Browsing by Author "Uniyal, V.K."

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An Assessment of Recreational Value of Periyar Tiger Reserve and the Distribution of Tourism Income Among Stakeholders
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2013) Sebastian, Subish; Badola, Ruchi; Hussain, S.A.; Uniyal, V.K.
Protected Areas (PA) are cornerstone for biodiversity conservation and their role in maintaining flow of ecosystem goods and services is now being acknowledged. But it is difficult to justify their creation when demand for employment, infrastructure increases, and thus government may take decision looking at the short term economic prosperity. When economic wealth generated through development activity and compared to the income generated from P A, the former does over shadow the income generated from P A conservation. But in doing so, the other benefits of conservation remain unaccounted. These benefits range from provision of fuel, fodder, food, to local communities at local scale, and provision of clean water, air purification, and aesthetic and bequest value at regional or larger spatial scales. Accounting of the services such as recreational value provided by the P A can help generate support for conservation at all spatial scales. The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) is a popular tourist destination visited by the people by national and international tourists. Ecotourism programs are implemented in PTR as an integrated conservation and development project for sustainable development of local communities, and to create awareness as well as to promote conservation. The success of this program can be largely attributed to its charismatic flagships species and its unique water safari where tourists can enjoy the wildlife in scenic background on either side of the Periyar Lake. Encouraged by the success of tourism, more and more communities have enrolled themselves in different activities which are either directly or indirectly connected with tourism. Being the most visited and popular P A, it becomes imperative to explore the recreational value of the PTR. Also, since local communities living in and around PTR are traditionally dependent on the reserve's resources and are being involved in ecotourism activities, it is essential to assess the distribution of ecotourism benefits stakeholders. It is well known that support for conservation can be generated if the communities are obtaining benefits from conservation linked tourism. But the monetary leakages in community based tourism or ecotourism often undermine the support for conservation. Thus, PTR being an ecotourism site, it is crucial to know the monetary leakages occurring onsite in PTR and how this revenue related linkages and leakages mould the attitude of stakeholder towards biodiversity conservation? The recreational value of PTR was calculated using the Zonal Travel Cost Method. This method helps to derive the demand function for the site. Questionnaire survey was carried out to know the socio-economic status, the monetary flow in the household; examine people attitude towards PTR. One hundred twenty five in-depth interviews were conducted among eight major stakeholders whose dependency on tourism was very high. For assessing the best existing model which underlines the principles of ecotourism, the tourism was classified into three kinds, first one Tourism run by private party, secondly Tourism run by local community, and finally Tourism run by Periyar Tiger Reserve's EDCs. The recreational value of the reserve was estimated as Rs. 44176299.32. With the cost per visitor being Rs. 63.56 the consumers' surplus was large, showing the willingness of visitors to pay for wildlife recreation. The socio economic study reveals that the 'Tourism Programs' run by EDCs are the best models providing 100% share to local communities, followed by the home stays run by local communities. Monetary leakages were highest in case of resorts (82%), followed by 20% leakages from home stay, while no leakage was observed at EDC. The leakage of 200/0 is due to the link with foreign players like tour operators and other resorts who market their products. Even though resorts that the private player run programs claim as ecotourism, only 14.9% of share goes to the local community. The results obtained indicate that the conservation attitudes are not influenced by income class, education, gender and age of the respondents. Attitude of local community is highly Positive towards forest and wildlife conservation, which can be attributed to the benefit sharing approach developed by Forest Department. The findings indicate that the participatory approach and benefit sharing are good means to promote sustainable use of natural resources. High consumer surplus for visits to PTR suggests that recreational value of PTR is higher than the current expenditure by the people. Thus, there is a poss~bi1ity of increasing the ecotourism. fee, which would contribute to higher turnover for the forest department. Tourism income is not equitably distributed among stakeholders. The percent of locals employed in profitable ecotourism ventures was less, resulting in 82% monetary leakages. Support for conservation is very high among all stakeholders in PTR but this scenario or this state can't be clearly attributed to the benefits derived from the tourism. Forest department play a major role in creating awareness. Conflict among stakeholder group about the revenue sharing and the mode of aggressive marketing does not affect their perception about wildlife. Occupation does not affect the attitude of stakeholders. Benefits derived from tourism lead to positive attitude of local communities and enhance conservation support among local communities. Higher employment of locals in the resorts, massaging parlours and as taxi and tour operators would lead to sustainability of ecotourism in PTR. Capacity building and financial assistance to the locals would enhance local employment and minimize monetary leakages and thus increase benefits to the locals.
Assessment of forest communities and dependence of local people on NTFPs in Askot landscape, Uttarakhand, Phase 1 - report
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2015) Bisht, S.; Adhikari, B.S.; Uniyal, V.K.
The Askot landscape represents a great diversity of ecosystems within a very short altitudinal range ie. from 600-7000 m. The assessment of vegetation was done during October, 2012 - October, 2014 covering the entire Gori sub-watershed between 600-2300 m in Askot Landscape in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand under Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvement Project (BCRLIP). A checklist of 573 species of plants was prepared including some rare and endangered species, of which 124 trees, 112 shrubs, 24 climbers, 35 orchids and 278 herbs were recorded after carrying out a reconnaissance of the valley. The data collected for vegetation was analysed and forest communities were identified based on TWINSPAN analysis and various village surveys were conducted to find out the use of various Non Timber Forest Products such as fuelwood, fodder, timber, medicinal plants etc. in the study area. A total of 11 forest communities were identified in the Gori valley, viz. Macaranga pustulata, Shorea robusta, Engelhardtia spicata, Diploknema butyracea, Pinus roxburghii, Alnus nepalensis, Quercus leucotrichophora, Litsea umbrosa, Quercus lanuginosa, Q. leucotrichophora-Neolitsea cuipala and Sorbus foliolosa along an elevational gradient between 600-2300m. It was observed that the total basal area of Q. lanuginosa forest was highest (38.8 m2 ha-1) followed by Q. leucotrichophora (32.7 m2 ha-1) and Pinus roxburghii (31.8 m2 ha-1) and minimum for Q. leucotrichophora-Neolitsea cuipala forest (10.8 m2 ha-1) and Sorbus foliolosa forest (9.2 m2 ha-1). Among Non Timber Forest Products 24, 26, 16 and 24 species were being used as fodder, fuelwood, timber and medicinal plants, respectively. Q. leucotrichophora has the highest preference among fodder followed by Bauhinia vahlii, Boehmeria rugulosa and Ougeinia oogenensis. Lyonia ovalifolia followed by Rhododendron arboreum, Q. leucotrichophora and Woodfordia fructicosa among fuelwood; Shorea robusta followed by Alnus nepalensis, Pinus roxburgii and Q. leucotrichophora among timber; and (ii) Eupatorium adenophorum followed by Terminalia chebula, Zanthoxylum alatum and Pleurospermum angelicoides among medicinal plants. Lopping, forest fire and weed infestation were among major cause of disturbance to forest resources. Impact of lopping on Quercus lanuginosa, Rhododendron arboreum and Q. leucotrichophora, forest fire in W and NW aspects due to the dominance of Chir pine forests and infestation of Cannabis sativa, Eupatorium adenophorum, Urtica dioica and Impatience edgeworthii was highest in NW aspect. The common species used for medicinal purposes by the villagers were Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, Litsea monopetala, Celtis australis, Bauhinia vahlii, Syzygium cumini, Myrica esculenta, Berginia ciliata, Oxalis corniculata, Eupatorium adenophorum, Adhatoda zeylanica, Terminalia chebula, Cissampelos pareira, Viola canescens, Fragaria nubicola, Tinospora cordifolia and different orchid species in Gori valley. Twelve potential plant indicator species viz., Chimnobambusa falcata, Eupatorium adenophorum, Alnus nepalensis, Quercus leucotrichophora, Quercus lanuginosa, Macaranga pustulata, Rhododendron arboreum, Pinus roxburghii, Aconitum heterophyllum, Dactylorhiza hatagirea Picrorhiza kurrooa and Pleurospermum angelicoides were identified based on the information collected during the surveys as well as through secondary information. The distribution map of each species was generated according to climatic zone in ArcGIS software along with their potential distribution range. Finally, a species richness map was prepared to show the high species richness zone in the study area.
Ecology and conservation of the Grasslands of Eravikulam National Park, Western Ghats
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 1998) Karunakaran, P.V.; Rawat, G.S.; Uniyal, V.K.
An ecological study on the montane grasslands of Eravikulam National Park (ENP), the Western Ghats, was conducted during 1992-1996, with the following objectives: (i). to prepare a complete floristic inventory of the grasslands of ENP, (ii). to identify the grassland communities, their structure, function and successional trends along the anthropogenic gradient, (iii). to determine the forage quantity in different ecological conditions and (iv). to study the effect of fire and tree plantations on the grasslands. : The ENP lies between 10° 5' to 10°20' N and 77° to 77°10' E with an area of 97 km? in the Southern Western Ghats. The average altitude of the plateau is 2000 m and the highest peak, Anamudi, reaches 2695 m. Soil was acidic with pH ranging from 4.6 to 4.8. The climate was dominated by monsoon. During the study period the annual rainfall ranged from 4697 to 5540 mm. Winter days (Nov- Jan) were cooler and frost was common. The two distinct physiognomic units of vegetation are grasslands and sholas, unique to the Western Ghats. 3: The study area was stratified into eight landscape units viz., slope without rocky outcrops, slope with rocky outcrops, flat top, valley, bog, shola-grassland edge, cattle grazed and scraped areas. Systematic surveys and vegetation parameters such as species association, frequency, diversity, evenness and richness were studied in each landscape unit by laying 5 m radius. 4. 308 plant species were collected from the grasslands, adding 106 new species to the earlier list. 51 species were found to be endemic to the grasslands and 29 were listed as rare and endangered species. There were 64 species common with Eastern Ghats, 30 species with Patanas of Sri Lanka, 35 with Western Himalaya and 35 with Naga and Khasi hills indicating phytogeographical affinities with different biogeographic zones. D! Vegetation association was derived using ‘TABLE TRANSFER METHOD’ and TWINSPAN (computer packages). TABLE TRANSFER method identified 23 vegetation associations and TWINSPAN identified 15 associations. In both the analyses it was found that Chrysopogon zeylanicus and Sehima nervosum were the two dominant species. The diversity index (H’) of the associations ranged from 1.38 in the Artemisia nilagirica-Heteropogon contortus-Cymbopogon flexuosus (cattle grazed area) to 2.90 in Agrostis peninsularis-Eulalia phaeothrix-Chrysopogon zeylanicus in the shola-grassland edges. Vegetation ordination i.e., Canonical Correspondance Analysis (CANOCO) indicated that clay, pH and sand were important environmental factors which determined the species distribution and abundance.6. Biomass study was conducted at three sites in three dominant communities viz., Chrysopogon zeylanicus, Sehima nervosum and Cymbopogon flexuosus. Clipping was done both inside the exclosure and outside to obtain net primary productivity (NPP). The NPP values showed that these grasslands are between tropical and temperate grasslands . Outside the exclosures NPP was maximum at Eravikulam and minimum at Lakkamkudi. But inside the exclosures all the three sites were having nearly equal amount of NPP. Above ground biomass (ANP) was maximum at Eravikulam inside the exclosures and less at Rajamala, where as below ground (BNP) biomass was more at Rajamala and less at Lakkamkudi. Rate of biomass production was more (3.1 g m day!) at Eravikulam inside the exclosure and less (0.8 gm? day!) at Lakkamkudi outside the exclosures. In all the communities monocots contributed more to the ANP (59-97 %) than dicots (3-41%). In Lakkamkudi Pteridium aquilinum (fern) contributed 10 % to the ANP. Sehima nervosum, Heteropogon contortus and Chrysopogon zeylanicus were the three dominant grass species according to ANP. The annual removal of ANP by cattle and wild ungulate from Lakkamkudi was 68 %. Z. Burning (early and late) was done in S. nervosum (Anamudi) and C. zeylanicus (Rajamala) community. It was found that both in the early and late burnt areas no significant changes were noticed on species diversity, richness and evenness. Regarding the structure of the vegetation, cover value of dicots showed significant difference between early and late burnt in different months. Both early and late burning affected the regeneration of Phlebophyllum kunthianum. 8. A comparison of various sites with different density and age of wattle plantations with unplanted area showed that the number of endemic species and food species of Nilgiri tahr decreased with increase in the age of plantation. The increase in weed abundance with the age of plantation indicated more harm to the natural vegetation. The diversity index (H’) was 2.64 in 10 year old plantation and 1.87 in 3 year old. TWINSPAN identified two plant species associations each in unplanted, 3 year old and five year old plantations, and four in 10 year old plantation. 9. The study recommends the following research and management strategies for the long term conservation of Shola-Grassland ecosystems and endangered Nilgiri tahr: (a) inclusion of adjecent reserved forests with shola-graslands in the park, (b) boundary verification and better patrolling to check the illegal activities and fire hazards, (c) early burning in selected areas on experimental basis, (d) control of black wattle spreading, (e) eco-development measures for the Lakkamkudi village, (f) better tourism management and (g) long term monitoring of exclosures and representative shola-grassland patches.