PROTECTED AREA UPDATE - August 2007

News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia

Vol. XIII No. 4

August 2007 (No. 68)

LIST OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL

Some lessons from Gir

NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
-Villagers for protection of Pakhui TR

ASSAM
-Meeting held for Kaziranga protection
-Veterinary Camp around Pobitara WLS
-Timber smuggling in Manas NP

BIHAR
-Gautam Budha WLS under naxal control

GUJARAT
-Protection measures being augmented at Gir
-Court denies bail of those arrested in lion poaching in Gir
-NGO organizes conservation awareness programs around Gir
-Gir staff to get insurance cover
-Monthly Monitoring Committee for Gir lions
-168 Blackbuck washed away in flood in Velavadar NP; two lions in Gir also perish

-Gujarat to set up Wildlife Crime Cell
HIMACHAL PRADESH
-HP to allow hunting of wild boar
-Chandratal to be declared a wildlife sanctuary

KARNATAKA
-Windmills proposal for Kudremukh NP

-Ban on NTFP collection impacting adivasis and BRT Wildlife Sanctuary
-Cap on visitors to some PAs in state
-16 elephant deaths in first half of 2007 in Kollegal Wildlife Division

KERALA
-Kerala to use Wildlife Protection Act in Mullaperiyar Dam case
-Kerala cabinet rejects Community Reserve proposal for Vembanad lake

MAHARASHTRA
-No plan to move out VIP guest house complex from Tadoba

-Tadoba Andhari TR’s Kolara Gate to be opened for tourists

MANIPUR
-Wetland International report expresses concern over Loktak

ORISSA
-Steps to check encroachment of Chilika Lake
-Night safari proposed by Satkosia Wildlife Division

-NREGS for tribals affected by Satkosia WLS
-Captive bred crocs released in Bhitarkanika
-Eviction from Sunabeda WLS opposed

PUNJAB
-Three new PAs in Punjab

RAJASTHAN
-‘Friends of Tigers’ for Ranthambor NP
- Rajasthan Police gets Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award 2007

-Rains hit Rajasthan wildlife census in May

TAMIL NADU
-Study of the Gulf of Mannar’s eco system
-Tiger numbers up in Mudumalai WLS

UTTARAKHAND
-High Court asks for reconsideration of FD order for eviction of Ban Gujjars from Rajaji
-Reliance Energy team found digging illegally in Askot WLS

WEST BENGAL
-Zoo proposed in the East Calcutta Wetlands

-Narrow guage line proposed inside Senchal WLS

NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
Call for proposals – Small Grants Program for Eastern Himalayas
Centre urges apex court to wind up ‘forest bench’
US $ 105 million GEF environment Aid to India
Meeting of Field Directors of all Tiger Reserves
National Board for Wildlife reconstituted
Ex-servicemen for tiger protection
Database of Ornithologists

SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH
-Top Sunberban official arrested for corruption
NEPAL
-Simultaneous public protests in five PAs
-Increasing number of Chitwan villagers involved in rhino poaching
-Sacred sites trail project in Sagarmatha NP

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
-Western/Central Asian Site Network for Siberian Cranes and other waterbirds
-Call for Wildlife Reserve to Cover 30% of Oceans

UPCOMING
-Global Change and Pas
-II Latin American PA Congress

WHAT’S AVAILABLE
-Commentaries on Wildlife Law

OPPORTUNITIES
-Field researchers for seed dispersal study in Pakke Tiger Reserve
-JRF for project on Shifting agriculture in the NE
-Research assistants for project on Trawl Fishing along the Coromandel Coast

EDITORIAL

SOME LESSONS FROM GIR
If one goes by news reports of the last couple of months (see stories from Gujarat in this issue of the PA Update), a lot has been happening in the lion forests of Gir. A number of measures have been proposed or are being implemented by the Gujarat Government and the Forest Department for the protection of lions. There is a recruitment drive in Gir to add new protection staff and to fill up posts that have been lying empty for a long while. There is a realization that the average age of staff is on the higher side and unless younger people are brought in, protection work will suffer.
The State has decided to set up a Wildlife Crime Cell to track and deal with poaching and other wildlife related crimes and there is now going to a ten member monthly monitoring committee to constantly keep an on the happenings in and around the forests here. Officers and staff are being given better equipment, more vehicles and the communication infrastructure too is being improved.
Additional efforts are reportedly being made to work with the local communities with a ‘vanyaprani mitra’ scheme and by recruiting them as informers. An insurance scheme is also being put in place for the forest staff.
At one level it all seems welcome; it’s good that vacant posts are being filled, that younger staff is being recruited, that they are being adequately equipped, that a safety net with an insurance cover is being put in place and there is an acknowledgement of the need to work with local communities.
What is very striking, however, is that the initiatives appear to have come like a sudden torrent and that too measures that should have always been in place. What can be the justification for posts lying vacant, for protection staff to be working with inadequate equipment or security? Why do we expect that our forests and our wildlife will be protected when this is the ground situation? Why is that that these lacunae are noticed only after a disaster strikes, after nearly a dozen lions have been killed in an unprecedented spate of poaching incidents; after the proverbial horse has already bolted?
The lesson here is one that needs to be taken across the country. Forest Departments and protected areas across most, if not all, states in the country have been complaining of exactly the situation that is now being corrected in Gir.
It is not that an acknowledgement of the situation does not exist. The recent meeting of the Tiger Reserve Directors held in June in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (see page 19) lists out pretty much the same problems. It is important that these be addressed and corrective action be taken at the earliest. It is unrealistic otherwise to expect that those at the forefront of protecting our increasingly threatened wildlife will be effective or be able to perform. That is the minimum we owe them and it is certainly not too much.

THE PA UPDATE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
It was around the same time last year that we had sent out a similar appeal for support for the Protected Area Update. Many readers and organizations had responded positively, which itself was an indication to us that the PA Update is useful and we have a number of well wishers.
The Foundation for Ecological Security continues to be our biggest supporter and has willingly agreed to provide a majority of the funding for the PA Update for another year. Just like last year, however, we are still short by about a 30% of the budget.
There are various ways, big and small, in which we can be helped. Individual readers are urged to send in their contribution as subscription. These are small amounts but if we receive a large number the help will be great. Organisations like Forest Departments and NGOs can avail of the bulk subscription method where we can together reach out to a larger number of people as well.
We also have back issues of the Update is a simple hard bound three volume set that would be a very valuable resource base for researchers, officials, activists or anybody else interested in getting a comprehensive picture of what has happened in the country’s PA network over the last few years.
I do hope you will consider contributing. For any further details or clarifications please do write to me. We would also welcome any other ideas that you might have for us.

Pankaj Sekhsaria
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com

PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
Vol. XIII, No. 4, August 2007 (No. 68)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH, Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239.
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: www.kalpavriksh.org
Production of PA Update 68 has been supported by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Anand.

Sanctuary Asia

Sanctuary Magazine http://sanctuaryasia.com/

Aug2007 - Vol. XXVII No. 4

Issue Highlights

Google Tiger - Quo vadis Panthera tigris?

If only a search engine could chronicle the assaults we have inflicted on wild India and our national animal! Bittu Sahgal and Jennifer Scarlott outline steps to help us tackle India’s current tiger crisis, with the added bonus of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere to counter climate change. Prerna Singh Bindra adds sombrely that in the meanwhile tiger numbers are hitting rock bottom.[more]

Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone Sri Lanka is home to an abundance of wildlife, much of it endemic. The lesser-known, forested areas of the wet zone in the southwestern portion of the emerald island are believed to be ecological relics from the time Sri Lanka and India were still attached to Gondwanaland. Ian Lockwood undertakes a voyage of discovery to explore the similarities between the island nation’s biodiversity and that of India’s Western Ghats. On the Rooftop of the World What does the future hold for Tibet, a country so rich in culture and natural wealth? After the Chinese occupation, the Tibetan Plateau, turned into an arena for mining, oil exploration, pipelines, fencing and destructive roads. Tibet stands at the crossroads as it clings to ancient, nature-worshipping rituals, and attempts to deal with changes it never sought. Vijay Crishna travelled across this stark, stunning, snow-and-scree landscape to experience its wilds, imbibe its spirit and contemplate the incredibly dark conservation challenges ahead. Adjutant in the City Guwahati, Assam, is a vital stronghold of the Greater Adjutant, where the birds need a totally different protection strategy, writes Samsul Huda Patgiri. Wet, wet Ranthambhore The husband-wife duo, Joydip Suchandra Kundu share exhilaration and heartache while on monsoon patrol in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Unravelling Dhamra’s Secrets Pratyush P. Mohapatra writes about a month-long biodiversity study of the Dhamra area in Orissa that confirms what naturalists always knew – turtles use the Dhamra estuary’s offshore waters No port for turtles? Instead of protecting olive ridley turtles, the Orissa state government is encouraging Larsen and Toubro and TATA Steel to build the turtle-lethal Dhamra port, writes Ashish Fernandes. Inside Story Rakesh Shukla, Research Officer with the Kanha Tiger Reserve, on how science helps protect one of the world’s finest tiger reserves.

http://weepingsikkim.blogspot.com/

From
http://weepingsikkim.blogspot.com/
DAY 47...

While millions in India, Nepal and Bangladesh are badly affected by probably one of the worst floods in decades as described and local rumours of a Chudel !! haunting people catches their fancy and fodder for general talk and gossip in Sikkim, the indefinite hunger strike by Satyagrahis and members of ACT has reached its 47th Day today. This is the longest hunger strike in the history of Sikkim ever.

There is still no confirmation from press releases as reported in the daily papers or other sources about the two sides heading to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile the main opposition party, Congress, burned an effigy of Governor V Rama Rao on Saturday in front of Congress Bhawan for his alleged lack of attention towards the hunger strike of ACT. The incident triggered following a recent meeting of the Joint Action Committee with the Governor on July 25, wherein a memorandum was submitted to him to intervene and exercise his powers provided specially under Article 371F(g) of the Indian Constitution. 3 people have been arrested following this incident so far.

Mr Ashok Bhattacharya, Urban Development Minister of West Bengal and speaking on behalf the Communist Party of India (CPI (m)) also extended support to ACT at a function here in Sikkim to mark the 30 year old rule by the left front in West Bengal. Ironically, the Teesta Lower Dams fall in his area of influence!!

Besides, another opposition party in the State, has asked the Government for a white paper on the proposed hydel projects seeking to get a better and more comprehensive understanding of hydel projects. Pointing out that more than 75% of the total hydro electric power projects in Sikkim were non-fuctional(from a BJP assessment made in May 2006), many of the new projects coming up may meet the same fate!

The hydel projects named as non functional are:

1. Chatten Hydel Power Plant
2. Rabum Hydel Power Plant running at sub optimum level
3. Lagyap Hydel Power Plant running at sub optimal level
4. Jali Hydel Power Plant
5. Topakhani Hydel Power Plant
6. Nimtar Hydel Power Plant
7. Rothak Hydel Power Plant
8. Rimbi Hydel Power Plant

The offical website of the Energy & Power Department of the Government of Sikkim, http://www.sikkimpower.org/

The list of Hydro Power projects alloted to private & public Sector as on December 2006 in Sikkim can be accessed at:

http://www.sikkimpower.org/files/Milestone%20Matrix%20of%20HEP%20(1).htm

List of Hydro Developers in Sikkim:-

http://www.sikkimpower.org/Files/List%20of%20Hydro%20Developers.htm

TEESTA STAGE V DAM at DIKCHU

NDTV is presently giving coverage to the indefinite hunger strike by ACT and issues associated with it throughout the day in its hourly news updates. Banu Haralu, one of North Eastern India's senior journalist is covering it on behalf of NDTV.

Plan to link up with BSkyB splits Friends of the Earth

· 'Favoured charity' status would boost media profile

· Activists angered by approach to broadcaster

by
Severin Carrell, The Guardian, Monday, August 6, 2007

The environment group Friends of the Earth has been split by a bitter internal row after its directors approached the broadcaster BSkyB to set up a joint campaign on climate change which could be worth more than £1.7m. Executives at FoE received a barrage of complaints from senior campaigners after they decided to bid to become Sky's favoured charity in a three-year deal which would give the group direct access to Sky's 8.6 million subscribers and its satellite channels.

The Guardian has learnt that 77 FoE staff - including most senior campaigners as well as the outgoing director of FoE Wales, Julian Rosser - signed a highly critical petition to FoE's board last month calling for the Sky bid to be withdrawn.

FoE's directors say the tie-up would give the group an unparalleled opportunity to reach a mass audience with its campaign on climate change. Sky claims its programmes and news channel are seen in a third of British homes, while its customer magazine has the highest circulation in Britain.

After its chief executive, James Murdoch, was converted to the climate change cause, BSkyB has won plaudits after branding itself as a carbon-neutral company, cutting emissions by 20% and increasing its programming on environmental issues.

Mr Murdoch famously persuaded his father, Rupert, to screen Al Gore's documentary film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, at a News Corporation summit last year, which led other Murdoch titles including the Sun to embrace the global warming message. But FoE staff claimed in the petition that such a direct link to Sky would be highly divisive, damaging the group's reputation for not taking money from corporate interests and for campaigning against multinationals.

They fear that Sky's links to Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the conservative, climate-sceptic broadcaster Fox News, would risk losing core supporters and local groups, who are often seen as "deep" greens. Annual subscriptions from members account for 90% of FoE's £10m income.

Critics of the move claim that supporters will resign in protest. They also dispute BSkyB's green track record, since all its set-top boxes waste energy in standby mode, it promotes cheap flights, and it relies heavily on carbon offsetting - the system, opposed by FoE, where firms try to cancel out their own carbon emissions by planting trees or helping cut emissions by others.

Their protests were rejected by the board. Roger Higman, FoE's campaigns co-ordinator, said many of FoE's 150 staff supported the approach to Sky. The opportunity to reach nearly 9m homes and influence the broadcaster was too valuable to miss. BSkyB's corporate stance on cutting emissions put it in the "front rank" of British firms tackling global warming: "Climate change is an absolutely massive issue and we have got to persuade the British population to back, or at least accept, action to cut emissions by 90% over the next 50 years." Sky could be "potentially very influential" in achieving that. "We've a duty to explore this."

Other green groups, including the UK wing of the global environment group WWF, which secured a record $50m (£24.47m) sponsorship deal with the HSBC bank in 2002, have also put in bids. Around 170 charities have applied to become BSkyB's charity partner - the three-year deal has earned the current partner, Chickenshed Theatre Company, £1.7m in donations from Sky staff and customers.

BSkyB hopes to exceed that figure with its next charity, which could alternatively focus on sports, education or the arts. The broadcaster is due to unveil a shortlist of five charities this month. They will be invited to make a short film for Sky, whose viewers and staff will select the winner.

Other major environment groups have distanced themselves from Sky's offer. A spokesman for Greenpeace said: "We've an absolutely cast-iron position that we don't take any money from corporations. We're entirely funded by our members, so we wouldn't do that."

Sikkim locals protest hydel projects

Bano Haralu
(ndtv.com)

Monday, August 6, 2007 (Gangtok)

Prayers and protests have come together in Sikkim to stop the 26 hydel projects cleared for construction on the Teesta river. This is the longest ever hunger strike in Sikkim over any issue and is raising fundamental questions on the random sanctioning of dams along the Eastern Himalayas, considered one of the most volatile seismic and ecologically fragile areas in the world.
The total power generation expected from these projects is over 5000 MW, 25 times more than the states' requirement. The protest has been loudest from the indigenous Lepcha community as 13 of the 26 projects are proposed in this area.

The Lepchas say the hydel projects will destroy the protected Dzongu Reserve in North Sikkim, considered the cradle of Lepcha civilisation. But the government says it is a question of the greater good. The lepchas are only a small constituent in the area.

''We are very concerned about the strike by our young people especially from Dzungo and we are looking into it,'' said M G Kiran, Secretary Information and Public Relation. The protests have brought the issue of large dams to the centre stage. Nearly 150 of them are across north east India in some of the most ecologically fragile areas.

ButterflyIndia Meet 2007

What is this Meeting / Meet / Workshop / Seminar / Conference is officially called ?

"ButterflyIndia Meet 2007 : EG" Eastern Ghats (August 16-19, 2007)

How do I Register for the meet ?

Send the EG Registration form to Ushodayan (ushodayanthampy@yahoo.co.in) and cc to Vijay (vijay.barve@gmail.com)

For more details visit
http://butterflyindia.blogspot.com/

Sethusamudram Project - An economic assessment

SSCP inspires debate on what is public purpose
2 Aug, 2007, 0445 hrs IST,
Jacob John,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/SSCP_inspires_debate_on_what_is_public_purpose/articleshow/2249751.cms

Whether it is the opposition parties asking for the justification of the public purpose behind the land acquisition at Singur, or the Supreme Court querying the largescale acquisition of land from farmers, the meaning of public purpose is today under scrutiny.

Traditionally, the public purpose doctrine has been for public infrastructure projects like electricity, roads, railways and other projects that were deemed to be of strategic or particular importance. The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP) is similarly justified, with project proponents stating that it would save up to 36 hours of shipping time.

However, the detailed project report (DPR) itself states that the biggest saving will be for journeys from Tuticorin to Chennai, and it will, in fact, be 30 hours and not 36 as frequently claimed. Recently, many naval experts have repeatedly stated that with the exception of voyages from ports on the Indian west coast to the Indian east coast, there are unlikely to be any significant gains for ships that are making the voyage through the Sethusamudram canal.

This information is not reflected in the L&T Ramboll DPR, as it assumes that voyages for all ships begin either at Tuticorin or Kanyakumari. The savings for these ships may be acceptable: a reduction in time between 10 and 30 hours.

In dollar terms, a 20,000 dead weight tonne (DWT) ship save about $17,962 per voyage as per DPR. DPR hopes to charge 50% of this amount ($8,981) for ships using the canal. This represents a saving in time charter and fuel costs for ships using the canal. For ships coming from places like Europe and Africa, the average savings is just 8 hours!

A journey from Mauritius to Kolkata would actually be longer by nearly four hours for an average ship. The average savings for a 20,000 DWT ship, making a voyage from either Europe or Africa, is just $3,989: just 22% of the savings projected in DPR. The lack of gains for ships from Africa and Europe may not have been significant had it been a part of the project design and factored in the risks of the project.

However, 65% of the voyages (and hence revenue), as per DPR, originate from Africa, the Middle East and Europe. For ships from Africa and Europe, using the canal would mean making a loss of $4,992 on every voyage at the proposed tariff structure. Ships could be incentivised to use the canal (by reducing tariff rates).

The catch with that scenario is that the pre-tax IRR of the project then falls to just 2.6%! This is a level at which even public infrastructure projects are usually rejected. The project rests on a set of assumptions that are fundamentally flawed. It assumes savings for all ships are the same while they are actually very different. The public purpose of a reduction in shipping time is, in fact, not valid for most of the ships using the canal.

Neither does the project provide revenue for the government. If the aim of the government is to boost shipping along the peninsula, there are very good alternatives. The annual interest savings of the project could provide a subsidy of around Rs 250 crore that could be spent on upgrading the ports in Tuticorin and Chennai, as well as providing a subsidy to all ships calling at these ports.

Central to the debate on the public purpose of SSCP is the idea of public purpose itself. While projects are routinely justified on the grounds of a larger public purpose, there is little scrutiny or accountability to the public purpose that has been used to justify it.

If SSCP does not benefit the number of ships outlined in DPR, what are the mechanisms to ensure that the country at worst cuts its losses and at best penalises the project promoters? Building in an accountability mechanism to make sure that projects like SSCP do not prove to be a constant drain on the economy is an important step that we need to take to scrutinise the very generously overused terms of public purpose.

It will help build realism into the project design unlike the present where there is an incentive to exaggerate the benefits while neglecting or minimising cost.

(The author is a infrastructure economist) Email: j.t.john@gmail.com

[This article is an abridged version of a chapter from a larger report titled ‘Review of Environmental and Economic Impacts of the SSCP’ by
Sudarshan Rodriguez, Jacob John, Rohan Arthur, Kartik Shanker and Aarthi Sridhar which is to be published soon.]

A larger version of this article was published in the Economic and Political Weekly, VOL 42 No. 29 July 21 - July 27, 2007.
http://www.epw.org.in/epw/uploads/articles/10823.pdf