Conservation project on Red Panda in Sikkim

NAMO DIXIT
NAMCHI: A conservation project aimed to protect the Red Panda and their wild habitats in Sikkim is scheduled to begin this month. Sikkim will be host to the wildlife conservation project ‘spatial prioritization for the conservation of endangered Red Panda in Sikkim Himalayas’, undertaken in collaboration with Zoological Society of London and National Geographic Society.
The study would have surveys in the possible habitats of the Red Pandawhich is also the State animal of Sikkim in order to understand which areas are occupied by the animal and needs to be prioritised for their conservation.
The project will use a combination of ecological surveys including vegetation measures and GPS marking, social surveys in the nearby villages of forest fringes of Sikkim including interaction with locals about their perceptions towards wildlife specifically the Red Panda.
Theindependently undertaken project will be led by EDGE fellow MoumitaChakraborty along with team members namely SouravMondal, PrasannaVenkatesh, KrishSanghvi, KarzangDawa Lepcha and will include local field assistants.
Moumita is supervised by a diverse and interdisciplinary team which includes Dr.Jyoti Das (ZSL EDGE), Dr. K. Ramesh (WII), Dr. Bharat Pradhan (SBB), Nawangla Bhutia (BAMOS) and SurenderMehra (DIG NTCA).
Moumita said the project seeksto boost conservation efforts for Red Panda in Sikkim because not much is known about the species and its forest use patterns and distribution and even lesser about its interactions with the people of Sikkim, hence it will bridge the knowledge gap that exists between science and policy of Red Panda conservation. It will also create survey methods that will form the basis for future conservation surveys in the State including prediction mapping and GIS, and will inform the stakeholders about this evolutionarily distinct species in their own backyard, she added.
The project will continue for two years in protected and non-protected forests of all four districts of Sikkim and projects such as this will mark an important milestone in the country’s conservation effort to save its forests and animals and are essential and should be supported, expressed EDGE fellow Moumita.
Currently, field training and meetings with forest frontline staffs covering four different forest divisions (wildlife and territorial) were held with the motive to understand their views and knowledge on the landscape as well as species, and also to convey the visions of the independent project while motivating them for longer run towards Red Panda conservation.
The project will provide a detailed knowledge of the current condition of Red Pandas in Sikkim and the field work has started from east district, Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary and simultaneously north, west and south districts will be covered by the team, it was informed.