Technical Reports
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Item Assessment of capacity and training needs of key government staff and community members/institutions for a long term effective biodiversity conservation and development of a framework for implementaton in SECURE Himalaya project landscape in selected districts of Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Lyngdoh, Salvador; Sathyakumar, S.; Bhatnagar, Y.V.; Pandev, B.The SECURE Himalaya project pertaining to the high-altitude Trans-Himalayan region for the improved demand management of high range Himalayan landscapes for the conservation of Snow Leopard, other endangered species, their habitats, and sustaining ecosystem services in a novel initiative aimed at achieving conservation goals through a holistic approach. A major component of the project, titled “Assessment of capacity and training needs of key government staff and community members/institutions for long-term effective biodiversityconser vation, and development of a framework for implementation in SECURE Himalaya Project landscapes (Lahaul, Pangi and Kinnaur) of Himachal Pradesh” was undertaken by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII, Dehradun). This component aims to assess the capacities and training needs of key stakeholders and develop a framework and specific training modules for the targeted stakeholders' capacity development. This report conceptualizes the approach of capacity development through training need assessment of identified stakeholders. It outlines the methods adopted based on consultations with various stakeholders, experts, managers and policy makers. Major gaps documented in the landscape with respect to various stakeholders were identified. Modules and capacity development schedules have been suggested to meet the needs for awareness on biodiversity conservation, enhanced training on wildlife monitoring techniques, interventions for reducing human wildlife conflict and strengthening enforcement. We mapped and categorized each stakeholders and their roles in the landscape. A training Need Assessment (TNA) of the target stakeholder through local meetings, workshops and focal as well as instead with the stakeholders documented opportunities for national and state training and research institutions to contribute to the capacity development of the landscape. We prepared detailed and specific training modules for multi-stakeholders through the TNA exercise. Training have been designed to meet the needs concerning their role in long-term biodiversity awareness, conservation, monitoring and enforcement. Hitherto, training modules were categorized into three themes: Biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity monitoring and Sustainable management and livelihood. Pilot training of trainer’s workshop on one of the modules, “Human-wildlife conflict mitigation,” for relevant stakeholders from the forest and different line departments was undertaken to further refine a capacity development framework, timeline and module development. The capacity development framework suggested in this report has been aligned with the indicators and outcomes of the SECURE Himalaya objectives. It is hoped that the exercise undertaken in this assignment will yield significant results with respect to enhancing the capacities of various stakeholders.Item Assessment of medicinal and aromatic plant species on their collection, usage, demand, markets, price trends and life cycle in Lahaul and Pangi landscape, Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Kumar, Amit; Sathyakumar, S.; Goraya, G.S.; Gupta, A.K.; Adhikari, B.S.; Rawat, G.S.Nested in the Western Himalaya, the state of Himachal Pradesh (30° to 33°N and 75° to 79° E) is known for its rich biological diversity. It covers an area of 55,673 km2 with >3,300 distinct plants species. Interestingly, the alpine areas of Lahaul and Spiti are one of the major hot spots of wild MAPs in the Western Himalaya. Unfortunately, the remote valleys such as Lahaul, Pangi, Spiti, Kinnaur including micro-watersheds lying in the cold-arid regions of Himachal Pradesh are relatively less studied in terms of available growing stock and population status of MAPs. Notably, there is a general lack of literature on medicinal plants at the catchment, watershed and valley levels. Further, the information on recent levels of trade of MAPs are available only from a few localities of the Western Himalaya. Like other areas, these areas have also been facing additional stress due to over-exploitation of forest resources, including the unscientific and premature harvesting of MAPs from the wild, which functions parallel to the illegal and hidden markets thus, putting tremendous pressure on the wild resource base resulting in the dwindling populations and precarious livelihoods of local communities. The rising demand of herbal products has caused excessive harvesting of many of the important MAPs from these regions, putting their wild population at the risk of extinction. Keeping aforementioned aspects in view, the current study was proposed which aims to study selected Medicinal and Aromatic Plant (MAP) species in Lahaul and Pangi landscape of Himachal Pradesh with focus to ensure sustainable harvesting and cultivation by (i) identifying usage patterns of MAPs, and (ii) studying existing value chains. In order to address the project objectives, the present study has been categorized into 12 key tasks. The current study revealed that the major issues adversely impacting the MAP species in the Lahaul and Pangi landscape include illegal/ over/ premature/ unorganized harvesting of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs), high demand and non-transparent operations in the markets of MAPs. Besides these issues, few gaps such as knowledge on available stock of MAPs, lack of information on cultivation and harvesting methods of key MAP species specific to Lahaul and Pangi landscape, lack of information on end users and middlemen and inadequate information on quantity of raw material traded have been reported. In order to optimize the benefits to the local communities and adopt the concepts of sustainable harvesting and benefit sharing, it is important to assess the availability, market trends and methods for collection of MAPs including gathering information on population of selected MAPs. This will help in identifying High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) and delineating MPCAs for in-situ conservation in the landscape. Assessment of medicinal and aromatic plant species on their collection, usage, demand, markets, price trends and life cycle in Lahaul and Pangi landscape, Himachal Pradesh Additionally, identification of large traders and industries that acquire their raw materials from Lahaul and Pangi will strengthen the implementation of Access and Benefit Sharing model on pilot basis. Furthermore, identification of hidden markets viz., local, regional and national, price trends, value addition and strengthening BMCs will help in sustainable management of MAPs in the landscape. The first step towards conservation is identifying the existing population base, and information on the species distribution and abundance. Identification of the best cultivation practices, R&D to reduce long-gestation periods, cost effective technology, organic-farming, buy-back mechanisms, policy-revision in the interest of stakeholders, protocols for post-cultivation management, quality-control and awareness training are some measures in this direction. It can be concluded that in order to optimize the benefits to the local communities, and to adopt the concepts of sustainable harvesting and benefit-sharing, it is important to assess the availability, market trends and methods for collection of MAPs, including gathering information on population of selected MAPs. A major step towards species conservation can be spreading awareness on the dwindling populations amongst the stakeholders. It is also important to identify alternative sources of income for the locals to create in them confidence that wild harvest of MAPs was not the only source of cash income and, thus to dissuade them from ruthless wild harvest and to make them participate in conservation programs. Identifying and building the capacities of stakeholders including the forest officials, locals, school children, traditional healers and plant traders can help in community based natural resource management. These issues need to be addressed to ensure long-term conservation of the MAP resources of the landscape in a way that livelihood needs of the local communities depending on this resource are not compromised. The following key recommendations have emerged after this study: Documentation of the Conservation Status of Key MAPs i Setting aside Conservation Areas around Viable Populations of Priority MAPs ii Strengthening of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) iii Value addition by adopting best Post-Harvest Management Techniques iv Developing Farm-scale Agro-Techniques for Priority MAP Species v Developing Germplasm Banks of the Priority MAP Species vi Study and Monitor Impacts of Climate ChangeItem Identifying delineating and mapping areas with high conservation values and developing management recommendatons/plans for SECURE Himalaya landscapes in Himachal Pradesh(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2021) Lyngdoh, Salvador; Sathyakumar, S.; Bhatnagar, Y.V.; Singh, N.; Yadav, S.N.High Conservation Value Areas (HCVAs) is an emerging concept used to identify important areas based on a variety of parameters including biodiversity, landscape context, threatened or endangered ecosystems, provisioning of basic ecosystem services, and dependence of local communities. The assignment aims to Identify High Conservation Value (HCV) categories of areas in the project landscape of Himachal Pradesh, delineate their boundaries and map them, and suggest relevant recommendations with respect to the potential threats prevalent in the areas, specific for each HCV category. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India along with UNDP has implemented a GEF funded project: SECURE Himalaya (Securing livelihoods, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of high range Himalayan ecosystems). The project aims to promote sustainable land management in alpine pastures and forests in Indian Himalayan ecosystems for conservation of snow leopard and other endangered species and their habitats and sustaining ecosystem services. The project SECURE Himalayas would be implemented over a period of six years in the high-altitude trans-Himalayan region, which covers an area of about 184,823 km2 representing 5.62 percent of the total geographic area of the country. The selected landscape for the project is Lahaul-Pangi & Kinnaur Landscape in Himachal Pradesh. The Himalayan ecosystem in India is of critical importance for its immense biological, sociocultural, and hydrological values. The biodiversity and ecosystems that it harbours form an important life-support system for a large number of agro-pastoral communities that depend on it. However, these natural ecosystems are under severe threat from high dependence of local communities on natural resources. The major threats as identified in the landscape are intensive grazing of the pasturelands by domestic livestock, inter-specific competition between wild ungulates and domestic livestock, human-wildlife conflict resulting in crop destruction and depredation of livestock, over-harvesting and illegal extraction of medicinal and aromatic plants by intruders, over-exploitation of natural resources and uncontrolled conventional tourism interfering with the fragile ecosystems and the wildlife of the area. The current assignment identifies and delineate the potential high conservation value areas in the landscape through a knowledge-based approach i.e. data compilation, remote sensing & GIS approach, and ground truthing. The information is presented through the appreciation and understanding of the study sites by short-listing of areas of high conservation value and their management regimes. We reviewed 101 documents (74 peer reviewed and 27 unpublished) pertaining to the subject, and concept of high conservation value forests. Remote sensing and GIS data was used to generate various layers like digital elevation model (DEM), land-use land cover (LULC), drainage network, road network, protected areas network, distribution, occupancy maps of species, forest cover, slope and maps of villages in the landscape in concern. With the help of the secondary data and various GIS layers, potential high conservation value areas were identified and mapped in the remote sensing and GIS environment. Through ‘ground truthing’ of the available data and stakeholder consultations followed by field visits to the potential areas, 28 villages were visited, 13 in Lahaul and 15 in Pangi valley. Village level meetings were organized and data were collected using semi-structured open-ended questionnaire, for validation of potential high conservation value areas (HCVAs). Key informants were identified and interviewed for further validation and verification for HCVAs. A presence survey was conducted in the landscape to understand mammalian species distribution by using a combination of direct and indirect methods. Direct methods were based on visualencounters of animals whereas indirect methods relied on quantification of indirect evidences such as animal feces (pellet groups, scats, droppings), tracks (pug marks, hoof marks, scrapes) and other signs (feeding/ digging). Since all the areas surveyed were located at higher altitudes on steep and uneven terrain, the trails in the forests and alpine regions were surveyed. A total of 79 trails (1 km each), were surveyed, 25 in Lahaul, and 54 in Pangi. A total of 17 areas with high potential for conservation were identified in the entire landscape, 11 in Lahaul valley, namely, Miar valley, Naingar & Neelkanth lake, Billing-Istingri, Darcha-Jispa, Koksar, Kuruched, Hadsar, Chandratal lake, Mrikula Mata temple, Trilokinath temple, Kardang monastery; and 6 areas in Pangi, Sural Bhatori & Sural Gompa, Hudan bhatori, Kadu nallah, Sechu Tuan, Luj and Mindhal. Consequent upon these consultations and ground verification, biodiversity values and associated threats to these biodiversity values have been identified for each of the short-listed area of high conservation value and relevant recommendations prepared. It is proposed that in order to conserve the integrity of each HCVA type the status of the land in concern needs to be ascertained. The key recommendations towards this end include- 1) Demarcation of critical areas within the short-listed areas of high conservation values to serve as important livelihood source for herder communities; 2) Integrated pastureland management regimes to reduce the pressure on the pastures, and provide some time for restoration; 3) Anti-predatory livestock management through fences and other barriers, human-accompanied herding of livestock to reduce livestock losses is recommended; also, the strategies suggested by the SECURE-HWC (human-wildlife conflict) project in Lahaul-Pangi landscape, shall be followed. 4) Enhanced training to the key stakeholders concerning the extraction, harvesting and sustainable use of medicinal and aromatic plants; 5) Enhanced collaboration between the enforcement agencies (like the forest department and security forces) for improved surveillance to identify, monitor and prevent illegal activities. 6) Policy harmonization for potential HCVAs in the form of recognizing such areas as Community Conservation Reserve, Biodiversity Heritage Sites or Medicinal Plant Conservation and Development Areas.