SOUTH CENTRAL INDIA MANAGEMENT PLAN DECCAN PLATEAU

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SOUTH CENTRAL INDIA MANAGEMENT PLANDECCAN
PLATEAU

• Prepared by
• Scott Boyce
• Lindsay Grover
• Terina Hancock
• Roxanne Nalesnik
• Randi Newton
• Amy Wilker

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1.0 Introduction

• The Deccan Plateau is located in South Central
  India
• It is faced with many challenges in trying to
  establish a well-balanced ecosystem and natural
  habitat while still being able to provide for the
  needs of its huge population
• Some management challenges include
• The presence of invasive species
• Land allocated to protected areas and parks
• Predator interactions
• Parasites and diseases
• Effects of fire and grazing
• Space conflicts between wildlife and agriculture
• Genetics
• Resource extraction and developments

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2.0 Ecological Integrity

• 3 Components
• The composition of a system - identification of
  all the biotic and abiotic factors within the
  system
• Underlying structures - allow the system to
  function as it does
• Spatial and temporal scales that allow the
  composition of the system to interact with the
  structure of the system

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• Our management plan is based on sustainability
  and adaptability
• Sustainability plans are used in ecosystems
  considered to be in equilibrium. They are
• highly predictable
• stable climatic cycles
• population numbers controlled with low
  variability within the populations themselves
• It should be used when facing a more finite and
  immediate scale where the landscape can be
  observed and monitored regularly and where
  thorough research has been conducted to
  understand the landscape.

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• 2. Adaptability is most effective in managing
  complex herbivore assemblages that are not in
  equilibrium. These systems are
• Very uncertain
• Have populations that wax and wane without any
  recognizable cycle
• Have a turbulent climate
• They should be used for large scale issues, both
  in time and space.

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2.1 Management and Interpretive Objectives

• The Deccan Plateau
• Lies south of the Vindhya and Saptura mountain
  ranges, between the Eastern and Western Ghats
• Covers 1.9 million km²
• Extends over 8 states of India
• Covers 43 of total land area and almost all of
  central and southern India
• Elevations range from 100 m in the north to 1000
  m in the south
• The interior land area is flat and stable

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Comparative Population Pyramids for India
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3.0 History and Context

• People moving back into natural areas to provide
  for themselves and their families, coupled with
  hazy land right laws, unstable political
  institutions, and the want to succeed in an
  expanding global economy has caused
• - Agricultural lands to be created in
  ecologically fragile and already degraded
  habitats
• - Increased poaching in areas of rural poverty
• - Expansion of industrialization and resource
  extraction
• The future should not be a re-creation of past
  landscapes, populations, or species because as
  animals, plants, and populations evolve, so too
  does the country and its human population.
• Past successes may be impractical today.

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3.1 Climates and Rivers

• Major waterways include
• Mahanadi River
• Mahanadi River Delta
• Godavari
• Krishna
• Kaveri Rivers
• Approximately 20 of Indias outflow is made up
  of these main Deccan rivers and waterways

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A dry section of Kaveri during a drought at
Tiruchirapalli
Kaveri River
Krishna
Godavari River
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• Major rivers and monsoon rains are the basis of
  agricultural success
• Failure of a monsoon season causes poor to
  nonexistent crops
• An excessive monsoon can cause disaster if rivers
  flood and wash away homes and fields
• Water levels should be measured and maintained to
  ensure in stream needs are met and also to have
  some allocation available for future human use
  for agriculture and daily activities in case of
  drought.

Southwest monsoon
Monsoon clouds
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3.2 Eco-regions and Forests

• 3 Main Eco-regions
• South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forest
• Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest
• Characterized by tall tree species that defoliate
  during the beginning of the spring and winter
  months

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• Central Deccan Plateau Dry Deciduous Forest
• Not very species rich
• Several sacred groves in this region house
  evergreen forests, but they are slowly being
  depleted
• Contains the largest population of humans

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• 3. Deccan Thorn Scrub Forest
• degraded stage of the tropical dry forests
• areas that have been modified by humans and
  livestock
• low, open vegetation characterized by thorny
  trees with short trunks and low branches
• 340,300 km2 in size and were created by turning
  dry deciduous forests into pasturelands that are
  dominated by thorn scrub

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Threats to the Eco-regions include

• Human encroachment
• Transformation of forest into cash crop
  plantations
• Development projects such as mining and damming
• Fuel wood collection
• Overgrazing from large herds of cattle
• Increased industrialization
• Each eco-region contributes unique challenges
  including differences in forest degradation,
  vegetation species abundance, human and animal
  access, and the overall size of the eco-region.

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3.3 Ungulates of South Central India
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Eurasian wild boar
Nilgai
Four horned antelope
Nilgiri tahr
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Management Challenges and Solutions
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4.1 Invasive Species

• Lantana camara
• Parthenium hysterophorus

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• Mikania micrantha
• Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora)
• African snail (Achatina fulica )
• Feral dogs

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Invasive Species Solutions

• Mowing, hand picking, and herbicide applications
  in more urban areas. Most of these species have
  increased to the point where hand picking and
  mowing is not cost effective.
• There needs to be more regulations and policies
  in place to ensure that present native habitats
  are protected.
• Future industrialization projects such as mining,
  forestry and hydro-electric plants will need to
  ensure that their development does not increase
  and spread noxious weeds into the surrounding
  areas. They will need to maintain them on their
  site as well.
• Education is also needed for the local
  communities to help protect the remaining native
  habitats from being manipulated into agriculture
  areas and from overgrazing.

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4.2 Protected Areas/Parks
Major National Parks and Sanctuaries that are
present within the state of Karnataka, which is
part of the South Deccan Dry Deciduous Forest
Ecosystem
Major national parks and Sanctuaries that are
present within the state of Andhra Pradesh, which
is part of the Central Deccan Dry Deciduous
Forest Ecosystem
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Protected Areas Solutions

• Habitat restoration and management
  should attempt to imitate natural
  processes

• Address the role of humans in parks
• Create, enhance, and enforce policy and
  regulations to limit the impact of humans
• Create a database of information on the current
  species that reside within the various protected
  areas and document their interactions with other
  animals/plant species, humans, and landscapes to
  fully understand the ecosystem as a whole
• Monitor and enforce stricter penalties with huge
  disincentives to poachers

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Protected Areas Solutions

• Conservation efforts must move beyond the borders
  of protected areas since many parks are too small
  to maintain viable populations and do not address
  the overall societal issues that are forcing
  protected areas to exist in the first place
• Parks cannot be the entire solution since many of
  the ungulate migratory populations only partially
  reside in the protected areas for example,
  almost seventy per cent of the Asian elephants
  range is outside of established national parks

• Establishment of corridors linking protected
  areas
• Incorporate all aspects of the ecosystem, even if
  outside of protected area boundaries

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4.3 Predators

• Major predator species
• Tiger (Panthera tigris )
• Dhole (Cuon alpinus )

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• Leopard (Panthera pardus )

• Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes)

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Predator Solutions

• To conserve the ungulates, the natural order in
  which the ungulates reside must be protected.
• Larger territories are needed
• Plans and actions of territorial forest
  divisions should coincide with that of wildlife
  conservation management
• Compensation
• Synchronize conservation efforts
• Areas managed for predators must also be managed
  for ungulates
• Increased monitoring of predators

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4.4 Parasites and Diseases

• Rinderpest
• Tuberculosis
• Foot and Mouth
• Black Quarter
• Anthrax
• Haemorrhagic septicemia

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Parasite and Disease Solutions

• Management of disease must focus on educating
  the people about vaccination, appropriate animal
  husbandry, and animal nutrition as well as
  continual treatment and elimination of zoonotic
  diseases.

• Diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of various
  communicable diseases needs to be priority
• One Medicine Ecohealth

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Current Projects

• 1996 - the Indian Project for Animals and Nature
  was created and assists low-income farmers by
  providing free veterinary services to restrict
  the impact of disease on livestock, wild
  populations, public health, and the economics of
  the country
• The Wildlife Veterinary Service (WVS) also exists
  through the Wildlife Trust of India to address
  long term conservation needs by providing
  veterinary expertise in managing free living
  wildlife

A farmer woman reaping harvests. Majority of
India's 1 billion population have agriculture as
their mainstay.
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4.5.1 Grazing

• Severely impacts co-evolved assemblages of native
  wild herbivores
• Wild herbivores have been increasingly confined
  to reserves as land is consumed and transformed
  to permanent pasture land
• Currently it has been debated on whether to allow
  livestock grazing within reserves
• The competition between livestock and wild
  herbivores limits resources and has caused
  agriculturists to exclude wild herbivores from
  livestock grazing areas
• Competition has drastically reduced suitable
  habitat and leaves wild populations open to
  greater vulnerability to stochastic events

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Grazing Solutions

• Management and regulations between expansions of
  livestock grazing need to be implemented.

• Current debates have led research that states in
  order to conserve remaining wild herbivore
  species a design of interventions on grazing
  expansion needs to be reconciliation between the
  social benefits of livestock grazing and its
  ecological impacts.
• Management should incorporate direct
  communication lines between government, local
  human populations, researchers and management
  officers and planners.

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4.5.2 Fire

• Currently, man-made fires comprise 90 of all
  forest fires and the fire return interval stands
  at one year, as a direct result of anthropogenic
  influence
• These fires are set accidentally or deliberately
  for traditional slash and burn agriculture, to
  clear land for permanent agriculture and to aid
  in the collection of non-wood forest products
• Causes soil erosion, loss of wildlife habitat,
  biodiversity, timber resources as well as
  degradation of water catchment areas and human
  health problems

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Fire Solutions

• Education on prevention of fire
• Prompt control of fires is necessary to minimize
  economic and ecological damage
• Divert more funds to control
• Adequate training in fire suppression
• Controlled burns are not needed to eliminate
  excessive litter build-up

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4.5.3 Space Management

• Crop and livestock losses as a result of
  wildlife activity serve to aggravate villagers
  and make them wary of conservation efforts
• The tiger and leopard are notorious livestock
  predators, while wild pigs and elephants are the
  species largely responsible for crop degradation
• Crops sustain damage from animal feeding, but are
  damaged to a larger extent by trampling
• Agriculture encroaching on diminishing wildlife
  habitat
• It is suggested that agricultural activity lowers
  the carrying capacity for large mammals

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Space Management Solutions

• Wildlife Trust of India created the Communities
  for Conservation Programme. The goals of the
  program include
• building partnerships with local and traditional
  communities
• Working in partnership with communities living
  close to rich biodiversity resources to ensure
  better protection of forests and wildlife
• Addressing the livelihood needs where there is a
  direct threat to wildlife
• Aiming at reducing the dependence of the local
  communities on forest and natural resources
  through eco-development
• Community-conserved areas (CCAs) provide immense
  ecological, social, and economic benefits,
  including the conservation of threatened species
  and ecosystems, corridors for wildlife, as well
  as water and livelihood security for communities

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4.6 Genetic Management

• Asian elephant
• Gaur

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• Nilgiri tahr
• Blackbuck
• Wild boar

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Genetic Management Solutions

• Genetic testing is required on all species that
  may have genetic failures. This will help to
  prioritize which animals are of more immediate
  concern for conservation measures than others
• Ex situ conservation and translocation of
  animals, the creation of stepping stone habitats
  to establish corridors between protected areas
  and from one remnant population to the next, or
  even the domestication of some animals to make
  sure their genetic material is conserved
  indefinitely
• Genetic management must go beyond the isolated
  protected areas scattered throughout India since
  these areas are often too small to maintain
  viable populations

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• Corridors linking these protected areas must be
  established and well designed
• Investment and capital must be dispersed
  throughout these corridors to increase law
  enforcement and enhance the protection of the
  species
• Education
• Routine patrols and public awareness must
  increase in frequency
• The presence of law must be seen and known by the
  locals and the law must be enforced to deter any
  continued poaching

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4.6.1 Endangered Wildlife Considerations

• Indian hunting has been recognized as a major
  factor in historical declines of wildlife
• Enforce stronger legislation and enhance the
  Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
• Hunting is widespread and poses a serious threat
  to wildlife
• Villagers are not aware of the protected status
  of some species
• Factors responsible for high levels of hunting in
  some areas include few patrolling roads and
  vehicles, poor communication facilities, an
  ill-equipped armoury, slack patrolling schedules,
  and an absence of permanent anti-poaching camps

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Ivory and Rhino horn
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Bear bile
The bears live in cages little bigger than
themselves for ease of "milking." Bile is
extracted through a cut made in the bear's
abdomen. This bear was rescued by the Asian
Animal Protection Network and now lives in a
sanctuary.
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Endangered Wildlife Solutions

• Creating wildlife corals
• Culling of problem species
• Fencing agricultural areas
• Translocation of parts of successful herds to
  locations where they used to exist
• Assistance in the form of supplemental feeding
  during seasons of drought
• Continued monitoring and research of the species

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4.7 Resource Extraction

• India contains 24 of the worlds supply and is
  self-sufficient in the mineral thorium
• India has the fourth largest coal reserve in the
  world
• Other resources extracted include are iron ore,
  manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite,
  and limestone, natural gas, petroleum, and
  diamonds

Location of Coal and Lignite mines that are
present throughout India
Mica
Diamonds
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• India contains about 5.6 billion barrels of oil
  reserves, the second largest supply in the Asian
  Pacific, and consumes about 846,000 barrels of
  oil per day
• Much of the petroleum extraction is found along
  coastlines and increasing amounts of inland areas
  are becoming degraded and destroyed
• Mining, hydroelectric activity, and land clearing
  for fuel-wood and pasture is degrading the
  environment
• Habitat for various organism have been damaged
  and the vulnerable forests have continued to
  become degraded though unsustainable use of the
  land

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Resource Extraction Solutions

• Implement the World Commission on Protected
  Areas (WCPA) goal of working with the extractive
  industries to enhance the industries contribution
  to protected areas and their conservation
• Increase awareness to the extractive industries
  and the public about the negative impacts
• Respect and limit/stop the extraction present in
  protected areas
• Use public pressure to ensure that industry lives
  up to their commitments and follow regulations
• Support and provide options for industries to
  address environmental concerns while still
  considering their role in the economy
• Create a platform for stakeholder participation
  and discussion on current issues to reach
  participatory outcomes
• Community participation

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5.8 Funding, Compensation, and Policy

• Funds are often the limiting factor for many
  management objectives and goals
• Managers should receive one-on-one training and
  close follow-up from professionals as they apply
  protocol because then they can identify
  deficiencies, develop appropriate work plans, and
  develop monitoring strategies to measure their
  effectiveness
• Focus should be on other successful management
  plans developed

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• Wildlife and nature tours within the region
  generate added funding
• Regulations on the allocation of this revenue, to
  keep it within the region, should be implemented
• Funds can be allocated in a variety of ways
  including park maintenance and enhancement,
  employing local people to work inside and outside
  the parks, education, community improvement
  programs, and agricultural compensation
• Have a successful compensation program that is
  equally accessible to all citizens
• Monitoring and enforce land use policies and
  hunting/poaching infractions
• Support communities in developing alternative
  income generation methods so they are less
  dependent on natural resources like wildlife,
  grasslands, and forest resources

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5.9 Education and Ecotourism

• Ecotourism is a growing industry that can be used
  as a method of ecosystem management and income.
• National parks include resorts or camp facilities
  
• Zoos allow for a close proximity learning
  environment that is safe for the public
• Conservation programs need to also be outside of
  park boundaries to raise awareness and support
  training among local communities

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Conclusion

• The continual increase in Indias human
  population is both directly and indirectly
  responsible for the decline in wildlife.

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• Individuals living in rural areas require land
  for grazing and crop production, as well as wood
  for fuel in order to sustain their life.
• This has put enormous pressure on Indias natural
  resources and in turn threatens the continuation
  of protected areas.

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• In order for Indias protected areas and viable
  habitats and populations to remain into the
  future, the basic needs of the Indian population
  must be met.

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• New technologies and developments need to be
  incorporated with education to help develop a new
  sustainable way of life that will have less
  impact on the environment.
• Government leadership is a key factor in the
  implementation of conservation policies and
  regulations.
• Continuous monitoring of conservation issues is
  needed to ensure an adaptive management plan is
  established.
• Communication is needed between local
  communities, government officials and education
  facilitators and monitors to sustain the
  eco-health of the Deccan Plateau.

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Questions?