Biodiversity Conservation 13 13.1 Omkareshwar Eco Development Programme CEE wildlife has its presence on the bank of river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh since 2006. Narmada Valley Development Authority and the Department of Forests, Government of Madhya Pradesh have assigned to CEE the task of documenting the Microplans of 28 odd villages in the periphery of the proposed Omkareshwar National Park Complex. Accordingly, a programme named Omkareshwar Eco Development Programme was started in the year 2006. CEE Wildlife team has completed the documentation of the micro-plans of all 28 villages within the stipulated time period. The documented micro plans were then submitted to the Forest Department to ascertain the feasibility of the proposed activities. The Forest Department accepted all the plans in the month of June 2007. However, development is a continuous process and necessitates constant change. The Forest Department subsequently requested CEE to revise the plans and include additional activities in the accepted plans. The CEE Wildlife team therefore, undertook the job of writing supplementary micro-plans for every village under the programme. The supplementary plans have been submitted to the Forest Department in the month of January 2008. 13.2 Alliance for Elephant Conservation and Human- Elephant Conflict Mitigation in NE India Last year an alliance of NGOs working for the Conservation of Elephants and Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflicts was proposed by EcoSystems India in partnership with Chester Zoo, London. CEE has been a part of the alliance for its awareness and IEC components. CEE, in partnership with EcoSystems India and Chester Zoo, organized a teacher training programme for elephant conservation in Nameri National Park. Twenty teachers from schools around Nameri National Park participated in the workshop. The training module developed by CEE was mostly based on CEE s Nature Scope: Elephant manual. The training included audio-visual presentations, mini dramas, environmental games, film shows and a visit to the Nameri National Park. On the last day of the three-day residential training programme, the teachers took practice sessions in a nearby school where elephant depredation was common. 13.3 Tiger Conservation through Integrated Conservation 13.3.1 Workshops CEE South conducted a series of training programmes for university departments, degree colleges and teacher training institutes on People s Biodiversity Register programme in collaboration with Karnataka Biodiversity Board, Karnataka. At the National Science Congress 2007, a video conference followed by a discussion with national level student scientists on People s Biodiversity Register was conducted. 13.4 Rhino and Tiger Conservation Education Project Rhino and Tiger Conservation Education is a three-year project undertaken by CEE North- East supported by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. This project includes 111
development and production of educational programmes and materials and the implementation of the Rhino and Tiger Conservation Education Programme in 100 selected schools from around four selected rhino and tiger habitats of North Eastern India. The project has been carried out around four protected areas, viz. Orang National Park (Rajiv Gandhi National Park), Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and Manas National Park (NP) in Assam, and Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh. Orang and Manas are shared habitats of the rhino and tiger, Pabitora is a habitat of rhino and Namdapha is mainly the habitat of the tiger. Manas and Namdapha are also designated as Tiger Reserves. The objectives of the project include (a) creating awareness on Rhino and Tiger Conservation, including conservation of their habitats, and (b) sensitizing the communities about the issues related to the conservation of Rhinos and Tigers. The project follows a multiplier approach wherein teachers, local NGO members and Forest Field Personnel have been trained to impart tiger and rhino conservation education in a fun filled manner with various activities. The trained personnel in turn educate students, villagers and visitors. As part of the project, a teachers manual on tiger in Assamese and in Hindi is being developed. A poster on rhino conservation and two stickers on the tiger and rhino have been designed as publicity materials of the project. A bookmark featuring the Rhino with a conservation message has also been developed. Four school clusters have been formed involving five local NGOs and 96 schools from around the project sites. NGO members from the local partner NGOs have been capacity built for the training of teachers and the conducting of school programmes. The NGOs involved in the four clusters are - Green Manas for Manas NP; Pacific Unit for Orang NP; SEACOW for Namdapha NP; and Green Guard and Pabitora Conservation Society for Pabitora WLS. After orienting the NGOs, CEE identified the schools with the help of the local NGOs, local Education officials and Forest officials. Subsequently, teachers training programmes were organized in all the four locations. School awareness programmes based on the newly developed manual have been carried out in schools around Namdapha, Pabitora, Manas and Orang. CEE developed the modules for the school programmes with inputs from educationists, foresters and NGO workers. Playful learning, using existing facilities both in indoor and outdoor conditions, has been the strategy for the curriculum. Popular media like drama, mini drama, games, role play and collage making have been used extensively in the modules. Initially CEE tested these modules in schools and then fine tuned them. The activities thus developed were used during the training of the teachers. After training, teachers with help from CEE and the local NGOs, conducted programmes in their respective schools. Some teachers were also taken to nearby schools to facilitate cross sharing of learning. After this round of the programme, further inputs from teachers were obtained. Finally, after incorporating all the feedback, the module based on the Nature Scope India: Tiger manual of CEE was developed in Assamese and Hindi. A training programme was also organized for the forest personnel from all the four project sites. The emphasis was on creating an 112
understanding of the overall problems that are responsible for the reducing population of the rhino and tiger in North East India. The role of the rhino and tiger in an ecosystem and how an individual can contribute towards the conservation of these two flagship species was elaborately discussed. On the request of the Forest Department officials, the training also emphasized the legal aspects of conservation and veterinary first aid. The training programme was organized with active technical support from the lawyers of the Gauhati High Court. Justice Amitava Roy inaugurated the three day residential training programme. The modules also included sessions on First Information Report (FIR) writing, Field Diary maintenance, Wildlife (Protection) Act and Jurisprudence. NGO members from Pabitora were sent to Manas National Park during the training and school programme for exposure. Teachers from the western fringe of Manas National Park were taken to Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society (MMES) for exposure. Regular interactions with Forest Department officials were held during the entire project period. Following a request from them, a community interaction for the conservation of the rhino and tiger and their habitat were also organized in Manas and Orang National Parks. In both these areas, CEE visited villages with the forest personnel and local NGO members and interacted with the villagers and local leaders. 13.5 Dudhwa Natural Resource Management Project 13.5.1 Action Plan Phase II of the project Community Driven Natural Resource Management for Biodiversity Conservation in Dudhwa National Park (DNP) was implemented in the year 2007-08. The project is supported by Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (KNCF), Japan. CEE has been working in Dudhwa National Park for biodiversity conservation since 2005. CEE identified four villages, namely, Puraina, Ramnagar, Balera and Dhuskiya, which comes under the North Sonaripur Range of DNP for the implementation of the activities. The first phase of the project involved activities like baseline survey, need assessment, documentation of traditional knowledge, school activities and biodiversity conservation committee formation. In 2007, the second phase of the project was initiated with the objective of conserving the rich biodiversity of Dudhwa by managing the natural resources through communities participation and networking with key institutions. The community level activities included improvement of the community s livelihood skills through capacity building, training and providing alternatives for fuel wood, and market facilities for the tribal handicraft. The project activities were planned such that the women and marginalized members of the tribal communities are benefited through them. The main emphasis was on reducing the pressure on the PAs by making the communities more independent. The project activities started with the planning and dissemination of information from the previous phase. Based on the discussions in the meetings, capacity building programmes were planned. The first training programme was conducted on sustainable energy options with the objective of minimizing the fuel wood pressure from the DNP. This was 113
conducted in partnership with the government department working in the field of promotion of non-conventional energy appliances. Along with this, a training programme for teachers was also conducted to initiate the biodiversity conservation education activities in schools around Dudhwa. An assessment visit to the villages was undertaken to find out the impact of both the programmes. Details of the activities are as follows: 13.5.2 Village Level Activities Initial village level meetings were conducted to share the outcome of the baseline survey and need assessment report completed during Phase I of the project. Meetings with community members were organized in each selected village to disseminate and discuss the findings of the first phase of the project. The activities planned under the second phase were also discussed. Simultaneously beneficiaries were selected in each village through discussion with village members. An assessment of the annual fuel wood consumption was also carried out. Preparation of Conservation Plan Village Conservation Plans have been developed in each selected village. For this, village level meetings were organized where members of the Village Biodiversity Conservation Committees (VBCCs) participated in exercises like participatory rural appraisal, resource mapping and micro planning. A questionnaire was developed in the local language to compile the basic information for the preparation of the conservation plans. Capacity Building and Training Based on the process of conservation plan preparation and the need assessment, two key areas were identified for skill based capacity building programmes. The first training programme was organized by CEE for which support was provided by the Nonconventional Energy Development Agency (NEDA). The objectives of the programme was to provide information on available alternative energy options and their cost estimation, operation and maintenance, so that the pressure on fuel wood collection from the protected area could be reduced over a period of time. This training and orientation programme was organized in September 2007 in one of the selected villages Dhuskiya, where around 60 community members representing all the selected villages participated. Besides demonstrations related to energy options, NEDA has also agreed to provide the benefits of their schemes to the project villages. Follow up Meetings Follow up meetings were organized with community members of the selected villages after the training programme to assess the impact of the programme. During these meeting, several community members have shown their interest in obtaining the nonconventional energy appliances, especially solar systems, which were discussed and demonstrated during the training programme. CEE guided them and facilitated the procedure of submission of the application to NEDA. Around 20 members have applied for the solar systems; while a few members have already obtained their appliances, the rest of the applications are under process at NEDA. The demonstration of the non-conventional energy systems with the help of community contribution is being facilitated to showcase the benefits of alternative energy options. 114
Compilation of Communities Traditional Knowledge (TK) Community Biodiversity Registers (CBR) were provided to each VBCC to document their own traditional systems and agricultural practices, seeds of indigenous varieties, knowledge of medicinal plants, varieties and species of domesticated plants and animals and such data. CEE reviewed the information compilation being undertaken by the villagers and helped them in planning the information collection. The VBCC s have submitted their biodiversity registers. The information compiled by the community in the CBRs is in the local language and in a rough format which now requires scientific references. The information is in the process of compilation where, apart from being translated into English, the information is also being verified.. Environmental Education and Awareness Activities CEE has identified 12 schools situated in and around the protected area to involve the students in biodiversity conservation education activities. CEE organized a teachers training programme in September 2007 to train teachers for conducting biodiversity conservation education activities in schools. The programme was attended by around 18 teachers from the 12 schools. The training programme was focused on teachers orientation for motivating students to take up biodiversity conservation projects and thus reach out to the community by creating awareness about the importance of the wealth of biodiversity present in Dudhwa National Park. From the initiation of Dudhwa activities several school level meetings have been organized with the teachers and students for orienting and motivating them toward the promotion of conservation education. 13.6 Conservation Awareness Programme in Chambal Sanctuary An 85 km long stretch of the Chambal River passing through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan is the habitat of crocodiles, gharials, tortoises and turtles. This area, declared as National Chambal Sanctuary in 1979, is part of a large area co-administered by Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and is famous for the rare Gangetic dolphin. Apart from the Gangetic dolphin, the other inhabitants of the sanctuary include magar (crocodile) and gharial, chinkara, sambar, nilgai, wolf, wild boar and fresh water turtles including some rare species. As the river is now part of the sanctuary, villagers along the river banks who were using the riverbeds for cultivating vegetables and such other activities, face some difficulties. Due to severe poverty, people indulge in poaching of tortoise and turtles for their meat, eggs and carcass, and those of crocodiles and gharials for skin and meat. In addition, the riverbed cultivation affects the nesting sites of the crocodiles and gharials. The area is also dacoit infested and there are villages where schools remain closed and children do not go to school because of the fear of dacoits. Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT) and WWF-India have been working in the area for conservation research. In 2008, about 110 gharials died in the area, due to reasons still unknown, sending an alert to international conservationists and researchers. CEE was invited in the month of March by MCBT to address the village panchayats, the community and school children for creating awareness about the importance of turtles, gharials, crocodiles and other wildlife of the 115
area and the river ecosystem. The providing of sustainable alternate livelihoods for the village community was also discussed. An awareness programme was conducted for the children of the area. CEE s programmes were shared with the MCBT members and possibilities of collaboration for developing suitable programmes/material for various stakeholders in the area were explored. A partnership with MCBT is being developed. 13.7 Lakes and Wetlands of Rajasthan Publication Developed by CEE West for the Department of Environment, Rajasthan The 12 th World Lake Conference (TAAL - 2007), in the series of conferences held every two years since 1985, under the aegis of the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC) Foundation, Japan, was organised in Jaipur, Rajasthan, at the invitation of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, New Delhi from October 28 to November 2, 2007. CEE conceptualized and developed a publication titled Lakes and Wetlands of Rajasthan for the Department of Environment, Rajasthan. The publication presents a pictorial introduction to nearly 45 water bodies from various agro-climatic zones of Rajasthan. Part I of the publication contains an introduction to wetlands, information about the agro-climatic zones of the state, and the flora and fauna of the wetlands; Part II has information about 45 lakes and wetlands with colour photographs; Part III has a list of about 400 lakes and wetlands, a tourism map of Rajasthan and the addresses of the tourism offices. The A4 size colour publication has 79 pages. It was released by Ms. Vasundhra Raje, Chief Minister of Rajasthan in the presence of Shri Ashok Jain, Principal Secretary, Environment and other dignitaries. This publication was distributed to the participants of the TAAL - 2007 Conference. 13.8 Environmental Education in Gulf of Mannar (GoM) Programme Background Since December 2005, CEE-TN has been working in the Gulf of Mannar, the first marine area in India to be declared as a World Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO s Man and Biosphere Programme. The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust (GOMBRT), a body formed by the Government of Tamil Nadu with the support of Global Environmental Facility (GEF), has been supporting an initiative of CEE-TN titled, Environmental Education in Gulf of Mannar. The programme strives to inform the public through the school children about the importance of Gulf of Mannar and its rich natural resources, to make them aware of the various environmental issues in the region and the need to conserve this biosphere reserve. The activities conducted during this year include: Capacity Building Workshops CEE conducted a series of six capacity building workshops for the teachers of the schools catering to the students of the Trust s project villages. These were held between August and October 2007 in the Ramanathapuram and Thoothukodi districts. The objectives of the workshops include: To help the teachers understand the importance of the Gulf of Mannar region 116
Understand the role of Environmental Education (EE) in promoting conservation Learn the ways and methods of infusing concepts related to Gulf of Mannar in the regular school curriculum Gain a first hand experience of the Biodiversity of the GOM through field trips Develop an action plan for the yearlong programme The workshops presented an overview of the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere, and the uniqueness and the importance of the region. The issues and concerns of the region were detailed out through first hand experiences. The teachers were helped to understand why the conservation of the region s biodiversity and ecosystem is important. The workshop also introduced the teachers to What? Why? and How? of Environmental Education (EE). The teachers gained handson experience on various active teachinglearning approaches of EE. Discussions were also held on the different ways of incorporating GOM concepts within in the curriculum. The teachers were taken on field visits to Glass Bottom Boat for coral sighting and to mangrove plantations in the Ramanathapuram districts. They were also facilitated to develop an annual plan in groups. The teachers showed keen interest in exploring the flora and fauna for which the CEE team and the staff of the Forest Department accompanied them. The latter explained the importance of various marine resources like algae, seaweeds, coral reefs and sea grasses to the teachers. Many of the participants despite having lived along the coast of GOM themselves were amazed to see the rich ness of thlife forms starfish, sea cucumbers, coral reefs, sea grass, and others. Over 200 school teachers from 173 schools attended these workshops. Supporting School Teachers One of the Centre s staff was based at Ramanathapuram to support the EE activities in the project schools. The Eco-development Officer of the Trust provided valuable guidance in carrying out the various field activities. The CEE staff regularly visited all the schools, helped the teachers conduct various EE activities and had interactions with the students of the Eco-Club, besides helping plan the weekly/monthly activities for the schools. During the interactive sessions, the presentations on GoM were made to the students. Educational Field Visits As a part of Supporting School Programmes, several field visits were organised for students. CMFRI, CSMCRI, Glass Bottom Boat and Aquarium were frequented as a part of these visits, which offered a new learning experience for both the students and the teachers, in which they saw and understood the various marine organisms. More than 500 students and 40 teachers from Ramanathapuram district have participated in these field visits. Involving the Youth In an effort to involve the youth in the region for this programme, CEE encouraged 100 NSS units in the region to conduct their camps in the villages along the coast of Gulf of Mannar. Material Development Several resource material like the manual Aazhipudaiyal, Mannar Matters, Field Guide and presentations have been prepared as part of this programme. 117