Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced on Thursday that the Centre will launch a dedicated project for rhino conservation with assistance from the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in the species’ range states. The announcement came after he chaired the 91st meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) at the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFoS) in Coimbatore.
Pygmy Hog to Receive Focused Conservation Support
Yadav further stated that the pygmy hog will be included in the list of critically endangered species to receive focused conservation support under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH). The pygmy hog is India’s only endemic wild suid and one of the world’s rarest mammals, making a strong case for initiating a national-level conservation programme.
“In addition, conservation issues concerning grassland species, particularly those found in the Brahmaputra and Duar–Terai landscapes, including the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros and the Pygmy Hog, were discussed at length. A dedicated project for rhino conservation will be launched soon with the assistance of National CAMPA in the species’ range states. The Pygmy Hog, meanwhile, will be included in the list of critically endangered species to receive focused conservation support under the CSS-IDWH scheme,” Yadav said.
Historic Range and Current Status
Historically, the pygmy hog occurred across the Terai-Duar grasslands extending from south-eastern Uttarakhand through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, with occurrence also reported from adjoining Nepal and Bhutan. However, the last naturally occurring viable wild population survives only in Manas National Park, Assam. The species is entirely dependent upon undisturbed early successional alluvial grasslands of the Himalayan foothill.
The one-horned rhinoceros, which once ranged from the Indo-Myanmar border to the Sindhu River basin in Pakistan, has today shrunk to 2,000 square kilometres in protected regions of India and Nepal.
Other Decisions in the Meeting
The Standing Committee considered more than 100 proposals across the country involving activities such as roads and bridges, defence infrastructure, drinking water supply, communication towers, power transmission lines, optical fibre networks, pipelines, mining, renewable energy, educational institutions, and public infrastructure, among others.
