Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Chronic Extraction of Forest Resources is Threatening a Unique Wildlife Habitat of The Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Northeastern India


Affiliations
1 Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001, India
 

This study examines the extent and nature of harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) by local human communities residing adjacent to the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, northeastern India. The harvest of NTFP was monitored at 15 entry points to the sanctuary over a period of 41 days. Dry timber was the most dominant form of NTFP collected and the most preferred firewood species was Vatica lanceaefolia, a critically endangered tree species. About 25% of the harvested NTFP were food plants for the six primate species of the sanctuary. Highlighting the threats posed by this chronic extraction of NTFP to the vegetation and unique primate assemblage of the sanctuary, we recommend measures to check the unsustainable extraction of natural resources from this shrinking, and now highly threatened, forest patch.

Keywords

Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, Non-Timber Forest Products, Primates, Sustainability, Vatica lanceae-folia.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Shackleton, S., Paumgarten, F., Kassa, H., Husselman, M. and Zida, M., Opportunities for enhancing poor women’s socioeconomic empowerment in the value chains of three African nontimber forest products (NTFPs). Int. For. Rev., 2010, 3, 151–163.

  • Pandey, A. K., Tripathi, Y. C. and Kumar, A., Non-timber forest product for sustainable livelihood: challenges and strategies. Res. J. For., 2016, 10, 1–7.

  • Dattagupta, S. and Gupta, A., Non-timber forest product (NTFP) in northeast India: an overview of availability, utilization, and conservation. In Bioprospecting of Indigenous Bioresources of North-East India (ed. Purkayastha, J.), Springer, Singapore, 2016, pp. 978–981.

  • RosTonen, M. A. F., The role of non-timber forest products in sustainable tropical management. Holz Roh. Werkst., 2000, 58, 196–201.

  • Belcher, B. M. and Vantomme, P., What isn’t an NTFP? Int. For. Rev., 2003, 5, 161–168.

  • Dangi, R. B., Impact of NTFP harvesting in forest conservation. Initiation, 2008, 2, 165–171.

  • Shmatkov, N. and Brigham, T., Non-timber forest products in community development lessons from the Russian Far East. For. Chron., 2003, 79, 113–118.

  • Ticktin, T. and Shackleton C., Harvesting non-timber forest products sustainably: opportunities and challenges. In Non-timber Forest Products in the Global Context (eds Shackleton, S., Shackleton, C. and Shanley, P.), Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 149–169.

  • Ahossou, O. D., Fandohan, B., Stiers, I., Schmidt, M. and Assogbadjo, A. E., Extraction of timber and non-timber products from the swamp forest of Lokoli (Benin): use patterns, harvesting impacts and management options. Int. For. Rev., 2017, 19, 133–144.

  • Lopez-Toledo, L., Perez-Decelic, A., Macedo-Santana, F., Cuevas, E. and Endress, B. A., Chronic leaf harvesting reduces reproductive success of a tropical dry forest palm in northern Mexico. PLoS ONE, 2018, 13, e0205178.

  • Ticktin, T. and Nantel, P., Dynamics of harvested populations of the tropical understory herb Aechmea magdalenae in old-growth versus secondary forests. Biol. Conserv., 2004, 120, 461–470.

  • Champion, S. H. G. and Seth, S. K., A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India, Manager of Publications, Government of India, 1968.

  • Sharma, N., Sengupta, S., Boruah, D., Saikia, L. and Saikia, G., White-winged duck Asacornis scutalata in Hollangapar Gibbon Sanctuary, Assam, India. Indian Birds, 2015, 10, 121–123.

  • Sharma, N., Primates on the edge: ecology and conservation of primate assemblages in the fragmented lowland rainforests of the Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Northeastern India. Doctoral thesis, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, 2013.

  • Ticktin, T., The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products. J. Appl. Ecol., 2004, 41, 11–21.

  • Carter, J., Ndiaye, S., Pruetz, J. and McGrew, W. C., Senegal status survey and conservation action plan: West African chimpanzees. In Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan: West African Chimpanzees (eds Kormos, R. et al.), IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, 2003, pp. 31–40.


Abstract Views: 336

PDF Views: 141




  • Chronic Extraction of Forest Resources is Threatening a Unique Wildlife Habitat of The Upper Brahmaputra Valley, Northeastern India

Abstract Views: 336  |  PDF Views: 141

Authors

Narayan Sharma
Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001, India
Ankita Sharma
Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001, India
Bitupan Deka
Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001, India
Anindya Sinha
Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, Panbazar, Guwahati 781 001, India

Abstract


This study examines the extent and nature of harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) by local human communities residing adjacent to the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, northeastern India. The harvest of NTFP was monitored at 15 entry points to the sanctuary over a period of 41 days. Dry timber was the most dominant form of NTFP collected and the most preferred firewood species was Vatica lanceaefolia, a critically endangered tree species. About 25% of the harvested NTFP were food plants for the six primate species of the sanctuary. Highlighting the threats posed by this chronic extraction of NTFP to the vegetation and unique primate assemblage of the sanctuary, we recommend measures to check the unsustainable extraction of natural resources from this shrinking, and now highly threatened, forest patch.

Keywords


Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, Non-Timber Forest Products, Primates, Sustainability, Vatica lanceae-folia.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv119%2Fi6%2F1042-1045