Hon’ble Lt Governor Brig (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) holds meeting with officials from Wildlife Institute of India to discuss rationalisation of boundaries of Changthang & Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries

Leh, July 24, 2023: The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra (Retd) held a meeting with officials from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at Raj Niwas for the Assessment of Wildlife Values and Land Tenure for Planning Rationalisation of Boundaries for Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries in Ladakh.
Scientist from WII, Dr S Sathyakumar gave a detailed presentation on the exercises conducted by them over the last 18 months for the assessment of wildlife values and land tenure for a planned rationalisation of boundaries of Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries, including the objectives comprising of identifying areas with Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries in higher conservation values (HCV) categories; delineating and mapping HCV areas in Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries; conducting stakeholder analysis through local consultations and ascertain wildlife values and natural resource dependencies; devising strategies and actions for the future conservation of HCV areas in Karakoram and Changthang Wildlife Sanctuaries.
Dr S Sathyakumar while presenting all three scenarios (notification by Department of Wildlife Protection, J&K; integrated high priority conservation areas from HCV 1-6 and consultative meeting held in which locations crucial for economic and social development in the region were identified) for rationalising the Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries, informed that the locations crucial for economic and social development in these areas have been identified and left out from the wildlife area. He also informed about the high conservation values (HCV) areas identified by WII outside these wildlife sanctuaries for future consideration.
Welcoming the WII team led by its Director, Shri Virendra R. Tiwari, HLG highlighted the need to keep aspects in mind while preparing the final report on the rationalisation of the boundaries of the Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries in Ladakh, including the need to exclude areas with human settlement from the Wildlife Sanctuaries as their people residing in these areas is dependent on rearing animals and cultivating agricultural fields for their livelihood and the need for holistic development of Ladakh to help India become a developed nation by 2047 as envisioned by Hon’ble Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi ji. Highlighting the need to take necessary measures while finalising the rationalisation of boundaries of Wildlife Sanctuaries to ensure that there is a minimal conflict between humans and animals, HLG also underlined the importance of ensuring that the people residing in these wildlife sanctuaries are not displaced or any inconvenience is faced by them. He also asked the WII team not to go for the fragmentation of Wildlife Sanctuaries/wildlife-protected areas.
HLG requested WII to assist in providing technical training to government officials through their experts in conducting the exercise of settlement of rights for people living in Hemis National Parks and other wildlife-protected areas to determine the rights of the inhabitants living in those areas. He instructed that the final report submitted by the WII on the rationalisation of boundaries of Wildlife Sanctuaries of Ladakh should be submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoFECC) by the 15th of August 2023.
There was also a detailed discussion on all three possible scenarios; the need to exclude certain areas of Hanley and other strategic areas from the boundaries of Wildlife Sanctuaries due to the upcoming projects such as Dark Sky Reserve, etc; the need to create enclaves in Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary to keep important villages from tourism point of view out from the boundary so that the commercial activities related to the tourism sector in these villages are not affected.
Dr Virendra Tiwari asked for feedback on the draft report so that they could incorporate the changes and prepare the final report on the rationalisation of the boundaries of Changthang and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuaries accordingly. They also assured of all possible handholding exercises and continuous support in terms of technical guidance to UT Ladakh.
Chairman, LAHDC Leh, Shri Tashi Gyalson; Advisor to HLG, Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS; Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Shri Jigmet Takpa, IFS; Commissioner Secretary, Tourism, Shri Mehboob Ali Khan; Deputy Commissioner, Leh, Shri Santosh Sukhdeve; Regional Wildlife Warden, Shri Sajjad Mufti, IFS; Director, WII, Shri Virendra Tiwari; Scientist, WII, Dr Sathyakumar and Dr Bilal Habib, also from WII, were present in the meeting.