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National Mission on Himalayan Studies
Implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
Nodal and Serving hub with G.B. Pant "National Institute of Himalayan Environment"(NIHE)

Project Title:

Himalayan Bee Watch and Bee Museum: A platform for documentation, monitoring, and research and a window for sustainable development of Forest Villages of Darjeeling

1. Project Details
Sanction Date: 26-02-2018
Project Category SG
Batch Year 2017-2018
Project Duration 3 Years + 9 Months Extension
BTA : Livelihood Options and Employment Generation
Project Site/ State/ Districts/ Villages Covered: Rampuria Forest Village, Darjeeling, West Bengal
Lalung, Darjeeling, West Bengal
Bhutia Basti, Darjeeling, West Bengal
Organization/ Implementation Agency:

Central University of Kerala Tejaswini Hills, Periye Kasaragod, Kerala

Project Partners: S.No. Name
1.
Department of Botany Delhi University, Delhi-7
2.
Rampuria Forest Village Rampuria, 6th Mile, Darjeeling, WB 734222
Lead Proponent:

Dr. Palatty Allesh Sinu

Central University of Kerala Tejaswini Hills, Periye Kasaragod, Kerala

Project Brief Description: The forest villagers of the Himalayas sustain on small-scale agricultural and horticultural crop production through organic mode, apiculture, livestock production, and responsible ecotourism. At a community scale, villagers they cultivate large cardamom (Amomumsubulatum) in the buffer region of the forests as an agro-forestry practice in Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayas. The other crops include pumpkin, melon, squash, gourds, peas, beans, chilli, tomato, strawberry and mustard. All these crops are insect-pollinated. However, crop productivity is steadily decreasing in past years and as results direct impacts on global mission on food security and health. On another hand, India is still lacking a national program on pollinator surveillance of at least our crop plants. In this view, aim of this project is to establish a participatory pollinator watch program involving the forest villagers, research community of the region (Sikkim and Darjeeling), Central University of Kerala and Delhi University. Through this project, it is envisaged that the participating Universities will give training to farmers and the research community on documenting, monitoring, conserving, and sustainable use of bee genetic resources for crop production. The students of the participating institutions will be engaged in the project and they will be exposed to Himalayan Ecology. The project will also be implemented with the local assistance of Rampuria FV, which is located in the buffer area of Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary. Finally, a Bee museum will be established in the forest village with the engagement of village committee, forest department, state biodiversity board and other local stakeholders. It will show bee habitats, bee nesting places, bumblebee ecology, important bee forage plants, bee garden, and live and active bee nests of social bees and selected solitary bees. It is also expected that the museum will be a regional facility such as house education materials, videos on bee life to know all about Himalayan bees, which will be another ecotourism attraction and revenue source for the village community.
Beneficiaries/ Stakeholders: Local people, Forest Departments, Policy makers, Researchers, etc
Activity Chart (For 3 Years): Click Here


2. Financial Details
Total Grants (in Rs.) Rs.39,80,800/- (Rupees Thirty Nine Lakh Eighty Thousand Eight Hundred only)
1st Installment (in Rs.) : Rs.20,13,600/- (Rupees Twenty Lakh Thirteen Thousand Six Hundred only)


3. Project Objectives, Deliverables and Monitoring Indicators
Project Objectives Quantifiable Deliverables Monitoring Indicators
To document bee genetic resources of Darjeeling Himalayas; Pollinator biodiversity information system of WB Himalayas; No. of New Database/ Datasets generated on the identified dynamics, i.e. Pollinators and Foraging plants linking with Livelihood Options (No.);
To identify key pollinators of crop plants of Himalayan hamlets; Database on bee forage plants; Regular updates on location-specific best practices/ field models developed (No.);
To document wild foraging plants of the bees with special reference to the type of plants (native versus invasive) with an aim to use selected native plants as forbs plants to sustain pollinator populations in crop lands; Data and information on Pollinator fauna of key crop plants of Darjeeling hamlets No. of Stakeholders benefitted (No. of Rural Youth, No. of Women, and Total No. of Beneficiaries);
To educate and give awareness on ecosystem services provided by the bees and citizen science program to monitor bee diversity of the Himalayas. Bee museum in Rampuria Forest Village (Demonstration plot). Other Publications and knowledge products (Nos.).
S.No. Name (Sanctioned) Qualification Designation Salary
1. 01 JPF @ Rs.16,000/- + HRA
2. 01 Field Assistant @ Rs.10,000/- fix per month
S.No. Name of Equipment (Sanctioned) Details Cost (in INR)
1. Solar power unit in Bee museum at project site
2. Microscopic inspection system with photo/video documentation system and printer in Bee museum at project site
3. , LCD player/ Television screen/Computer monitor