11/03/2005 – High levels
of biodiversity found in the forests in the
North Bank Landscape of north-east India are
considered one of the richest in the world,
according to a new report by WWF.
A ‘rapid appraisal’ conducted by WWF-India’s
Asian Rhinos and Elephant Action Strategy
(AREAS) Programme over 3,000km2 of forests
in the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal
Pradesh recorded an unprecedented 107 plant
species in a single 200km2 area alone. Preliminary
results indicate that the North Bank Landscape
may be surpassed in plant diversity only by
the forests of Sumatra in Indonesia, making
it the second richest center of plant diversity
on the planet.
“NBL is a jewel in the crown of Indian forests,”
said Andrew Gillison, author of the report
and head of the Australian Centre for Biodiversity
Management which conducted the survey for
WWF.
The North Bank Landscape encompasses a geographical
area of about 84,000km2 in the north-east
Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,
comprising parts of the Himalayan mountain
range and the Brahmaputra River. The Landsape
is also one of the most important sites for
the Asian elephant, containing as many as
3,000 individuals, the largest single elephant
population in north-east India.
Although the report raises the level of forest
plant biodiversity known to science, it also
focuses on a new urgency to save the North
Bank Landscape’s forest areas, which is facing
tremendous pressures and may well be gone
in a few years.
“This is a distinct possibility unless timely
and appropriate policy interventions are initiated
in earnest and quickly,” said WWF-India CEO
Ravi Singh.
“While the discovery makes this ‘Global Biodiversity
Hotspot’ really significant, it poses a greater
challenge and offers an opportunity to conserve
this wonderful natural heritage for posterity.”
In addition to its unprecedented number of
plant species recorded, the region also contains
some of the last prime habitat for Asian elephants,
tigers and other endangered species. Uncontrolled
exploitation of forests and destruction of
animal habitat are increasingly restricting
large mammals to smaller areas of forests
within the landscape area.
“This is clearly impacting both plant and
animal habitat and will have significant implications
for forest biodiversity in the short term,”
Singh added.
Notes:
• The WWF initiative was implemented in technical
collaboration with Australia’s Centre for
Biodiversity Management (CBM), with support
from the MacArthur Foundation and the Smithsonian’s
center for research and conservation. Two
teams from WWF, the Forest Departments of
Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Wildlife Institute
of India and the Botanical Survey of India,
undertook the appraisal of vegetation and
large mammal habitats within the landscape
as a precursor to establishing a broader regional
conservation management framework.
• The AREAS Programme of WWF has been making
conservation interventions in the NBL aiming
at formulating a long-term strategy for conservation
of elephants, tigers and related biodiversity.
Its focus has been on mitigating human-elephant
conflict and restoring/managing forests of
NBL in the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
