06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

generate information that will help in the
management of the site. These are:
ii. Government Organizations:
The Wildiife wing of Forest Department with its
Mangrove Division is the main Government Agency
in the area. This area is remote and the local
agriculture and health officers are rarely seen.
The Fisheries department with its Marine Division
has a center and an officer at Talchua and
Dhamara fish landing centres.
iii. Non-Government Organisations
There are few NGOs such as the MSSRF and
Nature Club active in the area. The MSSRF had a
project on Man and Mangrove interactions with an
aim of Rejuvenating Degraded Mangrove Areas
and another on survey of the genetic wealth of the
mangroves, Nature Club has its main office at
Kendrapara and mostly deals with health issues.
One of the most effective activist NGO was the
Orissa Krishak Mahasang, an organisation of
farmers and fishermen led by the late Banke
Behary Das. This organisation successfully led
many agitations against the prawn farming
activities and also was instrumental in publishing
articles on Bhitarkanika in Oriya for everyone to
understand. Nature and Wildlife Conservation
Society of Orissa, Bhubaneshwar; Project
Swarajya, Cuttack and Wildlife Society Of Orissa,
Cuttack are also involved in the conservation and
awareness activities in the area.
iv. Local communities:
There is no information of any cooperative
activities from the local communities, either in
environment or in fishing or farming activities.
v. Other Institutions:
Research on the animal and plant life of
Bhitarkanika is very actively pursued. The main
centers that have a research interest in this area
are Wildlife Institute of India; Regional Plant
Resources Centre, Bhubaneshwar; Research
Department of the Wildlife Wing of the Forest
Department, Govt. of Orissa; Regional Research
Laboratory, Bhubaneshwar; Zoology and Botany
Departments of Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar
and MSSRF.
viii. Future prospects
Mangroves have a significant multiple-use role and
are a renewable resource. They are among the
193
LocatIon of Goods and Services
Bhitarkanika
world's most productive ecosystems. Through
integrated conservation and management
approaches the livelihood security of resident
populations could be greatly enhanced. A
summary of mangrove based products is provided
in Table 21.
Understanding the complexities and diversity of
mangrove dependencies by caste, tribe and
gender, changes in the access and control dictated
by an 'outsider authority' is likely to have
different impacts to the user subgroups. To ensure
that the interests of the user subgroups are
protected, these groups/stakeholders should be a
part of the decision making processes. This
requires a clear commitment from the part of the
facilitating agency and all the stakeholders. The
role of Joint forest management, specially joint
mangrove management could be instrumental in
bringing together the aspirations of the most
dependent communities and those of the
Sanctuary Authorities.
Table21:Mangrovebasedproducts
Valuation of Goods
and Services
Marf