Rise of the green guards

Riddhi Doshi, Hindustan Times
Yelavali is a small village with a population of 80 in the foothills of the Sahyadris, nestled within Pune district’s Bhimashankar sanctuary.

The nearest tarred road is 2 km away. Until two years ago, the villagers depended on the forest for their livelihood, using wood for fuel, grazing their cattle on wild grass and selling medicinal herbs and wild honey for small sums that were used to buy basic necessities such as kitchen utensils and medicines.

Then, a month ago, the state government’s forest department inaugurated a lodge and camping area in the village, a project that it had been working on with the villagers and NGO Kalpavriksh for a year.

The villagers will run the outfit, earning money and helping spread awareness among the many tourists drawn here each year by the sanctuary.

The lodge has been built under the Village Eco-Development Scheme, launched by the central government in 1992 and amended for simpler implementation with more powers to people by the government of Maharashtra in December 2011.

Funds from Village Eco-Development Scheme have also been used to reduce their dependence on the forest, with solar streetlamps installed on mud paths, and water heaters and pressure cookers given to reduce the villagers’ dependence on forest resources.

“In a village where we worried about how to pay for a doctor if our children got ill, the income from the lodge — at least in the six months when there are tourists — will help us very much,” says Namdev Banare, 36.

Eventually, the forest department and Kalpavriksh will also train some of the villagers as guides, to help them earn more by taking tourists on guided walks in the jungle, and to spread further eco-awareness.

With the help of Kalpavriksh, villagers have also filed claims for community use and management rights under the Forest Right Act of 2006. This was done in 2010 after the villagers decided to use, manage and conserve their forest.

Then & now

Until two years ago, the relationship between the Yelavali villagers and the forest department was very different. There were constant clashes over illegal grazing and tree-cutting in the protected forest area.

“We lived in constant fear of being caught by the forest guards,” says Banare. “But we had no option but to continue venturing into the forest. It was our only source of fuel and income.”

Efforts to explain why it was important for the villagers to reduce their dependence on the forest also failed, since there were no alternatives available to the villagers.

Then, Pune-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Kalpavriksh started working to mobilise the villagers towards self-governance and conservation, explaining their rights and responsibilities. The NGO helped the villagers to push the state government to implement the Centre’s village eco-development scheme, to offer the villagers alternative means of making a living.

Yelavali was included in this scheme in 2011, and Rs. 10 lakh allocated for the lodge, camping ground and training programmes. “Recent initiatives have completely changed the way the villagers treat the forest department. There is healthy dialogue and discussion now,” says MK Rao, chief conservator of forests, Pune wildlife circle.

Green wave

In three other villages nearby, similar initiatives have been launched to help villagers earn a living sustainably through bee farms and eco-tourism.

And it isn’t just the Bhimashankar area. In villages around the Melghat tiger sanctuary in Amravati, the Kaas plateau UNESCO natural world heritage site in Satara and the Armori forests in Gadchiroli, similar initiatives have taken shape.

“There has been positive action in areas where sensitive officials and NGOs are working as a bridge between villagers and the forest bureaucracy,” says conservationist Ashish Kothari, chairperson of the Greenpeace India board and founder-member of Kalpavriksh.

The global trend can be traced back to the fifth IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Parks Congress in 2003, when more than 60 countries, including India, recognised local empowerment, rights and involvement as a powerful tool to boost conservation efforts in eco-sensitive zones.

In India, the Forest Rights Act of 2006, though some of its clauses continue to be debated, recommended the involvement of local communities as a key component of conservation efforts in all states.

With an added push from local NGOs working across the state, existing schemes such as Joint Forest Management and Village Eco-Development were invoked to create the funding for small yet potentially powerful grassroots initiatives such as the Yelavali eco-lodge and eco-guide training programme.

“Now that this realisation has occurred, such initiatives need to be implemented across many more districts in Maharashtra, for even better results,” says Vidya Athreya, wildlife biologist at the Bangalore-based non-profit trust Centre of Wildlife Studies.


Employment for villagers, from a plateau to full bloom

Six months ago, alarmed by how a growing number of tourists were treating the Kaas plateau, the Satara division of the forest department decided to involve locals from four villages — Ekiv, Ghatai, Atali and Kaas — in conservation, via the joint forest management scheme.

“We are now training villagers to monitor and manage tourists while earning a living acting as guides, garbage collectors and gatekeepers,” says NR Praveen, deputy conservator of forests for the Satara division.

The first batch of guides tackled their first batch of tourists in the 2012 flowering season, between August and November, when more than 800 types of flowers bloom on the 1,000-hectare plateau.

One of them was Ranoji Kirdat, a 50-something Kaas village resident. Kirdat and his son earned Rs. 40,000 in four months as a guide and a gatekeeper respectively — enough for a comfortable living in Kaas.“I have bought a sofa and a cupboard with some of our savings,” says Kirdat, grinning.

However, Sunil Boite, president of local NGO Drongo Environmental Movement cautions that the forest department needs to focus on scientific methods of conservation.


Birds return to nest in once-barren land

Until the early 1980s, Paivihir village was surrounded by 132 hectares of lush green forest. By the turn of the century, many of the trees were gone and the lush grass was fast disappearing too.

In mid-2011, environmental NGO Khoj began a campaign here to educate villagers about how the degradation of forests had affected their lifestyles and their earnings, and how re-forestation could help them and their local ecology.

Roping in youngsters, Khoj applied to the state government to seek forest rights for local villagers under the 2006 Forest Rights Act.

A year later, they were granted rights, enabling the villagers to make sustainable use of the area, help the state forest department monitor it and restrict access to outsiders.

Khoj then launched an afforestation drive with the youngsters, teaching them to patrol and keep watch for outsiders chopping down trees or using the land to graze cattle.

The reforestation programme — which will include planting 50,000 saplings in the next phase — has been incorporated into the national rural employment scheme, thus using central government funds to pay villagers a daily wage for their work.

Finally, the villagers will be trained by the forest department to sustainably harvest the forest produce, mainly fruit, so that they can live off the land while protecting it.

Journey to self-reliance

Most of the men in Murumbodi village have been migrant farm labourers all their lives. Their village could offer only subsistence farming.

It all started in early 2010, when local NGO Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society began educating the villagers about conservation and self-governance and encouraging them to claim their due under the Forest Rights Act. The NGO then launched a voluntary initiative, encouraging the villagers to work as guards, patrolling the protected forest area to prevent outsiders from cutting trees for firewood, grazing their cattle or burning down grass for small farms.

Community forest rights were accorded in April 2011, after which state government funds could be used to employ villagers in conservation schemes launched under the national rural employment guarantee act.

Today, there are jobs to be had here, working on water-conservation projects such as bunds and canals.

The forest department has also handed over 7,000 indigenous saplings to be planted in denuded parts of the jungle, to restore the green cover.

Thanks to improved water management, farm produce has increased. The village is now growing enough pulses and spinach to feed itself, and hopes to sell surplus to surrounding villages next year.

“People in the village are happy,” says Dilip Gode, secretary of the Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society. “Though I have my complaints about the forest department, it’s nice to see them involving locals in their conservation projects.”

In the past few months, the forest patrolling team of the village have caught and fined outsiders illegally farming in the forest, stealing the soil and hunting.

With the fines collected the village has set up a small scholarship fund that will be awarded to promising students who want to pursue higher studies in the cities. Some of the funds will also be allocated to new mothers their babies as medical expenses.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Maharashtra/Rise-of-the-green-guards/Article1-985665.aspx

Not as green as they first appear

Gautam Pandey

In Kerala, as elsewhere, pristine forests are being fragmented and destroyed by activities like plantation, mining and farming. The needs of development have to be balanced with the importance of protecting the endangered green cover. Without the latter, nothing will remain

With an opportunity to travel through Kerala for over 20 days by road for work was more than a dream come true. My first trip to ‘God’s own country’ was due and I couldn’t wait to explore the backwaters and rainforests of Kerala. To make up for lost time I decided to drive through the State starting from the southern tip and fly to Thiruvanathapuram, a sea of green stretch below me. I planned to drive through the State zig-zagging my way and heading north.

I was a little unprepared as my ‘first impressions’ hit me. It was hard to tell when exactly I crossed the city and when a town began. The entire stretch seemed urbanised with villages and towns merging into one and other.

After a couple of hours of driving, I reached greener areas with old growth mixed forests on both sides of the road. These were the primal rainforests I had been waiting for. As I drove on and my eyes got used to the explosion of green all around me, I gradually realised that while there was prime forest, it was fragmented — stitched together by plantations. After I saw one plantation, I kept seeing them everywhere. Rubber, spices, tea, and coconut plantations were seamlessly interwoven with the forest. This was an illusion. What seemed green and healthy was actually a heavily fragmented and stressed environment.

I reached Munnar where entire hills as far as the eye could see had been shaved off prime forest and had tea planted on them. How ironic it was to see people getting their photographs taken with the Munnar hills as a backdrop. The whole situation felt more like a ticking bomb than ‘God’s own country’.

The majority of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are located in tropical forests. The Western Ghats are a prime example of a tropical biodiversity hot spot which is home to numerous endemic species. Unfortunately what has happened in Kerala is evident through out the entire Western Ghats. Plantations, mining and construction have fragmented and split our forests like a piece of shattered glass. While some patches can be large and sustain a degree of biodiversity, the majority gradually become degraded with some forests altogether disappearing.

India has had a long tradition of conservation and the sacred groves were one such method of conservation. A forested area often with streams and lakes was believed to have a resident deity and considered sacred. No one was permitted to cut, kill, or take anything from a scared grove. Some groves are even out of bounds for humans. Sacred groves are like banks of bio-diversity left untouched and pure. In some areas so strong is the belief that people passing through and exiting a grove would dust their body and clothes just incase they don’t carry anything out of the forest.

With big money backing the mining industry, these groves aren’t spared either. Recently while filming in Goa we visited a sacred grove which was on the list to be mined. The forest was unspoiled with a pristine stream flowing out from under the roots of a gigantic tree. We drank the water and rested there. It was hard to imagine that in a matter everything here would just be scraped away leaving the red earth exposed like a big open wound. The mining industry was destroying prime forests and fresh water sources. While announcements to control the mining have been made and some mines closed down, the reality is quite different. A few weeks back our crew was attacked by mining mafia goons and it was forced to destroy all the footage. The situation in Goa’s forests is so bad that experts foresee a huge freshwater crisis in the State within the next few years.

What is a little confusing is, that while experts and researchers raise alarm bells about the state of forests the Forest Survey of India has actually declared that India’s forest cover has been increasing for the last 13 years, with a net addition of 1,128 sq km, or 0.16 per cent, in the last two years. This was indeed good news, what with all the carbon credits, global warming and climate change issues, except for one little fact.

The very definition of ‘forest cover’ by the FSI is that if tree canopy covers more than 10 per cent of a one hectare plot, it can be classified as a forest. Since satellite images are used to determine ‘forest cover’ all mono culture plantations including tea, coffee, rubber, timber etc qualify as a forest.

Recently, researchers Priya Davidar, Jean-Philippe Puyravaud  and William F Laurance argued in a paper they presented that the FSI used computer software that couldn’t distinguish between natural forests and plantations. Based on their ground research what has now been revealed is truly frightening. Rather than expanding, India’s forests have been shrinking by 1.5 per cent to 2.7 per cent per year since the last two decades.

This is a very high rate of forest loss and India is at risk of losing the majority of her forests within the next few decades. With rapidly shrinking and fragmented forests diversity and number of species will continuously reduce.

Fragmented forests result in a large number of wild animal deaths every year. Animals, both large and small, move and migrate between forests and many are run over, killed, separated and sometimes poached as they leave the forest and cross inhabited areas. Not only are the animals directly affected, but it is also the health of the forest itself which suffers. Animals are natural seed dispersers and with restricted movement plant species are also affected. In tropical forests this movement of plants and animals plays a crucial role and maintains a high level of biodiversity. It has been observed that in isolated forests biodiversity degrades over time with some species becoming extinct locally.

With roads, railway lines, fields and plantations separating forest areas, animals have no choice but to cross these man-made barriers. The result is road deaths and often man-animal conflicts, with casualties on both sides. Moreover, as a fragmented forest gets smaller and further fragmented, the population of animals and insects falls, resulting at times even in the extinction of a species locally.

On the upside, what we have now is a lot of comprehensive and conclusive research. The time for action is now. Driving through Kerala I eventually landed up at The Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary where a committed and passionate group of residents, gardeners, naturalists and educators with love for nature have been working towards habitat restoration in degraded areas of the Western Ghats. The sanctuary itself is on the border of a large rainforest reserve and was actually a reclaimed plantation. Through some planning, but with most of the healing left to nature the forest over 30 years has come back, and along with it so have the insects, birds, reptiles and mammals.

Hopefully, with just a little foresight and common sense, we just might be able to save what was never really ours to destroy.

(The writer is a wildlife filmmaker)

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/53040-not-as-green-as-they-first-appear.html

Forest dept seeks funds from State for Project Tiger

Ashwini Y S, Bangalore
Rehabilitation programmes stalled owing to severe financial crunch

Left high and dry by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the State Forest department has been forced to approach the State government in the hopes of getting funds for rehabilitation projects under Project Tiger in Karnataka.

The department, the nodal agency responsible for Project Tiger, claims it is in the throes of a financial crisis as it has suffered a poor flow of funds for rehabilitation projects aimed at reducing human presence in tiger habitats.

Now, the department is placing a proposal for the release of Rs 300 crore in the 2013-14 State budget. Officials from the department, however, are sceptical about the proposal’s acceptance, as the scheme is Centrally sponsored. Furthermore, the Karnataka government has already declined to respond to a similar request made in the last financial year.

Funds needed

The department has sought Rs 92.40 crore for Nagarhole from the State government. It also hopes to get Rs 3.60 crore for Anshi-Dandeli, Rs 4.01 crore for Bhadra, and Rs 200 crore for the Kudremukh National Park. “During the last few years, despite our continued efforts, we have been able to secure funds only for Nagarhole. As a result, we are approaching the Karnataka government. The lack of funds, coupled with continued efforts by NGOs who are persuading forest dwellers not to relocate, has impeded effective rehabilitation,” explained Dipak Sharma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.

Karnataka has five tiger reserves: at Bandipur, Bhadra, Nagarhole, Anshi-Dandeli and the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple area — together containing over 285 tigers. An additional 40 to 50 tigers have been identified as residing in other forests, including at the Kudremukh National Park (KNP).

Incidentally, Karnataka has rejected proposals calling for KNP to be declared a tiger reserve despite the Centre’s approval to do so.

Project Tiger aims at ending human interaction in tiger-populated areas and offers a rehabilitation package to help relocate families found in “core” and “buffer” areas. Families in “core” areas are offered Rs 10 lakh as compensation.

A total of 8,374 families have been identified in tiger reserves and national parks, of which 856 families have been relocated till date. The Forest department is yet to begin a survey at the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple, which was declared a tiger reserve in 2011.

Successful beginning

The most successful rehabilitation project has been at Bandipur, which in 1973, became the first forest area to be declared a tiger reserve. A total of 154 families resided in the area — all of whom were rehabilitated and relocated to Sollepur in HD Kote over a period of time.

In Nagarhole, the department has spent around Rs 19 crore — of the total Rs 29 crore released by the NTCA — and has relocated 496 families to Shettihalli Lakkapatna in Hunsur. As many as 133 families have agreed to move, and the department is in the process of completing new homes at the rehabilitation site.

In Bhadra, the department has shifted 418 families to MC Halli and Kelagur near Chikmagalur by spending Rs 17.65 crore till date. At Anshi-Dandeli, of the 4,114 families, only 36 have come forward to accept the package. At Kudremukh National Park, of the 1,382 families which lived there, the department spent Rs 5.59 crore to shift 61 families. Recently, an additional 531 families have volunteered to be relocated.


Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/303432/forest-dept-seeks-funds-state.html

Now, a bison mowed down by train

SHIV SAHAY SINGH

• State and Railways have given conflicting versions of elephant deaths
• Incident occurred at spot where there are no speed restrictions on trains: Minister

Train was running 15 km/hour over speed limit, inquiry launched into incident

Hours after three elephants were mowed down by an express train in the Buxa Tiger Reserve of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, a bison died after being hit by another train in the same district late on Saturday.

Sumita Ghatak, Divisional Forest Officer, Jalpaiguri, told The Hindu over telephone on Sunday: “The incident occurred in the Odlajhora forest when the Howrah-bound Kanchan Kanya Express hit the animal [when it] was crossing the tracks.”

Meanwhile, the State government and the Railways have given conflicting versions about the death of three elephants.

While the State’s Forest Minister, Hiten Burman, said the train was running at a speed of 70-75 km/hour — as against the permissible limit of 50 km per hour — Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the incident occurred at a place where there are no speed restrictions on trains.

“We have ordered an inquiry into the incident. The report will be placed before Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who will take the matter up with the Railway authorities,” Mr. Burman said.

A meeting of the officials of the Forest and Railway departments will be held on Monday in Alipurduar in the district to discuss the situation and prevent any recurrence, he said.

Mr. Chowdhury said he had directed the officials of the Railway Board to find out whether there were any lapses on the part of Railways officials.

“Ideally, there should be no trains plying through these areas because of the elephant corridor, but if we [adhere to] that then we will loose our connectivity with large areas in north Bengal and the northeastern States,” he said.

Such incidents in north Bengal have shot up since the railway line passing through the region was converted from meter-gauge to broad-gauge in 2004. Since then, more than 30 elephants have been killed while crossing the tracks in the area. Seven elephants were killed in September 2011 after being hit by goods trains in the Banarhat area of the district.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/now-a-bison-mowed-down-by-train/article4281310.ece

Forest fires witness a 100% rise in state

By Yunus Lasania | ENS - HYDERABAD
At the end of 2012, much was talked about saving and preserving the environment, but nature continues to take a beating across the state.

According to an annual report published by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department, forest fires in the state have increased by more than 100 per cent in 2012 when compared to 2011. Officials said a combination of dryness or non-prevalence of unseasonal cyclonic rainfall and deliberate fires caused by humans for collection of non-timber forest products (NTFP) have led to the increase in numbers from 1113 in 2011 to 2357 in 2012.

“Locals deliberately burn up areas, mainly in the Telangana region, to collect beedi leaves and other forest products. Tribals in certain locations burn the area on the ground to collect Mahua flowers to produce beverage or boil it with sal seeds as a seasonal grain substitute,” said PK Sharma, additional principal conservator of forests at the state forest department.

He added that non-occurrence of pre-monsoon showers too lead to the fires as the forests remain dry. Leaves on the ground catch fire due to friction and heavy winds carry the flames, burning up all dry leaves and other materials on the ground, he said.

Although most are only ground fires, they seriously affect the young plants and trees and heavily damage flora and fauna, Sharma said.

The report, which was published few days after the new year, stated that, to some extent, forest areas were encroached and burnt for cultivation purposes.

“Intentional burning is illegal and we penalise whenever we find persons doing so. However, many times, the person is not caught as it is very easy to slip away,” remarked Sharma.

He said if a person was caught, a case was filed and fine amount collected, but the amount, which ranges between `500 and few thousands, is anything but a strong deterrent.

Of the 12 circles under the forest department, highest number of fires took place in Warangal at 352, which shot up from 86 in 2011. Khammam came second with 319 fire incidences in 2012, a steep rise from 115 cases in the previous year.

However, the highest rise in terms of number of incidents was in Vishakhapatnam, where, from a mere 43 cases in 2011, the number spiralled upwards to 191.

“The Boda grass is the main cause of fires in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) and Rayalaseema regions, while the production of Tendu leaves the major cause of forest fires in Telangana regions,” Sharma said.

But he added that only 24 per cent of all compartments of the department were prone to fires, while the remaining 76 per cent were totally unaffected.

Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/article1409675.ece

3 elephants fatally hit on the track, calf critical

Three elephants were killed and two, including a calf, were critically injured when the Jhajhar Express hit them in West Bengal’s Alipurduar area on Saturday evening.

Field Director of the Buxa Tiger Reserve R.P. Saini said the accident occurred near Rajabhatkhaoa at 6.45 p.m.

Speed violation?

Chief Wildlife Warden S.B. Mandal said thick fog had reduced visibility, but the train, running between Guwahati and Ranchi, violated the stipulated speed limit of 50 kmph set for the elephant corridor.

Minister of State for Railways Adhir Roy Chowdhury said if that charge was proved, action would be taken against the railway personnel.

Mr. Mandal said a team of veterinary doctors treated the injured elephants.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/3-elephants-fatally-hit-on-the-track-calf-critical/article4278429.ece

Community restraint helped save a tiger

Dr Ullas Karanth

Two incidents in the first week of December — first on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, followed by the other on the edge of the Nagarahole National Park in Karnataka — have brought the focus back on conflict management in tiger conservation. While in Wayanad, the tiger was shot dead, in North Kodagu, an injured tiger stuck in a barbed wire fence was rescued. These provide contrasting scenarios in conservation. In this interview to Sharath S. Srivatsa, tiger scientist and Director for Science-Asia of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) K. Ullas Karanth shares his thoughts on conservation and conflict management in the contiguous forests comprising Bandipur-Nagarahole, Mudu malai and Wayanad, that supports an estimated 150-180 tigers (WCS estimate).

What worked against conservation in Wayanad and in its favour in Nagarahole?

I would not pose it that way. In the next incident, the situation could well get reversed. The key point is, in this case, in Wayanad whipping up of public sentiment based on inflated tiger numbers put out by government, the media frenzy over a few cattle kills which were compensated, and the inability to handle a mob situation led to shooting of a tiger. The information that was available from our scientific data in terms of the “problem” tigers history was ignored, a photo of a tiger already in Mysore Zoo was released to the media as a different problem tiger etc. In the Kodagu case, the village leadership showed restraint and the forest department acted swiftly.

With more effort on tiger conservation, which could result in an increase in the population, do you think such conflicts could occur more often in forest fringes?

Yes, such conflicts on the fringe are in a sense the price we pay for successful tiger population recoveries. You do not have such conflicts in the vast forests of Northeastern hill states, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh etc. because tigers are almost gone or not producing much surplus annually to disperse. With a good prey base, tiger populations produce surpluses regularly. Annual losses in such surplus populations are as high as 20 per cent without reducing densities or numbers. So rational conservation involves such population recoveries as well as dealing with the consequences using the best of science and data — and not just feeling sentimental towards an individual tiger and its fate.

What would be a successful conservation and conflict reduction model in the Bandipur-Nagarahole-Mudumalai-Wayanad block in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve?

Basically that model would include

1. ensuring strict protection of tigers and prey inside the reserves; 
2. using best possible science to monitor individual tigers and the population status; 
3. when conflicts occur, promptly compensating livestock losses; 
4. if human life is threatened removing the problem tigers either through chemical capture or if circumstances warrant it lethal removal; and 
5. depending on health, age and other objective factors the captured animals should be retained in captivity, or in rare cases released or in specific cases euthanized painlessly. 

The central point is to ensure that tiger populations thrive even if individuals are lost and secondly public support is essential to having core tiger habitats that are strictly protected and support thriving tiger populations.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/community-restraint-helped-save-a-tiger/article4278475.ece

Tiger count goes up in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu: Wildlife Conservation Society data

Our data base has recorded over 600 individual tigers in past seven years. The total tiger population in Karnataka is about 250 to 300.

Tiger population in India is not dwindling, at least in key reserves in south India where it is actually reaching saturation levels.

In Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks in Karnataka and bordering areas in Tamil Nadu, tiger populations have reached saturation levels with surplus young tigers spilling out into forests and dispersing through forest corridors. In newer tiger reserves including Bhadra and Kudremukh, numbers have increased by as much as 50 percent.

This has emerged in new global data released by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which is engaged in scientific monitoring and conservation programme in collaboration with government agencies including the National Tiger Conservation Agency.

"The picture is not at all dismal as often projected", said Dr Ullas Karanth, Bangalore-based conservationist who heads Asia operations of WCS. "Scientific monitoring of tiger and prey populations using techniques like Camera Trap, enhanced antipoaching patrols by government agencies and voluntary relocation of people with help from NGOs have helped in boosting tiger numbers significantly".

The Camera Trap project of WCS in Karnaraka, said to be the largest such globally, has helped in scientific monitoring. "Our data base has recorded over 600 individual tigers in the past seven years, and at any given point in time the total tiger population in Karnataka is about 250 to 300", Karanth said.

The overall tiger population densities in Nagarahole-Bandipur have remained high, ranging between 8 tigers per 100 square kilometer to 13 tigers per 100 square kilometres. The prey densities have also been high. "The dispersal and conflict patterns indicate that this population is producing a large surplus every year", he said. Elephants and leopards are among the wild species that share the same landscape.

The monitoring and conservation aspects of the Karnataka model can be emulated in reserves elsewhere though involvement of voluntary groups could vary keeping in view local situation, the veteran conservationist said.

In both states, wildlife staff vacancies have been filled up, patrolling systems have been improved with increased investments and local communities involved in conservation efforts.

It is a technique used to capture images of wild animals without direct human interference. Ordinary cameras are fixed at key points in a reserve, along with infrared sensors that let the camera clock whenever they sense movement in the forest. The locations are changed occasionally because their flash lights alert animals and they start avoiding the area. To distinguish one tiger from another, WCS has developed image processing software which allows speedy and reliable identification of tigers from trap photographs.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/tiger-count-goes-up-in-karnataka-and-tamil-nadu-wcs/1/240283.html

Who needs a CCI?

Kanchi Kohli

One of the most controversial proposals debated in the last quarter of 2012 was the setting up of a National Investment Board (NIB) for India. The idea, mooted by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram  in mid-September, was about establishing an empowered body to clear large infrastructure projects of over `1,000 crore which were delayed due to lack of decisions within the government machinery. This proposal, emanating from the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, was subsequently circulated in the form of a draft cabinet note to various ministries.

The Finance Minister’s  logic behind the NIB seemed to be based on the notion that for a range of reasons including land acquisition, environmental and forest clearances, several large and economically important projects were delayed and were thereby hampering the economic growth of the country.

A Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI), similar to an NIB, is now in the pipeline. It will accord single window approval to mega projects over Rs 1,000 crores if timelines are not adhered to. It is claimed that all the concerns of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) were responded to.

But earlier Jayanthi Natarajan, the Union Minister of Environment and Forests (MoEF), had objected  to the setting up of such a body.  In a very strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister on 8 October 2012, Natarajan had opposed any move like an NIB which would allow bypassing of approvals administered by the MoEF. Apart from emphasising the importance of environment and forest clearances, the letter raised pertinent questions on basic parliamentary functioning and procedure. For instance, if any decision of the MoEF is overruled by such a body, who will answer for this in Parliament?

Natarajan emphasised that domain knowledge is important to decide whether a project is environmentally feasible or not or if forest land can be given for mining, industry or related infrastructure. The environment minister also raised a critical question on the overriding of a minister’s authority and substituting it by another one. The letter said, “When the Minister of a Ministry, acting upon the expert advice of officers, takes a decision, there is absolutely no justification for an NIB to assume his/her authority, nor will the NIB, have the competence to do so.”

The letter also went on to say that there is a distinct conflict of interest between the objective of a body promoting investment (like a Cabinet Committee on Investments) and the MoEF’s mandate which is to “protect the integrity of the environment, to ensure that our forests and wildlife, and by extension, forest dwellers are protected.” This is despite the fact that “hard decisions” have to be taken to balance environment and development.

There is much more in this letter which asserts that it is critical for the process of environment and forest clearances to be duly followed and upheld. But the letter also refuted that delays are due to granting of green clearances. Natarajan’s letter emphatically stated that there has not been any hindrance in granting clearances to projects by the ministry but many of them have not taken off or been commissioned. Therefore the problem is “not regulatory, but implementational.”

Following this letter the MoEF issued a press release which stated that in the last 32 years since the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, till 2012, a total area of 11,44,861 hectares of forest land has been diverted. It also revealed glorious figures that from 13 July 2011 to 12 July 2012 the ministry has accorded environmental clearance under the EIA Notification 2006, to 209 projects in the sectors of industry (steel and cement), thermal power, river valley and hydro-electric, coal and non-coal mining and National Highways. It was the MoEF’s way of establishing that the processes within the ministry are not roadblocks to economic growth.

The letter attempted to knock a nail in the idea of a body to fast track investments by stating that nuanced decisions around environment and forest clearances are required to  “balance the interest of different stakeholders, conservation, local people’s livelihoods and economic growth.” “When decisions discount these interests”,  says the letter, “it leads to disputes and intervention by the courts and appellate authorities”  which is not good for building investor confidence.

But the irony also lies in the fact that while the MoEF in its letter recognised the problems of such decisions, there are approvals granted by the MoEF to high impact projects based on poor assessments.

Projects like POSCO and Vedanta in Odisha; mining and industrial projects by the Jindals in Chhattisgarh; ports and thermal power plants by the Adani group in Gujarat have all got their approvals from the MoEF. Widespread litigation, local unrest, showcause notices highlighting violations and destruction as well as recommendations from the MoEF’s own committees has not influenced the push to approve these projects or condone the illegalities.

It is important to emphasise that the decision to grant forest clearance to the Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh came a month after the environment minister’s letter to the PM. This, when the MoEF’s own Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) had recommended against this project. There is also news that the K. Roy Paul committee on POSCO has submitted its report following the order of the National Green Tribunal to review the project and forest clearance rejection. Vedanta’s bauxite mining in Niyamgiri is on the verge of being decided upon in the Supreme Court.

What is the future of India’s ecological spaces and the social implications of decisions taken far  from the site of upheaval? It is pertinent to emphasise the contents of Jayanthi Natarajan’s letter to the PM to reiterate the reasons the MoEF was set up in the first place so that the environmental imperative stands ground.  But it is also critical to state that the procedures for environment and forest clearances were not envisaged and designed to ascertain trade-offs.

It was to take decisions on  projects based on the nature and extent of environmental and social impacts and not  rely on logic  based on aspects of national security and economic growth.  Doing this defies the very spirit of these laws.

If the MoEF does not speak for the environment and local communities which ministry will?                                  

kanchikohli@gmail.com

Source: http://www.civilsocietyonline.com/pages/Details.aspx?239

Drought to push wild animals out of forest

K.S. SUDHI

More human-animal conflicts likely

• Ensure enough water, Forest Department told
• Crop raids might go up in Thattekad

Soaring mercury levels may trigger more incidents of human-animal conflicts, it is feared.

Forest fires and the reduced availability of fodder and drinking water may force wild animals out of their territories. They may venture into human habitations in search of water and food, according to wildlife authorities.

E.A. Jayson, head of the Wildlife Division of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur, said that conflicts in each area would be influenced by a host of local factors such as availability of food and water and proximity to forest area.

A recent meeting of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority had cautioned the State Forest Department against the possibility of human-animal conflicts increasing significantly during drought months. The Forest Department was asked to ensure sufficient water for animals in sanctuaries, said a member of the authority.

Animals may come in search of drinking water into human habitations from forest areas where there are no reservoirs. Wayanad was one such district, said Dr. Jayson.

Monitoring needed

Conflicts are unlikely in Parambikulam, Vazhachal, Idukki, and Peppara areas where there are reservoirs. Herds of elephants would move to the reservoirs during the dry spell. However, the Forest Department needed to monitor the vulnerable areas and take adequate measures to address the issue. Priority should be given to the drinking water needs of animals, he said.

R. Sugathan, a wildlife expert, said that crop raids by elephants and wild boar might increase in the Thattekad area of Malayattur Forest division in Ernakulam district. Animals raid farmlands in search of food when grasslands and shrubs dry up. Water is available here in the lake near the sanctuary, Mr. Sugathan said.

Animals invade the farmlands where banana, pineapple, and tubers are cultivated. It is estimated that there are around 40 elephants in the sanctuary area. Besides elephants, sambars too come out searching for food, said Mr. Sugathan, who is associated with the sanctuary.

V. Gopinath, Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala, said that check-dams were being constructed in the interiors of forest to provide drinking water to animals.

They may reach the water sources when forest dries up. Though one can generally state that there is the possibility of human-animal conflicts shooting up during summer months, there is nothing alarming in Kerala forests, he said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/drought-to-push-wild-animals-out-of-forest/article4278902.ece

How many check dams built by forest department has water during summer?
- Mac Mohan

Tribal families reoccupy forestland in Wayanad

E.M. MANOJ

Seek compensation for land given up by them

Sixteen families, including 12 tribal families, which left the Kottamkara hamlet in June, a settlement inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), reoccupied the place on Saturday under the aegis of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Rehabilitation Action Council.

(The council had been seeking compensation for the land abandoned by the tribespeople).

The flaws in implementing the voluntary relocation project of the government left the tribespeople with no choice but to reoccupy the land, council convener S. Shobhankumar said.

Under the project, 40 families had been relocated on June 24. Only 24 of the families got the promised compensation of Rs.10 lakh each, he said.

When the project was announced on April 9, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had assured the tribespeople that they would get compensation as per the guidelines of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat Scheme in three months. But the Chief Minister could not keep his word, Mr. Shobhankumar said.

The guidelines said male children over 18 years of age; unmarried female children above the age of 18; physically and mentally challenged persons irrespective of their age and sex; minor orphans; and widows or women divorcees would be treated as ‘separate families.’

A survey conducted by the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, a few years ago had identified 96 eligible families in the hamlet. But many families were excluded from the final list prepared by the Forest Department, Krishnan Kottamkara, 57, a tribal farmer of the hamlet said.

Krishanan Kottamkara was born and brought up in the hamlet and he had 520 acres of leased land there.

The authorities failed to include him on the final list as he was hospitalised following cardiac arrest. Many others who were not present at the hamlet during an inspection by the authorities had also been excluded, Mr. Shobhankumar said.

There were six ‘eligible families’ in his house according to the KFRI list, he added. “When the forest officials prepared the final list, I was undergoing eye surgery in a Coimbatore hospital,” Elias, another resident of the hamlet, said.

He was later included on the list after he could convince the officials about the issue but, was yet to get any compensation, he added.

They had left the hamlet in June expecting that they would get the compensation soon, Mariyil Kuriakose, who had been living outside the forest since, said.

“Hence, we decided to live in our land till we get compensation,” he added. As many as 12 tribesmen had got possession certificates for their land under the Forest Rights Act in 2010.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tribal-families-reoccupy-forestland-in-wayanad/article4278845.ece

Looks like mistrust, greed, lies & unfulfilled promises has lead to this situation. There are many who encourage them to occupy forest land.
- Mac Mohan

Leopard hit by vehicle dies

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
A wild leopard that was hit by a vehicle while it was crossing the road died of its injuries late on Friday.

The leopard, which was in the prime of its youth, was knocked down on the road between Konanakere and Talabetta road, is Kollegal forest division and M.M. Hills territorial range.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/leopard-hit-by-vehicle-dies/article4278757.ece

Wildlife getting killed in the road inside forest continues..
- Mac Mohan