Biodiversity

Biography

Biography: Sayan Bhattacharya

Abstract

Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) is located in Alipurduar sub division of West Bengal, India. It comprises of the entire forest area of the erstwhile Buxa Forest Division (Created in 1877-78) and some territory of the erstwhile neighboring Cooch Behar Forest Division (Latitudes 23o30′ N to 23o50′ N, Longitudes 89o25′ E to 89o55′ E). The total area of the reserve is 760.87 km2 of which 385.02 km2 has been constituted as the Buxa Sanctuary and National Park (Core zone of the BTR) and the balance 375.85 km2 areas is treated as a buffer zone. It has 37 forest villages and 4 fixed demand holdings, 46 revenue villages and 34 tea gardens in and around it. The survey work was done in May, 2015 by visiting a forest edge village in Buxa Tiger Reserve. Surveys on the demography, agriculture, livestock management, water management, education, culture, health, waste management, disaster management, transport, biodiversity, joint forest management activities, non-timber forest product usage and human-animal conflict were done in this area. Topographic map of the area was prepared by using the database of National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO), Kolkata office. Demographic information was collected from the village area and the Panchayat. Census report was collected from the local Panchayat office. Religious and social festival information was collected from the local people. Human animal conflicts were studied in the village area, as the area is periodically disturbed by the encroachment of elephant, rhinoceros and leopard. Biodiversity of the region was documented by visiting the adjacent forest areas, accessing the database of West Bengal Forest department office and visiting the nature interpretation centre situated at Buxa Fort. In every phase of the survey work, pictorial documentation was done. In spite of being positioned in a diverse and sensitive ecological zone, the village is not adequately managed. There is an urgent need for implementing sustainable management systems in the areas for the betterment of the socio-environmental structures. Some of the possible management strategies have been suggested for maintaining the social, environmental, economic and ecological balance of the region. This survey work and sustainable proposals can be followed in other ecologically sensitive forest edge hamlets of North Bengal for biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge conservation.