Current Scenario of Biodiversity Conservation in Assam.

Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Secretary General, Aaranyak Nature Club,

Samanwoy Path (Survey), PO: Beltola, Guwahati - 781 028, Assam, INDIA

Tel/Fax : 0361-566087; e-mail : bibhab@gw1.dot.net.in

Everyone at present talk about environment protection, biodiversity conservation may be knowing it fully or without knowing why do we need biodiversity conservation. Some people do discuss the topics seriously while others do it because some people do it. However it is true that people do bother about Biodiversity and environment protection in Assam more than any other states of North Eastern India. It is a well-known fact that Assam is very rich in biodiversity and some of them are unique in the sense that they are endemic. The richness in overall biodiversity of Assam seems more because of its bio-geographical location. The state is a mixture of flood plains and some hilly areas surrounded by Hill states like Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram etc., and Kingdom of Bhutan. Assam comprising an area of 78438 sq. km was covered by more than 33% of its geographical areas by forests till 1980s. However since 1980s the situation of forest scenario has changed rapidly. In 1990 the survey done by the Assam Remote Sensing Application Centre revealed the percentage of forests covers in Assam stands at around 21%, showing a decline of more than 12% between 1980 to 1990. The dense forest canopy could be found only in some isolated forest areas in Assam at present. In-between 1990 till 1998 there seems to be a decline of further 5-6% of forest areas due to illegal felling of tree and subsequent encroachment in the forests. The rates of encroachment in forest areas are more than earlier, which has resulted in loss of forest covers over the years in the current decade. During the past few years Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) also came forward in various parts of the state to contribute towards conservation and protection of forests, while the government departments found it challenging under current circumstances to protect the forests. The common questions or inquisitiveness among the people in general is whether we will be able to conserve forests for enhance biodiversity conservation when we enter the 21st century that is knocking at our doors at present. Shall we just see in front of our eyes the marauding activities on forests by some vested interested business groups having political backings without any protest? Or we shall do something for our next generation to enhance forest protection for biodiversity conservation ? We need to take some steps to ensure whether our posterity or we will leave in deserts or on a green earth. Because sitting over dilemma on this important issue for too long, will jeopardize our chance of doing something for this planet where we are living and ironically where we have to live in future. And as such we need to act urgently to address this life taking and life saving opportunities of the planet earth.

We in Assam are very fortunate of having vast array of biodiversity, some of them are threatened and some are endemic too. Assam has been gifted by mother earth varieties of flora and fauna including world famous the Great Indian One Horned Rhino, Pigmy Hog, Royal Bengal Tiger, Elephant, Swamp Deer, Gangetic Dolphin, Wild Buffalo, Golden Langur, Hoolock Gibbon, Stump-tailed Macaque and Pig-tailed Macaque, Hispid Hare etc., while the salient birds found in Assam includes Greater Adjutant Stork, White winged wood duck, Bengal Florican, Spotbilled Pelican, Lesser Adjutant Stork, King Vulture etc. While some work has been carried out to assess the mammals and birds in Assam, but the efforts to assess the other groups like Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates are scarce. In order to conserve biodiversity, it is essential to assess the strength and varieties of flora and fauna found in the region. It seems that we are biased in conservation of biodiversity as a whole as very often the large animals like Rhinos, Tigers and Elephants get priority in conservation while the other species specially the lower vertebrates and invertebrates, and plant kingdom remained unattended. Ofcourse when we initiate conservation action for large mammals like rhino, tiger or elephants many other associated species get benefit out of it, but if we seriously talk about biodiversity, the single species management will never be sufficient to conserve biodiversity of a region. We need to conserve various habitat types in various geographical locations to ensure that maximum number of biodiversity are conserved and protected in the process.

In Assam we have a number of protected areas as sanctuaries and national parks, but the representing habitat has not been protected till date under the Protected Area Network. It has been observed that the conditions of most of Reserved Forests become vulnerable due to immense threats from encroachers and illegal timber fellers. To provide strong teeth to the Forests managers, it is time to identify some more key forest habitats for declaration as sanctuary or National Park in order to get more protection and funding. We don’t have a single Protected Area in Barak Valley. We need urgently some evergreen forests under the Protected Area network to enhance the chance of biodiversity conservation including the threatened flora and fauna.

Assam forests have been over burden with encroachers and settlers and there needs a strong political will to free some of the forest area from encroachers. However not a single political party has vowed till date to free the forests from encroachers. It is quite understandable why political leaders don’t want to evict the encroachers as they have the voting rights while the gullible wild animals don’t. The population explosion in Assam is very high since 1970s and if the trend goes unabated the future of biodiversity conservation in Assam is very bleak. Once dense forests like Nambor is now under severe encroachment and the impact of encroachment is such that the wild elephants have to come out of the forests and stop vehicles in National Highway No.39 to collect some food like sugarcane, bananas as tax. In the process of extensive damage done to forests the man-elephant conflicts in Assam is on rise and shall continue to rise if the matter is unattended. The wetlands are filled up in the process of so-called development without appreciating their role in hydrology management of a region and their importance in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of the wetland resources for benefit of present and future generation.

One, specially in the government, must understand that the forests is like an open Treasury and it needs protection in order to save the biodiversity. If it is allowed to be remained unprotected, there is no doubt that it won’t last long and will be destroyed. Even sanctuaries like Laokhowa have been badly affected due to the short sightness of the government in 1980s. And now due to the complete negligence of the government, Orang Sanctuary may soon follow the fate of Laokhowa. Why the state government can’t make a policy and make it compulsory in the service rule of forest staffs that everybody have to serve the wildlife areas for a stipulated period of 5-7 years during their service span ? Orang is now under staff, and also Pabitora, Kaziranga, Manas and probably all the sanctuaries and national parks. But in some territorial forests areas there are more forest staffs than actually required. Who will solve this problem? NGOs? or the Government? In Assam we are quite fortunate that the awareness among the indigenous general people regarding the need of biodiversity conservation is much higher than the rest of the states in North eastern India. And that’s why the villagers have the courage to stop a DIG-Police of Nagaland Government while his body guards killed a Lesser Adjutant Stork in Nagaon two year back. Did the government pursued the case in court? What happened to the seizure of rhino horns made in 1995 in Dispur Complex where two government officials holding high ranks was involved? The people of Assam have the right to know the efforts initiated by the government in this matter. Looking at this scenario, it is evident that the government, no matters which political party is running the state, is not at all sincere in its efforts to enhance biodiversity conservation. In Assam there are still some dedicated forest officials who could change the scenario of Forest protection if they are allowed to exercise their duties without political and administrative hindrance. But who will ring the bell ? Shall, we the people of Assam keep mum ? Or shall we come forward to do something positive to change the attitude of the government and the political leaders and administrators. Sooner we act will be better for future humankind in Assam.