CURRENT ACTIVITIES

1. Kids for Tigers

NEC is the nodal agency for the conduction of the Kids for Tigers Programme for Bangalore, and is being conducted across 70 Schools covering nearly 20,000 Students. This programme is being conducted for the fourth year in succession.

Kids for Tigers, the Sanctuary Complan Programme is an environmental educational initiative envisioned and implemented by Sanctuary Magazine and supported by Complan. It is conducted free of charge in schools across 13 cities in India, and uses the tiger as a symbol of the environmental health of our country, explaining how the survival of the tiger in the wild is linked with the survival of all of the diverse natural richness that India is gifted with. Its mission is to inform, educate and motivate one million young students from 750 schools to become an active force to save wild tigers and their homes.

The focus of Kids for Tigers is to help children grasp the vital connection between the survival of the tiger and the country's future ecological health. "After all", says Bittu Sahgal, Editor of Sanctuary Magazine, "to save the tiger we must save the tiger's wild habitat. By saving the tiger forests we protect the catchment’s of our rivers and help recharge groundwater. There is a very simple, very direct link between saving tigers and saving ourselves."

The programme starts with a Teachers Workshop, wherein the Teachers are given an insight about the current year's programme and are advised about the teaching aids available to them. An Audio-Visual presentation and a Nature walk for individual schools follow this. A Tiger Mela will follow where the Students are given an opportunity to exhibit their talents on an Inter-school platform. The grand finale would be a Nature Camp to be held at Bandhipur. The Theme of this years programme is “ Project Tiger”.

This year 13 cities will be a part of the Kids for Tigers mission in 700 schools.

2. Status Survey on the Broad-tailed Grassbird (Schoenicola platyura) in Karnataka

NEC has been awarded the “Leader” award for the conduction for this project by the Oriental Bird Club, London, United kingdom.

Project Team : Mr. O.C. Naveein, Dr. S. Subramanya, Dr. M. B. Krishna

Species/Habitat involved :
The Broad-tailed Grassbird (Schoenicola platyura) is a species restricted to montane grasslands, principally in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri hills of southern India, occurring largely in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (BirdLife International, 2001). This species is a bird of dense tall wet montane grasslands, bracken and reed fringes on steep hillsides and tops, including stretches of Andropogon grass and dwarf palm (Phoenix humilis), at least in the breeding season. Outside this time there is some indication that altitudinal movement occurs (BirdLife International, 2001). All along its range in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris, this species has a small, severely fragmented range and population, as a result of clearance and modification of grasslands. It has therefore been considered as Vulnerable (BirdLife International, 2001).

Project aims and objectives
The proposed survey is planned with the following objectives:

1. To identify and characterise optimal habitat of the species
2. Look in detail at the species habits, habitat and ecology
3. To understand the distribution of the species in Karnataka
4. To educate birdwatchers and Wildlife Officials of Karnataka on the status and distribution of the species and teach them the essential fieldcraft for locating the species
5. To identify `Important Broad-tailed Grassbird Areas' in Karnataka and to develop a management plan for the species in the State.

Project Justification
Although the records of the species in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are relatively well represented, its occurrence in Karnataka is known only from four localities. Butler (1881) collected specimens of the species from Belgaum (specimens in BMNH), while Uttangi (1994) recorded it in Anshi National Park and Chakravarthy and Tejasvi (1992) have reported it from Mudigere and Mercera. Unfortunately, the exact locality in Belgaum area where Butler (1881) collected his specimens in not known; the records of Uttangi (1994), and Chakravarthy and Tejasvi (1992) need to be validated as the habitats in these localities from where the species has been sighted is not typical. More recently, Shivananda (personal communications, 2002) has sighted the species at Kemmanugundi and Mullaingiri in the Bababudan Hills, mostly in hill top grasslands.

Relatively very little is known about the ecology and habitat requirement of the species. The project is expected to fill-in these gaps and to increase the present state of our knowledge on the distribution and ecology of this uncommon warbler. It is also hoped that several new localities where the species has not been recorded so far would be discovered in Karnataka. The recently published Threatened Birds of Asia (BirdLife International, 2001) proposes the following measures for the species:

"A comprehensive survey and study of the species is required, looking in detail at its ecology and distribution, so as to determine optimal habitat and management regimes and to identify further key areas to conserve. This needs to be done in the breeding season, so as to assess optimal habitats (identifiable to some degree through measurements of densities of singing males), but should be followed up with fieldwork at less propitious seasons, using mist-nets, ringing and, sparingly, tape-playback, to build an appropriate profile of the species across a range of sites and habitats, and with a view to determining the extent of its breeding cycle and movements".

3. Wetland monitoring Programme

NEC through its network of resource personnel have been monitoring the Lakes and wetlands in and around Bangalore from 1987. This has resulted in a number of Reports and Proposals being submitted to the various Authorities. Initially it was part of the “Asian Wetland Census”, conducted by the “Asian Wetland Bureau”, and later as the co-ordination agency for Karnataka, for the “Inland Wetlands of India - A conservation plan for protected areas, a Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore project.

NEC and its associates have also provided technical assistance to the Forest Department, Government of Karnataka; in the formulation of Lake Restoration project proposals under the NATIONAL LAKE CONSERVATION PLAN, and for an United Nations Environmental Programme project, which is currently being implemented with financial assistance from Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. NEC and it’s associates were also associated with the Forest Department in formulating a conservation plan for the restoration of affected-lakes and the conservation of other Wetlands in and around Bangalore. NEC has over the years, built regular monitoring data on the Lakes around Bangalore, which we feel is the most comprehensive data available on the subject today.

NEC is currently involved in various studies relating to the Lakes and Wetlands of Bangalore.