| Sanction Date: | 26-02-2018 | |||||
| Project Category | MG | |||||
| Batch Year | 2017-2018 | |||||
| Project Duration | 3 Years + 9 Months Extension | |||||
| BTA : | Biodiversity Conservation and Management | |||||
| Project Site/ State/ Districts/ Villages Covered: | Two districts of Mizoram state of the north-east region | |||||
| Organization/ Implementation Agency: |
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) Kolkata |
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| Project Partners: | S.No. | Name | Roles & Responsibilities | |||
1. |
The State Forest/Wildlife Departments of Assam, Mizoram, Manipur | Capacity building programs on forest fire impacts on fauna and combating forest fire in their specific localities and support the lead implementing agency in execution of the project and use the results in adaptive management. They will provide access to their database/records/ reports on selected threatened fauna in their areas and grant necessary research permissions. They will facilitate implementation of action research to test methods that would help monitor and conserve the species | ||||
2. |
State/Local NGOs | Would support the lead implementing agency and its partners in ensuring active participation of the local communities in the project. They will also ensure active engagement of womenfolk, local youth and village institutions in the implementation of mitigation measures with respect to forest fire and biodiversity conservation in the Himalayan regions. | ||||
| Lead Proponent: | Dr. Lalit Kumar Sharma Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), M Block, New Alipore Kolkata |
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| Project Brief Description: | Forest fires are a major environmental problem in North East Region (NER) with large tracts of forest areas being affected in every season. It have become a major threat to the forest ecosystems in the region, leading to loss of timber, biodiversity, wildlife habitat and loss to other natural resources. Studies on forest fire have reported that about 50% of forest fire in the country takes place in NE region. The major factor behind such high magnitude of fire is the slash and burn shifting cultivation, or locally known as jhum. The (MODIS) satellite data reveal the NE region is impacted very badly but the area selected for the proposed study is the most impacted with recurring forest fire. According to an official estimate based on satellite images (survey report of FSI), northeastern region has 1,63,799 km 2 of forest, which is about 25% of the total forest cover in the country. The losses due to forest fires range widely from ecological to socioeconomic impacts on the society. Insufficient and disintegrated data on the Indian forest fire especially the intensity, span, and frequency of fire and soil nutrient potential is a big problem in itself to handle and to derive desirable results for the purpose of management of forest fire. The direct effects of fire on animals vary among the different taxonomic groups. A forest fire causes drastic structural change and local extirpation of all faunal elements that depend on unburnt forest habitat. Moreover, in North-Eastern regions where forest fires caused by human, impacting the forest structure, and might have already devastated and disturbed the forest faunal resources. Hence, the present study has been proposed by keeping above in view, to understand the impact of forest fire in sites which experience recurring forest fire instances. The proposed study is in coherence with the objectives of the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) because information on impacts of forest fire on biological diversity of Himalaya will play vital role in sustenance and enhancement of the ecological, natural, cultural and socio-economic capital assets and values of the Indian Himalayan Regions. Furthermore, forest fire is gaining attention in the central policies due to quantum of damage caused by forest fires every year. The Government of India parliamentary committee on Science and Technology in 2016 visited forest fire impacted areas of Western and North-Western Himalayan and has categorically stated that there is a need to have impact assessment of forest fire on local biodiversity. Such impact assessments will be helpful in developing effective conservation and management strategy for the long term sustainability of ecosystem services. The better knowledge on forest fire impacts on faunal species and capacity enhancement of the local forest department and other stakeholders (NGOs, Village Development Committees, etc) will be of great imperatives in sustaining the ecological goods and services provided by the forests of the Indian Himalayan Region to the nation. | |||||
| Beneficiaries/ Stakeholders: | Local Bodies: Farmers, Gram Panchayats, Other local administrative bodies, Schools and colleges, Grass root level local institutes State: Forest and Environment departments, State Biodiversity boards and State Medicinal Plant Board, Climate change monitoring centers, Universities and research organizations National: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Health, Agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry departments, National Biodiversity Authority, Ministry of Earth sciences, GBPNIHESD and Universities, Research Organizations and NGO�s. International: IUCN, CBD and Global Forest Fire Network |
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| Activity Chart (For 3 Years): | Click Here | |||||
| Total Grants (in Rs.) | Rs.99,68,200/- (Rupees Ninety Nine Lakh Sixty Eight Thousand Two Hundred only) | |||
| Project Objectives | Quantifiable Deliverables | Monitoring Indicators |
| Assessing impacts of forest fire on faunal resources and diversity; | Baseline knowledge about the faunal resources and Forest fire hot spot identification for long term monitoring in 2 districts of 1 state Mizoram; | No. of New Database/ Datasets generated on the identified dynamics, i.e. Forest Fire, Faunal Resources & diversity, |
| Identification of sites for the establishment of long-term fire monitoring plots; | Development of forest fire management site specific calendar at each forest management unit; | Long-term Fire Monitoring Plots established (No.); |
| Capacity building of the frontline staff of forest department and other stakeholders; | Development of network of professional & stakeholders in all 2 districts of state to combat forest fire; | No. of Capacity Building Programmes/ Trainings conducted/ organized; |
| Building network and development of knowledge products. | Capacity enhancement of forest departments & others in 2 districts (150 persons). | No. of Stakeholders benefitted (No. of Rural Youth, No. of Women, and Total No. of Beneficiaries) with update on Income generation (Rs./ person); |
| Other Publications and knowledge products (Nos.). |
| S.No. | Name (Sanctioned Post) | Qualification | Designation | Salary (Sanctioned) |
| 1. | 03 Project Fellows/JRF | @ Rs. 16000.00 + HRA |
| S.No. | Name of Equipment (Sanctioned equipment) | Details | Cost (in INR) (Sanctioned Budget) |
| 1. | 01 Laptop and sampling equipments, kits, bird call/sampler/video development |
