Beyond The Sugarcane Fields

JAY MAZOOMDAAR

A landmark study on reducing man-leopard conflict misses the conservation point

Photo: Aditya Singh

NO ANIMAL, not even the snake, attracts more bad press than the leopard. The worst victim of poaching in India, it is also the biggest killer of people among all large carnivores. The leopard’s prey preference for smaller livestock and dogs draws it close to habitations. The result is nationwide conflict, from Uttarakhand to Kerala and Gujarat to Assam.

Against this background, a recent paper, Big Cats in Our Backyards, published by the Public Library of Science, an open-source scientific publication project, has important clues to co-existence. The study recorded up to six resident leopards per 100 sq km in the Sangamner sub-division of Maharashtra’s Ahmadnagar district. They lounge in the ample cover of sugarcane fields during the day and scout the villages and towns for dogs in the night.

The arrangement is working without significant conflict in this densely populated agricultural belt where people don’t panic at the mere sight of leopards. This is against the conventional practice of trapping every “stray” leopard and releasing them in faraway forests. The study establishes that the cropland leopards are not “stray” animals but residents with cubs and cannot be whisked away.

If trapped and released away from home, leopards, like all cats, try to return and run into people at unfamiliar places. Since trapping is a traumatic experience, such encounters rarely end amicably. The lesson from the study is that leopards among people are not necessarily a threat to human safety as long as they are not disturbed. The study also found a degree of traditional tolerance towards these animals in the rural communities; this, of course, can be enhanced by compensating villagers for livestock losses.

While the findings offer insight into the leopard’s adaptability, judging larger carnivores by the same parameters may backfire. Sugarcane fields also attracted tigers in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. Many blame the intolerance of the local residents for the resulting conflict. But tigers need large prey and recurrent loss of cattle cannot be compared to that of chicken. More importantly, an accidental encounter with a leopard usually ends with a deep scratch or two, but a tiger can break the human skull with an irritated swipe.

The paper also paints the cropland model as an alternative approach to conservation. That claim is suspect. First, the so-called “backyard leopards” live in a modified habitat. A cropland is a monoculture plantation which, compared to natural forests, performs little or no ecosystem services, such as hosting biodiversity or acting as carbon sinks or watersheds. No matter how many leopards find shelter in cropland, no amount of plantation can compensate the loss of a forest.

Secondly, sugarcane is being promoted across large areas in certain states for purely economic reasons. The presence of leopards in these fields is incidental and a change in crop selection or land use may expel them rapidly in the not so distant future.

Thirdly, having resident populations on cropland does not necessarily help genetic exchange. When wild animals disperse from a forest, they don’t search for another forest. They merely look for a suitable habitat with good cover and prey, which usually happens to be another forest, where they settle down and join a new population.

If leopards find sufficient artificial cover and domestic prey base to settle down in cropland outside the parent forest, it results in an expansion, and not dispersal, of a wild population. When two neighbouring populations expand, they draw closer. But the extension of a forest population in a sugarcane field, in fact, creates two sub-populations.

Cropland leopards are known for their obesity. Animals thriving on easy domestic prey are unlikely to disperse to forests where they would have to hunt in the wild. But resource-rich cropland may keep drawing more individuals from forests, creating a dense sub-population buffer between two diminishing wilder populations. Does this affect gene flow? Unlikely. Will this alter population distribution and dynamics? That calls for another study.

jaymazoomdaar@gmail.com
Source: http://tehelka.com/beyond-the-sugarcane-fields/

Scripting An Almanac, One Bird At A Time

A project to track bird movements across India may help pin down the reasons why the number of migratory birds is declining. Akshai Jain reports

Last flight? Migratory pelicans and
painted storks at a small pond near
Dholera, 110 km from Ahmedabad.
Photo: AFP

RAMIT SINGAL, a 22-year-old engineering student, was puzzled. The Common Sandpiper, a small dust-coloured bird that migrates every winter from Russia to India, had been late arriving. Instead of getting to Manipal, (where Singal studies), in early August, the birds had arrived in mid-September. “Other migrants, like the Lesser Sand Plover, were also late,” he says.

In Mysore, a few hundred kilometres away, A Shivaprakash was pondering over another ornithological question. Being a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, puzzles don’t ruffle him, but the decline in the number of water birds in the lakes around Mysore was still troubling.

Till a decade ago, his birding group counted nearly 3 lakh migratory birds every season across 200 small and big lakes in Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Coorg districts. “But in the past seven or eight years,” he sighs, “there’s been a drastic reduction. I don’t think we have counted more than 50,000 birds.”

Birdwatchers in other parts of the country have also been alarmed by the decline in the numbers of migratory birds and the increasingly late arrivals of species that do come.

Unfortunately, in the absence of any long-term monitoring data on Indian bird species, it’s impossible to evaluate these changes scientifically, with a certainty that goes beyond anecdotal evidence and conjecture. Without the reference point that this data constitutes — referred to as a baseline in scientific parlance — it is impossible to say whether the shifts reported by birdwatchers are routine fluctuations or indicators of a far graver problem. Ornithologists find themselves in the position of a football referee tasked with calling a goal in a field that has no posts.

“At present, we suspect even so-called common species such as Common Drongo, Indian Roller, Hoopoe, Magpie Robin and Common Nightjar have declined due to habitat destruction and extensive use of pesticides,” says Dr Asad Rahmani, director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). “But we don’t have good scientific data to back this impression.”

Now, MigrantWatch, a ‘citizen science’ programme that relies on the observations of hundreds of amateur birdwatchers like Singal and Shivaprakash, is changing that.

The programme, started by Suhel Quader, an ecologist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru, has built up a meticulous database of common winter migrants.

Birdwatchers from across the country upload detailed observations from their birding trips on the programme’s website. Quader and his team then collate it, charting the arrival and departure of migrant species, and tracking their movement through the country.

Anniversaries might be irrelevant in the natural world, but for MigrantWatch, the five years it has just completed is a milestone that marks significant progress towards establishing a baseline.

From monitoring just nine migratory species when it started, it now monitors 246 species, focussing on 30 common and easily identified migrants. Over 600 birders have contributed to this database, which just hit 19,000 observations.

After a slow start, interest in the programme has shot up. “More people have joined us in the past year-and-a-half,” says Quader proudly, “than in the first four years put together.”

More significantly, the observational dots are joining up and the faint outline of patterns emerging. For 20 species, MigrantWatch has accumulated 200 or more observations, and for another six, it has more than 500 observations each.

Source: http://tehelka.com/scripting-an-almanac-one-bird-at-a-time/

When the tiger shows us the passageways

While experts dither over corridor viability, big cats from Rajasthan offer some lessons
Jay Mazoomdaar
IT WAS Jaipur, late 2007. A few months before the PMO cleared the plan to fly in tigers to Sariska from Ranthambhore, an IAS officer was holding forth on the subject at a private function. “Let’s build a corridor for tigers; 100-metre wide. How much land (do) we require? It’s not even 200 km between the two forests,” he said, clearly exasperated by the delay. Just 140 km, a colleague assured him, and generously proposed that the width of the passage be doubled: “We will put trees and all. It will be fenced and safe.” The enthusiasm was infectious till a senior forest officer jumped in to play spoilsport.

As forests get fragmented due to rapid incursion of roads, railways, mines, cropland or settlements, maintaining connectivity and therefore healthy gene flow among small wild populations is becoming more challenging than ever. More so, because the popular perception of a wildlife corridor, particularly to those in the corridors of power, is indistinguishable from say, freight corridors.

The term corridor gives an impression of linearity. But animals seldom move like crows fly. The shortest course we chart out for tigers at official meetings and even in research papers may not suit them at all. The route may not have enough water sources or vegetation cover in which they can sneak around. Or it may be just too crowded.

For many years now, experts and officials have been wondering how to make the 2-4 km stretch between Ranthambhore National Park (RNP) and Keladevi Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) — both part of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR) but separated by the Banas river — a safe animal corridor so that tigers from the park can populate the sanctuary.

The ravine wilderness that connects RNP and KWLS is being flattened for agriculture by local villagers who have established several hamlets to manage their new cropland. Though ecologically vibrant, ravines are classified as wasteland, reclamation of which is officially encouraged. Illegal sand mining on several stretches along the Banas further chokes this passageway. Unsurprisingly, of the 50-odd Ranthambhore tigers, only one is settled in KWLS, crowded by dozens of villages and their livestock.

But while the close proximity of RNP and KWLS makes restoring connectivity look feasible, any prospect of reviving the Ranthambhore-Kuno corridor has long been written off. Tigers from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh mated frequently till the trans-Chambal link snapped three decades ago. While Kuno remained connected to other MP forests, Ranthambhore became an island, hemming in its then population of 14 tigers.

The numbers have multiplied almost four-fold in RNP since. But the only way the Ranthambhore tigers can escape disastrous consequences of inbreeding is through revival of the gene flow from MP. But nobody gave the lost corridor a chance. Once the resident tigers of Kuno were poached, it was readied for lions from Gujarat. When Narendra Modi refused to oblige, the focus shifted to reintroducing cheetahs from Africa.

BETWEEN RTR and Kuno, the Chambal river forms the boundary between Rajasthan and MP. In this stretch, five Rajasthan rivers — Mez, Chakan, Kharad, Kundli and Banas — join the Chambal from the north. Another six tributaries — Kalisindh, Parbati, Seep, Param, Doni and Kuno — reach from the south.

Dispersing tigers prefer to keep to watercourses. Each of these meandering rivers connects RNP to neighbouring forests. Along the Chambal axis, Chakan, Kharad and Kundli lead to Sawai Mansingh sanctuary while Mez offers passage to Ramgarh Bishdhari forests. Kalisindh is the access to Darrah sanctuary while Parbati reaches the forests of Baran district. Kuno and Param rivers pass through the Kuno sanctuary while Doni and Seep flow in the larger Kuno landscape.

In the recent past, Ranthambhore tigers have travelled far and wide — Kota, Bharatpur and Mathura — as the rivers flow. There was no reason why they, if their nerve held, would not reach Kuno in MP. In fact, quite a few floaters — the last one in 2010 — ventured south inside MP across the Chambal, but eventually moved back to Rajasthan.

So, many considered it a fluke when a Ranthambhore male (T38) walked out of RNP’s Sultanpur area in late 2010 and reached Kuno in January 2011. The itinerary is sketchy but T38 walked southeast to cross the Banas and spent two weeks in a patch of ravine forest before crossing the Chambal at its confluence with Param and then followed the river upstream to reach the heart of Kuno. It was a leisurely journey, with many stopovers and kills.

Yet, T38 was merely considered lucky, till a sub-adult tiger decided to match his skills last month. One of the three cubs of T26, the young male left RNP’s Khandar area on 23 January. It reached the Banas the next day and apparently sensing mining activities to its right, turned left along the river, crossed a couple of roads, and climbed atop the hills of KWLS using the only available pass by 26 January. Unimpressed by the mess inside Keladevi, it charted its course down to the Chambal river and across to MP in the next five days.

Here, its intuition took over again and it chose to follow the Kuno river southward. Parallel to the Chambal runs a 12- feet deep irrigation canal that briefly goes inside a tunnel while passing over the Kuno. The tiger reached the other side of the canal walking under this tunnel on 5 February and, as if to reward himself, made its first kill in MP soon after. Then it slowed down in the comfort zone of reserve forests south of Kuno sanctuary that offer ample feral cattle. The tiger has made three more kills since and is not showing any urgency to head southwards along the river. It has already walked at least 80 km, more than the linear distance between RNP and Kuno, without being spotted even once, and is a day’s walk away from joining predecessor T38 inside the sanctuary.

Unlike T38 in 2011, T26 junior is being tracked daily by the forest departments of the two states with the help of TigerWatch, a Ranthambhore NGO, and village wildlife watchers appointed for the task. Tired of waiting for lions, and now cheetahs, the guards at Kuno sound both excited and nervous to be hosting tigers again. Veterans, who still remember Kuno’s last tigers, are wary of poachers even as they pray that the next Ranthambhore crossover is a female.

The remarkable journeys of the Ranthambhore duo have three lessons for us. The wild does not need handholding and knows what it is up to. The river courses, and the surrounding ravines, must be secured and monitored for tiger migration. Every tiger in transit needs rigorous tracking to avoid poaching or conflict.

Meanwhile, with RNP finally having surplus tigers and habitats not improving in KWLS, dispersal of cats outside the reserve will continue. As a bunch of cubs get ready to break free in the coming months, Kuno is likely to welcome a few more tigers, hopefully females this time, from Ranthambhore.

Once the settlers start breeding in Kuno, young tigers will eventually venture further south inside MP to find partners or perhaps individuals from MP’s northernmost tiger pockets will come checking at Kuno. With time, the reverse wild traffic will hit Ranthambhore, carrying fresh genes to Rajasthan in many decades.

If only we take cue from the tiger instead of deciding for it.

Source: http://tehelka.com/when-the-tiger-shows-us-the-passageways/

National Highway To Doom

BAHAR DUTT

No, Mr PM. Our green laws are not impeding the country’s development

AT A recent Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lamented that green laws are the new ‘Licence Raj’. This is not the first time the PM has expressed this view; in 2011, he emphasised at a public forum that “saving the environment could not be at the cost of development”.

In 2008, he laid the foundation stone for the 3,000 MW Dibang hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, even though it had yet to get the green clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The clearance was in limbo because the public hearing had not been held as mandated under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA).

The PM’s attitude towards green laws seems to propagate a myth that such laws are impeding development. For every three projects rejected by the MoEF’S statutory bodies, 97 are cleared. And those that are rejected can apply again. Also, more than 100 projects on 9,000 hectares of forestland have been cleared by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in the past three months, which means we are losing forestland at the rate of 100 hectares per day.

Two coal mining projects were cleared in Odisha despite glaring violations found by the FAC. In the September meeting of the FAC, (Source: EIA Resource and Response Centre, New Delhi) more than 93 percent projects didn’t show any history of compensatory afforestation, yet they were considered. Worse, more than 90 percent projects were approved, even though the nodal forest officer, who has to give detailed comments on why the project should be given a go-ahead on prime forests, had either just signed or left the columns blank. Even areas rich in biodiversity are not spared, such as the Gola corridor, which is crucial for elephants and tigers in Uttarakhand.

The NHAI recently threatened to sue the MoEF over delays in green clearances. Here again, one needs to look at the ministry data. If you look at three highway projects that came up for discussion with the FAC, two were cleared and one sent back for additional information.

Take the example of Yamunotri-Saharanpur Highway. More than 1 lakh trees are facing the axe, and the application makes no mention of the damage to wildlife or biodiversity, yet it was cleared. Worse still, the project is based in UP, but a certificate from the collector of Mahasamand (a district in Chhattisgarh) was provided! Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan has made it amply clear that clearances are being held up because of incomplete application forms or false information. But these statistics seem to escape the prime minister’s eye.

In his 2011 Independence Day speech, the PM took credit for setting up the National Green Tribunal, but it faces many hurdles. Two years later, the regional benches are yet to be set up; there is no proper courtroom; many members have quit due to lack of accommodation; and a chairperson was appointed only after the SC forced the Centre’s hand.

Green laws are not ‘Licence Raj’, Mr PM. They were introduced by your government, the Constitution and Parliament. The development brigade may show you the example of China. China’s breakneck speed of development has overshadowed the environmental disasters facing the country. Sixteen of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China. More than 70 percent of China’s rivers, lakes and streams are heavily polluted. Every year, 6,000 square miles of grasslands and forests are lost to desertification and over 300 species are endangered or threatened. Is this the development model we want?

Of course, we want to develop. But not at the cost of our right to fresh air and clean water or our wildlife. That’s what the EPA and the Forest Conservation Act ensure. They protect our rights to have access to clean air; they ensure the industries you give the licence to operate do so with some system of checks and balances. You would do well by supporting your environment minister, who has a tough job of balancing the environment and development needs, while ensuring these checks are in place. And the industry could do well by respecting the law of the land instead of being a constant crybaby.

Bahar Dutt is Environment Editor, CNN-IBN
letters@tehelka.com

Source: http://tehelka.com/national-highway-to-doom/