'Sex-on-the-reef' recorded for first time ever along Lakshadweep islands

PTI

A rare and curious phenomenon, coral spawning, popularly referred to as "sex-on-the-reef", has been recorded scientifically for the first time along Lakshadweep islands on India's west coast, a Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) researcher has claimed.

Generally observed after full-moon nights, coral spawning is a magnificent phenomenon of sexual reproduction of corals, which involves mass collective expulsion of colourful eggs and sperm clouds into the water by corals.

Normally taking place once a year, the gametes then rise to the surface of the ocean creating a colourful slick.

The slick was first observed by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) marine biologist Subburaman S last week, and also by the Central Marine Fisheries and Research Institute (CMFRI) team.

"I was travelling by boat, when I noticed an interesting effect in the water. Out of curiosity, I collected some pink and brown spawn for examination," Subburaman was quoted as saying by a WTI release here.

Subburaman with the support of CMFRI scientists Dr Jasmine and R Srinath examined the samples and confirmed that they were indeed coral spawn.

Environment wardens Abdul Raheem and Dr Sayeed Ali said that this finding proves that Lakshadweep's corals are recovering from the stress they experienced after El Niño, 2010.

Chief Wildlife Warden, Lakshadweep, Thirunavukarasu, added that it's great news that the Lakshadweep coral reef is in a healthy state.

During spawning, the eggs are fertilised and form larvae.

The larvae then float off till they find suitable substrates, settle and form their own colonies, helping corals thrive.

Coral spawning is a big tourist attraction in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, where it generally happens soon after the full moon in November or December. Spawning normally happens when the water is warm, and when the tide is changing from high to low.

In the Maldives, spawning has been scientifically determined to take place between the end of January and the beginning of March.

One thing is universal though - exact date of spawning is still largely unpredictable.

It was first recorded in 1981, says WTI.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sexonthereef-recorded-for-first-time-ever-along-lakshadweep-islands/1093706/0

Caught on camera: Rising tiger population

HYDERABAD: Three tiger cubs among 18 sighted in India's biggest tiger reserve has brought good news for authorities, who are trying to save the population of the big cat from dwindling in the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR).

Officials said tiger movements were caught on camera recently in and around 800 square kilometers of NSTR, which experts said were signs that the population was doing well. At least 5 males and 10 females, apart from 3 cubs aged over a year old were caught on camera in the core areas for the first time in the last few years.

NSTR has a total critical tiger habitat area of around 3,600 square kilometers and as per the latest census, the estimated tiger population at NSTR, has been pegged at anywhere between 53 and 67 tigers.

In India, which is home to half of the world's tiger population, the latest census in March 2011, revealed the presence of an estimated 1,706 tigers, way down from a healthy 45,000 population about 100 years ago. Tigers are mercilessly poached for their skin, claws and bones, all sold for its medicinal value in countries such as China and also in the west. Parts from a single tiger can fetch as much as $50,000 in the black market.

Buoyed at the good news, NSTR officials said they are planning to purchase 210 cameras so that 800 square kilometer area can be covered at one go. "Right now we have logistics to cover only 400 square kilometers at a time," said Rahul Pandey, field director at NSTR. So far, Rs 50 lakh was spent for the purchase of cameras. In addition to this, Panthera (a tiger conservation organization) has donated 60 cameras.

Officials plan to scout at least 2,000 square kilometres area of the reserve before the onset of monsoon and complete rest of the area later. "We have divided the total tiger habitat area into nine blocks each measuring 400 square kilometers. So far we have completed camera trapping in two blocks," said Pandey.

The camera trappings were done at the Dornala range of Markapur division, Srisailam range of Atmakur division and at the Mannanur range of Achampeta division. "We saw pug marks of another cub in Mannanur range, but could not get the footage," he added.

This scientific mapping exercise is being done under phase-4 of intensive tiger monitoring under the ministry of environment and forests. Experts said special care must be taken to protect the cubs as the mortality rate is often very high.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/wild-wacky/Caught-on-camera-Rising-tiger-population/articleshow/18473517.cms

Activist demands action against Rajaji forest officials

Human rights activist Avdhash Kaushal has sought an FIR against the Rajaji National Park authorities for partying within the park premises on Sunday to celebrate the Holi festival.

The party complete with blaring music and cooking of food saw about 200 men women and children freaking out in the core area of the park throughout the day. They arrived in about 100 cars and jeeps causing much pollution and nuisance for the animals. All this was done without permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden and violated the Wildlife Protection Act, Mr. Kaushal alleged.

Instead of ordering a probe into the matter, the forest authorities are trying to cover up the issue by saying that a workshop on man- animal conflict was held and not a party.

“The question is what were the family members of the forest officials doing there if it was a workshop”, an insider asked.

Mr. Kaushal also threatened to move a court against the Chief Wildlife Warden S.S. Sharma, Director Rajaji National Park S. P. Subudhi and the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna if action was not taken against the guilty officials immediately.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/activist-demands-action-against-rajaji-forest-officials/article4549150.ece

Row over dumping of garbage in forest area

A vehicle of the Meppadi grama panchayat
dumping garbage inside the Attamala forest area.
—Photo: E.M. Manoj

The Forest Department and the Meppadi grama panchayat are locking horns over the dumping of garbage in the Attamala reserve forest area of the Meppadi forest range under the South Wayanad forest division.

The panchayat authorities have been dumping garbage after collecting it from Meppadi town and the nearby small towns under the panchayat inside the forest at Attamala for more than a decade, sources in the Forest Department says.

Though forest officials had reasoned with the panchayat authorities for the past many years to stop the practice, they were yet to respond positively, the sources added. The ‘dumping yard’ of the panchayat on the banks of a small stream, a tributary of the Chaliyar river, was posing a serious threat to the wildlife habitats and the waterbodies in the area. Poultry waste, disposable plastic glasses and plates, and rotten vegetables and watermelons were being heaped in the area.

“The panchayat authorities dump waste everyday, except on holidays,” K. Mathew, a villager, said. He added that wild herbivores, including elephants, boars, and sambar deer, could be seen feeding on the garbage and it created many health issues among them. The practice also contaminated the waterbodies in the area, especially during monsoon, and the fumes arising from burning the garbage polluted the serenity of the area, he added. Though the forest officials had erected a billboard prohibiting waste-dumping in the area at the entrance to the forest a few months ago as per the direction of Forest Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, the panchayat authorities seemed to have taken no notice of it, the sources added.

‘We are planning to take stringent actions against the authorities to stop the illegal activities, as per the Kerala Forest Act, 1961,” P. Dhaneshkumar, South Wayanad divisional forest officer, told The Hindu . But Ancy Baby, president, Meppadi grama panchayat, said they were forced to continue the practice owing to non-availability of land to dispose of garbage. The panchayat had identified land at Chooralmala, near here, to set up a dumping yard and its acquisition process was under way, she added.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/row-over-dumping-of-garbage-in-forest-area/article4549582.ece

Violation of law in land allotted to tribals, claims study on Forest Rights Act

MEENA MENON

• There is a trend of putting barren forest land to agriculture between 2005 and 2008
• People cleared forest cover and started cultivation after FRs have been recognised

Sloppy implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) has resulted in large tracts of forests being cut down and claimed as cultivated land in Maharashtra, according to a study. Data shows that in Jalgaon district alone, more than 79 per cent claims over cultivated forest land were apparently on ineligible lands and about 25 per cent had forest cover. In Thane, adjacent to Mumbai with a high land value, about 12 per cent of the land allotted to tribal people was ineligible according to the eligibility criteria under FRA.

Maharashtra government had, a few years ago, relaxed the measurement for land claimed by tribal people and this has caused discrepancies in settling claims under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 (FRA). A study done by a private company in 2012, at the behest of the State Forest Department, used a database from the Tribal Research and Training Institute (TRTI), Pune, and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad. Satellite maps and GPS data were collated to examine changes after 2005 in tree cover, vegetation and land-use in forest land under forest rights (FR) claims and those which have recognized rights of cultivation.

TRTI has the data of 1,89,400 forest plots under Forest Rights (FR) claims, which are measured using GPS and uploaded on its website. Each land under claim has a unique 13 digit code comprising alpha numerical identification for district, tehsil, village and initials of the claimant. Of the 3, 44,330 claims received in Maharashtra, 2, 34,242 claims were rejected, according to latest data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs website. Only 1, 05,930 claims have been approved, of which 99,368 titles were distributed for about 2, 50,000 hectares . Activists and tribal people have been contesting the delay in allotting rights and the high rejection of claims.

However, Thane district, with one of the highest number of claims in the State, did not provide details of the 13 digit-code for all claimants, and in fact, cleared cases without GPS measurement, the study says. The government blames the high rate of false claimants for the rejections. Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Nasik, Raigad, Gondia and Bhandara districts also provided little data. Overall, data only for 40,428 approved cases was made available for the study from 19 districts covering 1705 villages.

In 2,433 cases, out of a total of 36,640 cases analysed, there was a road/ river/nallah within the plot. The highest number of such cases is in Dhule and Nandurbar districts. As seen on 2005-06 satellite images, about 15 per cent approved cases are on lands having forest or no agriculture.

Data using Cartosat-1 satellite images of 2005-06 and 2007-08, shows that in 789 cases out of 35, 044 approved FR cases, land-use changed between the years 2005-06 to 2007-08. Large numbers of such cases with land-use change are in Jalgaon, Nandurbar, and Dhule. Out of 539 FR cases from Jalgaon district, 321 cases are from three villages of Chopda Taluka — Umarti (118), Satrasen (113) and Melane (90).

The data reveals that there was a huge trend of putting barren forest land to agriculture between 2005 and 2008 to stake claims. About 37 per cent of barren area was converted into agriculture and 33 per cent was converted from forest cover to agriculture. Jalgaon has the highest area so far of forested areas and barren forest land converted to agriculture. An analysis of 5,373 FR cases on satellite images of 2007-08 shows that in these 789 approved FR cases, land-use change occurred after 2005. The study says this implies that people first claimed rights of cultivation, irrespective of the fact whether it was under cultivation on December 13, 2005 (as mandated by FRA) or not and later that forest land was cleared for cultivation. Though the percentage of land-use change detected is less than one per cent in terms of total area, about 641 hectares forest land appears to have been converted from barren land to agriculture and about 580 hectares of forests to agriculture.

In a separate set of data, since satellite images of 2011-12 were available for six districts, only 26,807 finalized FR cases were analyzed, covering 45,034 hectares in Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar, Nashik, Thane, and Gadchiroli districts. It was found that 39,996 (89 per cent) hectares is under cultivation within the approved plots in 2011-12 which is a four per cent increase from 2007-08, Forest/tree cover and barren land has reduced from 910 to 433 hectares and 5476 to 4605 hectares respectively between 2007-08 and 2011-12. This means that people have cleared forest cover and started cultivation after FRs have been recognized on these lands, the study points out.

In these six districts, at least 5037.88 hectares of ineligible forest land on which Forest Rights have been recognized is still not converted into cultivation as per 2011-12 satellite images.

In FR cases’ analysis on Cartosat-1 satellite images of 2007-08 and 2011-12, it has been observed that in 827 cases out of 26, 807 finally recognized FR cases, land-use changed between 2007-08 to 2011-12.

The percentage of land-use changes in finally recognised FR cases shows an increase in 2011-12 (3.1 per cent) compared to 2007-08 (2.3 per cent). In an analysis of claims applied for but not recognised, it increased from 12.4 per cent to 18.3 per cent.

Land use changes violate the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and data from all districts needs to be revisited for verification of claims and ensuring forests are not cut down, said a forest official.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/violation-of-law-in-land-allotted-to-tribals-claims-study-on-forest-rights-act/article4549144.ece