BushChat - Nature Conservation Foundation

vol 3/ no 1
october 2005
inside
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conservation epiphenomena
kidding around in namdapha
new faces at ncf
the whitley award
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. Orwell’s ironic
contention is perhaps more relevant to conservation today than he intended. Not all
species are equally susceptible to major threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation.
A large body of research has shown that such threats severely impact large-bodied,
wide-ranging species as well as species that have highly restricted geographic ranges or
specialised requirements. Wide-ranging species such as hornbills and restricted-range
species (endemics) ‘more equal’ than others for conservation attention.
The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot has four hornbill species—the Malabar Pied
and Indian Grey Hornbills (endemic to India), the Malabar Grey Hornbill (endemic to the Western Ghats), and the
endangered Great Hornbill. Additionally, sixteen species of endemic birds are known from the region. Led by Divya
Mudappa and T.R. Shankar Raman, NCF is conducting a comprehensive survey of protected areas along the Western
Ghats, documenting the distribution and abundance of hornbills and endemic birds using extensive field surveys and
secondary information, and assessing the threat status to their populations and habitats. A larger goal is to identify
key areas in the regional landscape for conservation and management of these flagship species and their habitats.
For Divya and Shankar Raman, there could scarcely have been a better
brief. Since February this year, they have been driving through thick
evergreen forests, taking long treks through dry tropical landscapes,
and spending evenings on the banks of idyllic streams and rivers, listening
to sociable hornbills squawk their arrival to their roost sites. On the
flip side, in many forests, the hornbills tell their tales of hunting and
habitat loss with a testimony of silence.
The first stop was Goa, where they surveyed five Protected Areas.
Goa has set aside a large portion of the Western Ghats as Sanctuaries,
recognising its value as the source of its life-line rivers such as the
Mandovi. Malabar Pied and Malabar Grey Hornbills were present
in the sanctuaries and in some surrounding reserved forests. The
endemic Grey-headed Bulbul appeared to be doing well in the moist
forests, and several other important species such as Malabar Trogon
and Sri Lanka Frogmouth were recorded. The forests are, however, not
free of threats, include poaching, mining, and encroaching settlers.
Encouragingly though, the Park managers in Goa, in particular, Prakash
Salelkar and Paresh Porob, are highly motivated, and are making a big
difference to park management.
BushChat
newsletter of the nature conservation foundation
The “more equal” birds of the Western Ghats
The Ghats in northern Maharashtra are drier and highly
fragmented, the forests receding to hilltops and ridges as agriculture
expands. The remnants are themselves threatened by unbridled
developmental projects, hydel reservoirs and unregulated tourism
(mostly pilgrims). Further south, the forests are wetter, denser,
and offer better hope for long-term conservation of hornbills and
endemics. The team visited 15 sites in all, assisted in no small part by Prachi and Jayant from Envirosearch in Pune.
The Maharashtra Forest Department from the Conservator to the field staff were also extremely helpful. Indian
Grey Hornbills were spotted or reliably reported only from the coastal forests of Borivili, Phansad and Tansa. At
Phansad, the team spotted Malabar Grey and Malabar Pied Hornbills. The semi-evergreen and wet evergreen forests of
Koyna and Bhimashankar Sanctuaries resounded with the sounds of Nilgiri Wood Pigeons and Malabar Crested
Larks fluttering over the spectacular sadas in Dajipur. We can only hope that these beautiful landscapes will be there
for others to see and cherish in the years to come.
As part of this project, NCF has produced a poster on the hornbills of the Western Ghats with the help of Maya
Ramaswamy. This is being distributed free to schools, Forest Departments and NGOs across the region to raise awareness
of the importance of these unique birds. Divya and Shankar Raman, in the meanwhile, continue their surveys, and are
currently sitting by the banks of the Kali River, watching hornbill silhouettes against sunset skies.
n a t u r e c o n s e r v a t i o n f o u n d a t i o n
s c i e n c e f o r c o n s e r v a t i o n

focus
of hot water phenomena and conservation epiphenomena
Accidents happen. With hindsight, it is sometimes possible to trace the complex thread of circumstances that connect
the fight with the wife to the carnage on the tracks, but, of course, we do not always have the benefit of hindsight
when planning our road trips. As conservation biologists we encounter ecological accidents all the time, and, for the
most part, the end results are tragic. So when, on rare occasion, we see an accident with not so tragic results, it causes
us to sit up and take notice. NCF has been documenting just such a fortunate accident of conservation in the coral reefs of
the Lakshadweep Islands.
Unusual ocean warming events that result from climate change
belong to those inevitable accidents that marine biologists have
come to expect as the most significant forces impacting shallow
ecosystems. The El Niño of 1998 was unprecedented in the intensity
and duration of unusual hot water conditions, and it left the coral
reefs of the tropics much poorer for its passage. We went to the
Lakshadweep reefs a few months after these anomalous ocean
temperatures expecting the worst. It was worse than we expected.
More than 95% of the live coral on many reefs had died, and
many species of fish, directly dependent on coral had declined
considerably.
In hot water, corals bleach white and are rapidly taken over by algae
It is often easy to predict the sequence of events after a major death of
coral. We have seen it many times before, particularly in reefs that support high human densities. With coral no longer
dominant, fleshy macroalgae find it easy to settle, grow and outcompete any new coral attempting to re-establish in the area.
In many reefs where this has been documented, the process is difficult to reverse, and coral may not regain dominance
for several decades, despite our best conservation and management efforts. The key are the herbivores. Herbivorous
fish and invertebrates tip the scales in favour of coral in a healthy reef, munching down macroalgae and allowing
coral to gain the upper hand in the competition for space and light. In a heavily fished reef however, herbivore
numbers often decline, and can no longer control the proliferation of macroalgae, particularly after a coral mortality.
This was our worst fear for the Lakshadweep.
We have been tracking the impact of the El Niño to benthic and fish communities of the Lakshadweep from 1998. Thus
far, the shift in dominance to macroalgae has not occurred. Quite the reverse. At many reef sites, coral are recruiting,
surviving, and growing rapidly to dominance at truly encouraging rates. Herbivores are everywhere. Swarming hordes
of them. Wandering from patch to patch, grazing every bit of algae growing on the substrate. At first sight, this is surprising.
The Lakshadweep Islands are among the most heavily populated parts of rural India, with more than 2000 people/km 2 .
And the population relies primarily on the sea for its protein. Fish supports the diet and economy of the Lakshadweepan.
So why are the reefs of the Lakshadweep so apparently resilient, even in the face of such catastrophic mortality?
At least part of the answer lies in history. Before the 1960s, the Lakshadweep fisherman fished for the daily meal in
the seagrass beds and the reef from the shore or from small traditional boats. They caught as much as they needed for
themselves and whatever was not needed, was bartered for rice with neighbours and others in the village. This was
the state of affairs when the Fisheries Department
of India surveyed the exploitation potential of the
fishery in the Lakshadweep and concluded that here
was a vast untapped resource, that the Lakshadweep
fishermen were doing an inadequate job of utilising.
They were not looking at the reef though. They
were looking at the open ocean outside the reef.
In particular, tuna fish. With almost missionary
zeal, a management programme was put into
place to educate Lakshadweep fishermen to catch
tuna, using a pole-and-line technique. Within a
few decades, this was the main fishing activity in
the Lakshadweep, significantly deflecting fishery
away from the reef. Today, tuna is by far the most
important source of income for the islands, and
has largely replaced the diversity of reef fish in the
primary diet of the islands. The consequence for the
reef is that it is relatively underexploited, despite
the high human populations living nearby.
Fishing for bait: the tuna fishery may have contributed to the high resilience of Lakshadweep reefs
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The moral is a complex one to read. On the face of it, the Lakshadweep is a success story. A reef where resilience is
maintained because of a well-managed fishery. However, the reasons for the establishment of the tuna fishery had
nothing whatsoever to do with reef management and everything to do with the maximisation of an underutilised
resource. The conservation benefits that accrued to the reef were purely accidental, a bi-product of a developmental
initiative several decades ago. These accidents don’t happen often, and we suspect, we cannot engineer them if we
tried. But there are important lessons to be learnt here. Even though the conservation benefits of tuna fishing to the
reef are merely ‘epiphenomenal’, they have been perhaps more successful in conserving ecosystem values than if a
more standard management programme were to be started here, establishing no-take areas, and excluding people from
the reef. Given a choice between immediate economic gain and intangible long-term benefit, it is quite clear what
people will choose. Accidents will continue to happen. We can only hope that when these accidents
present themselves as opportunities, we will recognize them, and make the best use of them for conservation.
kidding around: conservation education in namdapha news
How do you communicate a message of conservation to people for whom hunting is a way of life? Biologists and indigenous
communities value wild species with rather different currencies. Finding a philosophical middle ground between
preservation and utility is often the biggest obstacle to effective conservation. In Northeast India, NCF is attempting
to tackle the problem, with a range of initiatives in and around Namdapha National Park. Not least among these is a
conservation education program in Miao, the main township near the park where most wild meat is sold. We hope to
eventually reach adult wild meat buyers with this program, but we started with an easier and more fun group - school
children from tribal and non-tribal backgrounds. This program is being conducted with the help of SEACOW (Society for
Environmental Awareness and Conservation of Wildlife),
a local NGO in Miao started by Phupla Singpho and
other Singpho youth.
We started with a private primary school in Miao, 30
children between seven and 10 years turned up for a
day-long program we conducted in April. If we had
space to accommodate them, the teachers assured us,
there would have been many more. We used a series
of role-playing games to explore basic ecological
concepts with the kids. For instance, a game of catch
was transformed into an elementary lesson on trophic
dynamics: wearing animal masks the kids formed simple
food chains (leopard-gibbon-fruit, snake-toad-butterflyflower)
and the higher trophic levels had to chase down
their own ‘food’. A visit to the zoo in Miao caused
much excitement, and a barrage of curious questioning
followed after the children learnt that the animals in this
zoo were all present in the nearby forests.
Playing their parts: children in Miao learning about food webs the fun way
Even here in Miao, there is a noticeable difference in the
levels of ecological awareness and attitudes between tribal and non-tribal children. While most of the children were aware
that some of these wild animals were hunted, the non-tribal kids expressed horror and disbelief that their tribal classmates
had eaten and enjoyed wild meat. When asked to draw their favourite animals, most children painted the usual peacocks
and elephants, while a Lisu boy painted a leopard cat. He, along with a Singpho child, were gifted Aparajita’s lively book
on Indian rainforests, Walk the Rainforest with Niwupah, as a prize for their creativity.
Later, we interacted with older tribal youth from the Government Secondary School (Classes 6 to 9). They frequently went
to the forest, and admitted to killing birds for sport with their catapults. Their knowledge of hornbills and the forest in
general was remarkable, and several of them had seen hornbills in the nearby forests. Despite Namdapha being in their
backyard, none of the boys had been there. No one thought there were any tigers in Namdapha. Most knew that tigers
were hunted for their skins.
The older tribal children we interacted with had a depth of first-hand knowledge (seldom seen among urban kids) and
curiosity about the forest that was engaging. Conservation education here would have to keep in mind that it is vital to
keep this instinctive appreciation of nature intact, while fostering an appreciation for its intrinsic values and its potential
finiteness. This, hopefully, will lead to voluntary changes in their behavior, without the need to lecture them with sermons
based on rather alien notions that eating wild meat or killing birds with catapults is ‘bad’.
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focus

ambika aiyadurai
charudutt mishra awarded the whitley gold
Feel free to contact us for more
information on our work and for
details on the full range of our
activities.
We are at
3076/5 IV Cross Gokulam Park
Mysore 570002 INDIA
Phone + 91 . 821 . 251 5601
Fax + 91. 821 . 251 3822
ncf@ncf-india.org
www.ncf-india.org
TO
n a t u r e c o n s e r v a t i o n f o u n d a t i o n
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new faces at ncf
After my graduation in Zoology from Saurashtra University, Gujarat, I spent three years in Centre for Environment
Education, Ahmedabad where my job was to develop communication materials specifically for teachers and students. I
quit the job to do an M.Sc (Wildlife Science) from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. For my Master’s thesis, I carried
out a radio-telemetry study on Golden Jackals in Velavadar National Park (Gujarat). My visit to Arunachal Pradesh for
a survey on human-animal conflict has led me to NCF to develop a PhD project on Hunting by tribal communities in
Arunachal Pradesh and its implications for wildlife conservation.
rakhee karumbaya
Between Chikmagalur, Papua New Guinea and the Australian outback, I have spent more time in natural areas than in
cities. I had an idyllic childhood with sandy beaches as my playground, dense tropical forests to trek in, and mountain
rivers to swim in. My first experience of living in a city in Australia left me longing for the innocence of my time in
PNG. I returned to India in 1989 to do my Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Journalism, and worked in various PR and
Management positions after graduation. After marriage, my husband was offered a position in PNG, and I leapt at the
opportunity to return to a place that I loved so much as a child.
On the surface, nothing seemed to have changed in PNG, but the economic and political climate was in rapid transition,
and country was becoming more commercial and globalised. Law and order was on the decline, and there was a growing
resentment against the expat communities. After seven years in PNG, we returned to India with our two children.
I have been working for the Nature Conservation Foundation since May 2005, coordinating NCF’s various projects, and
attempting to bring some order to the general chaos that prevails here. I also edit the Babbler, which contains all the
insider NCF gossip.
In a heartening recognition of NCF’s pioneering conservation
efforts in the Himalaya, the Whitley Foundation awarded the
top honour to Charudutt Mishra. Often called ‘The Green Oscar’,
the Whitley Award was presented to Charu by HRH Princess
Royal at a packed gathering at the Royal Geographical Society
in London on 20th April 2005. The award recognises more than
a decade of ecological research and conservation in some of the
most unforgiving environments in India. The Whitley Award
comes along with a 60,000 pound grant, which will be used
exclusively to increase the reach of NCF-ISLT’s high–altitude
conservation programme. Congratulations Charu!
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