Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T02:50:04.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Uncertain Future of the Desert National Park in Rajasthan, India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Asad R. Rahmani
Asad R. Rahmani
Affiliation:
Senior Scientist, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), and Project Scientist, Endangered Species Project, BNHS, Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Bombay 400 023, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The 3,162 sq. km Desert National Park (DNP) is one of the largest protected areas in India. It represents all of the natural features of the Thar Desert in India. Since its establishment in the early 1980s, the wildlife population has increased, and now the Indian Gazelle, the Great Indian Bustard, the Desert Fox, etc., are easily seen in it. But although many core areas of 500 to 1,000 hectares each have been established, progress in the development of the Park is slow, and now the future of the Park itself is in jeopardy owing to a plan to construct a feeder canal of the main Indira Gandhi Nahar (canal) Project (IGNP), which would bisect the Park. It is feared that such improvement in irrigation facilites would make it impossible to shift the villagers outside the Park boundary, as had been planned earlier—and moreover, it would attract settlers to the Park. Salient features of the DNP, its important fauna, and various options to save the Park, are described in this paper.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1989 , pp. 237 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ali, S. & Rahmani, A.R. (1982–1984). Study of Ecology of Certain Endangered Species and Their Habitat: The Great Indian Bustard. Page 100 in Annual Report. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India.Google Scholar
Ali, S. & Ripley, S.D. (1983). The Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, Compact edition. Oxford University Press. Bombay, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Bhatnagar, N.K. (1984). District Statistical Outline: Jaiselmer [in Hindi], Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Jaipur. India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Champion, H.G. & Seth, S.K. (1968). A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India. Government of India Press, New Delhi, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Chatterji, P.S. & Saxena, S.K. (1988). Canal irrigation in arid zone of Rajasthan and its ecological implications. Pp. 223–57 in Desert Ecology (Ed. Prakash, I.). Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. (1977). Man and the Biology of Arid Zones. Edward Arnold, London, England, UK: ix + 182 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Dabadghao, P.M. & Shankarnarayan, K.A. (1973). The Grass Cover of India. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Ghosh, P.K., Bohra, H.C. & Goyal, S.P. (1988). Livestock population and ecological implications of overgrazing. Pp. 179–87 in Desert Ecology (Ed. Prakash, I.), Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Gupta, R.K. (1975). Plant Life in the Thar. Pp. 202–36 in Environmental Analysis of the Thar Desert (Eds Gupta, R.K. & Prakash, I.). English Book Depot, Dehra Dun, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Gupta, R.K. & Saxena, S.K. (1972). Potential grassland types and their ecological succession in Rajasthan Desert. Ann. Arid Zone, 11, pp. 198–218.Google Scholar
Kanodia, K.C. & Gupta, R.K. (1968). Sand dune flora of western Rajasthan. Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 65. pp. 681–95.Google Scholar
Malhotra, S.P. (1988). Man and the Desert. Pp. 37–64 in Desert Ecology (Ed. Prakash, I.). Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Mathur, C.M. (1960). Forest types of Rajasthan. Indian For., 86. pp. 37–9.Google Scholar
Meher-Homji, V.M. (1975). Phytogeography of the Thar Region. Pp. 237–73 in Environmental Analysis of the Thar Desert (Eds Gupta, R.K. & Prakash, I.). English Book Depot. Dehra Dun, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Mian, A. (1986). Ecological impact of Arab falconry on Houbara Bustard in Baluchistan. Environmental Conservation. 13(1), pp. 41–6, 5 figs.Google Scholar
Prater, S.H. (1971). The Book of Indian Animals, 3rd edn.Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Rahmani, A.R. (1986). Status of the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan. Tech. Report No. 11. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India: 34 pp.Google Scholar
Rahmani, A.R. (1987). Protection for the Great Indian Bustard. Oryx, 21, pp. 174–9.Google Scholar
Rahmani, A.R. (in press). Distribution, Density, Group-size, and Conservation, of the Indian Gazelle or Chinkara (Gazella bennetti, Sykes, 1831) in Rajasthan, India. Biological Conservation.Google Scholar
Rahmani, A.R. & Manakadan, R. (1988). Bustard Sanctuaries of India. Tech. Report No. 13. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, India: 40 pp.Google Scholar
Rahmani, A.R. & Manakadan, R. (in press). Breeding records of the Cream-coloured Courser Cursorius cursor (Latham) from India. Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.Google Scholar
Rodgers, W.A. & Panwar, H.S. (1988). Planning a Protected-area Network in India. Wildlife Institute of India. Dehra Dun. India: 2 vols [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Shankarnarayan, K.A. (1987). Eco-regeneration and sympathetic resource utilization in the Desert Biosphere Reserve in the Thar Desert. Pp. 195–214 in Biosphere Reserves. Government of India Publication, New Delhi, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Shankarnarayan, K.A. (1988). Ecological degradation of the Thar Desert and Eco-regeneration. Pp. 1–3 in Desert Ecology (Ed. Prakash, I.). Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Sharma, V.D. & Shankhala, K. (1984). Vanishing cats of Rajasthan. Cheetal, Journ. Wildlife Preserv. Soc., 26(1). pp. 5–23.Google Scholar