Rajaji: The IPT Report
Last year, The Indian Peoples Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT) had requested Justice P.S. Poti ( former Chief Justice of the Kerala and Gujarat High Courts) to bring out a comprehensive report on the problems in the Rajaji National Park along with suitable recommendations. Justice Poti has finalised an Interim Report which was released to villagers, NGOs, and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) personnel at Buggawala village, near Rajaji National Park, on the 22nd of April. The major recommendations of the report are as follows:
i. A multi-agency team to be set up to follow up on the IPT recommendations, comprising government officials, villagers, local NGOs and individual scholars/ ecologists. This team would accumulate dependable data and information for future reference, and help to push the implementation of the recommendations.
ii. On the Gujjar issue, the report has three recommendations:
a) Those Gujjars who continue to migrate and are unwilling to shift should be allowed to continue with their traditional way of life.
b) Those who have become stationery and do not want to shift should be encouraged to develop fodder plantations..
c) Genuine and previously acceptable rehabilitation measures should be provided for those who want to move out.
iii. For Taungya and Baan workers as well as for other villages:
1) The process of compensation for human/livestock injury or death should be simple and expeditious.
2) The taungya villages should be converted into revenue villages along with conferring of Haqdari rights.
3) Haqdari rights of Baan workers should be protected, and a restricted system of harvesting bhabbar grass from within the park should be restarted, along with bhabbar plantations in the peripheral areas.
4) Every village should have a Van Suraksha Samiti consisting of village representatives, Gujjars and Forest Officials.
iv. About industrial and urban pressures:
a) Feasibility of relocating existing industries around Rajaji should be urgently considered.
b) All proposed new structures and those under construction along the periphery of the park should be prohibited.
c) A moratorium on conversion of agricultural or forest land around the park to non-agricultural or non-forest use should be declared.
v. As far as the creation of the Elephant Corridor was concerned, the Central and the Uttar Pradesh Government should immediately take up the issue and bring out a coordinated action plan.
vi. Regeneration of degraded areas should be with indigenous species; some forest areas should be left untouched, in consultation with villagers.
vii. The report recommends improvement in the service conditions of the Officers and Staff of the Forest Department, who work under great stress and suffer from lack of motivation.
The report concludes that participatory forest and protected area management should be preferred over the current system.
2. Regional/State News
Orissa
Close on the heels of the 5-state Jungle Jivan Bachao Yatra, a 41 day Jana Jungle Chetna Yatra is being started in Orissa, from Simlipal Tiger Reserve, on the 2nd of May. It will be passing through the forest- tribal-mining-industrial areas, and the eastern coast of the state, finally reaching Bhubaneshwar on June 11, 1995. The yatra is being organised by the Life and Forest Movement (LFM). For details, please contact: Manoj Pradhan, Secretary General, Life and Forest Movement, N- 1/188, I.R.C. Village, Bhubaneshwar- 751015.
Maharashtra
The Koregaon meeting on issues related to protected areas of Maharashtra was held as scheduled, on 4-6th of April. The report on the meeting is awaited. For details, contact B.J Avinash, Satya Shodh, Post Koregaon, Dist. Satara-415501, Ph. 02163-20452.
3. National News
Jungle Jivan Bachao Yatra
Readers may recall our reports on the Jungle Jivan Bachao Yatra in previous JPAM Updates. The follow-up action plans of the Yatra have been finalised after inputs from all state coordinators. The detailed list is attached as an appendix.
New Directions in Conservation Fund
Readers will recall that after the JPAM Workshop at IIPA in September 1994, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) had offered support for follow-up activities. Subsequently a consolidated fund was proposed with seed money from IDRC. This " New Direction in Conservation Fund" (NDCF) was to be administered through the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie on the basis of the recommendations of a Steering Committee. Unfortunately, the NDCF has not been given approval by the Government of India. The reasons are still unclear, but it is believed that it was because of objections raised by one of the concerned Ministries. This could be a serious setback as many follow-up proposals have already come in for funding (as reported in earlier JPAM Updates). Readers who have suggestions for alternative sources of funds are requested to write to us.
4. International news
In continuation of our attempt to apprise you of different conservation strategies being adopted in various countries, the ultimate objective being to learn from such experiences and perhaps apply them after modifying them according to local needs, the following is a case study.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica
The Cahuita National Park encompass 1,100 hectares of land, 600 hectares of coral reef and a twelve-mile offshore marine zone situated along the south Atlantic coast of Costa Rica.
The relations between the local residents and the National Park Service have been strained since its establishment. Cahuita was established as a .pa
(contd.)
National Monument by an executive decree in 1970, without any consultation with the local residents. The landowners were asked to sell their land, which they naturally considered an imposition by outside authorities. At present, 87% of the land is under private ownership. In 1977, after local residents carried their grievances to the President, a committee of the Government and the community leaders was set up, which recommended a compromise by which local residents would be allowed to continue exploiting park resources at current rates, using traditional methods, within regulations established by the Park service.
However, the subsequent law, which changed the status of the monument to a national park, did not refer to the commission's recommendations. Although the Park Service had an administrative agreement with community representatives, neither the commission's recommendations nor the legal rights of the local people were guaranteed by law. This led to intensification of the resource conflicts. Increasing exposure to the urban way of living has also in many ways broken down traditions, and the park resources are now being used unsustainably.
In an attempt to improve park management, there were recommendations that the Cahuita Park be divided into six zones.
1. The Primitive Zone or what can be called the core zone, where protection is the strictest.
2.The Extensive Use Zone which refers to natural areas that may be subject to limited alterations and resource exploitation.
3. The Cultural History Zone which includes areas of historical, archaeological, and cultural features that deserve preservation and interpretation.
4. The Intensive Use Zone which will allow visitor access and certain activities conducive to the conservation objectives.
5. The Rehabilitation Zone encompassing areas in which vegetation and soils have substantially altered and where exotic plant and animal species are to be replaced by indigenous ones.
6. The Special Zone used for administration and other uses that are in themselves incompatible with conservation objectives but are necessary for effective park management.
The park management, therefore, involves three major areas: resource management and protection, public use, and general operation of the area. In all the three aspects, the objective is to involve the local people in benefit sharing, and as consultants in designing, construction and utilization of park infrastructure as well as in park management plans. This is important because majority of the land is locally owned. The park is being planned as a regional centre for promoting and perpetuating local cultural values, and the local people are being encouraged to preserve these cultures and share them with visitors.
Source: Kutay, Kurt (1991). Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica: A Case Study in Living Cultures and National Park Movement, in P.C. West and S.R Brechin (eds.), Resident People and National Parks, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon.
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JPAM Update is produced as a follow-up to the Workshop on Exploring the Possibilities of Joint Protected Area Management (JPAM), organised at Delhi in September 1994. JPAM Update 4 was prepared By Neena Singh, Saloni Suri, and Ashish Kothari. Ideas and comments may please be addressed to Ashish Kothari, Indian Institute of Public Administration, I.P. Estate, New Delhi 110002. Ph: 3317309; Fax:3319954; Email:akothari@unv.ernet.in.
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APPENDIX
JPAM UPDATE 4
JUNGLE JIVAN BACHAO YATRA FOLLOW-UP
STATE LEVEL FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
MAHARASHTRA
State level
1. A State level meeting of NGOs, communities, and Forest Department at Koregaon in Maharashtra was scheduled from 4th to 6th April (Already held; report awaited).
2. WWF will help with information on Protected Areas in the Western Ghats and in concrete actions.
Bhimashankar
1. A Yatra took place through 16 villages of Bhimashankar from the 22nd of March, to spread the message of the Jungle Jivan Bachao Yatra (Report awaited).
2. Another Yatra is proposed from Bhimashankar to Kalsubai Sanctuary in April- May.
3. In Bhimashankar there is an attempt to get the involvement of the Forest Department, local people, voluntary organisations, and independent observers to plan a peoples' sanctuary, which can extend beyond the existing boundaries. Many villages outside will declare their own sanctuaries with their own rules.
Koyna
1. The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) will help to assess the legal status of land use in Koyna.
2. Since Satyashodh, an NGO working in Koyna, is new, there are no concrete commitments from them yet. However, they will try to help implement the two resolutions which local villagers made during the Yatra: that they would not permit any sale/transfer of forest produce and forest land by the Forest Department without their permission, and that they would themselves not sell any private or village land to outsiders.
Borivalli
1. The Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT), will to move a case against the quarries here.
2. IPT will also take up the cause of the Warli tribals, staying inside the park, whom the Forest Department is proposing to oust.
Radhanagri
1. IPT will explore possibilities of filing a case against bauxite mining here.
GUJARAT
State level
1. There will be a State level meeting on PAs at CEE in May 1995. The Yatra and Joint Protected Area Management (JPAM) will be discussed.
2. The magazine, Vasundhara, published by VIKSAT, will cover the Yatra and JPAM.
3. The concept of JPAM will be promoted in the upcoming National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC), being coordinated by VIKSAT.
4. A State level JPAM Coordination Committee is to be formed.
5. There will be an awareness campaign against the trend of denotifications taking place in Gujarat.
6. Efforts will be made by the CEE to promote internal dialogue within the Forest Department.
Shoolpaneshwar
1. An independent team consisting of NGOs, retired forest officials and journalists will try to look into the bamboo cutting issue.
Hingolgadh
1. The Centre for Environment Education, working at Hingolgadh, will contact The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, to get relevant information on the research being done on Nilgai crop damage, and also assess its local acceptability.
Gir
1. Recently, the Gujarat High Court, acting on a writ filed by a lawyer after the Yatra publicised the issue, ordered status quo with respect to 50 acres of land recently allotted to the Kankeshwari Temple Trust in Gir and restrained the trust from felling trees. CEE will check the details of this stay order and inform others.
RAJASTHAN
State level
There was a State level meeting held at Sawai Madhopur in February, 1995. The major conclusions were:
- Traditional knowledge to be urgently documented and used in PA management
- Forest Department and people will have to join hands; possibilities of JPAM are evident.
- Need to study Kankadbani, a traditional conservation system in Sariska
- Creation of a State Coordination Committee
These are to be followed up.
Sariska
1. Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), an NGO working in the villages in and around the Sariska National Park, will try to increase peoples' involvement in protection and spread the message of the successful experiment at Bhaonta (Teh.Thanagazi), where villagers have protected 1200 ha. of forest land and declared it the Bhairodev Dhakao Sonchuri.
2. Traditional knowledge will be documented.
3. Some members of TBS and local villagers will go to Nepal to study the ways in which people are involved in management of a sanctuary (Annapurna).
4. TBS workers will move around in all the PAs covered by the Yatra and spend time, share experiences and invite people to Sariska.
Jamwa Ramgarh
1. Villagers will try to organize themselves against mining in the area with the help of TBS.
Bharatpur
1. A Sampark Yatra is to be organised by the Keoladev Research Foundation (KRF), through all the villages around the park. These will also involve city dwellers and intellectuals.
2. The KRF will also initiate a dialogue with the Forest Department, especially the lower staff, to discuss JPAM.
3. Experiments on controlled grazing to be urged.
Ranthambhor
1. The Mordungri experiment, where understanding between the villagers and the Field Director of Ranthambhor led to some form of Joint Forest Management, is to be strengthened by CEE.
2. The Kaila devi model, where the villagers, with help of the Forest Department, have formed Forest Protection Committees, effectively stopped mining in some areas and are actively conserving their forests, is to be documented and analysed.
3. CEE will try to apply the results of the research done by the Wildlife Institute of India, in methods to prevent crop damage.
Phulwari Ki Nal
1. Workshop to be held from the 20-22nd of April in Udaipur.
2. Organisational work, surveys among people will be done by ASTHA.
MADHYA PRADESH
Kanha and Shivpuri
1. Ekta Parishad will now take up PA issues including the ones in Kanha and Shivpuri. They will start with gathering information on PAs.
2. Regarding Udanti and Achankmar Sanctuaries (including a proposed Tiger Reserve), Lehar, Ekta Parishad and Unmesh Brahme will together plan a strategy to suggest how tribals, officers, and others could jointly plan and manage the area. A meeting for this will be held on 7th April.
Pench
1. IPT will investigate the fishing issue at Pench, including the recent granting of fishing licences, in consultation with a local activist, Shyam Thakur.
UTTAR PRADESH
Rajaji
1. Justice Poti, at the initiative of the Indian People's Tribunal, had investigated the various issues relating to villagers and commercial forces in and around the Rajaji park. The draft report of the investigation will be brought out by the end of March, 1995, and will be finalised after receiving comments and after another tour by Justice Poti in April (see elsewhere in this Update for news on this).
NATIONAL LEVEL FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS
1. World Wide Fund for Nature is willing to host a meeting on Yatra related issues.
2. Networking, overall to be done by Nanakram Gujjar of Sariska, and in respective states by the Yatra state coordinators.
3. Networking on denotification to be done by Virender Singh.
4. News related to the Yatra and the follow-up to be put into IIPA's JPAM Update.
5. Compilation of the draft report of the Yatra to be done by Anand Kapoor, Farhad Vania, Virender Singh, Kusum Karnik and Yadhuvir. Report publication is to be handled by Bittu Sahgal.
6. Documentation of struggles, experiences and its distribution to be done by NGOs in various areas.
7. A simple booklet on the Wildlife Protection Act and related legislation, to be prepared: the Centre for Environmental Law (WWF) will be contacted for this. The Hindi version will be brought out by Rakesh Faujdar and Shakti Mohan.
8. Training of volunteers for resource management is to be coordinated by CEE and TBS. Training module is to be prepared by CEE.
9. Analysis of the Wild Life Act from the JPAM point-of-view to be requested from B.J Krishnan (Save Nilgiris Campaign) and Chatrapati Singh (Centre for Environmental Law).
10. Documentation of traditional knowledge systems to be carried out, including by joining the Community Register programme recently launched by a number of groups (production cost of the resulting publication to be born by TBS).
For further details, please contact the state coordinators:
- Rajasthan: Rajendra Singh, Tarun Bharat Sangh, Bhikampura- Kishori, via Thanagazi, District- Alwar-301022
- Maharashtra: Anand Kapoor, Maharashtra Arogya Mandal, Bhimashankar Project, Narodi, Tal. Ambegaon, Dist. Pune 410503, Maharashtra.
- Gujarat: Kiran Desai Centre for Environment Education, Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad- 380054.
- Uttar Pradesh: Ashok Choudhry/ Roma, VIKALP, 11 Mangal Nagar, Saharanpur- 247001.
- Madhya Pradesh: Bechain Das, Ekta Parishad Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi Bhavan, Shymla Hills, Bhopal- 462002.
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Last modified on: Tue Apr 5 15:37:42 2005