IRREPLACEABLE
Papikonda National Park
Andhra Pradesh, India
To date, more than 12,000 Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas
(IBAs) have been identified by BirdLife – making it the largest
list of globally-important biodiverse sites in the world. And
as we continue to perform vital research in remote, rugged
areas, the number of identified IBAs will only continue to
grow. The latest to be recognised is Papikonda National Park,
a 1,012 km2 region of deep forested valleys and steep hills
nestled in the Eastern Ghats, a mountain range that stretches
across India’s eastern coast.
The IBA was identified during a Conservation Leadership
Programme-funded study of mammals in the Eastern Ghats.
The area’s tropical forests are a biodiversity hotspot, hosting
many endangered plants and animals, but unfortunately it
was unsafe for many years to conduct research in the area
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BIRDLIFE • DECEMBER 2016
due to the presence of a local extreme political group “Naxalites”. However, this threat has recently decreased and the
area is once again accessible for research.
The prima ry purpose of the study, which was undertaken
by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), was to assess the effects that landscape
change and habitat degradation are having on the mammals
that live in the region. However, during the course of the project, ATREE also conducted a week-long intensive bird study
alongside the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS, BirdLife
in India). Numerous globally-threatened birds were spotted
during this exercise, including Pale-capped Pigeon Columba
punicea (Vulnerable), Yellow-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus xantholaemus (Vulnerable), Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda
DECEMBER 2016 • BIRDLIFE
(Endangered) and Malabar Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros coronatus (Near Threatened). Also, the Critically Endangered Forest
Owlet Heteroglaux blewetti was spotted near the park’s northern border. From this, the researchers were able to provide
a site assessment of the national park and declare it an IBA.
However, this fledgling IBA is already in danger, with the most
ominous threats including the expansion of nearby commerical plantations, forest fires, hunting, mining and the ongoing
construction of Indira Sagar Multipurpose Dam across the
Godvari River, which runs close to the park’s eastern border.
Orange-headed Thrush Zoothera citrina.
Photo by Alex Vargas/Agami
0 Malabar Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros coronatus.
Photo by Roy de Haas/Agami
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