New Delhi, June 13: Kaziranga National Park could not have hoped for a better centenary gift. The abode of the one-horned rhino has been chosen, along with Keoladev National Park in Rajasthan, for a $ 5 million Unesco grant. The funds are for a project called the World Heritage Biodiversity Programme for India, to be executed by the Union ministry of environment and forests over four years, beginning next January.
Project co-ordinator V.B. Mathur, who is from the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, said the two national parks scored over other biodiversity hotspots because both were on Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites.
The project envisages assessing the effectiveness of biodiversity management on the basis of the methodology developed by the World Commission on Protected Areas.
“The thrust of the scheme will be on conserving biodiversity by strengthening community participation in the process. National parks are categorised as World Heritage Sites by Unesco if they are found to have outstanding universal value,” Mathur said.
Kaziranga spans 430 square km and is a treasure-trove of flora and fauna, including the largest population of the endangered one-horned rhino.
Unesco programme specialist Marc Patry said in an e-mailed statement that the global organisation was committed to the task of preserving the core values of each World Heritage Site.
“The biodiversity programme in Kaziranga will contribute directly to conserving values for which the site was nominated to the WH (world heritage) list. One of the WH Centre’s roles is to monitor the state of conservation of WH sites, ensuring that all those sites listed retain the values for which they were initially nominated.”
Manas National Park is on the list, too, but Unesco has declined to say whether a similar scheme will be approved for the sanctuary, which is on the road to revival after being the den of militants for several years.
Kaziranga, on the other hand, has been facing erosion by the Brahmaputra along its northern boundary.
Animals cross the National Highway 37 in search of safer areas during floods and are often knocked down by speeding vehicles. Hog deer suffer the most with the toll crossing 500 during the floods in 1988.
Poaching, though not as rampant as it was some years ago, remains a source of worry. A relatively new problem is the growth of illegal settlements in the vicinity of the park.