The Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, located at a 55-acre campus at Anaikatti in the foothills of the Nilgiri Biosphere, is the vision of India’s birdman Dr. Sálim Ali. He wanted to have an institute to study nature primarily through birds, as there was no significant data on Indian Birds.
SACON was established on June 5, 1990, four years after his death. It was initiated by the Bombay Natural History Society and the Ministry of Environment, Government of India. This year it celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The institute has created hundreds of young bird watchers and nature lovers in the schools in Coimbatore through Salim Ali Naturalist Forum. The Children’s Ecology Congress is a special annual event unique to SACON.
Dr. K. Sankar — who worked with Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, (1986-2016) as Scientist and Senior Professor — is its current director. He is known for his work with Asiatic elephants, deer, primates and tigers. He has also coordinated the tiger census in southern India. In this interview, Dr. Sankar shares his thoughts on the plans ahead for SACON. Excerpts:
What are the plans for the silver jubilee year?
We are having SACON’s first-ever alumni meet since its inception. We are expecting 80 people. Some did their dissertations with us, or PhDs, others worked as research fellows.
We will explore possibilities of SACON collaborating with alumni who are now working with the Government of India, the forest department, NGOs and universities. They can help us, especially in conservation work, individually or extend programmes and support us through their organisations.
As part of the silver jubilee celebrations, we also have an Annual Research Seminar on May 25.
What are the upcoming research projects?
We are planning to assess the status, distribution and conservation importance of peafowl, our national bird. There have been only a few isolated studies. In many places, farmers do not like peafowl, as they are a menace to their crops. We are planning to conduct a study in Tamil Nadu first and then subsequently across the country to assess population, status, and distribution. We will have workshops, bring in partners to conduct a conservation census and then come up with possible recommendations for mitigating problems associated with peafowl in select areas.
Tell us about the project on the endangered Saras Cranes?
We are planning a country-wide status, distribution and population estimation of Saras Cranes. The first data was collected 20 years ago; the last assessment was done 10 years ago. This is the third cycle. It is the need of the hour, as the population is going down. The Saras cranes nest in fields. We want to study the habitat and find out if use of environmental contaminants, especially the pesticides and herbicides, cause a toll on the population. When the birds try to hatch, the eggs break or collapse. We are going to include this component to try to find out reasons for their reproductive rate failure.
Any specific projects on man-animal conflict, especially in the Western Ghats?
For the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, we will work on human-wildlife conflict mitigation issues. The threat could be from tigers, leopards, macaques, elephants, pigs or peafowl. The TN govt is keen to address these issues. We can take up studies at individual species level, especially the conflict between large carnivores and humans, elephant-human conflict, peafowl-human conflict, primate-human conflict and the wild pigs-human conflict. We have to study and identify areas that have conflicts. Conflict arises with humans when animals are pushed out of their protected areas by other dominant animals. When elephants start looking for food, people chase them in order to protect their fields. There are no-conflict, less-conflict and high-conflict zones. We have to identify them and act accordingly. Translocation of problem-creating individuals to new habitats is the best way to mitigate these issues. In some cases, conflict issues may be seasonal too. We have to approach it holistically
Tell us about SACON’s role in spreading awareness on conservation among the general public?
Wildlife enthusiasts have benefited from our training programmes on ornithology and natural history. Several colleges, schools, and NGOs in and around Coimbatore have closely associated with SACON and have been a part of bird watching trips, and nature awareness programmes.
People are aware of conservation issues. NGOs are vocal now and are involved in conservation in a big way. It is no longer so easy to cut a tree in the name of road-widening programme or development.
A new PG course
Dr Sankar says, “For the first time, we are planning to introduce a post-graduate degree in Ornithology and Natural History. This is not offered anywhere in India or abroad. It’s a two-year course and any science graduate can apply. We want to bring more students to the campus. There will be an All-India entrance test. I am taking up the proposal with my higher officials. We plan to start the programme from June in the next academic year.”
Milestones of SACON
The beginning
In the 1980s, Dr. Salim Ali decided to establish an institution that would take up the challenging task of developing expertise and knowledge in conservation. While this did not materialise during his lifetime, his dream came true when the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India and the Bombay Natural History Society (now called BNHS India) established SACON on June 5 1990, and named as Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History.
Infrastructure: SACON’s permanent campus is designed by Laurie Baker. There is an impressive library with books, journals, and e-resources including online archives such as JSTOR and BioOne.
Seminal Publications: Bird-Dispersed Plants for Afforestation, Wetlands of India and Atlas of Wetlands. More than 800 research papers have been published in national and international peer-reviewed journals and technical reports.
Research/Projects: The Ornithology Division has undertaken ecological studies and status surveys on rare, endemic, and threatened birds of the Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Conservation plans for threatened birds including Lesser Florican, Narcondam Hornbill, and Andaman Teal, have been developed.
The findings by landscape ecology division on plant-bird interactions in the Western and Eastern Ghats carried out with the collaboration of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department is used in the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems.
The ecotoxicology division has assessed the impact of environmental contaminants on wetlands of 14 states and 44 rivers in Kerala using fish as an indicator.
The conservation ecology division has worked on the conservation of the Edible-nest swiftlet, the endemic Narcondam Hornbill and Andaman Serpent eagle. Delisting of the Edible-nest Swiftlet from Schedule-I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is one initiative.
SACON has completed 250 projects successfully. Research programmes have covered Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the Western Ghats
Extension and outreach: The Nature Education division inculcates love for Nature and conservation among the younger generation through its annual Sálim Ali Memorial Lecture delivered by eminent personalities. As a member of the International Association for Exchange of Students for Technical Experience it has hosted students from Brazil, Germany, Taiwan, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam.
