Update on Amur Falcon Massacre (1 Viewer)

[Mal92]

The latest news from Asad Rahmani re the Amur Falcon massacre in Nagaland, posted to various contacts and reproduced here...

Dear all,

We have exchanged lots of emails on this issue, and I have also replied to
some of you. Yesterday I had a meeting with Ramki Sreenivasan of
ConservationIndia, the person who brought out this issue through his visit to Nagaland
in second half of October, and Dr S. Subramanya. Full credit should go to
Ramki for bringing out this issue to our attention. I want to brief you on
some points and also update you:

1. BNHS/IBCN is fully involved in this campaign. Neha Sinha, Policy and
Advocacy officer of BNHS (funded by RSPB) was involved with Ramki from the
beginning and helped in some policy and legal issues.

2. After seeing the massacre, Ramki contacted the Nagaland officials who
acted quickly, and prevented further killing. They have posted police and
forest guards in the area.

3. The Indian Minister of Environment and Forests, Mrs Jayanthi Natarajan,
has asked for an explanation and action taken report from the Nagaland
government, so there is a flurry of activity in Nagaland.

4. Small scale opportunistic killing of Amur Falcon annually was going on
for a long time, but this large-scale killing started only 5-6 years ago
after the development of a reservoir. Possibly the presence of large number of
dragonflies (due to reservoir water) attract falcons but this need to be
confirmed through studies. Anyway, soon after development of the reservoir the
villagers found out falcon concentration and started killing them, although
it is legally banned. Two years ago, a separate government notification was
brought out by the Nagaland government banning falcon killing but not much
was done as the area is remote and difficult to monitor. Now, with this media
campaign, people have realized the extent of killing.

5. Ramki is in regular touch with people of that area and yesterday he told
me that strict steps have been taken to prevent further killing, and anyway
falcon migration is over.

6. Yesterday, Ramki and Dr S. Subramanya (known person in BirdLife, and
IBCN State Coordinator of Karnataka) agreed that we have to start a long-term
environmental education (EE) programme in Nagaland to prevent all type of
bird killing. I will discuss this with Cristi, Mike and Marco next week during
BirdLife Asia meeting, and with Ian Barber (whom I am meeting on 17th). We
will write a project proposal for funding by Indian MoEF, but we will also
require more funds. EE in Nagaland has to be long-term as killing of birds is
quite extensive in rural areas all over Nagaland (and some other states of
north-east India).

7. International campaign should go ahead and RSPB, BirdLife International,
CMS, Conservation International, Raptor NGOs, BirdLife partners etc should
write to Mrs Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of Environment and Forests,
Government of India, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, India.
They should congratulate her for her quick action. IBCN members are also
writing letters to Mrs Natarajan. I will bring up this issue in the next
meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife.

8. Ramki will be regularly updating so please check his website.

9. Atul Sathe, PRO of BNHS has been very active in contacting media so lot
of newspaper reports have come out, shocking people. He is in touch with
Ramki for updates. Please forward media reports from your country and elsewhere
to Atul as he is keeping track. If anyone of you want media reports from
India, please contact Atul.

10. Please share my email with BirdLife Partners and other conservation
organizations.

Thanks.

Asad Rahmani

 

[TWM]

That is excellent news.
Well done to all concerned.

 

[Trystan]

Good news indeed. Maybe if they succeed in preventing poor people killing amur falcons they can come over here next and try stopping rich people killing hen harriers.

 

[Hor Kee]

Poor? Look at the size of their mist nets! Industrial grade by any standard. If those nets were put to aquacultural use, they'll be hauling in a lot of fish! its greed and not need that's driving them.

 

[Trystan]

Poor? Look at the size of their mist nets! Industrial grade by any standard. If those nets were put to aquacultural use, they'll be hauling in a lot of fish! its greed and not need that's driving them.

No argument from me there. Just trying to make the point that if the people involved are having some success then it's food for thought how ineffective we are here at sorting issues closer to home.