A ray of hope for hornbills

THREATENED SPECIES

The Nature Conservation Foundation has put together a programme that will employ local tribesmen in the vicinity of Pakke tiger reserve in western Arunachal Pradesh to watch hornbills nests during the nesting season. Deforestation and hunting have traditionally threatened most of the hornbill species here, writes Arati Rao

It was 4 pm and the sun had already sunk low over the horizon and the feeble lights had gone on in the eco-camp I was staying at. A group of Nyishi tribal headmen from nearby villages were sitting with the District Forest Officer (DFO), discussing their changing lifestyles, and chewing betel leaves (tamul). I was in Pakke Tiger Reserve, western Arunachal Pradesh.

Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) has put together a programme that will employ local tribesmen to watch hornbill nests during the nesting seasons. Deforestation and hunting have traditionally threatened most of the hornbill species here (there are four species – wreathed, rufous-necked, oriental pied and the great hornbills). 

Since 2002, hunting has declined, thanks in large part to the cooperation from the Nyishi communities around Pakke. But deforestation still means fewer trees with nest holes and that, in turn, means increased competition between the hornbills. Long-term nest watching involving the communities themselves would likely stem these trends and protect hornbills. Besides being home to a whole host of birds, the Pakke forest supports a variety of mammals including the elephant, gaur, wild pig, tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, marbled cat, wild dog, sambar, barking deer, goral, Malayan giant squirrel, macaques, capped langur, mongooses, and civet including the binturong. 

Spending time in the forest was special. Wading through the rivers, eating at the anti-poaching camps, and walking where there were no paths or trails, actually hacking our way through new undergrowth – thanks to the DFO Tana Tapi and his handy traditional Nyishi dao. Pakke is an exhilarating forest where you can hear much, see glimpses of creatures big and small and revel in the company of lofty, beautiful trees. 

Involving village headmen

As part of the initiation and training for the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme, the NCF researchers have briefed the village headmen, who are going to be the initial batch of nest-watchers. They have been taught to record the different types of hornbills (associating the English names with their own native names for the birds) and to locate nests in the reserve forests outside Pakke and keep track of when the female hornbills enter the nests and ensure that there are no disturbances at the nests.

The initiation was held in a little hall in one of the Nyishi villages. Nine village headmen were punctual, some in full Nyishi gear. The enthusiasm, interest, and eagerness of the Nyishis to participate was heart-warming. It seemed like the start of something good. The forest department was completely on board with the NCF programme and the DFO, the dynamic young Nyishi officer, Tana Tapi, was present at the initiation. He fielded questions that the Nyishi elders had. Being one of them, the elders trusted and looked up to him. He is a man with ideas and plans for the region. But the job is not without its challenges.

Just across the border from Seijosa, the town on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, lies an area occupied by Bodos. The insurgency continues to be felt across the border and is a security issue for the locals. 

The landscape on the Bodo-occupied Assam side of the border has also been heavily altered. Almost all the hornbill roosting trees have been cut down. Aparajita Datta who has been working in the region since the 1990s remembers a thick forest on this side once with hundreds and hundreds of hornbills.

“I cannot bear to see it this way,” she says — there are a couple of silk cotton trees (Bombax ceiba) left that are now the only roost trees for a few hornbills. The deforestation on the Assam side of the border serves is a clear and present warning of what the Nyishis can expect if they don’t get involved in the conservation of their forests. While NCF has been monitoring nesting sites inside the Pakke Tiger Reserve, the trees in the reserve forest (bordering the tiger reserve) are the ones most under threat. This new programme will start monitoring those trees, which if lost, will leave the hornbills very vulnerable.

Hunting by the Nyishis

The Great Hornbill has been traditionally hunted by the Nyishis for its beak/casque and meat. The upper beak/casque of the Great hornbill was used traditionally in the Nyishi headgear, called a podum.

The Nyishis in this part of Arunachal Pradesh have understood the value of protecting the species and have given up hunting. They are also trying to influence Nyishis in other parts of the state to follow suit. As far as the headgear is concerned, Nyishis throughout Arunachal have started using the artificial beaks, which are made of fiberglass.  Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with the previous DFO Chuku Loma initiated this move.

The Nyishis are traditionally a proud community and well known around Arunachal Pradesh among other tribes as a frank and open tribe. While they have always farmed – practising both shifting cultivation in the mountains and farming by the river, around Pakke, now they only farm in the plains.

In 2004, the Pakke River flooded and became much wider than it was. Washing away concrete structures and fields, it left the Nyishis with untold losses. Some recouped and have re-established their farms growing rice, millet, wild potato, ginger, maize, tobacco and coriander.

But they face elephant raids regularly leading to much loss. There was little animosity towards the giant pachyderms in the community, however. Instead, there was a resigned, yet tolerant tone – as one village headman said, “We are in their home. All we can do is keep watch on the machan at nights during the kheti season.” But living with raids has not been easy and it has taken a heavy toll on their finances.

These losses are exacerbated by the fact that employment in the Nyishi community is rather ad hoc. The forest department employs quite a few people in anti-poaching camps and other jobs. But most of the other employment is unorganised, irregular and consists of odd jobs and “contracts” for building and infrastructure projects, if there are any. The next generation rarely finds good jobs and either moves out of the community or, if they stay back, work in the fields. While working to protect several species, the NCF-sponsored nest-watching initiative will also provide employment to young Nyishis as well as seasoned elders. 

On my last day in Pakke, I watched wreathed hornbills come home to roost in the lone silk-cotton tree on the east bank of the Pakke river. One thought was uppermost in my mind.

The Hornbill Nest Adoption programme begins in January 2012. How the Nyishi people manage their present will determine the fate of the rich biodiversity and the subsistence of the communities in this part of Arunachal Pradesh. The three-way partnership between NCF, the Nyishi community and the forest department has all the makings of a strong conservation success story in Pakke.