摘要: Statements of authenticity and/or integrity　　NT NP was established as a watershed protection area on which three million people depend. Due to its original purpose, the park has an elongated shape wit

Statements of authenticity and/or integrity

　　NT NP was established as a watershed protection area on which three million people depend. Due to its original purpose, the park has an elongated shape with a high perimeter-to-area ratio and consequently a high degree of accessibility, which complicates protection efforts. Because of heavy hunting, wildlife is severely depleted. The gaur population has probably been extirpated. The quality of the forest is generally good, however.

　　NTNP covers parts of three townships. The Forestry Department has an office in the town of Kanpetlet with 31 staff (Fujikawa et al. 2012). No formal management plan exists for NTNP but core and buffer zones have been unofficially demarcated. Two core zones, one in the north and one in the south, have the best forest cover and wildlife in NTNP. The Chin are permitted to practice shifting agriculture in a “local use” zone

　　Hunting has resulted in a marked decline in wildlife populations but there are no formal population estimates. Guar have not been seen by some villages for over 10 years and local inhabitants are divided on whether Red Goral are still present in the park. Birds are hunted with a method called bird liming; research is needed to determine if this is practiced at a sustainable rate (Platt et al. 2012). The current decline in wildlife may provide an opening to establish participatory management with Chin villages to limit hunting and allow wildlife populations to rebound. Further biodiversity and socio-economic surveys, as well as immediate interventions to stop or limit hunting, are priorities for the property.

　　Habitat conversion is a threat to NTNP. Tea plantations have encroached into parts of NTNP (Platt et al. 2012). Logging has had a significant impact below 2,000 m but does not extend into the range of the White-browed Nuthatch (BirdLife 2013b). Fires from shifting cultivation and campfires result in forest loss at higher elevations. Tourism must be managed to ensure that campfires are properly controlled.