Subject: WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND PEOPLE'S LIVELIHOOD RIGHTS BR Hills, 15-17th April, 2000 A major national consultation on Wildlife Conservation and People's Livelihood is to be held at Biligiri Rangan Hills Sanctuary, on 15 to 17th April. The consultation is being organised by Kalpavriksh, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), and the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra (VGKK). VGKK will be hosting the meet in BR Hills. This Consultation is the 4th in a series of dialogues aimed at bridging the divide between conservationists struggling to protect India's threatened wildlife and habitats, and social action groups who are fighting to protect the rights of forest-based and other rural communities across the country. Conventionally, these two sectors have been at loggerheads, but through these consultations, common ground has been built over the years. The 4th Consultation will attempt to consolidate this by preparing several common programmes, including concerted efforts to counter the serious threats posed to wildlife and to local communities by large-scale commercial/industrial projects. Participants will include wildlife conservationists, social activists, local community members, forest officials, and academics. Since the Consultation is being held in Karnataka, there will be a special focus on the 'hotspots' in the state, including Kudremukh National Park, Nagarahole National Park, and BR Hills Sanctuary itself. However, participants from other parts of the country will also be presenting their views and experiences. On the agenda are items such as: reconciling people's livelihood rights with conservation, tackling the threats caused by badly planned commercial/industrial projects, challenging World Bank and IMF led policies and programmes that threatened habitats and communities, and the proposed National Wildlife Action Plan and National Forestry Action Plan. We would like to request your participation in the Consultation, and appropriate coverage in your publication. Further details can be obtained from: Chiranjeev Bedi, ATREE, Bangalore, Tel: 3530069 or 3533942; or Leo Saldanha, ESG, Bangalore, Tel: 6614855. Ashish Kothari Kalpavriksh, Pune __________________________________________________- CONSERVATION AND LIVELIHOODS NETWORK c/o Kalpavriksh, Apt. 5, Shree Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411 004. Ph./Fax: 020-5654239. Email: kvriksh@vsnl.com; ashish@nda.vsnl.net.in 4th Consultation on Wildlife Conservation and People's Livelihood Rights April 15-17, 2000, BR Hills, Karnataka March 31, 2000 Dear Friends, This is the final letter before the 4th Consultation, in which you have confirmed participation. Please note the following points; 1) In case you have any material for distribution and / or publications, like books, posters etc. for sale, please do bring them along for the meeting. We will put up a little display counter for these. There however bear in mind that there is no photocopying facility at the meeting venue. If you have proposed joint statements to be issued by the Conservation and Livelihoods Network, please bring them for discussion at the Consultation, where they can be finalised. 2) Please find enclosed with this letter the agenda for the meeting. There will be a couple of presentations in each of the sessions, followed by a general discussion. The agenda is open to modifications if participants so desire. 3) Also attached is a list of all the individuals and organisations who have confirmed participation for the meeting. A detailed contact list will be sent out later. If there still are others who are interested in attending, they are welcome. Please however inform us at the earliest. 4) We will be staying at the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra (VGKK)in the BRT Sanctuary in the BR hills. The weather will be pleasant. It might however be a good idea to carry a light sweater. VGKK has promised to organise bedding etc. However they have also requested that it would be good if participants carried their own beddings / bedsheets / sleeping bags as a back up. 5) The best way to get to BRT is to reach Bangalore latest, on the morning of the 14th . Next to the railway station is the Bus Station, from where there one gets buses for BRT. BRT is 200 Kms from Bangalore and takes about 5-6 hours to get there by bus. There are three buses from Bangalore for BRT that leave at 7am, 9am and 1pm respectively. Imp. Entry to the Sanctuary is permitted between 6am and 6 pm only. If there are any comments, clarifications or questions please get in touch immediately. Thanking you Pankaj Sekharia, Kalpavriksh (For Address see above) H. Sudarshan, Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra (VGKK), BR Hills, Chamrajnagar 571 441, Ph: 08226-44025; Fax: 44018, Email: vgkk@vsnl.com Chiranjeev Bedi), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) No 659, 5th A Main, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024 Ph: 080 353 3942 Fax: 353 0070 Email: bedi@atree.org CONSERVATION AND LIVELIHOODS NETWORK c/o Kalpavriksh, Apt. 5, Shree Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411 004. Ph./Fax: 020-5654239. Email: kvriksh@vsnl.com; ashish@nda.vsnl.net.in 4th Consultation on Wildlife Conservation and People's Livelihood Rights April 15-17, 2000, BR Hills, Karnataka PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR THE MEETING DAY 1 April 15 9 - 11AM Follow up to the 3rd Consultation and Review of the Conservation and Livelihood Network 11AM - 1PM Commercial Threats, Mining / Tourism 2.30 PM Field Visit to the BRT Sanctuary and an Introduction to the work of VGKK and ATREE DAY 2 April 16 9-11 AM Discussion based on the Field Visit and issues related to Livelihood options and wildlife conservation. 11AM - 1PM Ecodevelopment and other GEF / WB Projects 2 - 5 PM Settlement of Rights in Protected Areas and Denotifications Displacement and Relocation issues. (including an Update on the SC case) 6 - 8 PM Laws and Policies related to Conservation and Protected Areas - Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act and PAs - New JFM Circular extending JFM to standing forests DAY 3 17TH April 9 - 11 AM National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (NBSAP) / National Forestry Action Plan (NFAP) / National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) 11AM - 1PM Community Conserved Areas 2 - 5 PM Future Actions, future of the network and proposed activities, funding for the Network Joint Statement / Commitments etc CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS KARNATAKA Cheryl Nath Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Utkarsh Ghate Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Guru Prasad Wildlife Aware Nature Club, Tumkur Leo Saldanha Environment Support Group, Bangalore Manu Mathai Environment Support Group, Bangalore Bhargavi S.Rao Environment Support Group, Bangalore Savio Carvalho Oxfam, Sirsi SC Sardeshpande Paryavarani, Belgaum Pradeep Sebastian Pipal Tree, Bangalore MAHARASHTRA P.K.Gandhi, Vikalpa, Nagpur S.B.Suklikar Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society, Nagpur Dilip Gode, Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society, Nagpur Dinesh Gholse Nagpur Datta Patil / Sachit Bhandarkar Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action(YUVA) Nagpur Kusum Karnik, Shaswat, Dist. Pune Prashant Shinde KHOJ, Mumbai Ranjeet Ghodeswar KHOJ, Paratwada Aruna Shette KHOJ, Paratwada Sujeet Dongre, Centre for Environment Education, Pune Adv. Sanjeev Gajbhiye Bhandara Ajay Dolke, Srujan, Pandhar Kawda Anil Nimbhorkar National Institute of Women, Child and Youth Development, Nagpur Rainer Horig Pune MADHYA PRADESH Gautam Bandopadhyay Ekta Parishad, Raipur Ravi Shankar Kanoje Rajnandgaon SN Mishra Abhivyakti, Rajnandgaon Sushil Dube Mahasamund Yuva Sewa Sangh,Dist. Mahasamund Masood Aziz, Rajnandgaon Hasrat Arjjumend, People's Resource Centre, Bhopal DELHI Sarbani Sarkar Centre for Law and Environment Krishnendu Bose Earthcare Films Tariq Aziz WWF -TCP, Asmita Kabra Samrakshan Trust Arpan Sharma TAMIL NADU Ranjit Daniels M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai Sugato Dutt Tamil Nadu Forest Dept VS Vijayan, SACON UTTAR PRADESH SK Mukherjee / Anil Bhardwaj Wildlife Institute of India, Deharadun Jagdish Krishnaswamy Wildlife Institute of India, Deharadun / ATREE WEST BENGAL Ruchi Pant, ATREE, Bagdogra Arindam Das NESPON, Siliguri Arnab Bhattacharya NESPON, Siliguri ASSAM Arun Srivastava Guwahati RAJASTHAN Rajendra Singh Tarun Bharat Sangh, Alwar Priya Das In addition there will be participants from the three organisers of the Consultation, Kalpavriksh, VGKK and ATREE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Environment Support Group (R) 36, Reservoir Road Basavanagudi Bangalore 560 004. INDIA Telefax: 91-80-6614855 Email: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~