Guwahati, June 21: Paris finally gave the good news to Manas after 19 long years.
Manas wildlife sanctuary has been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger, following the advice of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The news has sent jubilation all around Manas among forest authorities and members of conservation organisations, who have been working tirelessly for getting back the coveted glory of the sanctuary.
The Telegraph was the first newspaper to point out that the danger tag is all set to be removed.
Permanent representative of India to Unesco, V.S. Oberoi, had informed Jagdish Kishwan, the additional director-general of wildlife in the ministry of environment and forests, in a letter dated May 30 of the certainty.
“I write to inform you, on the World Heritage front, of some bit of cheering news — of the probability, in fact almost certainty — that the Manas National Park will be taken off the List of World Heritage (Site) in Danger after 19 years,” he wrote.
Oberoi said the committee was likely to come to the conclusion that there was now progress in the restoration of the property’s integrity and its outstanding universal value. “India scores a winning goal for Manas,” Jagdish Kishwan, additional director-general (wildlife) in Paris, said.
“The decision was unanimous and warmly welcomed,” Borjana Pervan, IUCN Media Relations, told The Telegraph in an email fromParis.
Assam forest minister Rockybul Hussain was elated. “I got it an hour back. We will all try to give the best to Manas. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi is also happy,” he told The Telegraph.
“The shifting of a number of rhinos to Manas through translocation is not an easy thing and it must have impressed the authorities,” the minister said.
“Finally we got what we wanted. It was heavy toil for the last three years. Thanks to everybody in the field and the communities around the park, who have worked tirelessly,” A. Swargiary, field director, Manas National Park, said.
R.P. Agarwalla, who was field director of Manas tiger project (1995-98), said he was one of the happiest persons on the earth to know the old glory has now come back.
“I was a firm believer that Manas will come back as it had the attributes. What was required was infrastructure support which came over the years,” Agarwalla told The Telegraph.
Bibhab Talukdar, secretary general of Aaranyak, said, “This is good news for Assam forest sector. Credit should go to the BTC, the staff working tirelessly and the communities.”
“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,” Vivek Menon, regional director, South Asia, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and executive director, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and a member of the Indian delegation to the session in Paris, said.
A Unesco/IUCN monitoring mission to the sanctuary earlier this year noted the progress made so far to increase the population of key species, including tigers, Indian elephants and the great one-horned rhino.
“The tireless efforts by authorities to support recovery of wildlife population and improve the overall park management have brought about a positive change for one of India’s natural treasures,” Tim Badman, director of IUCN’s world heritage programme, said.
Other threats such as illegal logging and poaching in the Pambari range have declined significantly and the park infrastructure has improved, according to the mission report.
The sanctuary is on a good track, but the work and funding to secure its future need to be sustained.”
