Guwahati, April 1: Hope floats for Manas National Park as the date for a meeting of the World Heritage Committee, to be held at Christchurch in New Zealand, draws nearer.

News that a drop in felling and poaching due to conservation methods inside the national park may even have some bearing on the June meeting. The meeting will deliberate whether to remove the “danger” tag from Manas, now listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger. The Unesco-IUCN mission to Manas in 2005 had asked India to conduct a fresh assessment of the park.

Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) entrusted with the job of reviewing the outcome of recent conservation initiatives. The survey was conducted from November 22 to December 13, 2006 and the institute has recommended removal of Manas from the Unesco World Heritage Sites in Danger list. “During the current survey, no fresh instances of felling were observed,” said the report on Rapid Assessment of Wildlife Values in Manas World Heritage Site, Assam.