Apologies for cross posting
Dear Friends,
Pls see below for the list of contents and editorial of the new issue of
the PA Update (Vol XXX, No. 1; February 2024, No. 167).
IF you would like to receive the full issue either as a pdf or via the
post, pls do let me know.
Pls do forward to other networks and individuals who might find this
useful and relevant.
Thnks
Pankaj Sekhsaria, Editor, PA Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
---
PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
Vol. XXX, No. 1; February 2024 (No. 167)
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
A one newspaper Protected Area Update
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- Pakke TR to assess status of rehabilitated Asiatic black bears
ASSAM
- Annual bird census at Kaziranga NP & TR records 27% increase in bird
numbers
ASSAM/WEST BENGAL
- Five convicted for smuggling ivory
- Elephant tusks worth Rs. 10 crore seized in New Jalpaiguri; two arrested
BIHAR
- Incubation-cum-nature interpretation centre for gharials and turtles
in Gandak River
JHARKHAND
- Palamau TR seeks tigress for relocation
- Five elephants electrocuted in Mosaboni forest range; second incident
in one month
KARNATAKA
- HC frames charges for broadcasting of ‘Wild Karnataka’ documentary
- FD resumes operation to radio-collar elephants in Belur taluk
ODISHA
- Tiger census affected in Sunabeda WLS due to Maoist insurgency: officials
- Record numbers in bird counts in Chilika Lake and Bhitarkanika NP
SIKKIM
- Tibetan brown bear sighted in Sikkim; first confirmed record for India
- Tiger and gaur sighted at record altitudes in Sikkim Himalayas
UTTARAKHAND
- 314% increase in tiger population in 16 years in Uttarakhand
WEST BENGAL
- FD to provide job to family member of wild animal attack victim
- Tiger recorded at 3,023m in Neora Valley NP
- Camera traps record many species in Neora Valley NP; Yellow-throated
seen after six years
- Sudden increase in leopard attacks on livestock in Malbazar subdivision
- Camera trap images of two years confirm continuous presence of tiger
in Buxa TR
- Two forest villages to be relocated from Buxa TR
- AI enabled cameras to track elephants in Jhargaram district
- FD burns 270 kg of ivory in Bankura
- More buses for Bengal Safari Park near Mahananda WLS
- State education board arranges transport for exams in districts having
elephants
- Three elephants killed in train accident in Buxa Tiger Reserve
- Railways to increase speed after installing intrusion detection system
- Tiger population in Sunderbans rises steadily
- BSF devises plan to secure Sunderbans against smuggling and infiltration
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- SC asks for comprehensive plan to save GIBs alongside solar power
commitment
SOUTH ASIA
- Training workshop on wildlife trafficking for South Asian enforcement
agencies
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- Asian Ranger Forum issues 'Guwahati Declaration' to achieve inclusive
ranger workforce
OVERHERD – A visual comment
FROM THE ARCHIVES
PERSPECTIVE
- One Health: Bridging the Gap Between Humans, Animals, and Ecosystems
---
EDITORIAL
'A one newspaper Protected Area Update'
There has been more than an occasional criticism in the past that the
Protected Area Update (PA Update) does not carry news and information of
particular themes, that certain regions and even states are
under-represented, and that all possible sources of news are not tapped
to the extent they should be. The related argument is that relying on
newspapers and mainstream media reporting is not sufficient and even
here representation is unfair and disproportionate.
Admittedly, these are all acceptable assessments of what the PA Update
does. There is, for instance, much more sourcing of news from mainstream
sources like The Times of India, The Indian Express, The New Indian
Express, The Hindu and Hindustan Times and much less, relatively, from
other equally prominent sources like the Deccan Chronicle and the Deccan
Herald published mainly in the South, the Tribune, which is prominent in
North India and publications like The Telegraph and The Statesman whose
imprint is much more prominent in the eastern part of the country. That
there are vast gaps in the geographical representation in the PA Update
is also undeniable. In the case of many states like Rajasthan,
Uttarakhand, and Madhya Pradesh, the reporting is dominated by certain
PAs while others never get any attention at all. Similar is the case
with states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the south that don't
see as much reporting as is seen from Karnataka. Where the North East is
concerned, we barely hear from states other than Assam, and the same can
also be said of other states in the East like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and
West Bengal.
The reasons for this are indeed wide ranging and varied. There is on
the one hand the issue of the coverage in the news media itself of these
PAs, states and regions. It is difficult to say how much the media
reports on them but one can assume safely there is an imbalance due to
multiple reasons. Surely all that is happening in all the PAs cannot be
reported given the challenges and various limitations. There is also the
limitation of the PA Update itself - a 24-page newsletter, published
every two months by a small team can only do this much. The PA Update is
finally a small subset of the media universe and can provide only a
small window into both, conservation issues in PAs as also the
priorities of the media.
It is with the above in mind that we decided to experiment this time
and create 'A one newspaper Protected Area Update'. It is literally
that. This issue of the PA Update is based exclusively on news published
over two months in just one newspaper - The Telegraph. And there are two
broad inferences that can be drawn from what you will see and read in
the pages that follow. We realised, first and foremost, that there is so
much media interest and reporting on issues of wildlife and PAs that one
issue of this newsletter can easily be crafted from just one such
newspaper. The oft-repeated concern that the media does not give enough
importance to wildlife and conservation could/should perhaps be laid to
rest. More is welcome for sure, but there is quite a lot already out there.
The second key insight is that geography matters. It appears to matter
hugely, in fact. Nearly half the stories carried this time are from West
Bengal alone and nearly 80% of the PA Update is from the eastern and
north eastern part of the country - states like Arunachal Pradesh,
Sikkim and Odisha. This is clearly not a coincidence considering the
newspaper we have sourced the stories from is The Telegraph. We also see
a prominent focus on stories related to elephants - mostly incidents
related to conflict - a function perhaps of the landscape and the key
issues being experienced there.
One obvious learning from this experiment is that a single PA Update is
clearly not enough. It cannot not do justice to the volume and diversity
of what is otherwise easily available as information and insight to
understand the country's conservation landscape. It suggests we need
more and varied kinds of efforts in this direction. Change one axis and
a different picture appears to emerge. What would this picture be, for
instance, if we were to use a newspaper from another geography of the
country, say the south? Or a South Asia PA Update minus India? Or a
newsletter with a focus on just one state or a bio-region? What if we
looked at the non-English media of a particular region - say Odia or
Bengali or Kannada? And what would happen if we start to look at the
world of social media and the tsunami of information that comes from there?
Would the world of wildlife and conservation look very different? Or
just marginally? Or not at all? We won't know until we try and these
might be interesting experiments worth attempting. The PA Update could
be the template, or some other structure could be thought of. Either way
there are interesting possibilities waiting for us around the corner.
----
Protected Area Update
Vol. XXX, No. 1, February 2024 (No. 167)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Associate Editor: Reshma Jathar
Illustrations: Ashvini Menon, Siddhi Jadhav, Shruti Kulkarni, Madhuvanti
Anantharajan & Peeyush Sekhsaria
Produced by Kalpavriksh and
The Environment and Ecology Research Group (EERG), C-TARA, IIT Bombay
Editorial Address: C/o Kalpavriksh, Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908
Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India.
Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239; Email: [email protected]
Website:
http://kalpavriksh.org/index.php/conservation-livelihoods1/protected-area-update
***
Note: Stories that appear in the PA Update are edited version of the
original news reports first published in the source mentioned at the end
of the story.
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by
Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o Foundation for Ecological Security http://fes.org.in/
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
and Donations from a number of individual supporters
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