Behali Reserve Forest, India
Site Overview
KBA status: confirmed
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)
Text account
Behali Reserve Forest is located at the foothills of the Eastern Himalaya, in Sonitpur district of Assam, on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. It is part of the Sonitpur Elephant Reserve that was notified in 2003. The area is flat with gentle slopes. Some hilly areas lie in the extreme north of the IBA. The forest is Tropical Wet Evergreen and Semi-evergreen. Some fine patches of primary rainforest are still to be seen in the area. The top canopy consists of species such as Tetrameles nudiflora, an emergent deciduous species, which is widely used by hornbills for nesting (A. U. Choudhury pers. comm. 2003).
MAIN THREATS: Encroachment; Illegal felling of trees; Poaching; Insurgency. Behali RF is among the survivors in Sonitpur where organized encroachment has destroyed most of the forest outside the protected areas. A relatively small area of this IBA has been encroached, but it is under constant pressure (Choudhury 2002). Illegal tree felling and occasional poaching are other issues. The interstate border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh often makes the area vulnerable to encroachment and felling of trees.
Habitats
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage level | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Forest | - | ||
| 5. Wetlands (inland) | - |
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing | Scope | Severity | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Agriculture & aquaculture | 2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops | 2.1.2 Small-holder farming | Ongoing | Affects the minority of the population (<50%) | Causing or likely to cause very rapid declines (>30% over 10 years or three generations; whichever is the longer) | High |
| 5 Biological resource use | 5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | 5.1.1 Intentional use (species being assessed is the target) | Ongoing | Affects the minority of the population (<50%) | Causing or likely to cause relatively slow but significant declines (<20% over 10 years or three generations; whichever is the longer) | Medium |
| 5 Biological resource use | 5.3 Logging & wood harvesting | 5.3.3 Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest] | Ongoing | Affects the minority of the population (<50%) | Causing or likely to cause relatively slow but significant declines (<20% over 10 years or three generations; whichever is the longer) | Medium |
