies on

Eno and Dia collected fruits from forest while trekking and started peeling them off. The fruits were mainly jungle pineapple, oranges, passion fruits, rambutan, and bananas. The fruits were awesome; I never had such juicy pineapples in

my whole life before.

When the whole team was busy in enjoying flavour of forest fruits, there were few silent watchers around them or above them. Antonio drew their attention to a huge female orangutan and her baby and they were watching them from a 10 feet tall tree, just above the place where they were eating.

Antonio told them that orangutans love fruits specially pineapples and bananas.

Sumatran orangutans are primarily frugivores, favoring fruits consisting of a large seed and surrounded by a fleshy substance, such as fig fruits. Insects are also a huge part of the orangutan's diet; the most consumed types are ants, predominantly of the genus Camponotus (at least four 9|Page

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species indet.). Their main diet can be broken up into five categories: fruits, insects, leaf material, bark and other miscellaneous food items.

Studies have shown that orangutans in the Ketambe area in Indonesia ate over 92 different kinds of fruit, 13 different kinds of leaves, 22 sorts of other vegetable material such as topsprouts, and pseudo-bulbs of orchids. Insects included in the diet are numbered at least 17 different types. Occasionally soil from termite mounds were ingested in small quantities. When there is low ripe fruit availability, Sumatran orangutans will eat the meat of the slow loris, a nocturnal primate. Water consumption for the orangutans was ingested from natural bowls Watchful created in the trees they lived around. They even drank water from the hair on their arms when rainfall was heavy. Meat-eating happens rarely in Sumatran orangutan, and orangutans do not show a male bias in meat-eating. A research in Ketambe area reported cases of meat-eating in wild Sumatran orangutans, of which 9 cases of orangutans eating slow lorises. The research shows, in the recent 3 cases of slow lorises eaten

by Sumatran orangutan, a maximum mean feeding rate of the adult orangutan for an entire adult male slow loris is 160.9 g/h and, of the infant, 142.4 g/h. No case have been reported during mast years, which suggests orangutans take meat as a fallback for the seasonal shortage of fruits; preying on slow loris occurs more often in periods of low fruit availability. Similar to most primate species, orangutans appear to only Playful share meat between mother and infants.

After an hour of observing those orangutans and finishing their eating, the team started leaving forest.

The Indonesian guides collected all left over and skins of fruits, as human beings are not allowed to feed wild lives or leaving anything behind which could be consumed by them.

Sumatrans encounter threats such as logging (both legal and illegal), wholesale conversion of forest to agricultural land and oil palm plantations, and fragmentation by roads. Oil companies use a method of deforestation to utilize palm oil. This palm oil is taken from the trees in which Sumatran orangutans live and swing from. An assessment of forest loss in the Largest arboreal mammal 1990s concluded that forests supporting at least 1,000 orangutans were lost each year within the Leuser Ecosystem alone. While poaching generally is not a huge problem for the Sumatrans, occasional local hunting does decrease the population size.

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attempts to hunt the Sumatrans are rare nowadays, locals such as the Batak people are known to eat almost all vertebrates in their area.

Additionally, the Sumatrans are treated as pests

by Sumatran farmers, becoming targets of elimination if they are seen damaging or stealing crops. For commercial aspects, hunts for both dead and alive specimens have also been recorded as an effect of the demand by European and North American zoos and institutions throughout the 20th century.

After witnessing this amazing last few creatures of Sumatra, I started towards camping ground at nearby village where he would take rest in the evening and plan for next day morning.

Nest of Orangutan

During this trekking they also spotted lot of Indonesian black squirrels and long tailed macaque in forest as well as in village. The time of the day, climate and nature of forest was not soothing enough for spotting birds as birds are really tiny in this forest and get completely camouflaged in thick leaves and high canopy.

However, I spotted a pair of famous rhinoceros hornbill on a tree top. The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is one of the largest hornbills, adults being approximately the size of a swan, 91–122 cm (36–48 in) long and weighing 2–3 kg (4.4–6.6 lb). In captivity it can live for up to 90 years. It is found in lowland and montane, tropical and subtropical climates and in mountain rain forests up to 1,400 metres altitude in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and southern Thailand.

A pair of rhinoceros hornbill Like most other hornbills, the male has orange or red irises, and the female has whitish irises. This bird has a mainly white beak and casque, but there are orange places here and there. The tip of the casque curves markedly upward. The bird has white underparts, especially to the tail. The rhinoceros hornbill faces a number of threats, including loss of habitat and hunting for its meat, its feathers and its casque, which can be carved into ornaments and jewellery, and is as dense as ivory. IUCN status is near threatened.

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Editorial

Indigenous People And The Environment “Indigenous Peoples are rights-holders, not merely stakeholders” ~Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration to the World Parks Congress 2003 Indigenous people are key to protect our forests “Paris Agreement on Climate Change” recognized the intrinsic relationship between indigenous people and their environments. Whether they're in Taiga, the Sahel or the rain forests of Africa, America or Asia, what all indigenous people have in common is a deep connection to the natural environments in which they live. Nature inspires our culture, our traditions, our science and our identity. For instance, traditional knowledge based on observing nature, such as birds, bugs and trees, helps nomad communities to define their seasonal migration. When we’re in a city checking the weather forecast via an app on our smart-phone, natives, in Chad, far away from any network, anticipating the rain or the wind by looking up at the sky. The indigenous and ethnic people of the world have learnt to live in most hostile environmental condition in this universe. The most interesting feature associated with these indigenous and ethnic has been found that, they live in localities which are immensely rich in biodiversity. It is estimated that about 300 million indigenous people are living in world, out of which nearly half i.e. 150 million are living in Asia, about 30 million of which are living in Central and South America and a significant number of them are living in Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Africa, and Soviet Union. These ethnic and indigenous people have played a vital role in conservation of environmental management and development process as they possess traditional knowledge which has been useful in Eco-restoration.

Incredibly Indigenous India In India, 68 million people belonging to 227 ethnic groups and comprising of 573 tribal communities derived from six racial stocks namely - Negroid, Proto- Australoid, Mongoloid, Mediterranean, West Breachy and Nordic exists in different part of the country. These ethnic people mostly are the indigenous tribes living in close proximity of forests and have managed and conserved the biodiversity of their localities since long. These tribes take shelter from forest and utilize wild edible plants both raw and cooked. The flower and fruits are generally eaten raw whereas tubes, leaves and seeds are cooked. Tribes utilize forest produce, forest timber and fuel-wood. These tribes are living in forest since ages and have developed a kind of affinity with forests.

Resettlements of indigenous population The terms “indigenous people”, “indigenous ethnic minorities” and “schedules tribes” describe social and cultural identities distinct from the dominant society that makes them vulnerable. They are often more unguarded to hardship following displacement. They are not unsafe because they are economically resource-less; they are endangered because legal codes and governmental practices often do not recognize their ownership of resources or the value of their economic activity. They are also vulnerable because their socio-cultural institutions may disintegrate following displacement.

Indigenous peoples also often lack avenues for representation within the project.

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Development Dilemma & Resettlements of Maldharis in Gir Forest, Gujarat, India Maldharis are nomadic tribal herdsmen who live in the Gujarat state of India. The literal meaning of Maldhari is "owner of animal stock". They are notable as the traditional dairymen of the region, and once supplied milk and cheese to the palaces of Rajas. The most important human component of the Gir ecosystem has been the population of resident 'Maldhari'.

The growth-led paradigm of development has resulted in global ecological imbalances, increased inter- and intra-country socio-economic inequalities, displacement, marginalization and cultural uprooting of a large number of native people. The ecology-centered model emerged in answer, and emphasized the creation of more national parks and sanctuaries. Ironically, this also led to the displacement of a large number of native people and their further marginalization and sufferings in social, economic and cultural terms.

The Gir forest of Gujarat is known for being the last abode of Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) in the world. The Maldharis were displaced and resettled in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of the creation of a wildlife sanctuary and later a national park in the Gir forest. The state government policy of resettlement was based on a negative view of the Maldharis, and was neither well-conceived nor implemented in a systematic way. At present, an eco-development project is being executed in the Gir protected area sponsored by the World Bank, which does not approve of forced relocation and provides for voluntary relocation in a participatory way. Accordingly, the state government stance has changed, but on an experimental basis and for this project only.

International Day of the World's Indigenous People The International Day of the World's Indigenous People is observed on August 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population. This event also recognizes the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection. It was first pronounced by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1994, marking the day of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in 1982.

Artwork by Rebang Dewan, a “Chakma” boy from Bangladesh, was chosen as the visual identifier of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It has also been seen on material to promote the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

“Paris Agreement on Climate Change” was only the first step to secure the rights of indigenous people.

From here, all future implementation measures will have to take into account, to prevent landgrabbing and bio-piracy, and to provide financial support for the aboriginal communities so that they can do what they always did: protect and repair the inherent environment.

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Experts’ Voice

Saurabh Shanu

Depertment of Vertualisation School of Computer Science and Engineering University of Petroleum and Energy Studies Dehradoon, Uttarakhand

Sudipto Bhattacharya

Depertment of Mathematics School of Natural Science Shiv Nadar University Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh

A landscape complex is a geographical unit comprising contiguous ecological landscapes (or at least connected in the recent past), that have a potential for exchanging genetic material between the tiger populations inhabiting the forests comprising the complex (Jhala et al. 2008, 2011).

Conservation potential, viability and designing have been current in the scholarship since the later part of the last century, in an effort to secure the population of wild tigers in the habitats, still intact in face of large-scale escalation in their habitat fragmentation and loss (Gopal et al. 2010; Johnsingh and Negi 1998, 2003; Johnsingh et al. 2004; Johnsingh and Goyal 2005; Opdam et al. 2003, 2006).

To make tiger and related species conservation effective, the researchers from Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority have divided entire India into six landscape complexes based on current tiger occupancy within the critical tiger habitats, existing landscape connections that may serve as tiger corridors, and potential for designing such corridors in the landscape complexes (Jhala et al. 2008, 2011; Johnsingh and Goyal 2005).

Central Indian plateau and Eastern Ghats depicted in Fig 1 comprise the focal landscape complex for our present study. This complex supports one of the world’s major and significantly healthy tiger populations in the wild, and constitutes two very important tiger habitat landscapes, identified for conservation of wild tiger population in the world (Jhala et al. 2008, 2011 ). The political units that 14 | P a g e

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constitute the complex are the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odhisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Persistent anthropogenic impacts leading to relatively high pressure on the ecosystems owing to economic and allied developmental activities in this natural resource-rich region, even since preindependence, colonial days continued into the present, and over a period spanning nearly two centuries, has resulted into continual degradation of forests in the landscape complex.

Despite the above factor which may be deemed detrimental to the health of regional biodiversity, the landscape complex, together with three Biosphere Reserves, is the largest tiger occupied area in India, and is home to the largest number of tigers in the country. Also in this complex, various Tiger Conservation Units belonging to levels I, II and III have been identified for according priority status for conservation (Gopal et al. 2010; Jhala et al. 2008, 2011; Johnsingh and Goyal 2005). Thus, in this landscape complex of significantly high conservation value, the task of maintaining the present tiger habitats and recolonizing the ones that had reported tiger occupancy in the recent past is primarily dependent on the existence of viable tiger corridors available for individual animals to use for dispersal and travelling within the complex. Throughout the model, we shall treat the immediate past and present tiger occupancy sites equivocally as tiger habitat patches in the landscape.

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An Interview with

Dr. Arun Venkatraman

Arun is a Technical Director at ERM India. He has over 30 years’ experience working for academic and conservation organizations and the private sector. He has worked in several geographies that include South and Southeast Asia and Central Africa. At ERM he leads biodiversity initiatives at ERM India with special emphasis on assessing and mitigating impacts on threatened and protected species, protected areas, and key biodiversity areas of international and national significance and ecosystem services. He has had extensive experience with Environment and Social Impact Assessments with a focus on biodiversity baseline assessments and management planning for several sectors that include renewable power (wind, solar and hydroelectric ) and non-renewable power (thermal) in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, linear infrastructure (roads and power transmission lines) and mining. His impact and biodiversity assessment and due diligence experience involves intense and innovative application of international (IFC, ADB) sectorial and company standards and frameworks. He has led and has been involved in large initiatives for biodiversity management planning and the development of sustainability frameworks for several large corporations in India.

He has also had specific experience with sustainable landscape planning in large scale agriculture plantations where he has used data layers from biodiversity surveys, carbon mapping, hydrological assessments and outcomes of Free Prior Informed Consent processes to design land use compatible with biodiversity, social, climate change mitigation and environmental priorities. Arun is the author of nearly 30 scientific papers, several book chapters and popular articles in species behavioural ecology, conservation and biodiversity management and land use planning.

One of the editors of Holocene got an opportunity to speak with him about issues of elephant corridor and recent issues of elephant killing in India. Following is the detail interview of Arun, taken by Exploring Nature.

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Exploring Nature : With an estimated 26,000 elephants, India is home to half the world’s population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). These pachyderms are spread over a geographical area of about 110,000 sq km, sixty percent of which have been declared as 32 Elephant Reserves (ER). But in most of the cases the boundaries of ER are selected on ad-hoc basis, rather than based on ecological principles. Would you recommend any rationalization of ER boundaries?

Arun : Actually that’s not true… I think a fair amount of science is involved in deciding boundaries of these elephant reserves, taking into account the actual createquity of the elephant habitats, most of these elephant reserves aptly represent distinct population of elephants in a discrete area, in which there may be some but little contiguity with some other population. In some cases there are subpopulation that means, you may have elephant reserves and you may have a bulk of elephant is actually habiting in one portion of elephant reserves, but then you also have few elephants outside of those reserves and those also kind of recognized as separate elephant reserves. There may be some contiguity and those are sub population of the main population lying within the reserves. There may be some need of rationalization - in some areas may be the contiguity is not clearly established as yet. For example, let’s talk about elephant reserves in Karnataka – Kerala – Tamilnadu – Andhra (Brahmagiri-Nilgiri-Eastern Ghat Landscape and Anamalai-Nelliampathy- High Range Landscape) area – it is thought that Elephants of Wayanad ER, Nilgiri ER, Rayala ER, Nilambur ER, Coimbatore ER, Animalia ER are isolated from each other and also from Mysore plateau area. Whether there is a possibility of consolidating these areas and constitute a main elephant reserve called the Mysore Plateau elephant reserve is an open question, and scientific research can be carried out to determine whether they are separate elephant population or can be considered as one major elephant population. So, answer to this question – there has been some rationalization of elephant reserves boundaries, but there is obviously scope for lot more improvement. I think people are working quite a lot these days, in fact I would say for tiger reserves the science is much better than elephant reserves.

Exploring Nature : That’s correct, even NTCA is lot more visible than Project Elephant and apparently they have much more regulatory power.

Arun : Yes, NTCA is an authority and they directly report to Prime Minister of India, whereas Project Elephant is still within Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. That kind of complexity in jurisdiction also makes Project Elephant less powerful. The Action based on scientific facts is slower but we are getting there. The other thing we have to keep in mind is, we have to respect the state boundaries. For example, we have Wayanad elephant reserves in the foothill of Nilgiris and then we have Mysore elephant reserves and then we have Nilgiri elephant reserves. Actually these are one population of elephant and can be considered as one consolidated elephant reserve, but it’s spilt up into three, just because the funding to these reserves to be managed at state level and three different states (Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) are involved here. This sometime creates problem with respect to management and coordination across elephant reserves, one state may be more focussed and another state may be less focussed, so, that to my mind is bigger problem rather than actual rationalization of boundaries.

Exploring Nature : Understood, the reason this question was asked is, recently we are getting lot of disturbing news of elephant killing, I mean 10 years back we were more concerned about elephant poaching. But now there is more news on elephants getting electrocuted or other issues related to linear fragmentation of corridor etc.

Arun : See, there is a theory that poachers also believe in sustainable harvesting, they will not poach all elephants in a given period of time, unless there is a big demand. Ivory rates are fluctuating, but it’s not the case that suddenly there is a big demand. In case of Rhinos or Tigers there is rumours 17 | P a g e

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that Rhino horn powder is useful ingredients of liver cancer medicines or Tiger body parts are used as ingredients of aphrodisiacs in China and there were spurts of poaching of these two animals. But in case of ivory it’s only used in craftworks, and that’s why elephant poaching is more consistent. We strongly believe that professional elephant poachers who have survived today are poaching a certain amount of elephants which have big tusks and then waiting for 10-15 years to younger elephant to develop tusks. In fact there is data to show that there were spurts of poaching. For example in Thekkady of Kerala, at some point of time almost all the male elephants were poached out. But in Nilgiris, the poaching is…I won’t say sustainable but little more organized and more cyclic, than it is in other places. Like in Africa, you will find massive amount of poaching and lot of these are to fund terrorist organization, insurgency group etc. So nobody is too worried about what would happen ten years down the line, but the traditional poachers also tend to look at the long term livelihood from the poaching. That may be one of the reasons that it does not appear that serious, but that could change if the ivory price shoots up by manifold, then there could be serious spurts of poaching.

Exploring Nature : So, do you think this apparent ignorance of State Governments towards the linear fragmentation issues has something to do with sustainable poaching?

Arun : No I think their hands are tied up. Because of lot of these things are controlled by Central Government – Highways, Transmission Lines etc. – central government has lot of influence on these projects and State Government can’t take any action or decision against such linear projects. In fact there is no such instance where Forest department is actively protesting any such linear projects through forest areas. It has less to do with ignorance about poaching but its more because of the aggressive development agenda the country has now, But you are right, the impact of linear fragmentation, electrocution or collision with train are more serious issues nowadays, than actual poaching.

Exploring Nature : What’s your view on Elephant specific Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for permitting developmental projects within ERs, and how effective it is in terms of diverting wildlife habitats, in Indian context?

Arun : To some extent it exists, all state governments have maps of designated elephant corridors.

Obviously if any projects come up in protected area, we need clearance from national Board of Wildlife and that will not only take into account elephants but all species impacted by that projects. In many cases such projects are rejected and many cases are approved, but a linear infrastructure project does not require any EIA, that’s a big gap in the permitting system. But it still requires clearance from National Boards of Wildlife. But in EIA, what happens, if they find any elephants habitats are likely to be impacted, they ask project proponents to prepare a wildlife management plan. Secondly, I don’t think there are any guidelines for road construction to elephant corridors but there are guidelines for design of transmission lines. Project Elephant itself prescribes guidelines for height of tower, location of towers etc. There are detailed list of recommendations for such projects and those are supposed to be followed. So, to some extent if Environmental Appraisal Committee recognizes the project is falling in elephant habitats, they do ask for Wildlife Management Plan, which is also true for Schedule I species. But it can be far more rigorous, for example we (ERM) do good job but I am sure there are other companies just do a paper work in terms of preparing Wildlife Management Plan, I also wonder there are any monitoring on how effective these plans are.

Exploring Nature : How do you think approaches like jhum-cultivation and employing local population are successful enough in securing elephant corridor?

Arun : Jhum cultivation has never helped at all, in fact conflict with elephants are quite high in jhum cultivations areas for example in Meghalaya. Lot of forest losses happened in North East 18 | P a g e

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because of jhum cultivation. It’s good for some species but not for elephants. But employing local people has helped significantly in addressing elephant conflicts. Forest departments do employ local people especially as watchers to keep away elephants from feed. In fact in North West Bengal of India very effective elephant squad has been formed involving local people. They have a good system in which Farmers can call Forest Department and Jeep equipped with Fire Crackers and other noise generating devices comes, and lot of involvement of local people is there. Knowledge of these local people is very good, I know one project where we employed local people to watch out for elephants and warn local people when they are coming, and that has been quite effective. The other thing is we tried it as experiment – the community based fencing. Forest department put money to constitute fences between forest and cultivated land, and these fences are very difficult to maintain. People cut fences to let their cattle go into forest for grazing, and it’s also important to ensure no electric conductor is touching fences, even if grass grows high and touch the wire; it reduces the voltage in the fence. We did one experiment in Wayanad, where we fenced whole village. We put the fences and asked village to provide labourers to maintain the fence, and that drastically reduce the problem of elephant coming into village. Villagers were very happy.

Exploring Nature : Related to this question, if you remember, last year Karnataka Government took a measure to reduce conflict with elephants by cutting soft woods in the forest area……..

Arun : Yes, see what happens, you have forest and then reserve forests lying outside the protected area, this is a problem in Nagarhole and Bandipur….you have big thin stretch of forest, largely containing soft wood – Eucalyptus etc. So, elephants cannot go out of the forest but still gets the cover and raid corps of other side at that thin stretch of forest. In fact we have recommended, we should not keep this soft wood, as these are creating more problems than solving. We can keep these for revenue, but in long run these are creating lot of problem of conflict, by having these kinds of shelters for elephants. Elephants come and feed on crops in night and shelters in these places in day.

I think cutting soft woods was a good step, don’t know how far they could implement it. These are not natural forest, mostly social forest. Another example of social forestry is in West Bengal and Jharkhand. Earlier elephants would never come to Midnapore or Bankura, but years ago there were news of elephants reaching close to Howrah, and that’s because of success of Social Forestry. But it is also a very difficult measure to reduce social forestry as people are so dependent on it; economy has been transformed because of Joint Forest Management. Joint Forest management has been very successful in India and should not be tampered with, but Forest department has to manage this, in the areas where social forestry is escalating the conflict situation, soft woods should be removed.

There should be a trade-off on what do you want to do, whether you reduce the income of people or reduce the risk of conflicts with elephants. Lot of people get killed in these areas.

Exploring Nature : What’s your view on success and failure of MIKE programme (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) as part of Projects Elephant, launched in 1992?

Arun : The biggest failure of MIKE is it didn’t continue, when I was running this programme we were really getting good support. We were really getting good information on elephant densities, by using very state of the art techniques. One thing we did, right now they are using that in national tiger survey, we introduced GPS; we were the first people who introduced GPS in forest department.

We got around 100s of GPS in ER, to locate elephants, to quantify their efforts in patrolling, to locate carcasses etc. that was a big success. Second thing is, today along with direct count of elephants, they use Dung density method. That was an innovation came from the CITIES MIKE in those days. I think MIKE could take a lot of credit and I worked with lot of good officers that time to implement that programme. But I think the biggest failure of that programme is, they let it go for very silly reasons and lot of politics etc. To revive it again would be very difficult. Now what they are doing is rather than being on field and working with people to improve the methods, they are just assuming 19 | P a g e

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that forest department is producing reliable estimates and they are producing that for CITIES secretariat. But there is no kind of, I would say, vetting of the data, no kind of working with forest department to improve the data. There are scientists who are helping the forest department, from that perspective it is good but that time we had a dedicated technical cell, whose full time job was only this and which have money to do. But letting that go is the biggest failure, right now, I don’t really know what’s happening in CITIES MIKE. They still run it from IUCN office in Delhi, but they are not doing much as far as I know.

So that’s the story…

Exploring Nature : Thank you very much Arun, for your time, we got quite an insight. It would really be helpful for the readers of Holocene and followers and members of Exploring Nature, who are concerned and want to know more about Elephant conflict and corridor related issues.

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Issue wise Reads of Holocene

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Exploration Camp

Dwaipayan Ghosh

Evolution of Lion

Figure 1: The Cat Family Tree (Source: Evolution of Cats in Scientific American)

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Lion is one of the 37 species of the Family Falidae or what we call the cat family. It belongs to the Sub-Family Pantherinae i.e. big cats and Genus Panthera that symbolises the “Roaring Cats”.

An initial radiation by the felid occurred during the Oligocene (ca. 34 MYA), giving rise to the sabretoothed cats. This was followed in the Miocene (ca. 23 MYA) by an evolutionary line from which arouse modern genera (Klemian and Eisenberg 1973). Since then it was an amazing journey to Lions, the king of the beast. As illustrated in Figure 1, it is assumed on the basis of genome sequencing that a

Figure 2: Feline migration waves (Source: Evolution of Cats in Scientific American)

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panther like predator, considered as the ancestor of all 8 lineages of modern cats was living somewhere in Asia. Approximately 10.8 MYA ancestors of modern big cats separated from other felids.

These ancestors of modern big cats were roaming around in Asia. Approximately ca. 6.4 MYA ancestors of non-roaring big cats like Clouded Leopards and Bornean Clouded Leopards got separated from ancestors of modern roaring cats. Then approximately 3.7 MYA, a significant bifurcation took place among Panthera ancestors. Ancestors of Asian Big cats, Tiger and Snow Leopard separated from ancestors of Lion, Leopard and Jaguars. Then ca. 3 MYA Jaguars separated from ancestors of Leopard and lion and approximately 2.7 MYA Lions and Leopards speciation took place.

Ancestors of Lions migrated to Eastern Africa in late Pliocene and evolved further to adopt in African Savanna (described in Figure 2 as the 8th Feline Migration in the 2nd wave).Lion fossils trace to the Late Pliocene in Eastern Africa and the Early Pleistocene in Eastern and Southern Africa coincident with the flourishing of grasslands approximately 2–1.5 MYA. By Mid Pleistocene (∼500,000 years ago), lions occupied Europe and by the Late Pleistocene (∼130,000–10,000 years ago) lions had the greatest intercontinental distribution for a large land mammal (excluding man), ranging from Africa into Eurasia (Migration to Eurasia illustrated in Figure 2) and the Americas (Migration to the Americas illustrated in Figure 4 as 9th Feline Migration in the 2nd wave.). Lions in Americas couldn’t survive the competition with Jaguars that migrated to Americas earlier. Lions were extirpated from Europe 2,000 years ago and within the last 150 years from the Middle East and North Africa. Today, there are less than 50,000 free-ranging lions that occur only in sub-Saharan Africa and the Gir Forest, India (Figure 3).

Based on patterns of genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis of lion, a scenario of a period of refugia/isolation in the Late Pleistocene followed by two major lion expansions across Africa and Asia is proposed.

Figure 3: Migration of Lion in Eurasia and Africa (Source: The Evolutionary Dynamics of the Lion Panthera leo Revealed by Host and Viral Population Genomics)

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Differences between Sub-Saharan African Subspecies and Asiatic Subspecies The Asiatic lion was long considered to differ from its African cousin, in being smaller and less powerful and with paler coloration. But after detailed study, it is found that though there are some physical differences between the African (P. l. leo) and Asiatic (P. l. persica) Subspecies but those differences are even smaller than the genetic distance between human racial groups.

Physical differences between Asiatic and African Lions: Male Asiatic Lions have only moderate mane growth at the top of the head and around cheek and chin leaving their ears visible, whereas, in African Lions, mane is fully developed around its head and neck completely obscuring the ears.

Unlike African lions, both sexes of Asiatic lions have a distinct fold of skin along the bally.

Asiatic lion skulls have a large percentage of bifurcated infra-orbital foramina while African lions have only one foramen on either sides of the skull.

Behavioural differences between Asiatic and African Lions: Lion is the only feline that lives socially. Both African and Asiatic lions live in fission-fusion social group called “Pride”.

African lions generally live in large harem structured pride of male, female and young ranging up to 20 individuals with a mean of 3.3. There are also some all-male coalition ranging from 1 to 4 with a mean of 1.6. All female groups with numerical range of 1-11 with a mean of 2.1 are also there in Africa.

Whereas, Asiatic lions live in smaller prides constituted by 2–5 related females and their cubs while a single male or an all-male coalition ranging up to 5 individuals hold tenures of one or more than one prides. Association between male (single or coalition) and female prides are temporary in of Asiatic Lions. Male (single or coalition) joins pride only when there is a large kill or when there female in oestrus.

Male cubs are disowned by the pride on maturity to avoid inbreeding in both the cases.

Social Structure and Reproduction of Asiatic Lion Sociality in lions could be traced to coordinated group hunts, which are more successful. However, what would seem to be most obvious explanation – increased hunting success yields more food – become less so on examination. In fact, the highest rate of food intake per hunt appears to be gained by solitary females. Based on the theory of Kin Selection, Packer (1986) argued that lions become social because it is evolutionarily more advantageous to share kill with scavenging relatives than to yield to strange lions or other large predators. Other benefits of sociality are defence of young, long– term maintenance of territories and insurance against individual injury or incapacity.

Asiatic Lions like its African cousins are very social. The core unit of Asiatic Lions’ matrilocal society is called Pride that consists of a group of related females (none dominant) and their cubs. The Prides of Asiatic lions are much smaller than their African counterpart. A Pride consists of as fewer as 2–5 females and their cubs in case of Asiatic lions. Pride hunts or scavenges in cooperation. Mature females in a Pride even synchronises oestrus to give birth cubs synchronously. That always increases survival rates of cubs and ensures maximum maternal care as all the females in the pride take care of all the cubs and cubs suckling freely from any lactating female.

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Though some males live alone, but males are also very social and often live in Coalition of up to 5 related/unrelated males. These Coalitions hunts or scavenge cooperatively like female Prides. Unlike their African cousins, single male or a Coalition joins Pride only either if there be a large kill or females of the Pride are in oestrus. This can be explained by the average weight (ca. 40kg) of the most common prey (spotted deer) by Asiatic Lion, which will not provide enough meat to a Pride accompanied by males. Kin Selection will not allow males to rob the foods from their own cubs. The time span, for which a single male or a Coalition holds over a Pride or more, is called Tenure. Competition among males for Pride Tenure is intense and average Tenure is only of Two to Three years. However, larger Coalitions of 4–5 males can hold longer Tenure for even more than 47 months. Males in a Coalition consisting of 2–3 members may be unrelated but for a Coalition of 4 or more, all members are always related males.

When a single male or a Coalition wins over Tenure of a Pride most females with dependent offspring from old male or Coalition, lose their cubs within a month of take over despite of maternal defence.

Pregnant females also lose their cubs immediately after giving birth. In this ways males ensure their paternity during the short reproductive life and reduces competition for their own gene. In the response, females of the Pride show a heightened sexual activity for about three months attracting other males and encouraging competition to ensure that the fittest is able to gain the Tenure. Females remain infertile during this Testing Period. Whenever a Coalition of more than 4 males takes over a Pride, it has been always observed that at least one member of the Coalition fails to breed successfully. Through the Kin Selection, the non-breeding helpers, by being related, still ensures that some portions of their genes are passed on.

While onset of spermatogenesis begin at 30 months in males and females may begin mating at 24 months, in case of Asiatic Lions, males establish their first Tenure for reproduction at the age of 5 to 8 years and females first give birth at the age of 4 years. In female, oestrus period lasts for 4 days with an inter-oestrus period of 16 days, and a gestation of 100 – 114 days. Mating has been observed in most months in Gir, but more mating were recorded at the end of September and in October.

Nearly 86% of births occurs in the first half of the year with an average litter size of 3.

Predation and Feeding Asiatic lions require 5-6kg of meat per day but they can eat 20kg a day. Asiatic Lion is at the top of the food chain in Gir. It is the top predator. Asiatic lions prey on peacock to camel. But, in 1973, Dr. Paul Joslin found from scat analysis of Asiatic lion, domestic stock contributes about 75% in Asiatic lions’ diet in Gir Forest. During his sample survey, there were estimated 44,000 domestic stock (including buffalo, cattle, horses and cows) and 5,600 wild angulates (including Spotted deer, Nilgai, Sambar, Wild boar, Four Horned Antelope and Indian Gazelle) roaming in Gir forest.

In a study by Dr. Ravi Chellam and Dr. A.J.T Jhonsingh later in 1993, some very interesting facts have been found. Nearly 65% of the lion kill were wild angulates at that time. It might be due to increase in number of wild angulates after initiation of Gir Sanctuary Project. But this statistics also may have been underestimated as carcass of domestic stock is easier to be found than that of a wild angulate. Moreover, villagers reported whenever their domestic stocks were killed by lions.

On analysing preying patterns of Asiatic lions in Gir, Dr. Chellam and Dr. Jhonsingh found that the male : female ratio of spotted dear kills were 179:100 whereas the sex ratio of the population was 45:100. The same study on Sambar, the largest deer in Indian woods, revealed that sex ratio in lion kills was 150:100 whereas the same in total population was 49:100. It establishes that lions prefer to kill larger animals to make the both ends meet for the whole pride. Studying domestic stock kills, it was found that male lions were on 56 kills whereas female prides were on 15 and mixed groups were on 7. These preying patterns establishes that to meet the requirement of food Asiatic lions in 26 | P a g e

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Gir, especially males, prefers to prey on domestic stocks as they are easier to hunt and provide more meat than wild ungulates and also available even inside the forest due to various tribal settlements (Maldhari, Rabari etc.) inside the Gis forest.

To be continued….

References: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Mammals of South Asia – Ajt Johnsingh & Nima Manjrekar Indian Mammals – S. H. Prater A Handbook of The Mammals in India – T. C. Jerdon Indian Mammals a Field Guide – Vivek Menon Evolution of Cats by Stephen J. O’Brien & Warren E. Johnson in Scientific American The Evolutionary Dynamics of the Lion Panthera leo Revealed by Host and Viral Population Genomics The Asiatic Lion: A Study of Ecology and behaviour by Dr. Paul Joslin (1973). PhD Thesis, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Edinburgh Ecology of Asiatic lion (P. l. persca) by Dr. Ravi Chellam, PhD Thesis, Saurashtra University, Rajkot

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Voice of Nature

Vrushabh Borkar

Some issues have become the major concern that in an Indian Tourism context what is meant by Sustainable Development, Sustainable Tourism Development, Tourism Planning and Destination Management and how are government and other Tourism stakeholders rising to the challenge, which was sited upon them by the Indian Tourism industry of implementing sustainability in Tourism?

Actually, Sustainability has become an important topic and concept in relation to Tourism planning and development (Inskeep 1991; Southgate & Sharpley 2002; Yuksel, Bramwell & Yuksel 1999). „Sustainable Tourism refers to a level of Tourism activity that can be maintained over the long period of time because it results in a net benefit for the social, economic, natural and cultural environments of the area in which it takes place‟. The Sustainable Development initiative goes beyond such well known ideas not only in Tourism sector but also in hospitality as reusing guest linens, recycling waste materials, and changing to compact fluorescent lamps, providing eco-friendly services etc. The strategy also includes local community involvement (panchayat, local residence etc.) by supporting charities, NGOs and encouraging and supporting employees to volunteer in the community, as well as participating in global award and certification programs. This paper will highlight the specific roles of the different Tourism Stakeholders in the development process of Sustainable Tourism.

Introduction Sustainability has become an important topic and concept in relation to Tourism planning and development (Yuksel, Bramwell & Yuksel 1999, Inskeep 1991; Southgate & Sharpley 2002).

“Sustainable Tourism as Tourism that meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. Rather than being a type of product, it is an ethos that underpins all Tourism activities. As such, it is integral to all aspects of Tourism 28 | P a g e

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development and management rather than being an add-on component� (UNWTO).

The objective of Sustainable Tourism is to retain the socio-economic advantages of Tourism development while reducing negative impacts on the natural, historic, cultural or social environment.

This is achieved by balancing the needs of tourists with those of the destination. The need of sustainability arises because of negative impacts of Tourism. The UNEP identifies following impacts of Tourism on culture, which requires a Sustainable handling of Tourism development. Negative impacts of Tourism: Excessive drinking, alcoholism, gambling & increased underage drinking.

Crime, drugs, prostitution & increased smuggling.

Barring of locals from natural resources.

New cliques modify social structure.

Natural, political, and public relations calamities.

Adaptation to tourist demand and over exploitation of socio-cultural carrying capacity Economic inequalities & Job level friction.

Irritation due to tourist behaviour Language and cultural effects.

Unwanted lifestyle changes and displacement of residents for Tourism development.

All Travel & Tourism activities of whatever recreational and motivation holidays, MICE travel, adventure travel, wildlife tourism, cultural tourism, eco-tourism etc. need to be Sustainable.

Sustainable Tourism is that which respects both local people and the traveller, cultural heritage and the environment. It seeks to provide people with an exciting and educational holiday that is also of benefit to the people of the host country.

The objectives of study: To implement appropriate processes to incorporate and engage Tourism stakeholders in Sustainable Tourism development.

To classify the positive and negative impacts of Tourism development.

To assess socio-economic and environmental impact assessment techniques and their application to Sustainable Tourism development.

To identified the action plan and process for Sustainable Tourism development.

To develop a critical awareness of the ways in which Tourism can enhance the welfare of people and protect our natural and cultural heritage. The secondary data collection method is used to execute these objectives.

Principles of Sustainability Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of Tourism development and a suitable balance must be instituted between these three dimensions to assure its long term sustainability. Thus, Sustainable Tourism should: 1 2 3

Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities.

Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in Tourism development.

Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders (UNEP).

Guidelines and other Principles for Sustainable Tourism: Many tourism and travel destinations are now following strategies which aim to ensure a sensitive approach when dealing with Tourism activities. Many of these strategies are based on a prescribed expression of principles for Sustainable Tourism. A list of guidelines, techniques and principles is presented below that are important for 29 | P a g e

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stakeholders who wish to be guided by the ethics of Sustainable, Alternative and Responsible Tourism. These guidelines and principles include: • • • • • Sustainability Principles

• • • • • • • • • •

Participation or Support of Local Economy.

Consultation of Interest Groups including Tourism Stakeholders.

Local tenure.

Ascertain Local Business Linkages (Tourism supports improvements in the area).

Sustainability of Resource Base (Sensible use of nature resources).

Cooperation and liaison with all stakeholders.

Maintenance of Carrying Capacity.

Educational Training of staff.

Positioning.

Integration of tourism into local, regional and national planning.

Reduction of Consumption and Waste Products.

Maintain diversity of Plants and Animals.

Studies of Environment and Social Impacts.

Responsible Marketing of Tourism.

Information and Nature Interpretation for Tourists.

Figure 1 : Guidelines and Principles of Sustainability

Participation or support of local Economy Local community must uphold Tourism development by being involved in setting a community Tourism goal, identifying the resources to be maintained and enhanced, and developing goals and strategies for Tourism development and management.

Involvement and Discussion with stakeholders Tourism programme should be developed with the help of broad-based community input. Participants could include local NGOs groups and institutions, volunteer service groups, the poor, women, local governments and their economic development departments, Tourism associations, visitor bureaus, local business group, regional council of provincial Tourism development and any other party which might be concerned in or impacted by Tourism.

Involvement and Discussion with stakeholders Tourism programme should be developed with the help of broad-based community input. Participants could include local NGOs groups and institutions, volunteer service groups, the poor, women, local governments and their economic development departments, Tourism associations, visitor bureaus, local business group, regional council of provincial Tourism development and any other party which might be concerned in or impacted by Tourism.

Involvement and Discussion with stakeholders Tourism programme should be developed with the help of broad-based community input. Participants could include local NGOs groups and institutions, volunteer service groups, the poor, women, local governments and their economic development departments, Tourism associations, visitor bureaus, local business group, regional council of provincial Tourism development and any other party which might be concerned in or impacted by Tourism.

Local tenure Tourism development must provide employment for local people. The provision of fulfilling jobs has to be seen as an integral part of any Tourism development at the local level of 30 | P a g e

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the procedure of ensuring valuable employment is to ensure, as much as possible, the Tourism infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, shops, etc.) is developed and managed by local people.

Ascertain Local Business Linkages.

Linkages must be established among local trade in the Tourism industry in order to ensure Tourism expenditures stay within the destination rather than leak out for other states to purchase imported goods and services for tourists.

Sustainability of the Resource Base Sustainable Tourism development has to provide for intergenerational equity. Equitable allocation of costs and profits of Tourism development must take place among present and future generations. To be fair to future generations of tourists and the travel industry, society should strive to leave a resource base no less than the one inherited.

Sustainable Tourism development must, therefore, avoid resource allocation actions that are irreversible.

Community Goals Synchronization is required between the needs of a visitor, the place and the community. This is facilitated by broad community support with a proper balance between economic, social, cultural, environmental and human objectives, and recognition of the importance of cooperation between governments, host communities.

Maintenance of Carrying Capacity There is a specific need for the impact assessment of tourism development proposals to distinguish between plans which encourage mass versus quality tourism. The capacity of sites must be measured, including physical, natural, social, psychological and cultural limits.

Training and information Sustainable Tourism development requires the establishment of education and training programmes to improve public understanding and enhance business, vocational and professional skills especially for the poor and women. Training should include courses in Tourism, hotel management, creation and operation of small businesses and other relevant topics.

Training and information Sustainable Tourism development requires the establishment of education and training programmes to improve public understanding and enhance business, vocational and professional skills especially for the poor and women. Training should include courses in Tourism, hotel management, creation and operation of small businesses and other relevant topics.

Positioning Sustainable Tourism development engages promoting appropriate uses and activities to reduce poverty and draw from and strengthen landscape character, sense of place, community identity and site opportunities.

Stakeholders of Sustainable Tourism Tourism Stakeholders play a role in continuing of Sustainable Tourism form. This can include groups as well as individuals. "A stakeholder in the Tourism industry is deemed to be anyone who is impacted on by development positively or negatively, and as a result it reduces potential conflict between the tourists and host community by involving the latter in shaping the way in which Tourism develops.

Importantly, it will highlight the specific roles of the various stakeholders in the development process in terms of their contribution to the areas of project management, product development, capacity building, consumer research or marketing communication. In addition, the phase dependency of these resource contributions will be examined (ECOFIN).The standards and concealed drives of governments often need to be taken into account when considering the objects for Sustainable Tourism development. There are other concerns as well. Central, State and Local Governments have a key role in format the planning and policies for Sustainable Tourism development. Moreover, many policies and much of the legislation adjacent Sustainable Tourism development falls in the area of governance, such as land use, labour laws, environmental regulations and waste disposal, Environmental Impact Assessment etc. One of the primary functions of the Government in enhancing 31 | P a g e

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Sustainable Tourism development is, therefore, to create an environment that enables or influences the private sector to operate more sustainably. Accommodation and Hospitality industry, Travel agencies and tour operators, providers of visitor services, transporters and nature tour outfitters are all part of the supply chain which must balance bio-diversity conservation with the professional quality of visitor experiences. In hospitality sectors the sustainability initiative goes beyond such well known ideas as reusing guest linens, recycling waste materials, and changing to compact fluorescent lamps etc. The strategy also includes community involvement by supporting charities and cheering employees to volunteer in the community, as well as participating in global award and certification programs. Tour Operators" in various segments of travel, Tourism & hospitality sector are very active to introduce sustainably. The traveller’s code of responsibility for environmental and cultural sustainability are framed and widely publicized by the travel agencies. NGOs are one of the stakeholders in promote Sustainable Tourism development. Their roles can range from fore fronting Sustainable Tourism development practices to simply doing research. Educational institute’s research teams and scientists can be tapped to aid in the process of planning. Local communities benefit from Sustainable Tourism through cultural integrity, socio- economic development, employment generation, and infrastructure development. Tourism revenues bring economic growth and prosperity to attractive tourist destinations which can increase the standard of living of local community. Local people also take part to develop sustainably in Tourism. The best example can be seen in the efforts of endogenous Tourism site of India including Raghurajpura, PiplI, Jyotisar, Mana village etc.

NTOs TA & TO

Local Communities

Educational Institutes

Hoteliers Tourism Stakeholders

Trade Organization

Transportation Sector

NGOs

Tourists UN Agents

Implementation process of Sustainable Tourism Development: The process followed by stakeholders to implement sustainable practices in tourism.

Conclusion To accomplish this responsibility, Tourism stakeholders have joined hand together to work in close partnership with all national and international organizations including Ministry of Tourism, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Tourism Organisation (WTO/OMT) etc. Stakeholders 32 | P a g e

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have committed in this Initiative to: Protect and conserve the natural environment, socio-economic and cultural heritage.

Liaison and co-operation with local communities, panchayat and people, ensure they benefit from the visits of our customers and encourage our customers to respect the local way of life.

Conserve plants and animals, protected areas and landscapes. Respect the integrity of local cultures and their social values.

Comply with local, national and international laws and regulations.

Oppose and actively discourage illegal, abusive or exploitative forms of Tourism.

Work closely with business partners, local authorities, regional and national governments and other organisations to achieve Sustainable development of Tourism, provide information on activities to develop and encourage the Sustainable Tourism Development and management of Tourism.

Communicate our progress in implementing this commitment. Nation cannot achieve its goal of Sustainable Tourism development without the help of all stakeholders.

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Cohabitation

Ranveer Singh Gautam

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra state in central India. It is notable as Maharashtra's oldest and largest national park.

The name "Tadoba" is the name of the God "Tadoba" or "Taru", praised by the tribal people who live in the dense forests of the Tadoba and Andhari region, while the Andhari River that meanders through the forest gives the 'Andhari' name.

Tadoba is very famous for tigers. People usually know this place for good tiger sighting. It consist around 625 sq. km of core and 1200+sq.km of buffer zone.

The study on amphibian we did was first of its kind. As everyone around Tadoba were looking for big cats. We wanted to explore other flora & fauna around the tadoba landscape. It was always very difficult and dangerous to move around the forest floors of Tadoba to conduct study of amphibian as big cats , sloth bear and vicious snakes like common krait & spectacle cobra are also present around the forest were we were finding frogs .

It took us almost 60+ nights during monsoon season to explore and study presence of frogs around the forest water holes, lakes and nullah‘s around the paribus of Irai River . But our hard work paid off as we found three species of frogs, which we not recorded before in Tadoba. It included: 1. The fungoid frog or Malabar Hills frog.

2. Uperodon globulosus, or Indian balloon frog.

3. India Painted Frog.

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here and in books it was considered to be found at Western Ghats. This study shows tadoba is not only famous for its tigers but if closely observed it could surprise many more small majestic creatures.

The fungoid frog or Malabar Hills frog; Photography by Ranveer Singh Gautam

Balloon Frog : Photography by Ranveer Singh Gautam **This study got published in all leading newspaper across Maharashtra and Tadoba & Bor wildlife coffee table book by Sanctuary Asia.

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