UNESCO lauds Manas' revival story, removes danger tag

New Delhi, June 22 (PTI) Acknowledging great revival
story, UNESCO has removed the 'danger tag' imposed on the
famous Manas National Park of Assam (the northeastern state of
India) 19 years ago following significant improvement in
wildlife conservation.
The decision to remove the 'danger tag' was announced
during the ongoing 35th session of UNESCO's World Heritage
Committee in Paris.
"Significant improvements in the preservation of
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary have allowed for its withdrawal from
the World Heritage List in Danger," the Committee said.
Situated on the foothills of the Himalayas, the
Manas sanctuary, home to a great variety of wildlife,
including many endangered species, such as tiger, pygmy hog,
one-horn rhinoceros and elephant, was inscribed in the List of
Danger in 1992, seven years after it had entered UNESCO's
World Heritage List.
The Committee noted that the outstanding universal
value for which Manas was inscribed in the World Heritage list
was "recovering from damages sustained during ethnic unrest"
in the site.
It had decided to include this site in the danger
when the park became a safe haven for militants and there was
rampant poaching inside it, with damages estimated over USD
two million.
"India scores a winning goal for Manas," said
Jagdish Kishwan, Additional Director General (Wildlife), who
led the Indian delegation at the session.
"Inscription of a site in the List of World
Heritage in Danger has two sides to it.
One, it draws global attention to the problems faced
by the site, which is beneficial; the second, it indicates a
pending threat that the site could be deleted as a World
Heritage completely if appropriate measures are not taken to
restore it," said Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife
Trust of India (WTI) and another member of the delegation.
The turnaround in Manas' fate came about in early
2000s.
The political situation in the area began improving
and culminated in the creation of the Autonomous Bodoland
Territorial Council (BTC) under the Bodo Accord (February
2003).
Since then, there have been concerted efforts by the
government and locals assisted by committed NGOs and
individuals to revive Manas.
Under the 'Bringing Back Manas' initiative of the
BTC and the Assam forest department in collaboration with the
International Fund for Animal Welfare and WTI, Greater Manas
was declared, tripling its area.
The protection and management of Manas was enhanced
through training of front line staff, provision of equipment
and facilitating and encouraging involvement of local
communities in conservation.
"Assam has been setting examples in wildlife
conservation for the entire world to follow.
First, the biggest conservation success story of the
century in Kaziranga National Park and now it is the revival
of Manas," said Assam's Chief Wildlife Warden Suresh Chand who
was also a member of the Indian delegation.
The decision on the World Heritage status of Manas
was an outcome of voting by 22 member countries to the World
Heritage Committee.
An independent review on the status was done by the
IUCN to apprise the Committee on the present situation in
Manas.
"We have seen Manas change over the past several
years, and now the world knows it.
This will get better, but only if the local people
actively help authorities in conservation.
Without the continued support of the people, this
could not have been possible and without their support this
cannot be sustained," said Kampa Borgoyari, deputy chief of
BTC. "The Manas National Park is once again a World
Heritage site after the Committee removed the 'danger' tag at
its 35th meeting in Paris yesterday," Assam Forest Minister
Rockybul Hussain told reporters in Guwahati Wednesday.
"Those who have revived the status have appreciated
the various measures taken to restore the flora and fauna of
the Park and it is a good piece of news for Assam," he said.
Plagued by insurgency leashed by Bodo and ULFA
militants, the Park was attached with the danger tag in 1992
following large scale destruction of wildlife and forests.
With the removal of the danger tag, Assam now has two
World Heritage sites, the other being Kaziranga National Park.
"The World Heritage Committee noted that the
outstanding universal value for which the property was
inscribed on the World Heritage List was recovering from
damage sustained during the ethnic unrest in the site," the
minister added.
Spread over 950 sq km in the Bodoland Territorial
Council (BTC) and also in neighbouring country Bhutan, the
park had got the World Heritage Site status in 1985.
Situated on the foothills of the Himalayas along the
Indo-Bhutan border, Manas is an Important Bird Area, an
Elephant Reserve and a Tiger Project, a status shared by few
other natural landscapes in the country.