Identifying Areas for Conservation in a Biodiversity Hotspot: The High Altitudes of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalayas The state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India is recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot. However all the existing wildlife reserves in Arunachal largely cover low to mid elevation areas, although regions over 3000m elevation account for nearly a quarter of the area of the state. Wildlife inventorying, ecological research, and conservation efforts have also been restricted to lower elevation areas.
There has been no documentation of high altitude wildlife, and no high altitude wildlife reserves have been established. We propose to undertake a survey of high altitude regions of Arunachal Pradesh to document the distribution and conservation status of wildlife, and identify areas for establishment of wildlife reserves.
For further infromation contact Dr Mishra at charru@ncf-india.org or visit the Nature Conservation Foundation www.ncf-india.org
News Update: January 2006 The team has had a successful three week expedition. However, although we had proposed to cover three districts in the project proposal, we were actually able to thoroughly survey only two of them.
I am delighted to say that our surveys have identified a very important site that we will propose to be protected for wildlife conservation. During the coming year, I am also planning to start some community based conservation work in this site We were able to establish the occurrence of the snow leopard, bharal, wild dogs, takin, serow, musk deer, goral, marmots, pikas and much other fascinating wildlife in the region. We have also been able to identify the main conservation problems/ issues in the region.
One of the highlights of our expedition was the discovery of the Chinese goral Nemorhaedus caudatus, a species not known previously to occur in India – this is, in fact, a new addition to the list of large mammals of the Indian sub-continent.
2nd RSG Grant Awarded Dr Charudutt Mishra received a 2nd RSG grant in March 2004. With support from the Rufford Small Grant in 2003, the biological expedition in Arunachal’s high altitudes documented a rich but threatened wildlife assemblage (including 12 mammal species of global conservation importance), and identified a suitable site for establishment of a wildlife reserve. This continuation of the project is using a two-pronged follow-up:
(i) Working at the local community level to seek peoples’ support for wildlife conservation, and
(ii) Working with the Government to facilitate the creation of Arunachal’s first high altitude wildlife reserve.
Project Update: March 2006 1. We have successfully assisted the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department in establishing a new high altitude wildlife reserve called the HH Tsangyang Gyatso Biosphere Reserve. This reserve has been established in the high altitudes of Western Arunachal Pradesh that was identified to be a very important biodiversity area during our expeditions in the region in 2003, which were also supported by the Rufford Foundation. You might recall that the expeditions, among other species, had resulted in the disovery of the Arunachal Macaque, Macaca munzala, a species new to science. The proposal for the Biosphere Reserve, which we assisted the state government to develop under the current project, has recently been approved by the Government of India.
2. One of the important conservation threats in this region is the conflict between the local pastoral people and endangered wild carnivores including the snow leopard Uncia uncia and the dhole Cuon alpinus. This is due to the significant financial losses incurred by the local communities due to livestock depredation, and the high levels of retaliatiory persecution of these carnivores. We have completed human wildlife conflict surveys of over 60 villages in this region, documented the extent of losses, the persecution of carnivores, and outlined the efforts needed to address this conflict. The final data analysis and report writing is going on, and the results will become by June. The report will used to develop a conflict management programme for the region, to promote peoples’ tolerance towards the carnivores, and to integrate them with conservation efforts.
3. The initial exploration project, and this subsequent continuation grant have so far led to three scientific publications (which will be a part of the final report) including international journals such as Oryx and the International Journal of Primatology, and the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. At least two other papers/ articles are expected published from the data currently being analysed.
Articles: 2006 Read about the findings of this project in the articles below.
Final Report Read about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.
