WII Technical Reports/Books/Manuals
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Item Long-term perspective plan: mitigating human-elephant conflict in Rajaji Landscape, Uttarakhand(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) WII-UKFD1. The Rajaji Landscape comprising of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, and the adjoining Forest Divisions of Dehradun, Haridwar and Lansdowne in the state of Uttarakhand (henceforth, The Rajaji landscape) supports a population of about 550 elephants (Elephas maximus) as estimated by the Uttarakhand Forest Department during 201 5. Thus, the Raj aji landscape holds nearly 31% of the elephant population occurring in Uttarakhand. 2. The elephant population in Uttarakhand including that of the Rajaji landscape has been relatively stable and even witnessed marginal growth. However, with growing human population and associated impacts on elephant habitats such as increased resource demands and rapid expansion of physical infrastructure, there has been an increase in the human-elephant conflict (henceforth, HEC). Early detection of the problem and addressing its root causes would be an important conflict resolution strategy. 3. As part of the preemptive conflict management strategy in the Rajaji in landscape, a perspective plan has been envisaged. The overarching objective of the perspective plan is to synthesize available information on the existing HEC in the Rajaji landscape, draw broad inferences on the trends and patterns, and deliberate on different approaches that are appropriate for mitigating HEC. As HEC mitigation strategies are both short- and long -term, the perspective plan is drafted for a reasonably long period of 10 years spanning 2023 to 2033 . 4. The drafting of the perspective plan did not involve any primary background research. However, the plan was prepared using information available in the literature; existing data on elephant movement, home range and conflict collected as part of the WII -UKFD collaborative project (Nigam et al. 2022), and data obtained from the Project Elephant. Further to this, extensive field visits were carried out to corroborate on the important findings obtained from other studies. Furthermore, the plan also draws heavily on other policy documents as elaborated in the report. 5. As elucidated by the first steering committee report of the Project Elephant (Gajatame, 1993), conservation and management of elephants in the Rajaji landscape calls for harboring "viable elephant populations" Perspective Plan to Manage Human-Elephant Conflict in Raja); Landscape (2023 - 2033) in "viable elephant habitats". Often, human-elephant conflict and elephant habitat conditions are intricately linked. In areas where elephant habitat quality is optimal, intensity of human-elephant conflict in the landscape would be comparatively low. Considering this, the perspective plan places emphasis on improving habitat conditions for elephants. 6. It has been observed that owing to adequate protection and voluntary relocation of Van Gujjars from the National Park areas, it is certain that habitat quality from wild life point of view had improved in select areas within Rajaji National Park. However, the highly productive critical ecotone habitats (located in the eco-tone of Bhabar and Terai tracts) in Shyampur and Chidiyapur Forest Ranges of Haridwar Forest Division have suffered major habitat degradation owing to Gujjar settlement in the area and corresponding resource extraction pressures. 7. While the forest cover did not change much in Rajaji Landscape during the period 1985 to 2022, the land-use outside forests have changed substantially. The urban built-up area in particular has mushroomed all around with long-term implications for elephant movement, dispersal and HEC management as well. Unlike in rural areas, Managing HEC in urban areas is far more challenging due to crowd factor. The potential of invoking provisions of Ecologically Sensitive Zone area under Environmental Protection Act, 1986 to disallow urban expansion close to forest boundary need to be explored. 8. Critical corridors like the Chilla - Motichur remained non-functional for a long period. This had resulted in isolation of elephant populations on either side of river Ganga with long-term effects on dispersal, migration and demography of elephants. Nevertheless, huge efforts were invested by the Uttarakhand Forest Department due to which the Chilla - Motichur corridor has been mostly restored. The other critical corridors like the Motichur - Gohri corridor along the Song River would require renewed focus so that this vital corridor can be recovered on time. The Rajaji landscape had also lost a corridor that connected Ramgarh range of the National Park with the Lacchiwala range of the Dehradun Forest Division across Susua river near Dudhli. This was lost largely due to lack of focus as the corridor was not recognized. 9. In the Rajaji Landscape, the natural grasslands along the river Ganga had either been lost (due to human occupation) or degraded. While it would be impossible to recover the once expansive and productive 2 Perspective Plan to Manage Human- elephant Conflict in Rajaji Landscape (2023 - 2033) grasslands along Ganga, it certainly is critical to restore Chilla, Kunaon, and Dassowala grasslands for elephants. Riverine grasslands were important dry-season habitats for elephants in the past. Recovering critical grasslands and restoring their quality would enhance the inherent carrying capacity of Rajaji Landscape to support elephants. Addressing human-elephant conflict in Rajaji Landscape would also be dependent on recovering and restoring habitat in Shyampur and Chidiyapur Forest Ranges. 10. Linear infrastructure expansion including upgradation of existing village roads and district roads in addition to the Highways and concurrent with rapid increase in the vehicular traffic along these roads pose a major long-term threat of habitat fragmentation. Implementing ecofriendly green infrastructure by ensuring habitat permeability would be critical in the Rajaji Landscape to prevent isolation of elephant populations. Isolated elephant populations are predisposed to cause high levels of human-elephant conflict. 11. Physical barriers that separate elephants and people along the forest interface would be crucial to achieve co-existence in the landscape. Without physical barriers at strategic locations, addressing elephant conflict would be difficult. The barriers currently built by the Forest Department along the forest-agriculture interface pose no threat to habitat connectivity. Limitations and opportunities of implementing physical barriers have been elaborated in the report 12. There are 77 places of religious worship inside Rajaji Landscape that draws over 10000 pilgrims every year. Places of religious worship are located in 18 (58%) ranges of 5 (83%) Forest Divis ions in the Rajaji Landscape. While religious tourism has the potential to reinforce cultural underpinnings of nature conservation as practiced in India besides enabling public appreciation of nature, unregulated pilgrimage in wildlife habitats can pose a challenge to elephant conservation as elephants can abandon habitats with chronic biotic pressure resulting in surfacing of human-elephant conflict. Measures to minimize the threats posed by places of religious worship are deliberated. 13. Further, solutions for the sites used for Kumbh mela for festival related activities were also used extensively by elephants as detailed in the report. Hitherto, the temple committees and other religious institutions have not proactively engaged with the forest department in regulating pilgrims and maintaining the integrity of local ecology. Forest Perspective Plan co Manage Human-Elephant Conflict in Rajaji Landscape (2023 - 2033) department with lean headcount of staff cannot be expected to regulate pilgrims and their activities. Given the huge biotic imprint of places of religious workshop on wildlife habitats in Rajaji Landscape, the perspective plan favors vesting substantial responsibility and sharing of resources by committees of the religious worship to maintain the integrity of forests as envisaged by NTCA guidelines issued during 2012. 14. The indiscriminate use of forest roads and trails by tourists visiting places of religious worship poses a huge risk of fatal encounters with wildlife. The situation calls for regulating/restricting use of forest roads and trails by tourists. There are also instances of forest trails being used as roads by clearing vegetation, which need to be curtailed. 15. Finally, the perspective plan favors active dialogue, and engagement with the communities of the Van Gujjars that live alongside elephant habitats. Partnering with local communities and involving them in implementing conflict mitigation strategies would improve the efficacy of the current efforts of Uttarakhand Forest Department.Item Technical guidelines for habitat and prey restoration in snow leopard landscapes(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2017) Rawat, G.S.; Maheshwari, Aishwarya; Sathyakumar, S.Item MEE-ER management effectiveness Evaluation of Elephant Reserves in India : guidelines, criteria and indicators for evaluation of elephant reserves through Management Effectiveness Process(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2023) PE-MoEFCC-WIIThe stated objectives of the Project Elephant include: I. To protect elephants, their habitats, and corridors II. To address issues of man-elephant conflict III. To improve the welfare of captive elephants Under the Project Elephant scheme, the State Governments of elephant range were to identify and propose conservation areas that can be declared as Elephant Reserves (ERs). In order to bring uniformity in management practices across the country; to provide technical and financial support to elephant range states and address issues facing human-elephant conflict, Elephant Reserves (ERs) have been created across the four elephant- holding regions.Item Unveiling Torputitora presence in Sikkim streams through eDNA(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2025) Mane, S.S.; Pant, B.; Kolipakam, VishnupriyaEnvironmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding was used to detect the presence of Tor putitora (Golden mahseer) in selected streams of Sikkim. Water samples were collected from six sites based on habitat characteristics conducive to the species survival. The collection of samples was followed by filtration of water samples, isolation of the DNA, PCR and sequencing targeting the COI region were conducted under aseptic conditions. The results confirmed Tor putitora presence at two locations (BR-06 and BR-08) with high certainty (>99%) aligning with previous studies on tis distribution in Sikkim. These results indicate that these streams serve as habitats for Tor putitora. These findings highlight the potential of these streams to support mahseer populations, reinforcing the need for conservation efforts to protect these critical habitats from ecological threats like ecological pressures, including hydropower and linear infrastructure development. This study adds to the expending evidence concerning mahseer distribution in Sikkim and highlights the critical need for conservation initiatives aimed at safeguarding its essential habitats by incorporating appropriate mitigation measures. Continued research and long term monitoring are imperative to evaluate population dynamics and ensure the sustainable management of Tor putitora in the region.Item PAN-India assessment and monitoring of endangered species covered under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats Program )IDWH)- Nilgiri Tahr(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2025) WII-MoEFCCThe Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is an endangered mountain ungulates endemic to the Southern Western ghats of India, predominantly inhabiting montane grasslands. Historically the species occupied a wide range along the Western ghats. However its current distribution has contracted to less than one tenth of its former extent, primarily due to habitat loss, anthropogenic pressure and poaching. Despite its threatened status, comprehensive data on population size, population dynamics and distribution remain patchy and limited. To address this knowledge gap we Standardize double observer method alongside the Bounded count method and also piloted camera trapped based distance sampling in selected sites.Item Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India: an integrated participatory approach : Annual Progress report VI (2021-23)(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2023) Johnson, J.A.; Prabakaran, N.; Sivakumar, K.; Chakraborty, O.; Gole, S.; Pathan, S.; Ghanekar, C.; Rajpurkar, S.; Hatkar, P.; Seal, S.; Patel, S.; Iyer, S.; Prajapati, S.; Bose, S.; Tripura, V,; Christian, G.; Joshi, R.; Aggarwal, A.; Dhiman, G.; Negi, S.National CAMPA Authority under the aegis of Endangered Species Recovery Program, Dugong Recovery Program was initiated with major objectives to a) Assess dugong population status through advanced census techniques and determine its abundance and distribution, identify critical habitats, classify threats and develop a site-specific monitoring plan to reduce poaching and incidental entanglements, b) Characterize the critical dugong habitats, reduce direct and indirect threats, c) Raise awareness on the species and encourage the participation of the local communities; and d) Enhance the capacity of the State Forest Department staff and develop/implement smart patrolling tools to improve protection enforcement; train forest staff and local communities in underwater surveys for long-term habitat monitoring. In the last five years of its implementation, an integrated participatory approach was adopted to ensure recovery of dugong populations and conservation of seagrass habitat in India.Item Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India: an integrated participatory approach : Annual progress report V (2020-21)(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Sivakumar, K.; Johnson, J.A.; Pande, A.; Gole, S.; Dudhat, S.; Shekar, S.; Pathan, S.; Ghanekar, C.; Magesh, M.K.; Rajpurkar, S.; Seal, S.; Bayyana, S,; Patel, S,; Prajapati, S.; Saini, H.; Hatkar, P.; Tripura, V.; Bose, S.; Christian, G.National CAMPA Authority under the aegis of Endangered Species Recovery Program, Dugong Recovery Program was initiated with major objectives to a) Assess dugong population status through advanced census techniques and determine its abundance and distribution, identify critical habitats, classify threats and develop a site-specific monitoring plan to reduce poaching and incidental entanglements, b) Characterize the critical dugong habitats, reduce direct and indirect threats, c) Raise awareness on the species and encourage the participation of the local communities; and d) Enhance the capacity of the State Forest Department staff and develop/implement smart patrolling tools to improve protection enforcement; train forest staff and local communities in underwater surveys for long-term habitat monitoring. In the last five years of its implementation, an integrated participatory approach was adopted to ensure recovery of dugong populations and conservation of seagrass habitat in IndiaItem Recovery of dugongs and their habitats in India: an integrated participatory approach - Annual Progress Report IV (2019-20)(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2020) Sivakumar, K.; Johnson, J.A.; Pande, A,; Gole, Swapnali; Dudhat, S.; Shekar, S.; Pathan, S.; Ghanekar, C.; Dikshit, D.; Magesh, M.K.; Rajpurkar, S.; Seal, S.; Bayyana, S,; Patel, S.; Saini, H.; Prajapati, S.; Hatkar, P.; Mehta, D.; Bose, S.; Tripura, V.; Christian, G.; Yallapu, S.; Sharma, S,; Semwal, R.; Pacha, A.National CAMPA Authority under the aegis of Endangered Species Recovery Program, Dugong Recovery Program was initiated with major objectives to a) Assess dugong population status through advanced census techniques and determine its abundance and distribution, identify critical habitats, classify threats and develop site-specific monitoring plan to reduce poaching and incidental entanglements, b) Characterize the critical dugong habitats, reduce direct and indirect threats, c) Raise awareness on the species and encourage the participation of the local communities; and d) Enhance the capacity of the State Forest Department staff and develop/implement smart patrolling tools to improve protection enforcement; train forest staff and local communities in underwater surveys for long-term habitat monitoring. In the last three years of its implementation, an integrated participatory approach was adopted to ensure recovery of dugong populations and conservation of seagrass their habitat in India.Item Cumulative impact study of a 10 km radius landscape area around Ranthambhore tiger reserve towards identifying critical zones for wildlife and ensuring environment-friendly mining practices(Wildlife Institute of India, 2023) Jha, R.R.S.,; Zangmo, S.; Das, P.; Gopi, G.V.The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life (SC-NBWL) had been receiving several mining proposals for consideration from around Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR), and often in a piecemeal manner. This had made it difficult for SC-NBWL to assess these projects’ overall impacts on wildlife and forest connectivity in RTR’s surrounding landscape. On the receipt of two mining proposals, a decision was taken in the SC-NBWL’s 70th meeting held in October 2022 to defer all mining proposals around RTR until a ‘Cumulative Impact Study Report’ was prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun (WII) towards protecting wildlife habitats and corridors in RTR’s vicinity. Accordingly, an area of c. 3,798 sq.km within Rajasthan in a 10 km-radius width around RTR was delineated as the “Cumulative Impact Study Area” (or CISA) encompassing parts of the administrative districts of Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Bundi and Kota. The CISA also encompasses parts of RTR Division-I, RTR Division-II, Ramgarh-Vishdhari Tiger Reserve (RVTR), National Chambal Sanctuary Project, and Social Forestry/ Territorial Divisions of Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Bundi and Kota. RTR (core & buffer) itself though is not part of the CISA as the assignment concerns areas in its vicinity. The CISA is described in terms of its forests, wildlife (including surrounding Protected Areas and connectivity between them), land use/ land cover, geology, geomorphology, climate etc. Impacts of mining activities on ecosystems, biodiversity and the environment, in general, are also described. Utilising available data from ongoing or completed research projects within WII and other data as available from published literature and government repositories, an area of c. 2136 sq.km within the CISA (56.26%) has been determined as “critical zone” for wildlife, especially concerning their persistence in the larger Ranthambhore landscape. These are areas with the occupancy and/ or (modelled) potentially suitable habitat of globally threatened and/ or locally rare Schedule-I mammalian species, as per the amended (until 2022) Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, such as tiger Panthera tigris (EN), leopard Panthera pardus (VU), caracal Caracal caracal (LC, but India’s most threatened wild cat species), Indian grey wolf Canis lupus pallipes (LC, but genetically distinct subspecies and locally rare), dhole (or Asiatic wild dog) Cuon alpinus (EN), Indian pangolin Manis crassicaudata (EN) and sloth bear Melursus ursinus (VU), including their identified movement corridors. The delineated critical zone also includes areas within PAs around RTR and areas satisfying the current legal definition of an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), within which all commercial mining is prohibited, as per the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s (MoEF&CC) February 2011 guidelines on the matter. Within the CISA, a “non-critical zone” from the perspective of inhabiting wildlife of c. 1,661 sq.km (43.74%) is identified where mining activities may be appropriately appraised, subject to site-specific critical and cumulative impact assessments of the received proposals. If received/ pending proposals are positively appraised, the lessees/ user agencies must strictly adhere to all relevant extant laws, rules and guidelines issued by the Union and State governments from time to time, along with following all relevant orders passed by Hon’ble higher courts of judicature and statutory clearance conditions issued by national and state-level authorities. Pillar locations’ coordinates (intermediate/ all corners) and other associated details of a total 145 mining leases within the CISA were informed through the concerned district offices of the Department of Mining and Geology (DMG), Govt. of Rajasthan. Of these, majority (100) mining leases are located within Karauli district, while there are none in the Tonk district. It is, however, unclear if the data provided through DMG offices is comprehensive or complete. The statuses of these leases – whether operational/ lease expired/ applied for renewal etc. – is also either unclear or not known. Given these facts, we found that a total of sixty (60) mining leases – twenty-seven (27), six (06), three (03) and twenty-four (24) in Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Bundi and Kota districts, respectively – are located within the “critical zone” for wildlife delineated in this assessment. Of these 60 leases, thirteen (13) are located either partly or wholly within the legally valid ESZs (as on date of submission of this report) where commercial mining and associated industries is listed as a prohibited activity, while as many as twenty-two (22) mining leases are located within identified wildlife corridors (all in the Ranthambhore-Ramgarh Vishdhari Mukundara corridor). Three (03) mining leases – two in Bundi district (ML nos. 389/1998, 333/2002) and one in Kota district (23/2003) – are, in fact, located within both ESZs and wildlife corridors. We observe an enormous scope to regulate and streamline mining activities around RTR towards a more sustainable framework accounting for the needs of both people/ industries and wildlife. While sufficient information on flora and fauna exists (and is being generated) within RTR, a general lack of scientific investigations coupled with insufficient monitoring of wildlife in RTR’s immediate vicinity limits this assessment exercise. This is especially concerning since RTR acts as a significant source population of threatened wildlife, including tiger, in the Central India-Eastern Ghats (CIEG) landscape, enabling their long-term persistence in and gradual range expansion into other parts of Rajasthan and the larger CIEG. Hence, we recommend carrying out comprehensive wildlife diversity, distribution, movements, species-habitat relationships, human-wildlife interactions and other such studies towards generating relevant information on these aspects in RTR’s vicinity. If several mining and/ or allied industries (such as mineral grinding/ processing plants) are proposed/ exist closely situated to each other, we also recommend conducting cumulative impact (of mining and allied industrial units) assessment studies funded through the State government ascertaining impacts of these activities on biodiversity, ecosystems, environment, and on the lives and livelihoods of human communities living nearby by reputed research institutions having such expertise, using modern research and analytical tools. Such studies may be commissioned immediately for the already existing cluster of proposals in the CISA where mining and/ or allied activities have been taking place since the past few decades (Karauli, Bundi and Kota clusters). The formation and effective functioning of a participatory monitoring mechanism is necessary to ensure that the short- and long-term requirements and concerns of the most important stakeholders – wild life and local human communities – are not overlooked. We also provide relevant shape and Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files along with full resolution images and maps generated from this project as a “Decision Support System” to the NBWL towards more informed proposal appraisals in the future. Informed decision making with respect to resource extractive projects backed with robust and regular on ground data/ monitoring of statutory and relevant laws, rules, guidelines, policies and compliance conditions will greatly facilitate the persistence of threatened species, and ensure the long-term survival and persistence of threatened wildlife in the biodiversity rich and crucial larger Ranthambhore landscape.Item Assessment of the landscape between the Gir Protected Area and the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat for a potential lion habitat corridor(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2012) Jhala, Y.V.; Qureshi, Q.; Basu, P.; Banerjee, KaushikIn this report, assess the habitat characteristics, extent of fragmentation and its future trends, prey abundance and perception of the local communities towards lion conservation in the agro-pastoral landscape between the Gir PA and the Girnar forests to help in delineating the important dispersal corridor habitat between the Gir PA and the Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary, suggesting measures for its effective conservation
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