OLD GROWTH
A walk in the Nilgiris' enchanting—and still surviving—Longwood Shola reserve forest
by
Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?267512
Don’t let its size fool you. Longwood Shola, the little forest located in the Kotagiri taluk of Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, is a very big deal. For one, it is an unexpected gem—a sparkling island of a forest in a sea of villages, tea estates and plantations of exotic trees. Longwood is also one of the last remnants of the primeval forests that once clothed the Nilgiris. It has taken zealous guarding and action by conservationists and locals to keep even these 100-odd hectares safe.
I had barely entered Longwood Shola, on a visit sometime in April last year, that its treasures tumbled out one after the other. Up in the canopy to my left, a rust-and-cream Malabar giant squirrel scurried restlessly on a branch, the colour of its fur glowing in the morning sun. If you’ve seen this resident of the forest canopy, you’ll know just what I mean when I say ‘my jaw dropped’ and I ‘stood stunned’. Then suddenly, really suddenly, the creature froze. It was looking straight at me, the intruder. The squirrel turned around in a flash and, in three nimble leaps, managed to disappear completely in the foliage above.
Even as I was scanning the canopy for another glimpse, something flew past me and across to the bushes on my right. It flitted around for a while and then came right up. Here was another stunner: a little brown bird with striking white eyebrows, just a few feet from me. Its eyebrows seemed to form an inquiring frown, no doubt asking me, “Why are you looking at me like that, mister?” Senthil had noticed my stupefaction. “Quickly, Pankaj,” he said. “This is a great chance, take your picture.” Before I could recover enough to act on that, though, the endemic Nilgiri laughing thrush decided it had made its point and was gone.
K. Senthil Prasad, incidentally, is the best walking companion one could have in the Longwood Shola. He is part of the Kotagiri Wildlife and Environment Association (KWEA) and the Keystone Foundation, has lived his entire life here and continues to work to protect Longwood Shola. And herein lies an important story.
The Longwood Shola reserve forest is not a big one by any standards; but it could quite easily have ceased to exist, just like the forests that once surrounded it. Over the years, the growing villages and settlements in the region have been pressuring the forest for fuel-wood and other resources. Local initiatives to protect Longwood started in the early 1980s. They took a more permanent form in May 1998, with the Forest Department setting up the Longwood Shola Watchdog Committee (LSWC) in collaboration with a group of concerned and committed local people (Senthil was one of them).
The LSWC took up a number of activities, including patrolling to keep away woodcutters, removing exotic plants that were threatening the local flora and clean-ups to remove garbage left behind by picnickers and visitors. Seminars were held for local schools and colleges and, importantly, LSWC began conversations with the villagers living around the forest. It helped that Longwood Shola is the prime and perennial source of water for nearly 15 villages located downstream and, over time, local communities became partners in protecting their forest.
It worked well for the locals—human and wildlife alike—and the conservation work has begun to be noticed. Longwood Shola was recently included in the Directory of Community Conserved Areas published by the NGO Kalpavriksh, and it has been recognised as an ‘Important Bird Area’ by BirdLife International for the conservation of the Nilgiri laughing thrush, the white-bellied shortwing and the Nilgiri wood pigeon. Ten of the 16 birds that are endemic to the Western Ghats have also been recorded in this small forest. It is also home to a large number of other fauna, including gaur, the occasional leopard, barking deer, wild boar, porcupine, black-napped hare and, of course, the Malabar giant squirrel.
In more good news, of late, the Nilgiris itself has become the focus of several local and regional conservation attempts. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, for one, has set up a large research and action initiative for the Western Ghats, of which the Nilgiris are a part. For another, a new Nilgiri Natural History Society has been formed with the Keystone Foundation in the lead. And the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has set up an expert panel on the Western Ghats to “assist in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant region”. Longwood Shola is certainly a sweet little success story.
So it is the good people of the Nilgiris that I must thank for the fact that, just minutes into my stroll around the forest, I had already seen two endemics. With the thrush having done its disappearing act, we walked on a little before we were distracted by a murder of jungle crows creating a racket. We soon found out why—sitting on the other side of a small stream was a huge brown wood owl and the crows were harassing it. This fellow sat around for a while even after spotting us, and this gave me an opportunity to finally put my camera to some use. But then the crows started to get really aggressive and the owl took off, with the crows still in pursuit.
The wonderful thing about Longwood is just how walker-friendly it is. A comfortable path meanders through the forest, making it an enjoyable walk. Senthil led me past a biggish wetland, over a stream and up a gentle slope, stopping along the way to peer into the forest or strain upwards to catch the action in the canopy. At least on the morning I went, the squirrels seemed to be the most active residents. I must have seen at least half a dozen of them; the rudraskha tree (known locally as bikkimaram) was fruiting and that’s where these guys were mainly concentrated. The squirrels seemed to favour the seeds, for the floor under the trees was littered with fruit scrapings left behind after the seed-extraction.
That day, it seemed, my luck just wouldn’t run out. “Gaur,” said Senthil, as he pointed into the distance, “Be careful”. There were two there—a young calf and a huge adult that must have been the mother. The little one jumped away as soon as it saw us, but the mother stood regal and magnificent and stared as us for a while. She finally turned nonchalantly and sauntered off behind her young one.
Finally, we walked down a slope and across another small stream that had a magnificent tree fern growing on its bank, and we were back near the point we started from. The squirrel I had seen first was back in its place (I’m quite sure it’s the same one), but the owl was nowhere to be seen. The crows were still running amok. I had spent just over two hours in the forest and been privy to the tiniest part of its secrets, but that’s all it took for Longwood Shola to bewitch me.
For pictures see http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com/2009/05/longwood-shola-kotagiri-nilgiris.html
Showing posts with label forests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forests. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Nilgiris - some more images
In the Sathyamangalam forests: A road through elephant country
After a raid by an elephant herd, Banglapadgai village
A fire in a tea estate, presumably to clear the undergrowth, or for a new plantation to be undertaken
A forest fire in the hills adjoining the Sigur plateauSaturday, January 17, 2009
Tiger Vs Tribe
The forests stand a chance of surviving India's insatiable growth with the Forest Rights Act, says PANKAJ SEKHSARIA
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 3, Dated Jan 24, 2009
http://www.tehelka. com/story_ main41.asp? filename= cr240109tiger_ vs_tribe. asp
IF A list were to be drawn of the most discussed and debated legislations in recent times, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Rights (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, known popularly as the Forest Rights Act, would surely be amongst the top. The intensity of the discussions and polarised nature of the debates that preceded the enactment of this law and continue even now, after it has been notified, has been noteworthy.
The Act allows:
• A family can own up to four hectares of land that is under occupation or cultivation, subject to meeting other relevant criteria
• A greater role and empowerment of Gram Sabha in determining claims, managing forests it has traditionally conserved, checking processes destructive of forestdwellers' habitats, and protecting traditional knowledge
• Greater livelihood security for traditional forestdwellers who have been denied tenure
• Displacement and relocation only by consent
• Right to development facilities with a limit of 1 ha of maximum 75 trees density per project (in case of which, Forest Conservation Act will not apply)
Photo: AK Varun
The Act seeks its legitimacy when the preamble lays out its purpose as 'correcting the historical injustices meted out to forest-dwelling communities' . A wide spectrum of people including tribal rights groups and activists have welcomed the act. Those opposing the act — a significant section of wildlife protection NGOs, forest bureaucracy and prominent voices in the media, have vehemently argued that the Act and its implementation will drive the final nail into the coffin of India's rapidly shrinking forest cover and beleaguered wildlife. It has been pitched as the ultimate 'tiger vs. tribal' clash — where the tiger (and by extension other wildlife too) will certainly lose and the tribal, in whose name this is being done, will only end up a puppet in the hands of powerful and vested interests.
Those who have taken a relatively neutral position on the Act have also expressed their concerns about certain provisions. For example, December 2005 was made the cut-off date for accepting claims to ownership of lands. They have pointed out that there will be challenges in determining genuine rights. One also can't ignore the possibility of forest areas getting fragmented in the name of development activity such as roads, health centres and transmission lines. The larger fear of vested interests misusing the Act too is justified. Yet, it does seem unfair to put all the causes of India's forest destruction in the basket of this newly-enacted legislation, or at the door of the communities that are expected to benefit from it.
India is a country of more than a billion people of which the tribal population accounts for about 10 percent. These and other similar communities have been displaced, often brutally, from their ancestral forests, fields and livelihoods to make way for one big project after another — dams, mines, urban expansion and infrastructure projects. Time and again, when they resisted, they have been physically assaulted and even killed by state forces meant to protect them. Kashipur, Jagatsinghpur and Nandigram are only few instances.In such a huge country, then, with so many points of views and importantly, so many stakes on resources, it seems strange that many conservationists attribute the problems of forests, conservation of wildlife to impoverished and marginalised tribals.
CONSERVATION IN India appears to have a blind spot when it comes to tribal rights. Thousands of hectares of productive lands are being designated as Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Traditional tribal lands, many of which are thickly forested and home to a range of wildlife, are allocated to mining interests and huge dams that drown pristine forests in the biodiversity hotspots of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas. Across the landscape, infrastructure projects continue to cut through forested areas. This is little more than an indicative list of the kind of pressures and threats faced by some of India's richest forest areas and the people that live there. The laws, courts, politicians, bureaucrats, the media and the wildlife conservationists are unable to help prevent this onslaught. Tribal communities, our forests and wildlife are at the receiving end today of a development paradigm that is rolling on like a juggernaut, brooking no opposition. The most optimistic will argue that the Forest Rights Act indeed shows us a way.
In any case, field results to the implementation of Act have been a mixed bag. According to a Press Release issued by the Central Government in November 2008, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has released Rs 22.6 crores as a grant to states requiring financial assistance to implement this law. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura and Rajasthan had received large numbers of claims and some had even started distributing title deeds. As of September 30, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh distributed 5000, 59548 and 4186 pattas respectively. However, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu are yet to even appoint nodal officers, which is a basic requirement for implementation. There have also been unverified reports of deforestation and encroachment from different parts of Gujurat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh due to misuse of the Act.
It is important to bear in mind that the Forest Rights Act does not give just rights and land to the people, it also empowers them to conserve forests and wildlife. In the Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary, local communities from Orissa, empowered and encouraged by rights accorded to them by the Act, seized three truckloads of timber from the residence Forest Range Officer in September 2008. Earlier, villagers said, they had failed to curb timber smuggling as they didn't have any right or say in the management of resources inside the sanctuary. It provides another handle to battle against some of the hugely destructive so called 'development' projects. The Act has already been used (unsuccessfully so far) in attempting to stop mining of bauxite in the thickly forested and sacred Niyamgiri mountains of Dongaria Kond tribe in Orissa. Maybe there will be success in the future; maybe the Act will help the millions of marginalised feel secure and empowered once again; maybe it will give them the confidence to resist and keep alive the possibilities of parallel worlds and cosmologies.
(Pankaj Sekhsaria is the editor of The Protected Area Update, a wildlife and conservation newsletter from Kalpavriksh)
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 3, Dated Jan 24, 2009
http://www.tehelka. com/story_ main41.asp? filename= cr240109tiger_ vs_tribe. asp
IF A list were to be drawn of the most discussed and debated legislations in recent times, The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Rights (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, known popularly as the Forest Rights Act, would surely be amongst the top. The intensity of the discussions and polarised nature of the debates that preceded the enactment of this law and continue even now, after it has been notified, has been noteworthy.
The Act allows:
• A family can own up to four hectares of land that is under occupation or cultivation, subject to meeting other relevant criteria
• A greater role and empowerment of Gram Sabha in determining claims, managing forests it has traditionally conserved, checking processes destructive of forestdwellers' habitats, and protecting traditional knowledge
• Greater livelihood security for traditional forestdwellers who have been denied tenure
• Displacement and relocation only by consent
• Right to development facilities with a limit of 1 ha of maximum 75 trees density per project (in case of which, Forest Conservation Act will not apply)
Photo: AK Varun
The Act seeks its legitimacy when the preamble lays out its purpose as 'correcting the historical injustices meted out to forest-dwelling communities' . A wide spectrum of people including tribal rights groups and activists have welcomed the act. Those opposing the act — a significant section of wildlife protection NGOs, forest bureaucracy and prominent voices in the media, have vehemently argued that the Act and its implementation will drive the final nail into the coffin of India's rapidly shrinking forest cover and beleaguered wildlife. It has been pitched as the ultimate 'tiger vs. tribal' clash — where the tiger (and by extension other wildlife too) will certainly lose and the tribal, in whose name this is being done, will only end up a puppet in the hands of powerful and vested interests.
Those who have taken a relatively neutral position on the Act have also expressed their concerns about certain provisions. For example, December 2005 was made the cut-off date for accepting claims to ownership of lands. They have pointed out that there will be challenges in determining genuine rights. One also can't ignore the possibility of forest areas getting fragmented in the name of development activity such as roads, health centres and transmission lines. The larger fear of vested interests misusing the Act too is justified. Yet, it does seem unfair to put all the causes of India's forest destruction in the basket of this newly-enacted legislation, or at the door of the communities that are expected to benefit from it.
India is a country of more than a billion people of which the tribal population accounts for about 10 percent. These and other similar communities have been displaced, often brutally, from their ancestral forests, fields and livelihoods to make way for one big project after another — dams, mines, urban expansion and infrastructure projects. Time and again, when they resisted, they have been physically assaulted and even killed by state forces meant to protect them. Kashipur, Jagatsinghpur and Nandigram are only few instances.In such a huge country, then, with so many points of views and importantly, so many stakes on resources, it seems strange that many conservationists attribute the problems of forests, conservation of wildlife to impoverished and marginalised tribals.
CONSERVATION IN India appears to have a blind spot when it comes to tribal rights. Thousands of hectares of productive lands are being designated as Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Traditional tribal lands, many of which are thickly forested and home to a range of wildlife, are allocated to mining interests and huge dams that drown pristine forests in the biodiversity hotspots of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalayas. Across the landscape, infrastructure projects continue to cut through forested areas. This is little more than an indicative list of the kind of pressures and threats faced by some of India's richest forest areas and the people that live there. The laws, courts, politicians, bureaucrats, the media and the wildlife conservationists are unable to help prevent this onslaught. Tribal communities, our forests and wildlife are at the receiving end today of a development paradigm that is rolling on like a juggernaut, brooking no opposition. The most optimistic will argue that the Forest Rights Act indeed shows us a way.
In any case, field results to the implementation of Act have been a mixed bag. According to a Press Release issued by the Central Government in November 2008, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has released Rs 22.6 crores as a grant to states requiring financial assistance to implement this law. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura and Rajasthan had received large numbers of claims and some had even started distributing title deeds. As of September 30, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh distributed 5000, 59548 and 4186 pattas respectively. However, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu are yet to even appoint nodal officers, which is a basic requirement for implementation. There have also been unverified reports of deforestation and encroachment from different parts of Gujurat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh due to misuse of the Act.
It is important to bear in mind that the Forest Rights Act does not give just rights and land to the people, it also empowers them to conserve forests and wildlife. In the Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary, local communities from Orissa, empowered and encouraged by rights accorded to them by the Act, seized three truckloads of timber from the residence Forest Range Officer in September 2008. Earlier, villagers said, they had failed to curb timber smuggling as they didn't have any right or say in the management of resources inside the sanctuary. It provides another handle to battle against some of the hugely destructive so called 'development' projects. The Act has already been used (unsuccessfully so far) in attempting to stop mining of bauxite in the thickly forested and sacred Niyamgiri mountains of Dongaria Kond tribe in Orissa. Maybe there will be success in the future; maybe the Act will help the millions of marginalised feel secure and empowered once again; maybe it will give them the confidence to resist and keep alive the possibilities of parallel worlds and cosmologies.
(Pankaj Sekhsaria is the editor of The Protected Area Update, a wildlife and conservation newsletter from Kalpavriksh)
Monday, January 5, 2009
No more padauk in South Andaman forests?
We have no padauk trees in the entire South Andaman area
THE ANDAMAN CHRONICLE
http://andamanchronicle.com/
Jan 04, 2009 at 09:48 PM
Presently extraction of padauk is done from North & Middle Andaman District, which may not last for long: SS Choudhury, PCCF
Port Blair, Jan. 4: A state level marketing workshop on Handicrafts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was organised at Sun Sea Resort, Port Blair on Friday, Jan 2, 2008. The Secretary (Textiles), Govt. of India, Shri A K Singh was the chief guest on the occasion.
During the interactive session, the artisans who were linked to the furniture industry demanded that they are not given Padauk timber, which is in major demand. Replying to the artisans, Mr. S S Choudhury, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest said, “We are left with not even a single padauk tree in the entire south Andaman. At present extraction is done from Diglipur area and in a limited quantity”. The PCCF Mr. Choudhury also underlined that the present crises of padauk is only because we always want to harvest but no one tries to replace it by planting trees.
Addressing the inaugural session, the chief guest explained the need for giving importance to quality and consistency of handicraft products so as to attract customers and fetch good returns. This will benefit the artisans engaged in production of handicrafts. He advised the artisans to take advantage of trainings provided to them by different agencies and utilize the skills in their handicrafts with innovative designs and quality.
Shri Sanjay Agrawal, Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, New Delhi highlighted the objective of the workshop and informed that various initiatives need to be taken up for the improvement of handicrafts in the islands such as sea shell, coconut shell, wooden handicrafts, cane & bamboo. For these, the Govt. would provide financial help in the form of advance, he said.
Smt. SKP Sodhi Secretary, Industries explained that branding of products is more important that production. A study of the demand and then branding would definitely help in fetching good returns, she said.
In the technical session, speakers highlighted the role of different development agencies in development of handicrafts of the islands including marketing, raw materials, insurance of artisans and the problems they face. The speakers included S/Shri R Nityanandam, DGM NABARD, A Sinha Roy, Executive Officer KVIC Port Blair, N C Saravanan, DCF (Mill), S K Halder, GM, DIC, Abhijit Bhattacharya, Branch Manager LIC of India, D Halder, Chief Manager (CSC), M K Biswas, President, AFIA, A Jobai, President SSAWA and A M Abdul Kader, Asst Director (Handicrafts Marketing & Service Extension Center, Port Blair.
About 100 artisans attended the workshop which was organized by the Office of the Development Commissioner, Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, Southern Regional Office, Chennai.
--
THE ANDAMAN CHRONICLE
http://andamanchronicle.com/
Jan 04, 2009 at 09:48 PM
Presently extraction of padauk is done from North & Middle Andaman District, which may not last for long: SS Choudhury, PCCF
Port Blair, Jan. 4: A state level marketing workshop on Handicrafts of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was organised at Sun Sea Resort, Port Blair on Friday, Jan 2, 2008. The Secretary (Textiles), Govt. of India, Shri A K Singh was the chief guest on the occasion.
During the interactive session, the artisans who were linked to the furniture industry demanded that they are not given Padauk timber, which is in major demand. Replying to the artisans, Mr. S S Choudhury, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest said, “We are left with not even a single padauk tree in the entire south Andaman. At present extraction is done from Diglipur area and in a limited quantity”. The PCCF Mr. Choudhury also underlined that the present crises of padauk is only because we always want to harvest but no one tries to replace it by planting trees.
Addressing the inaugural session, the chief guest explained the need for giving importance to quality and consistency of handicraft products so as to attract customers and fetch good returns. This will benefit the artisans engaged in production of handicrafts. He advised the artisans to take advantage of trainings provided to them by different agencies and utilize the skills in their handicrafts with innovative designs and quality.
Shri Sanjay Agrawal, Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, New Delhi highlighted the objective of the workshop and informed that various initiatives need to be taken up for the improvement of handicrafts in the islands such as sea shell, coconut shell, wooden handicrafts, cane & bamboo. For these, the Govt. would provide financial help in the form of advance, he said.
Smt. SKP Sodhi Secretary, Industries explained that branding of products is more important that production. A study of the demand and then branding would definitely help in fetching good returns, she said.
In the technical session, speakers highlighted the role of different development agencies in development of handicrafts of the islands including marketing, raw materials, insurance of artisans and the problems they face. The speakers included S/Shri R Nityanandam, DGM NABARD, A Sinha Roy, Executive Officer KVIC Port Blair, N C Saravanan, DCF (Mill), S K Halder, GM, DIC, Abhijit Bhattacharya, Branch Manager LIC of India, D Halder, Chief Manager (CSC), M K Biswas, President, AFIA, A Jobai, President SSAWA and A M Abdul Kader, Asst Director (Handicrafts Marketing & Service Extension Center, Port Blair.
About 100 artisans attended the workshop which was organized by the Office of the Development Commissioner, Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, Southern Regional Office, Chennai.
--
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Simlipal Biosphere Reserve
Had the opportunity for spending a few hours on November 23 in parts of the Simlipal Biosphere and Tiger Reserve. Here are some pictures from there:
One of the many tribal villages in the forests of the reserve
Rays of the evening sun filter through the sal forests, Brundavan, Simlipal
A jewel on the forest floor
Visitors at the Barehipani waterfalls
At the Joranda Waterfalls
and the falling water itself...
we didn't see one, had not expected to either...
One of the many tribal villages in the forests of the reserve
Rays of the evening sun filter through the sal forests, Brundavan, Simlipal
A jewel on the forest floor
Visitors at the Barehipani waterfalls
At the Joranda Waterfalls
and the falling water itself...
we didn't see one, had not expected to either...
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