Can I get a recycled book, please?

Can I get a recycled book, please?
PANKAJ SEKHSARIA

The Hindu Young World
http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article3319934.ece

Would it surprise you if you were told that Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in the Harry Potter series. that you read in India may have been different from what a friend of yours read at the same time in Canada? And the same for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

Yes, there was a difference for sure, but it was not with the story that JK Rowling wrote. The stories were the same; the difference was in the way the books was produced. The 2003 “Order of the Phoenix” and the 2005 “Half-Blood Prince” were both printed in Canada on 100 per cent recycled paper in an explicit move to make the publishing industry more environment and forest friendly. Just this one act helped save 67,000 trees from the axe.

Green book

At the source of the initiative was a Greenpeace International Campaign to ‘green' the book publishing industry — a campaign that was supported by a number of well known authors such as JK Rowling, Ian Rankin, Günter Grass, and Isabel Allende. Greenpeace had noted that a majority of publishers particularly in Europe and North America were printing their books on paper linked to the destruction of ancient forests in countries such as Finland and Canada. They also found that children's books in South East Asia were directly contributing to the destruction of rainforests in Indonesia.

While this might be a snapshot of what is happening in other parts of the world, little is known of the situation in India. A quick visit to the book store or even the street corner magazine vendor is good enough to give an idea of this boom that has taken place in publishing here. Analysts of the publishing industry estimate that there are nearly 20,000 publishers in India and we produce almost one lakh (yes, one lakh) titles every year. India today stands as the third largest publishing country in the English-speaking world and seventh largest in the world.

The impact that this will have on the demand for paper, and for the trees and bamboo that paper is made from can well be imagined. According to the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association nearly 1,000,000 tons of waste paper are being currently recovered annually for the paper industry. While this is a huge quantity it turns out this recovery rate is about 20 per cent and much lower than the 65 per cent recovery achieved by many global players. There is huge potential for improvement here and in many other big and small ways

What you can do

Many interesting initiatives already exist in India where the culture of recycling and re-use has always existed. Parents carefully keep school books of the older children for their younger siblings and there are libraries which collect these school text books and then distribute them to those who can't afford them. Not only does this ensure the multiple use of a valuable resource it also helps the environment because new books don't have to be produced. Many homes and offices have a policy of not throwing away one sided paper but putting it to use, by sometimes even converting them to writing pads. There are also more formal efforts like the Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Sanghatana (http://www.wastepickerscollective.org/) in Pune and that of the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group (http://www.chintan-india.org/), in Delhi that work with communities involved in recycling waste to give them financial security, better working conditions and health care along with dignity and respect.

There is a bit that each one of us can also do. The effort actually needed is not a very big one, but the satisfaction this would give and the contribution it would make is huge.

PROTECTED AREA UPDATE - April 2012

PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVIII No. 2
April 2012 (No. 96)

LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
- The relocation conundrum

NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- MoEF over-rules independant experts, grants wildlife clearance for Lower Demwe HEP

ASSAM
- Manas NP receives four rhinos from Kaziranga
- No new stone crusher or any other industrial unit around Kaziranga NP

JHARKHAND
- Sniffer dog traces 32 kg ivory in Dalma WLS

KARNATAKA
- Five protected areas expanded
- Special Tiger Protection Force deployed in Karnataka
- Kudremukh TR proposal dropped; no expansion of Bhadra TR
- Task force constituted for mitigation of human-elephant conflict in Karnataka

KERALA
- Agitation planned against delay in relocation from Wayanad WLS

MADHYA PRADESH
- 1,700 vultures counted in Panna Tiger Reserve
- NGOs, activists allege atrocities in Satpura TR; demand implementation of FRA

MAHARASHTRA
- New sanctuaries adjoining Nagzira WLS, Bor WLS and Navegaon NP
- Jamni villagers set for relocation from Tadoba – Andhari TR
- Additional Rs. 3665.50 lakhs allocated for relocation of two villages from Melghat TR

MEGHALAYA
- Exercise for Bird inventory, REDD+ feasibility carried out in Balpakram Baghmara Landscape

ORISSA
- Number of Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilika drops to 145
- Orissa to set up elephant-friendly electricity structures

RAJASTHAN
- GPS monitoring of wildlife in Sariska TR
- Umri village moved out of Sariska TR
- Conservation Reserve status for Jawai Bandh forests

TAMIL NADU
- FD to create fodder resources for elephants in Coimbatore division
- Tribals oppose proposal for Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

UTTARAKHAND
- Inspection reveals poor condition of private captive elephants in Corbett NP
- NGT orders no tree felling on forestland diverted for Alaknanda-Badrinath HEP

WEST BENGAL
- West Bengal to compensate tea-garden workers’ losses caused by elephants
- Tourism facilities to be upgraded at Buxa TR

SOUTH ASIA
BANGLADESH
- Five-year long awareness campaign launched in Sundarbans
- NTPC power project near Sundarbans

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- Countries agree to crack down on trade in tiger parts

SPECIAL SECTION
IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS UPDATE

ANDHRA PRADESH
- Rs. Two crore project for development of Uppalapadu IBA
- Real estate threat to Pulicat lake

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- Nyamjang Chhu hydroelectric project threat to the Zemithang IBA

GUJARAT
- Proposal to expand Kutch Bustard Sanctuary by 37 sq kms
- Maldharis demand FRA titles over grasslands in the Banni IBA

MAHARASHTRA
- Gangewadi grassland included in GIB Sanctuary

ORISSA
- Census indicates 13 pc decline in birds at Chilika

UTTAR PRADESH
- Metro station to be named after Okhla Bird Sanctuary

THE SUPREME COURT
PRESS RELEASE: WORKSHOP - Fishery-Dependent Livelihoods, Conservation and
Sustainable Use of Biodiversity: The Case of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in India
Quick NEWS
FROM THE ARCHIVES: A Decade Ago
PERSPECTIVE
The grass can be green on both sides: Musings of a forester turned researcher

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EDITORIAL
'The relocation conundrum'

Maybe ‘violent controversy’ is a better term to describe the history of relocation from protected areas and the debates around this issue. Much has been said, argued, alleged and refuted in what is without doubt one of the most important, complex and unresolved issues on the conservation canvas of the country.
There is no common understanding, leave alone unanimity on the most basic of questions around relocation: Is relocation necessary at all? What’s wrong if people are willing to relocate voluntarily? What is voluntary relocation to begin with? What should be the process of relocation if there is a willingness? Should it be land for land or will financial compensation compensate justly?
For a while it appeared that the relocation issue had gone onto the back burner because we were not hearing about it a lot. It never disappeared for sure, because it was central in many of the discussions around the declaration of Critical Tiger Habitats, Critical Wildlife Habitats and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers Forest Rights Act, to name just a few of the larger policy and legal instruments. The sense one is now beginning to get is that a lot is happening on the ground; a lot more, that is, than in the recent past. This is what information and experiences from the ground seem to suggest and news reports in this issue of the PA Update, are perhaps, an indication of that.
A 2nd village from the Sariska Tiger Reserve has been moved recently, the 2nd phase of relocation has started from the Tadoba-Andhari TR in Maharashtra and a huge allocation has been approved for relocation from the Melghat Tiger Reserve in the same state. There have been some reports that successful relocation has prompted more families to come forward for the same. There is an agitation against the proposed Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve for fear of losing livelihoods (fear of relocation must certainly be on their minds as well) while in neighbouring Kerala the agitation is for just the opposite. Those living in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary here are upset that the scheme for their relocation is not being implemented promptly.
The issue might be relocation but five different stories seem to emerge from these five different sites. Are these reconcilable for us to have an overarching policy that is acceptable to all and can be made to work? How does one ensure the fundamental non-negotiables of equity, justice and sustainability? What values do we want to uphold and what will be the process to make that happen?
Puzzle, mystery, poser, riddle, problem, challenge…conundrum has many synonyms and clearly they all hold true when we discuss relocation from protected areas.

---
Protected Area Update
Vol. XVIII, No. 2, April 2012 (No. 96)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Peeyush Sekhsaria
Produced by
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, 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: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update

---
Publication of the PA Update has been supported by

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
Donations from a number of individual supporters

Information has been sourced from different newspapers and

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in
-----

THE ‘PA UPDATES FOR A 1000 FOREST STAFF Initiative

It is a matter of great satisfaction for the team at the Protected Area Update and at Kalpavriksh that the newsletter will be soon hitting the century mark. In it's 18th year of uninterrupted publication, the PA Update's 100th issue will be published in a few months time. We would like to thank all our supporters, well wishers and readers and hope that we will continue for another 100 issues as well if not more.
There is surely great scope for improvement in what the newsletter covers, how it is produced and how we reach out to an interested and relevant readership. As one effort at increasing the readership, particularly amongst the forest and wildlife staff, those at the very frontlines of conservation effort, we are launching this 'PA Updates for a 1000 forest staff' initiative.
It has been prompted by feedback to us that field staff often do not know what is happening in the policy arena, in other parts of the country and sometimes even in their own backyard.
We have set ourselves a target of being able to raise enough resources in six months time so that the 100th issue of the PA Update will go out to a set of 1000 forest staff with your support. We would like to request and encourage you to subscribe to the PA Update on behalf of forest staff - the more you can support the better. You tell us which particular state, region, protected area or particular individual or office in the forest staff you would like to reach out to and we will use your gift subscription to send the PA Update to that person or set of persons for a period of one year.
The annual subscription for this initiative of the PA Update will be only Rs. 100/-. You can support 100 such subscriptions or you can support even one!
We are sure you will agree that this is a campaign worth undertaking and that we will also get your support and contributions for this. If you need any more information or details, please certainly let me know. Please also circulate this widely on other networks that you might be part of and any other suggestions or ideas of how to make this successful are very welcome indeed.

THE PA UPDATE FOR A 1000 FOREST STAFF Initiative

Need support for this...
THE PA UPDATE FOR A 1000 FOREST STAFF Initiative

Dear Friends,
The PA Update is a bi-monthly newsletter published by Kalpavriksh that carries news and information on wildlife and protected areas from around the country. It is a matter of great satisfaction for the team at the Protected Area Update and at Kalpavriksh that the newsletter will be soon hitting the century mar...k. In it's 17 year of uninterrupted publication the PA Update's 100th issue will be published in a few months time. We would like to thank all our supporters, well wishers and readers and hope that we will continue for another 100 issues as well if not more.
There is surely great scope for improvement in what the newsletter covers, how it is produced and how we reach out to an interested and relevant readership. As one effort at increasing the readership particularly amongst the forest and wildlife staff, those at the very frontlines of conservation effort, we are launching this 'PA Updates for a 1000 forest staff' initiative.
It has been prompted by feedback to us that often field staff often do not know what is happening in the policy arena, in other parts of the country and often even in their own backyard.
We have set ourselves a target of being able to raise enough resources in six months time so that the 100th issue of the PA Update will go out to a set of 1000 forest staff with your support. We would like to request and encourage you to subscribe to the PA Update on behalf of forest staff - the more you can support the better. You tell us which particular state, region, protected area or particular individual or office in the forest staff you would like to reach out to and we will use your gift subscription to send the PA Update to that person or set of persons for a period of one year.
As we have mentioned in recent mails the annual subscription for the PA Update is Rs. 150, but for this campaign the annual subscription will be only Rs. 100/-. You can support 100 such subscriptions or you can support even one!

We are sure you will agree that this is a campaign worth undertaking and that we will also get your support and contributions for this. If you need any more information or details, please certainly let me know. Please also circulate this widely on other networks that you might be part of and any other suggestions or ideas of how to make this successful are very welcome indeed.

Thanking you
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh
Email: psekhsaria@gmail.com

An intricate web

PANKAJ SEKHSARIA

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article2857008.ece
Unlike the rest of India, tribal rights and conservation are not at the opposite ends of the spectrum in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Yet, there are challenges.

In a national scenario where wildlife conservation and tribal rights have ended up at the extreme ends of an acrimonious spectrum, the situation in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands stands out in stark relief. We have here a situation where the protection of the indigenous peoples, the forests and the islands' biodiversity including its rich bird life are all intricately linked. Evidence suggests, in fact, that forests protected legally in the islands as tribal reserves are more important for wildlife and biodiversity conservation than the protected area network created under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Wildlife conservation

The islands have 105 protected areas (wildlife sanctuaries and national parks) which constitute a significant percentage of the all India number of a little over 600. Yet, it has been argued that they don't actually play an important ecological role in the islands. Most of these protected areas (PAs) are tiny islands and rocky outcrops that sometimes have an area of as little as a few hectares. The largest forest area protected for wildlife in the Andamans, for instance, is the 133 sq km Interview Island Wildlife Sanctuary. Importantly, this island experienced intense and sustained timber extraction operations till about the middle of the 1960s. Compare this with the 1,000 sq km Jarawa Tribal Reserve that is spread over three large islands (South, Middle and North Andaman) and the implications are obvious. That a significant part of this tribal reserve has never been subject to any timber extraction operations underlines the importance of the reserve from an ecological and biodiversity point of view.

That the islands are important for bird conservation here is evident in the fact that 19 areas have been identified here as Important Bird Areas under a programme coordinated by the Bombay Natural History Society. Significantly, six of the 19 IBAs are those areas that are designated as tribal reserves. These include the islands of Car Nicobar, Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar, Tillangchong, Camorta, Katchal, Nancowry and Trinkat, all in the Nicobar Islands (they have been together classified into three different IBAs) and the Jarawa Reserve, Little Andaman, and North and South Sentinel in the Andaman group of islands.

Tribal reserves

At the heart of the story, then, is the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANPATR) that was created in 1956 and under whose provisions large areas of forests and adjoining seas have been designated as tribal reserves. This includes the entire group of the Nicobar Islands (about 1,900 sq km) and four tribal reserves in the Andaman Islands (nearly 1,600 sq km). The Andaman reserves are named after the four aboriginal negrito communities that have been living in these islands for at least 40,000 years: the Great Andamanese, the Jarawas, the Onge and the Sentinelese. These reserves, then, are not just critical to ensure the natural resource base and cultural security of these tribal communities, they are central also to the ecological security of this unique group of islands. Research over the years by a host of organisations including the A&N Forest Department, the Zoological and Botanical Surveys of India, the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Team and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History has shown that these tribal reserves have some of the most pristine mangroves, coastal systems, turtle nesting beaches, tropical evergreen forests and a number of other important habitats that still survive in these islands.

Conservation challenges

The challenges, however, are more complex than they appear at first. One of the biggest has been the large influx of people from mainland India. The population in the islands has grown six fold from about 60,000 in 1960 to an estimated 3,80,000 today as per 2011 census. The population of the indigenous communities on the other hand (Onges – 100 and the Jarawas – 375) is extremely small and has remained steady over the many decades. The situation clearly demands careful intervention. One such framework was provided by the orders of the Supreme Court, which were passed in 2002 in response to a public interest litigation filed by non-governmental organisations. The court had asked for putting in place an inner line area system to prevent the influx of people, stopping commercial timber extraction, removal of encroachments, phasing out of sand mining from the island's beaches, use of appropriate construction materials, closure of the Andaman and Nicobar Forest Plantation and Development Corporation that had been logging the forests of Little and Middle Andaman since the 1970s; and closure of the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) where it runs through and along the forests in the Jarawa Reserve.

Nearly a decade later, many of these orders have not been implemented. The population influx continues, little effort has been made to move to more island-friendly methods of construction and the ATR still remains open to traffic. The Member of Parliament for the islands recently even argued for the mainstreaming of the Jarawa and for the denotification of the Jarawa Tribal Reserve so that the land and forests could be made available for development.

Other new challenges are also showing up on the canvas. In October 2011, the National Board for Wildlife was asked to give permission to the Indian Navy to set up a temporary missile testing site on the Tillangchong Island in the Nicobar group. A decision on this is still awaited but here is a classic illustration of what this article is all about. Tillangchong Island is a wildlife sanctuary and an Important Bird Area with important populations of the endemic Nicobar Megapode. It is a tribal reserve under the provisions of the ANPATR and is also of traditional cultural and religious importance to the Nicobari tribal community. The challenges and the opportunities are as clear as they can be!

Pankaj Sekhsaria is a member of the environmental organisation Kalpavriksh.

Protected Area Update, February 2012

PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVIII No. 1
February 2012 (No. 95)

LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Wildlife’s infrastructure nightmare

NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ANDHRA PRADESH
- Proposed highway through Nallamala threatens tiger population

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- New moth species discovered in Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

ASSAM
- Vanya Prani Mitra Awards for forest staff
- Tea estate, permanent structures in elephant corridor in Ripu-Chirang Elephant Reserve
- Two rhinos shifted from Pobitora to Manas TR
- 14 tigers in transboundary Manas; four photographed on both sides of boundary
- Elephants run over by train in Gibbon WLS
- Tigress in Kaziranga NP shot to death by 15 bullets; police, FD hold each other responsible
- Acute funds shortage hits Assam national parks

GOA
- Exclude eco-sensitive zones from mining: WGEEP
- Goa minister challenges Mhadei WLS notification

HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Snow Leopard research centre for Spiti valley

JHARKHAND
- Elephant rescue centre at Dalma WLS

KARNATAKA
- HC upholds order for night closure of road through Nagarhole NP
- High Court says no to translocation of elephants to Cauvery WLS
- Minister seeks reconsideration of plan for extension of Pushpagiri WLS

KERALA
- Reduction in funds puts protected areas at risk
- Model to predict human-elephant conflict zones
- Survey records 176 species of butterflies in Shendurney WLS

MAHARASHTRA
- Coal mining destroying tiger habitat around Tadoba-Andhari TR: Greenpeace report
- RFOs finally appointed in Mansingdeo WLS

ORISSA
- Orissa proposes to use CAMPA funds to fix electrical lines causing elephant deaths
- Controversial Dhamra port located in the vicinity of Bhitarkanika, Gahirmatha finally commissioned

TAMIL NADU
- Tiger population in Sathyamangalam WLS at least 25
- Over 10,000 kgs of sea cucumber seized in Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve in year 2011

UTTARAKHAND
- Over 100 leopard deaths in Uttarakhand in 2011
- Twice rejected by FAC, hydro-project in buffer zone of Nanda Devi BR gets MoEF approval

NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Awards -2011
- Solar power driven systems installed in 15 TRs
- Any citizen entitled to move Green panel: NGT
- Elephant population on the rise in the country
- MoEF seeks hike in funds for two wildlife schemes
- Virtual fencing to protect forests, wildlife
- 51 tigers died in 2011
- Nation-wide bear survey

SOUTH ASIA
SRI LANKA
- Sri Lanka allocates Rs 1,120 million for elephants for 2012

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- Joint raid in four countries against wildlife trade

IN THE SUPREME COURT

SPECIAL SECTION - IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS UPDATE

ANDHRA PRADESH
- Five year management plan for Pulicat lake
- Fear over impact on Kolleru WLS of drilling in the K-G basin

GUJARAT
- Greater Flamingoes being electrocuted by high tension power lines in Kutch and Bhavnagar
- Real estate development, industrialization threaten Nal Sarovar

HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Satellite-collared Ruddy Shelduck returns to Pong Lake WLS from China

KERALA
- Hornbill nesting sites to be monitored with help of tribal community

MAHARASHTRA
- Flamingo sanctuary proposed along Thane creek in Mumbai
- Mumbai Trans Harbour Link to impact Sewri Mudflats; NGO seeks re-alignment of route

RAJASTHAN
- Shonkalia grassland near Ajmer to be developed keeping GIB and Lesser florican in mind

NATIONAL NEWS
- Recovery plan for GIB and Lesser Florican

FROM THE ARCHIVES: A Decade Ago
PERSPECTIVE
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EDITORIAL
'Wildlife’s infrastructure nightmare'

More roads that penetrate deeper, railway lines that connect better and faster, dam projects for power and irrigation, coal mining for more electricity, high-tension power lines to evacuate that electricity…. This is one side of India’s infrastructure and constantly lauded growth story.
There is another side to that very story which reads something like the following: Roads that cut through rich forests, railways lines that regularly kill elephants, dam projects that drown pristine forests and wildlife habitats, coal mining that rips apart tiger corridors, high tension lines that kill elephants in Orissa and flamingoes in Gujarat…
From the Nallamalla forests of Andhra Pradesh to the valley of the Alaknanda in Uttarakhand; from the elephant forests of Orissa to the Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat – the story is the same – what is unfolding is nothing short of a nightmare for India’s wildlife. The infrastructure for our automobiles, power and lifestyles is leaving nothing of the natural infrastructure that the wild denizens need. As we travel faster, longer, and deeper and as the GDP becomes the only mantra, the elephants, the tigers, the leopards and even the flamingoes are getting hemmed in more and more with every passing day.
The fate of the flamingoes in Gujarat highlights this starkly. Their only option on being disturbed at night by vehicular noise in the Great Rann was to fly into high-tension wires hanging above and get charred instantly. Between the vehicle and the wire, India’s beleaguered wildlife is getting sandwiched and slaughtered like never before.
One ‘eco’ – the economic is soaring as everything ecologic is being torn to shreds. The tragic irony is that the same system sells to us and to the world the prowling tiger, the gamboling elephant, the soaring birds and, yes, the dancing tribal as ‘Incredible India’. We at the PA Update are part of a small crowd that’s watching on with incredulity. And with despair.
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PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
Vol. XVIII, No. 1, February 2012 (No. 95)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Peeyush Sekhsaria
Produced by:
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, 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: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update

Publication of the PA Update has been supported by

- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/
- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES
- Donations from a number of individual supporters
---
Information has been sourced from different newspapers and
http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in

'Because Andaman's forests are Jarawa infested …'

Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2811842.ece

Infestation, in'fes•ta'tion n. the state of being invaded or overrun by pests or parasites. Do people inhabit the lands and forests that they have been living in for thousands of years or do they infest them? The answer to this no-brainer of a question might well lie at the root of the problem being faced by the Jarawas in the Andaman Islands today. The video showing the Jarawa women dancing on the Andaman Trunk Road, apparently for food, is just the latest manifestation of a malaise that is so deep that one might well argue that there is no hope for the Jarawa.

In 1965, the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Government of India, published an important document related to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands: ‘The Report by the Inter Departmental Team on Accelerated Development Programme for A&N Islands.' The contents of the report and their purpose were evident in the title itself — it laid out the roadmap for the development of these islands and set the stage for what was to happen over the decades that have followed.

This little known report of less than a 100 pages in size is remarkable for the insight it provides into the thinking and the mindset of the times. There is what one might call a shocker on every page of this document and here is a just a sampling:

Page 26: …The Jarawas have been uniformly hostile to all outsiders with the result that about half the Middle Andaman is treated as a Jarawa infested (emphasis added) area which is difficult for any outsider to venture… With the present road construction and the colonisation of the forest fringes, friction has become more frequent, and no month passes without a case of attack by the Jarawas.

Page 69: The completion of the Great Andaman Trunk Road would go a long way to help in the extraction of forest produces...

A nation that had just fought its way out of the ignominy of being a colony was well on the way to becoming a coloniser itself. And those that came in the way could only be pests or parasites infesting the forests that had valuable resources locked away from productive use.

It is also pertinent to note here that in 1957 itself, more than a 1000 sq. km of these “Jarawa infested” forests of South and Middle Andaman had already been declared protected as a Jarawa Tribal Reserve under the provisions of the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANPATR) — 1956. The 1965 report was in complete violation, or was a result of complete ignorance of this legal protection to the Jarawa and the forests that they have inhabited for thousands of years.

The seeds that were sown then have bloomed into myriad noxious weeds today and if one knows this history, the latest video that has generated so much heat is not in the bit surprising. Much space in the media, both print and electronic, has been occupied in the last few days by a range of claims and counter claims — about the date of the video, about the police involvement in its making, the role of tour operators and about fixing blame and responsibility. A little known fact that lies at the root of the issue has been all but forgotten — the existence of the Andaman Trunk Road, where this infamous video was shot about three years ago. The Andaman Trunk Road that the 1965 report offered as a good way of extracting resources from the forests of the Jarawa had been ordered shut by a Supreme Court order of 2002.

It's been a decade now and in what can only be called audacious defiance, the administration of this little Union Territory has wilfully violated orders of the highest court of the land. A series of administrators have come and gone but contempt for the Supreme Court remains.

Whenever asked about the order, the administration has tried to hide behind technicalities of interpreting the court order and arguing that the court had never ordered the road shut in the first place. They forget that in March 2003, a few months after the SC orders had been passed, they had themselves filed an affidavit with a plea to “permit the use/movement through the Andaman Trunk Road.” If it was not ordered shut, why the plea to keep it open? A few months later, in July 2003, the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee reiterated explicitly that the court orders include those for the closure of the ATR in those parts where it runs through the forests of the Jarawa Tribal Reserve. The A&N administration has clearly violated the court's order both in letter and in spirit.

It is a spirit that was evocatively articulated by Dr. R.K. Bhattacharchaya, former Director of the Anthropological Survey of India, in a report he submitted to the Calcutta High Court in 2004. “The ATR”, he said, “is like a public thoroughfare through a private courtyard… In the whole of human history, we find that the dominant group for their own advantage has always won over the minorities, not always paying attention to the issue of ethics. Closure of the ATR would perhaps be the first gesture of goodwill on part of the dominant towards an acutely marginalized group almost on the verge of extinction”.

The video in all its perversity offers us another opportunity, when all others in the past have been brushed aside either due to ignorance, arrogance or then sheer apathy. It's still not too late to make that ‘gesture of goodwill' because otherwise there will be many more such videos down the years and much worse will follow. The lessons from history are very clear on this. And it will hardly be a consolation that a few people will be left saying we told you so.

(The writer is associated with Kalpavriksh, one of the three NGOs whose petition before the Supreme Court resulted in orders for the closure of the Andaman Trunk Road in 2002. He is also the author of Troubled Islands — Writings on the indigenous peoples and environment of the A&N Islands.)




This is a three picture set that shows a Jarawa woman being given some eatables by the driver of a passenger bus on that section of the Andaman Trunk Road that has been ordered shut by the Supreme Court. The pictures were taken in February 2003, a few months after the SC orders of May 2002, and were also submitted to the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee as evidence of continued and undesirable interaction taking place on the Andaman Trunk Road. I was sitting inside and at the back end of the bus when taking the pictures. Photo: Pankaj Sekhsaria

Protected Area Update - December 2011

Dear Friends,
Below is the list of contents and editorial from the new issue of the Protected Area Update (Vol. XVII, No. 6, December 2011).
If you would like to receive the entire issue as an attachment, please write to me.
thanks
Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editor, Protected Area Update
C/o Kalpavriksh


PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia

Vol. XVII No. 6
December 2011 (No. 94)

LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
A rich and diverse menu

NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS
- Navy proposes missile testing on Tillongchang WLS; NBWL to inspect site

ANDHRA PRADESH
- Opposition to road inside Kambalakonda WLS
- More than 90 tigers at Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
- NBWL sub-committee to study impact of Demwe Lower on Kamlang WLS

ASSAM
- Villagers in Khalingduar Reserve Forest, adjoining Bornadi WLS perform Ganesh puja to keep jumbos at bay
- Dam projects to impact Dibru-Saikhowa NP; public hearing postponed indefinitely
- Home guards, casual workers protecting PAs not paid for seven months; quitting posts
- Kaziranga NP opens to tourists four days before schedule
- Two Malinoises (Belgian shepherd dogs) for anti-poaching operations at Kaziranga NP

GOA
- Centre asks Goa to cancel nod to mines within 10 km radius of PAs

GUJARAT
- Maldharis threaten agitation against eviction from Gir
- Forest officer transferred for stopping lion shows in Gir; challenges transfer order

HIMACHAL PRADESH
- Sainj power project threatens Great Himalayan NP

JAMMU & KASHMIR
- Hangul population on the rise
- Wildlife awareness camp conducted near Sudhmahadev Conservation Reserve

JHARKHAND
- Elephant bridges to be built over canals in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary
- Mushroom cultivation project initiated near Hazaribagh WLS

KARNATAKA
- Greater Talacauvery NP opposed as it may displace more than two lakh people
- Nagarhole guards allege intimidation by kin of senior police official; threaten strike
- Extension of Bisile Reserve Forest range for creation of elephant corridor meets opposition
- More speed barriers on highways inside Bandipur National Park
- Move to restore night traffic through Bandipur Tiger Reserve
- Community forest rights for Soligas in the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary

KERALA
- 45 frog species sighted in Shendurney WLS
- Ornithological survey of Malabar records 341 species
- 10 year, Rs. 58.8 crore tiger conservation plan for Parambikulam TR

MADHYA PRADESH
- 25 tribal women to be trained as wildlife guides in Kanha TR

MAHARASHTRA
- Farmers, villagers oppose Sahyadri Tiger Reserve

MANIPUR
- Climate change threatens Keibul Lamjao NP

MEGHALAYA
- Meghalaya claims 47 tigers in state: seeks detailed tiger survey

ORISSA
- Crocodile attack leads to ban on collection of nalia grass from Bhitarkanika NP
- Housing projects coming up adjacent to Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary

RAJASTHAN
- FD to train Sariska TR villagers in wildlife protection
- Rs 5 crore, 5 year ‘Project Panther’ adjoining Kumbhalgarh WLS
- Water from Ajan Bund released for Keoladeo NP

SIKKIM
- FD’s GPS mappings helped pilots in earthquake relief in Dzongu

TAMIL NADU
- Sathyamangalam WLS expanded to 1410 sq kms

WEST BENGAL
- Elephant calf killed by a train inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary
- State to get Rs 400 crore loan from JICA for wildlife conservation
- Honey bees, chilli crackers to scare away elephants in North Bengal
- Domestic elephant shelter in Jaldapara not safe from wild elephants


NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
- Genetics helping to trace tiger poaching
- RBS Awards for wildlife conservation

SOUTH ASIA
- Simultaneous tiger estimation in Manas across Indian, Bhutanese border

NEPAL
- Invasive climber poses threat to Chitwan NP
SRI LANKA
- UNESCO seeks report on the alleged road through Sinharaja forests
- Kodigahakanda forest to be declared a wildlife sanctuary

UPCOMING
- National Conference on Biodiversity Assessment, Conservation and Utilisation

OPPURTUNITIES
- Openings with FERAL for work in the Western Ghats

IN THE SUPREME COURT
READERS WRITE
PERSPECTIVE
- When students discuss conservation science

EDITORIAL

- A rich and diverse menu -

It is only a subjective assessment, but one can say with confidence that the PA Update this time has one of the most richly diverse set of stories that have appeared within the covers of one single issue of this bimonthly. The issue covers a period of about three months prior to its publication and yet one sees the range and diversity of subjects that wildlife conservation in India deals with. Many of these issues have been regularly covered in earlier editions of the PA Update, but what is striking this time is so many of them coming together in the way they have.
There are stories from areas that have never been reported on before such as the Tillongchang Wildlife Sanctuary in the Nicobar Islands and the Sudhmahadev Conservation Reserve in J&K. The last few weeks have, for example, also seen the death of one elephant calf each in a train accident (again!) in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and in a road accident in Bandipur National Park (NP). While the Karnataka Forest Department is planning more speed breakers on roads inside the park to prevent speeding vehicles, the Kerala government and the Centre are seeking to revoke the ban on night traffic in Bandipur imposed to prevent, precisely these kinds of accidents. In Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, we have a situation where an NGO is opposing road construction inside Kambalakonda WLS for fear that it will increase encroachments inside.
The plight of field staff in protected areas is seen again in Assam and also in the Nagarhole NP. Home Guards who are the frontline of protection have been deserting their posts in Assam in huge numbers because they’ve not been paid salaries for more than seven months. In Nagarhole they’ve been forced to threaten a strike because they are being intimidated by police and their kin because they are merely performing their duties. In Gujarat the Maldhari community is protesting moves to evict them from the Gir NP, while in a significant first in the Biligiri Rangan Temple WLS in Karnataka the Soliga tribals have been granted community forest rights under the provision of the Forest Rights Act. There is what might otherwise be called the quirky kind of news too – the domestic elephant shelter in Mahananda WLS not being safe from raids by wild elephants, villagers in the vicinity of Bornadi WLS in Assam performing Ganesh puja to keep the wild pachyderms at bay and Kaziranga NP being opened to tourists four days before schedule because of pressure from the tourists.
There is good news as well – a reported increase in the population of the hangul in Kashmir and two encouraging results from surveys in Kerala – one on birds, the other on frogs. The most unexpectedly pleasant report however is one from Sikkim – GIS mapping done by the FD including that for PAs and wildlife conservation played a key role in helping helicopters of Army and other missions to locate, reach and then provide relief to remote communities that had been cut off due to the devastating earthquake of September 18, earlier this year.
All of this is evidence, if any is needed indeed, that there is much much more to conservation in India than the obsession with certain charismatic species or certain issues, be it poaching or relocation of communities from protected areas. These too are important but if we are not aware of and don’t deal with this complexity and diversity, the solutions will never be found. There are also huge opportunities here for researchers, academics, policy makers, the media, and all the others who care about the fate of India’s wild wealth.
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Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 6, December 2011 (No. 94)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria;
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar;
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Peeyush Sekhsaria
Produced by:
The Documentation and Outreach Centre, 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: http://kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update
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Publication of the PA Update has been supported by

- Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
http://fes.org.in/

- Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust
C/o FES

- MISEREOR
www.misereor.org

- Donations from a number of individual supporters
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Information has been sourced from different newspapers and

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in