PROTECTED AREA UPDATE
News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia
Vol. XVII No. 3; June 2011 (No. 91)
The entire issue can be downloaded at
http://www.kalpavriksh.org/protected-area-update/204-protected-area-update-2011
LIST OF CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
The business of reports
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
ASSAM
Train-elephant collision averted in Deepor Beel
Commercial fishing threat to Missamari beel
Genetic assessment of tigers at Manas TR
Three forest staff killed in animal attacks in Kaziranga NP since January
GUJARAT
First satellite tagging of Whale shark in Gujarat
Mobile van to deal with human-animal conflicts around Gir
Maldharis petition government opposing their relocation from Gir
HARYANA
Master-plan for Sultanpur NP
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Two day workshop on ‘Practicing Responsible Tourism’
JHARKHAND
MoEF issues draft notification for Dalma Eco-Sensitive Zone
KARNATAKA
Petitioner seeks stay on Banerghatta night safari in Supreme Court
Public hearing held to declare Konchavaram Wildlife Sanctuary
Small temples mushrooming in Bandipur, Nagarhole NPs
KERALA
Proposal to declare Kattampally a Ramsar wetland
Prolonged summer rain reduces wildfires in Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary
MADHYA PRADESH
Environment minister ‘No’ to rail and river linking projects for fear of impact on Panna TR
Fourth tiger shifted to Panna TR
MAHARASHTRA
Forest union threatens to shut down tiger reserves
High Court not against windmills in and around Koyna WLS
Reshuffle at the top of the Maharashtra FD
Naxals trying to make inroads into Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve
Corridor adjoining Tadoba Andhari TR threatened by Gosikhurd Canal project
Joint meeting to discuss conservation of Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
ORISSA
More than 3.5 lakh turtles nest at Gahirmatha in February – March, 2011
RAJASTHAN
Clearance to five major projects in and around protected areas
CEC orders stoppage of construction work inside Ranthambhore TR
Rajasthan Government announces Amrita Devi Vishnoi Smriti Puraskar
Forest Training Centre at Jaipur
TAMIL NADU
Field Learning Centre at KMTR
Fear of forest fires results in closure of Mudumalai TR in April; mixed reactions
UTTARAKHAND
Rs. 65 crore for relocation of Sunderkhal village from Corbett TR
Villagers given land for relocation from Chilla – Motichur wildlife corridor
NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA
11th Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Awards
Funding Assistance in 2010-11 for village relocation under Project Tiger
Army and ITBP help sought for snow leopard conservation
Population Estimate of Tigers in 2006 and 2010
Funds Released under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Project Elephant’
Recently released reports on wildlife and conservation issues…
SOUTH ASIA
Workshop on conservation of the Black-necked crane through regional cooperation
World Bank approves $36 million for conservation in Bangladesh and $3 million for Nepal
NEPAL
Red Pandas spotted in Ilam forests of Nepal
SRI LANKA
Elephant census in Sri Lanka
OPPORTUNITIES
Positions at the Wildlife Trust of India
UPCOMING
Course on Geo-informatics and its application for Biodiversity
IN THE SUPREME COURT
SPECIAL SECTION: The Forest Rights Act, Protected Areas and Wildlife Conservation
New draft guidelines for declaration of Critical Wildlife Habitats
MAHARASHTRA
FRA blamed for forest destruction in Yaval WLS and adjoining areas
Concern over non-implementation of FRA in Bhimashankar WLS, surrounding areas
UTTAR PRADESH
Surma, Golbhji tribals get land titles in Dudhwa NP under FRA
PERSPECTIVE: Wildlife and the media
EDITORIAL
THE BUSINESS OF REPORTS
One field of activity in wildlife research that is flourishing is the business of producing reports. Researchers, NGOs, the government - are all always busy and working hard towards this end. This issue of the PA Update (see Pg 18) has a brief list of reports on wildlife related issues that have been released in the last few weeks. There is a comprehensive report on human-elephant conflict in the country: a set of guidelines on management of human-leopard conflict; another on the status of the extremely threatened Lesser Florican; and one on the evergreen subject of tiger numbers in India.
That these and most other reports are the outcome of hard work, sincere effort and of commitment to find solutions to vexing problems is undeniable. That they are welcome and valuable is also something most will agree to. But the question, and this is what most researchers always dread, is related to what use these reports are being put to. Are they being used at all? Are they having impact? How does one evaluate the reach and influence of an outcome that so much time, money and energy has gone into? These are questions that have no easy answers and often there is disappointment and frustration that the reports get into the shelves of various institutions, particularly the government, and gather dust.
Comparing the reports of two government constituted task forces, one on the tiger and the recent one on the elephant, does throw light on what can actually happen. Many of the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force were implemented with considerable urgency and the National Tiger Conservation Authority was constituted with a renewed mandate and greater political commitment. Additional resources were made available and even a new method for tiger census was put in place. One may not agree with some of the policies or the way others have been implemented but there is no denial that things have moved on the ground.
The same can certainly not be said of the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force. Eight months have passed since it was agreed that the elephant would be the National Heritage animal and yet nothing is to be heard of the National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA). The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has in fact decided against the constitution of the NECA. Some commentators have argued that the interests of the mining and industrial sectors might be playing a key role because if the NECA is formed and the recommendations are implemented, large land and forest areas will become unavailable for extraction. If this is indeed true, it points to a rather sorry state of affairs - one that can only invoke hopelessness.
If an animal like the elephant can be let down in this manner what hope might be there for the floricans, the leopards and the many other forms of less glamorous wildlife. What then is the use of all this research and towards what end are the recommendations sought and many reports commissioned? Wildlife surely does not have time on its side and the government certainly needs to show more sincerity and commitment than this.
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Protected Area Update
Vol. XVII, No. 3, June 2011 (No. 91)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
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
www.wildlifewatch.in
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday, April 30, 2011
When the Chenchus get a wildlife award
Three members of the Chenchu tribal community who work as forest guards in the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) were recently award the Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife service award for protecting the forests and the wildlife here. The citation with the award given to Arthi Venkatesham, Bhumani Venkatesham and Damsam Mallaiah is effusive in its praise and appreciation of the three: “They are living proof,” it reads, “that change is possible. Among our nation’s most celebrated tribal communities, the Chenchus were once hunter gatherers. Instead of being lured by the all-powerful wildlife trade, these young men, more visionary than most of their urban counterparts, chose to join forces with forest officials as far back as 2001 and are now key to the park’s anti-poaching strategy… Researchers say that these tribal guards are able to provide them with in-depth information on the behaviour, hunting, nesting and breeding of various wild species…They have demonstrated that yesterday’s traditions and skills can effectively be used to solve today’s wildlife problems. This is why we have honoured them.”
There are at least 300 other Chenchu tribals who work with the forest department here and there are others too who say they are doing a wonderful job. The support and recognition that has been given to members of this tribal community on the frontline of protection is without doubt, most welcome.
The issue however is a more complex and to understand it one needs to look at the larger picture, and the many slippery slopes one has to negotiate.
The Chenchus are a ‘Primitive Tribal Group’ for whom the forests of this tiger reserve have been home for centuries. They have lived life as hunter gatherers long before the formation of the tiger reserve or wildlife conservation became a topic of concern. Nearly 1000 Chenchu families spread over 24 hamlets continue to live here but that could be soon a thing of the past. India’s forest and wildlife laws will not allow them to continue living here because our sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves have to be made ‘inviolate’ in the interests of wildlife.
It is extremely sardonic that three Chenchus have been honoured by a wildlife community that continues, simultaneously, to clamour for their displacement from the very forest they call home. This has been most visibly evident is the vehement opposition to the recently notified the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA for short) that gives the Chenchus and 100s of other such tribal communities in the country, rights that have been historically denied to them. It is more than ironic that Sanctuary Asia, the country’s premier wildlife magazine that awarded the Chenchus has been at forefront of the opposition to the FRA and continues even today to log the notification of the law as a critical marker on its ‘Tiger Doomsday Clock’. They can be given awards for protecting wildlife, but if you give them rights, it’s a step towards doom!
What has been remarkable in the ‘inviolate’ debate is that the burden is repeatedly thrust on the most marginal and vulnerable communities that live in these forests. Mining for uranium, prospecting for diamonds, drilling for irrigation projects and killing of wild animals (including leopards and bears) in road accidents is going on inside the forests of the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve, but for the forest and wildlife establishment it is the Chenchus that have to go. A part of what is now the NSTR was in fact notified as a Chenchu Tribal Reserve in 1942. It was, for reasons not very clear, never renewed after independence.
A situation similar to that of the Chenchu is being experienced by the Soliga tribals that live in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The community is opposing the creation of a tiger reserve here and its subsequent declaration as a Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) for fear that the forests will become inaccessible to them. Over 5000 Soligas live in 22 podus (settlements) in what will be the core area and are dependant on these forests for their survival.
A unique long term research project being carried out by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology (ATREE) in collaboration with the Soligas has shown that their harvest of non-timber forest produce (honey, lichen, gooseberry and shikakai) from the BRT forests is done sustainably. The Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha has even argued that tiger numbers in the sanctuary had increased in recent years; that they were not consulted before the taking the tiger reserve decision and there can be no justification for the displacement of the community. Nobody seems to be listening however.
The contradictions are clear and lie at the heart of the challenges that conservation in India is going to face in the coming years. We can prevent the situation going from bad to the absurd if we open our minds, recognise our paradoxes and deal with the situation head on. Alternatively, we can chose to bury our heads, duck the problems and institute more awards. The later option may have more takers but will offer fewer solutions! The choice really is for us to make.
---
An abridged version of this piece appeared in the New Indian Express on 10th April, 2011
There are at least 300 other Chenchu tribals who work with the forest department here and there are others too who say they are doing a wonderful job. The support and recognition that has been given to members of this tribal community on the frontline of protection is without doubt, most welcome.
The issue however is a more complex and to understand it one needs to look at the larger picture, and the many slippery slopes one has to negotiate.
The Chenchus are a ‘Primitive Tribal Group’ for whom the forests of this tiger reserve have been home for centuries. They have lived life as hunter gatherers long before the formation of the tiger reserve or wildlife conservation became a topic of concern. Nearly 1000 Chenchu families spread over 24 hamlets continue to live here but that could be soon a thing of the past. India’s forest and wildlife laws will not allow them to continue living here because our sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves have to be made ‘inviolate’ in the interests of wildlife.
It is extremely sardonic that three Chenchus have been honoured by a wildlife community that continues, simultaneously, to clamour for their displacement from the very forest they call home. This has been most visibly evident is the vehement opposition to the recently notified the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA for short) that gives the Chenchus and 100s of other such tribal communities in the country, rights that have been historically denied to them. It is more than ironic that Sanctuary Asia, the country’s premier wildlife magazine that awarded the Chenchus has been at forefront of the opposition to the FRA and continues even today to log the notification of the law as a critical marker on its ‘Tiger Doomsday Clock’. They can be given awards for protecting wildlife, but if you give them rights, it’s a step towards doom!
What has been remarkable in the ‘inviolate’ debate is that the burden is repeatedly thrust on the most marginal and vulnerable communities that live in these forests. Mining for uranium, prospecting for diamonds, drilling for irrigation projects and killing of wild animals (including leopards and bears) in road accidents is going on inside the forests of the Nagarjunsagar – Srisailam Tiger Reserve, but for the forest and wildlife establishment it is the Chenchus that have to go. A part of what is now the NSTR was in fact notified as a Chenchu Tribal Reserve in 1942. It was, for reasons not very clear, never renewed after independence.
A situation similar to that of the Chenchu is being experienced by the Soliga tribals that live in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. The community is opposing the creation of a tiger reserve here and its subsequent declaration as a Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) for fear that the forests will become inaccessible to them. Over 5000 Soligas live in 22 podus (settlements) in what will be the core area and are dependant on these forests for their survival.
A unique long term research project being carried out by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Environment and Ecology (ATREE) in collaboration with the Soligas has shown that their harvest of non-timber forest produce (honey, lichen, gooseberry and shikakai) from the BRT forests is done sustainably. The Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha has even argued that tiger numbers in the sanctuary had increased in recent years; that they were not consulted before the taking the tiger reserve decision and there can be no justification for the displacement of the community. Nobody seems to be listening however.
The contradictions are clear and lie at the heart of the challenges that conservation in India is going to face in the coming years. We can prevent the situation going from bad to the absurd if we open our minds, recognise our paradoxes and deal with the situation head on. Alternatively, we can chose to bury our heads, duck the problems and institute more awards. The later option may have more takers but will offer fewer solutions! The choice really is for us to make.
---
An abridged version of this piece appeared in the New Indian Express on 10th April, 2011
Tall Tails
Travel & Error
Tall Tails
A roaring time in tiger country
Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270828
Halkat is a word in Marathi that has no English equivalent that I can think of. Lout might come close, but there is something in the sound and usage of the Marathi original that cannot be matched. And when a wildlife guide uses it to describe tiger-crazy tourists in one of India’s premier tiger reserves, it ought to be an interesting story.
It was September 2010 and I was on my first visit to the famous Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the heart of India. It was our first safari of the trip and there were things we learnt from our guide Bhaskar (not his real name) that will remain with us for a long time to come.
Bhaskar was serious about his job as a wildlife guide and this was evident even as our Gypsy just about crossed the one-kilometre mark. He had shot off on the history, geography and politics of the park even before we had settled in. There was also a lesson on eco-logy—a well-scripted account of how the presence of the tiger meant that the deer were there and that the forests and the grasslands were thriving and how the “forest is the mother of the river”. Soon he was cursing Maharashtra’s politicians and senior forest officials for having failed to support Tadoba unlike their counterparts in Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Bhaskar had taken over.
Those who speak too much, particularly in forests, do it often to cover their serious lack of knowledge. Bhaskar was an exception. Birds, trees, reptiles and the tigers of Tadoba, he knew them well. “I’ll try to show you the tiger,” he said, “but it’s not in my hands. We guides take the credit, but you know,” he made a profoundly philosophical turn, “nobody shows anything to anybody. It’s your luck—rajyog.” Then poured the anecdotes and accounts incredible—the ‘circuit’ tigress, the royal wild boar, the drongo that dances on the termite mound, the crocodiles in the lake and the pythons by the forest guesthouse.
Bhaskar was enjoying our company and we were now enjoying his. He told us stories with riddles that tested our knowledge of wildlife, recited poems he had written on delicate treasures of the forest, narrated accounts of his interactions with long-lens-wielding wildlife photographers and the young researcher from Pune, who taught him how to handle snakes.
Swati, my colleague, pointed to a bare white tree that we drove past. Bhaskar knew it, of course. He told us that the bark of the tree changed colour at least three times a year. My knowledge of botany (incorrect, as it turned out) kicked in unexpectedly. “It’s the Naked Lady of the Forest,” I said and turned to Bhaskar, adding half in jest, “Why is it called the naked lady and not a naked man?” Bhaskar’s reply was prompt: “It’s the king who decides—and what are we to say?” It was only days later that I realised I was wrong. The tree was the Ghost Tree, Sterculia urens. Bhaskar hadn’t known either.
The serious wildlife lessons, meanwhile, were also getting interspersed with other juicy gossip—about tour operators from Nagpur and beyond, the resort owners around Tadoba and their rich clientele, wildlife researchers and their research, forest staff and their difficult life in the wilds, and how the new reserve director was a good fellow and how his predecessor was shunted out because of differences with the boss in Nagpur. (Now you know why I’ve called Bhaskar, Bhaskar!)
And, finally, about the halkat. We were on the last leg of that morning safari and Bhaskar had been telling us how the forest had so many different things to offer. “I don’t understand,” he said, “why tourists are interested only in the tiger.” As if on cue, a bright yellow Maruti Gypsy appeared around the bend by the stream. “These,” said Bhaskar, as they went by, “are the halkat tourists of Tadoba. They’re after the tiger as if their life depends on it. And look at that vehicle—do you go into a forest with a vehicle that colour?”
Tailpiece 1: Gossip is a wild sword that swings free in the wind. If on your next trip to Tadoba you hear stories of a group of tourists that was less interested in tigers and more in gossip, please let me know at psekhsaria@gmail.com.
Tailpiece 2: We didn’t see the tiger during our two-day stay at Tadoba; other halkat tourists did.
Tall Tails
A roaring time in tiger country
Pankaj Sekhsaria
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270828
Halkat is a word in Marathi that has no English equivalent that I can think of. Lout might come close, but there is something in the sound and usage of the Marathi original that cannot be matched. And when a wildlife guide uses it to describe tiger-crazy tourists in one of India’s premier tiger reserves, it ought to be an interesting story.
It was September 2010 and I was on my first visit to the famous Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in the heart of India. It was our first safari of the trip and there were things we learnt from our guide Bhaskar (not his real name) that will remain with us for a long time to come.
Bhaskar was serious about his job as a wildlife guide and this was evident even as our Gypsy just about crossed the one-kilometre mark. He had shot off on the history, geography and politics of the park even before we had settled in. There was also a lesson on eco-logy—a well-scripted account of how the presence of the tiger meant that the deer were there and that the forests and the grasslands were thriving and how the “forest is the mother of the river”. Soon he was cursing Maharashtra’s politicians and senior forest officials for having failed to support Tadoba unlike their counterparts in Kanha and Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Bhaskar had taken over.
Those who speak too much, particularly in forests, do it often to cover their serious lack of knowledge. Bhaskar was an exception. Birds, trees, reptiles and the tigers of Tadoba, he knew them well. “I’ll try to show you the tiger,” he said, “but it’s not in my hands. We guides take the credit, but you know,” he made a profoundly philosophical turn, “nobody shows anything to anybody. It’s your luck—rajyog.” Then poured the anecdotes and accounts incredible—the ‘circuit’ tigress, the royal wild boar, the drongo that dances on the termite mound, the crocodiles in the lake and the pythons by the forest guesthouse.
Bhaskar was enjoying our company and we were now enjoying his. He told us stories with riddles that tested our knowledge of wildlife, recited poems he had written on delicate treasures of the forest, narrated accounts of his interactions with long-lens-wielding wildlife photographers and the young researcher from Pune, who taught him how to handle snakes.
Swati, my colleague, pointed to a bare white tree that we drove past. Bhaskar knew it, of course. He told us that the bark of the tree changed colour at least three times a year. My knowledge of botany (incorrect, as it turned out) kicked in unexpectedly. “It’s the Naked Lady of the Forest,” I said and turned to Bhaskar, adding half in jest, “Why is it called the naked lady and not a naked man?” Bhaskar’s reply was prompt: “It’s the king who decides—and what are we to say?” It was only days later that I realised I was wrong. The tree was the Ghost Tree, Sterculia urens. Bhaskar hadn’t known either.
The serious wildlife lessons, meanwhile, were also getting interspersed with other juicy gossip—about tour operators from Nagpur and beyond, the resort owners around Tadoba and their rich clientele, wildlife researchers and their research, forest staff and their difficult life in the wilds, and how the new reserve director was a good fellow and how his predecessor was shunted out because of differences with the boss in Nagpur. (Now you know why I’ve called Bhaskar, Bhaskar!)
And, finally, about the halkat. We were on the last leg of that morning safari and Bhaskar had been telling us how the forest had so many different things to offer. “I don’t understand,” he said, “why tourists are interested only in the tiger.” As if on cue, a bright yellow Maruti Gypsy appeared around the bend by the stream. “These,” said Bhaskar, as they went by, “are the halkat tourists of Tadoba. They’re after the tiger as if their life depends on it. And look at that vehicle—do you go into a forest with a vehicle that colour?”
Tailpiece 1: Gossip is a wild sword that swings free in the wind. If on your next trip to Tadoba you hear stories of a group of tourists that was less interested in tigers and more in gossip, please let me know at psekhsaria@gmail.com.
Tailpiece 2: We didn’t see the tiger during our two-day stay at Tadoba; other halkat tourists did.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Conserving our varied heritage
Conserving our varied heritage
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 29 Jan 2011 09:57:00 AM IST
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/conserving-our-varied-heritage/242849.html
The Western Ghats are, without doubt, one of the richest eco-regional systems in the entire subcontinent. Straddling six states from Gujarat in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, the 1,600-odd km long mountain range extends from the River Tapti in the north to Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip of the Indian landmass. They are home to a wide diversity of life just as they support innumerable human communities and cultures. It is a mountain range with a history of nearly 50 millions years, with only the last 12,000 to 15,000 years having seen the gradual entry here of the human species.
The beauty of the landscapes here is unmatched, endemism in the forests is high and nearly 250 million people living in peninsular India are nourished by the many rivers that originate here. The forests here are also home to more than 300 globally threatened species including rare and unique ones like the Malabar torrent toad, the Nilgiri langur, Wroughton’s free-tailed bat, the Nilgiri laughing thrush and many species of caecelians, the limbless amphibians. Conservative estimates put the number of microorganisms, plants and animals here at about 15,000, 40 per cent of which are found nowhere else in the world.
Serious challenges
It is with good reason that the ghats have been recognised as one of the world’s top 34 biodiversity hotspots and a large number of protected areas dot their length. There are nearly 60 sanctuaries and national parks here, ranging from the tiny 4 square kilometres Karnala Sanctuary in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, to others that extend over hundreds of sq km like the Bandipur NP in Karnataka and the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Anaimalais of Tamil Nadu. The region has over 60 important bird areas and also a number of areas designated as tiger and elephant reserves for the protection and conservation of two of the subcontinent’s most charismatic mega fauna.
This richness and wealth notwithstanding, the Western Ghats face a range of serious and complex challenges: there is unregulated mining in large parts; a number of rivers have been (or continue to be) dammed resulting in the loss of riverine ecosystems and the submergence of pristine forests; a rapidly growing network of roads and rail lines is fragmenting the patchwork of existing forests; continued habitat loss due to urbanisation, agriculture and plantations is leading to an alarming rise in human-wildlife conflicts; and tribal communities like those in Nilgiris continue to face increased marginalisation, loss of access to resources and livelihoods. It is estimated that only a third of the mountain range is still under natural vegetation and this too, is highly fragmented and completely degraded. For the ghats that are spread over an area 1,60,000 sq km and support millions of people and heads of livestock, this is only to be expected.
Conservation efforts
The Western Ghats is perhaps the most-studied eco-system in the country, and has had the maximum number of initiatives and efforts towards conservation directed at it. The mountain range has also been lucky in that there have always been vibrant local communities, NGOs, researchers and officials who have continued to engage with the complexities and work with the challenges of this unique system.
There have been, in recent times, a number of small, localised efforts that are
extremely heartening: children in schools in the vicinity of the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra demanding that plastic be banned from within sanctuary limits; the creation of 12 new Important Bird Areas in Kerala; efforts to bring down deaths in traffic accidents inside forest areas either by banning traffic like in Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks or by strictly regulating it in many other forests areas; new public private initiatives to secure corridor forests so that animals can move without hindrance and a number of awareness and environment education activities across the entire region.
Significantly, there are a range of programmes that have an appeal and relevance cutting across state and political boundaries. A large conservation research and action initiative is being implemented under the aegis of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund; the iconic Save Western Ghats Movement that was initiated two decades ago is on the way to being revived; a new Nilgiri Natural History Society has been formed; the creation of the Sahyadri Ecological Authority has been mooted and the ministry of environment and forests’ expert panel on the Western Ghats has been working to ‘assist in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant region.’
In another commendable development a few months ago, the minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, organised a special meeting of 43 Members of Parliament from the 51 districts which have the Western Ghats running through them.
It has been argued often that if political constituencies had been carved out on ecological or even eco-regional criteria, politics would have been different. Ecological systems, be they mountain ranges, river systems or the coast often get looked at in a piecemeal manner. The integrity of what is a single unit is completely overtaken by other considerations and the consequences have only been adverse. The minister’s initiative could well be the starting point of a better, more holistic approach.
To say however, that things will suddenly be better now in the Western Ghats, would be putting the cart much ahead of the horse. The challenges, needless to say, are daunting. Speaking at the inaugural session of the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons in Hyderabad in the first week of January, Ramesh argued that the country will have to make trade-offs between attaining 9-10 per cent economic growth and maintaining an ecological balance. The more pertinent question is being asked by those who are being ‘traded off’. In the Western Ghats, this has been most starkly visible in the controversy surrounding the nuclear power park at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Local people here are strongly opposed to the project that they claim will destroy their livelihoods as also the environment that sustains them. There are many other such examples.
It is in this extremely complex and sometimes charged context that the conservation initiatives have to deliver. It is only with this mixture of apprehension and hope that the Western Ghats can look towards the future.
Forests in the Nilgiri Mountains, Tamil Nadu
Gaur in the small remnant forests of Longwood Shola close to Kotagiri in the Nilgiris
A ready to be harvested banana crop is destroyed by elephants in the Nilgiris
Tree felling in the catchment area of the dam on the Sharavathi river in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka
The Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra. In the background are the forests of the sacred grove
River Aghanashini as seen from the crest of the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka
— The writer is an environmental researcher, writer and photographer. psekhsaria@gmail.com
All photos by Pankaj Sekhsaria
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 29 Jan 2011 09:57:00 AM IST
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/conserving-our-varied-heritage/242849.html
The Western Ghats are, without doubt, one of the richest eco-regional systems in the entire subcontinent. Straddling six states from Gujarat in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, the 1,600-odd km long mountain range extends from the River Tapti in the north to Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip of the Indian landmass. They are home to a wide diversity of life just as they support innumerable human communities and cultures. It is a mountain range with a history of nearly 50 millions years, with only the last 12,000 to 15,000 years having seen the gradual entry here of the human species.
The beauty of the landscapes here is unmatched, endemism in the forests is high and nearly 250 million people living in peninsular India are nourished by the many rivers that originate here. The forests here are also home to more than 300 globally threatened species including rare and unique ones like the Malabar torrent toad, the Nilgiri langur, Wroughton’s free-tailed bat, the Nilgiri laughing thrush and many species of caecelians, the limbless amphibians. Conservative estimates put the number of microorganisms, plants and animals here at about 15,000, 40 per cent of which are found nowhere else in the world.
Serious challenges
It is with good reason that the ghats have been recognised as one of the world’s top 34 biodiversity hotspots and a large number of protected areas dot their length. There are nearly 60 sanctuaries and national parks here, ranging from the tiny 4 square kilometres Karnala Sanctuary in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, to others that extend over hundreds of sq km like the Bandipur NP in Karnataka and the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Anaimalais of Tamil Nadu. The region has over 60 important bird areas and also a number of areas designated as tiger and elephant reserves for the protection and conservation of two of the subcontinent’s most charismatic mega fauna.
This richness and wealth notwithstanding, the Western Ghats face a range of serious and complex challenges: there is unregulated mining in large parts; a number of rivers have been (or continue to be) dammed resulting in the loss of riverine ecosystems and the submergence of pristine forests; a rapidly growing network of roads and rail lines is fragmenting the patchwork of existing forests; continued habitat loss due to urbanisation, agriculture and plantations is leading to an alarming rise in human-wildlife conflicts; and tribal communities like those in Nilgiris continue to face increased marginalisation, loss of access to resources and livelihoods. It is estimated that only a third of the mountain range is still under natural vegetation and this too, is highly fragmented and completely degraded. For the ghats that are spread over an area 1,60,000 sq km and support millions of people and heads of livestock, this is only to be expected.
Conservation efforts
The Western Ghats is perhaps the most-studied eco-system in the country, and has had the maximum number of initiatives and efforts towards conservation directed at it. The mountain range has also been lucky in that there have always been vibrant local communities, NGOs, researchers and officials who have continued to engage with the complexities and work with the challenges of this unique system.
There have been, in recent times, a number of small, localised efforts that are
extremely heartening: children in schools in the vicinity of the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra demanding that plastic be banned from within sanctuary limits; the creation of 12 new Important Bird Areas in Kerala; efforts to bring down deaths in traffic accidents inside forest areas either by banning traffic like in Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks or by strictly regulating it in many other forests areas; new public private initiatives to secure corridor forests so that animals can move without hindrance and a number of awareness and environment education activities across the entire region.
Significantly, there are a range of programmes that have an appeal and relevance cutting across state and political boundaries. A large conservation research and action initiative is being implemented under the aegis of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund; the iconic Save Western Ghats Movement that was initiated two decades ago is on the way to being revived; a new Nilgiri Natural History Society has been formed; the creation of the Sahyadri Ecological Authority has been mooted and the ministry of environment and forests’ expert panel on the Western Ghats has been working to ‘assist in the preservation, conservation and rejuvenation of this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant region.’
In another commendable development a few months ago, the minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, organised a special meeting of 43 Members of Parliament from the 51 districts which have the Western Ghats running through them.
It has been argued often that if political constituencies had been carved out on ecological or even eco-regional criteria, politics would have been different. Ecological systems, be they mountain ranges, river systems or the coast often get looked at in a piecemeal manner. The integrity of what is a single unit is completely overtaken by other considerations and the consequences have only been adverse. The minister’s initiative could well be the starting point of a better, more holistic approach.
To say however, that things will suddenly be better now in the Western Ghats, would be putting the cart much ahead of the horse. The challenges, needless to say, are daunting. Speaking at the inaugural session of the 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons in Hyderabad in the first week of January, Ramesh argued that the country will have to make trade-offs between attaining 9-10 per cent economic growth and maintaining an ecological balance. The more pertinent question is being asked by those who are being ‘traded off’. In the Western Ghats, this has been most starkly visible in the controversy surrounding the nuclear power park at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. Local people here are strongly opposed to the project that they claim will destroy their livelihoods as also the environment that sustains them. There are many other such examples.
It is in this extremely complex and sometimes charged context that the conservation initiatives have to deliver. It is only with this mixture of apprehension and hope that the Western Ghats can look towards the future.
Forests in the Nilgiri Mountains, Tamil Nadu
Gaur in the small remnant forests of Longwood Shola close to Kotagiri in the Nilgiris
A ready to be harvested banana crop is destroyed by elephants in the Nilgiris
Tree felling in the catchment area of the dam on the Sharavathi river in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka
The Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra. In the background are the forests of the sacred grove
River Aghanashini as seen from the crest of the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka
— The writer is an environmental researcher, writer and photographer. psekhsaria@gmail.com
All photos by Pankaj Sekhsaria
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The decline of the oceans
The decline of the oceans
The New Indian Express, Dec 11, 2010
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/the-decline-of-the-oceans/229443.html
Pankaj Sekhsaria
---
If there is one thing that the milestone international Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro in 1992 is remembered for it, is the forceful statement by the then President of the United States of America, George H W Bush. “The American way of life is non-negotiable,†he had said as nations around the world demanded that the USA contain its runaway consumption in general and that of fossil fuels in particular. Nearly two decades have passed since and promises and commitments notwithstanding, it could well be argued that not much has changed on the ground. In some ways the most powerful nation in the world has managed to bulldoze its way through world opinion even as the global climate crisis has exacerbated and even though climate change has finally came on to the global agenda.
It was at the same 1992 summit that the northern neighbour of the USA proposed an idea that was to be formally accepted more than 15 years later. The concept of the World Oceans Day as proposed by the Government of Canada in Rio was finally approved by the United Nations General Assembly only in December ’08 and June 8 became the day that the world would come together to highlight the importance of the oceans and to commit itself to their conservation.
The Gulf of Mexico disaster
The crisis that the oceans face was highlighted most starkly in April this year (and as World Oceans Day 2010 came and went) when billions of barrels of oil spluttered up from the dark depths of the Gulf of Mexico. The waters of the gulf were covered with endless sheets of oil for weeks choking the rich marshes and causing unprecedented damage to wildlife and commercial fisheries. The problem does not seem to be visible anymore but only time will indicate the long-term damages that may have been caused.
And the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is by no means the only one, even though it has garnered maximum attention and concern. Nearly a 100 significant spills have been documented worldwide since the early 1970s and at least 20 spills (big and small) have been observed in just the last five years. These have occurred at sites as far apart as the Timor Sea off Australia (August 2009), the Yellow Sea off the Korean coast (December 2007) and the waters off the coasts of Alaska in the USA (March 2006). The shoreline of the Ibeno local government area in Nigeria was recently devastated by an oil spill from the companies operating offshore in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the issue garnered huge attention in India following the vast oil spill off the Mumbai coast just a few months ago. The world's appetite for oil and gas seems insatiable and many have argued that such disasters are only waiting to happen.
A rich and diverse ecosystem
The ocean, we often forget is the source of life for millions around the planet. The Global Diversity Outlook 3 (GDO3), report released recently by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has pointed, for instance, that the world’s ï¬sheries provide employment to nearly 200 million people and account for about 16 per cent of the protein consumed worldwide. The report estimates the value of these fisheries to be nearly US$ 82 billion and also notes that about 80 per cent of the stocks for which assessment information is available are over exploited or have been fully exploited.
Coral reefs under stress
The situation with coral reefs is just as alarming. They cover a miniscule portion of the world’s oceans but are estimated to house a quarter of the marine fish species in the world. Researchers have also estimated that nearly 30 million people living along the coast are dependant on reef-based resources as their primary means of food production, income and livelihood. Reports from the around the world — from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the reefs in the waters off Indonesia and Thailand — indicate that they are being severely impacted. A wide set of reasons ranging from overfishing, soil and chemical run-offs from land to increasing global temperatures are putting these reefs under increasing stress. The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in early October that an initial survey carried out by them had revealed that more than 60 per cent of corals off the northern tip of Sumatra were found bleached due to an unprecedented rise in ocean temperatures. Researchers have suggested that the whole of Southeast Asia is experiencing one of its most deadly coral die-offs — something that could be the worst such event known to science. The CBD report notes similarly that prominent species like the dugong, sea turtles and some sharks among others have experienced significant declines in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
To say that the health of the world's oceans is not in good shape is to make a statement of the obvious. For long the human species has been taking the ocean for granted and it would be worth reminding ourselves in this, the International Year of Biodiversity, that the ocean can devastate just as ruthlessly as it can give generously. We can continue to take it for granted but the price that we might have to pay might be larger than we can afford.
The New Indian Express, Dec 11, 2010
http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/the-decline-of-the-oceans/229443.html
Pankaj Sekhsaria
---
If there is one thing that the milestone international Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro in 1992 is remembered for it, is the forceful statement by the then President of the United States of America, George H W Bush. “The American way of life is non-negotiable,†he had said as nations around the world demanded that the USA contain its runaway consumption in general and that of fossil fuels in particular. Nearly two decades have passed since and promises and commitments notwithstanding, it could well be argued that not much has changed on the ground. In some ways the most powerful nation in the world has managed to bulldoze its way through world opinion even as the global climate crisis has exacerbated and even though climate change has finally came on to the global agenda.
It was at the same 1992 summit that the northern neighbour of the USA proposed an idea that was to be formally accepted more than 15 years later. The concept of the World Oceans Day as proposed by the Government of Canada in Rio was finally approved by the United Nations General Assembly only in December ’08 and June 8 became the day that the world would come together to highlight the importance of the oceans and to commit itself to their conservation.
The Gulf of Mexico disaster
The crisis that the oceans face was highlighted most starkly in April this year (and as World Oceans Day 2010 came and went) when billions of barrels of oil spluttered up from the dark depths of the Gulf of Mexico. The waters of the gulf were covered with endless sheets of oil for weeks choking the rich marshes and causing unprecedented damage to wildlife and commercial fisheries. The problem does not seem to be visible anymore but only time will indicate the long-term damages that may have been caused.
And the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is by no means the only one, even though it has garnered maximum attention and concern. Nearly a 100 significant spills have been documented worldwide since the early 1970s and at least 20 spills (big and small) have been observed in just the last five years. These have occurred at sites as far apart as the Timor Sea off Australia (August 2009), the Yellow Sea off the Korean coast (December 2007) and the waters off the coasts of Alaska in the USA (March 2006). The shoreline of the Ibeno local government area in Nigeria was recently devastated by an oil spill from the companies operating offshore in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the issue garnered huge attention in India following the vast oil spill off the Mumbai coast just a few months ago. The world's appetite for oil and gas seems insatiable and many have argued that such disasters are only waiting to happen.
A rich and diverse ecosystem
The ocean, we often forget is the source of life for millions around the planet. The Global Diversity Outlook 3 (GDO3), report released recently by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has pointed, for instance, that the world’s ï¬sheries provide employment to nearly 200 million people and account for about 16 per cent of the protein consumed worldwide. The report estimates the value of these fisheries to be nearly US$ 82 billion and also notes that about 80 per cent of the stocks for which assessment information is available are over exploited or have been fully exploited.
Coral reefs under stress
The situation with coral reefs is just as alarming. They cover a miniscule portion of the world’s oceans but are estimated to house a quarter of the marine fish species in the world. Researchers have also estimated that nearly 30 million people living along the coast are dependant on reef-based resources as their primary means of food production, income and livelihood. Reports from the around the world — from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the reefs in the waters off Indonesia and Thailand — indicate that they are being severely impacted. A wide set of reasons ranging from overfishing, soil and chemical run-offs from land to increasing global temperatures are putting these reefs under increasing stress. The Wildlife Conservation Society reported in early October that an initial survey carried out by them had revealed that more than 60 per cent of corals off the northern tip of Sumatra were found bleached due to an unprecedented rise in ocean temperatures. Researchers have suggested that the whole of Southeast Asia is experiencing one of its most deadly coral die-offs — something that could be the worst such event known to science. The CBD report notes similarly that prominent species like the dugong, sea turtles and some sharks among others have experienced significant declines in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
To say that the health of the world's oceans is not in good shape is to make a statement of the obvious. For long the human species has been taking the ocean for granted and it would be worth reminding ourselves in this, the International Year of Biodiversity, that the ocean can devastate just as ruthlessly as it can give generously. We can continue to take it for granted but the price that we might have to pay might be larger than we can afford.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Is the government’s cheetah programme sound?
Is the government’s cheetah programme sound?
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/is-the-government%E2%80%99s-cheetah-programme-sound/229834.html
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 10 Dec 2010 11:13:00 PM IST
Do we want the cheetah back? If the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s (MoEF) ambitious programme for the reintroduction of this animal into the country is anything to go by, the question has already been answered. A recent assessment conducted by the MoEF, the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Trust of India has identified the Kuno-Palpur and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and the Shahgarh Landscape in Jaisalmer for the introduction. An estimated `300 crore will be spent initially on the project and potential sources for the animals are also being explored. It’s quite likely that the cheetahs, if they come, will be either from Namibia or South Africa. The project has the whole-hearted support of the minister in charge, Jairam Ramesh and the ball for the cheetah’s return to India is clearly on the roll now.
There is a more fundamental question, however, that has no clear answers yet — why? Why do we want the cheetah back? The rationale provided has been two-fold. The first this is what Ramesh himself articulated sometime back — to regain a part of the lost glory and history of this country. The magnificent cheetah that was once a living, bounding part of this nation’s reality must be brought back. The other, as has been pointed by some wildlife experts, is that the cheetah, like the tiger, is the apex species of the grassland habitat and it’s presence would, both, indicate and ensure the health of this badly abused ecosystem.
Writing in the recent issue of the wildlife magazine Sanctuary Asia, M K Ranjitsinh, doyen of Indian wildlife conservation and a prime mover of the cheetah reintroduction project has argued that, “The cheetah restoration will be part of a prototype for restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity, helping to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity…” He also notes that re-introducing the cheetah will help to save other threatened grassland-scrub-open woodland species such as the caracal, Indian wolf, the desert cat, the Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican.
Prima facie the arguments seem valid, but if looked at carefully, both have serious problems. It is certainly important to realise, for instance, that grassland habitats are extremely productive systems that are both undervalued and abused. They have to be protected and cared for and we have to find ways of doing it. Arguing, however, that we need an introduction from Africa to enable us to set our house in order is akin to putting the cart before the horse. There are far simpler and effective ways to do it if we have the common sense and political will for it. It is also an extremely unfortunate part of our history that this glorious animal was shot into extinction nearly six decades ago. The scarier reality is that many species of plants, birds and animals stand today on the verge of joining the cheetah into that void called extinction.
Flagship programmes — Project Tiger and Project Elephant, for instance, face serious challenges and some might even say that they are floundering. The most recent case of the death of the translocated tiger in Sariska Tiger Reserve is an excellent example of the many challenges that have to be faced. How prudent would it then be to get into something new without ensuring the success of what we already have on hand?
There is another worrisome aspect of the project that has come to light only recently. The introduction of the cheetah is going to be mounted on the back of displacement of people in the areas where the reintroduction is being planned.
Eighty seasonally used human settlements of 5-10 households each will have to be relocated from the Shahgarh landscape and 23 human settlements will have to be moved from the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary. Three will also be moved from Kuno Palpur in addition to the 23 that were moved a few years ago for the reintroduction of the lion from Gujarat.
Now, anyone who follows wildlife conservation in India knows that this landscape is littered with huge issues of conflict. Millions of people living in and around our protected areas face the sword of displacement or experience constant harassment and denial of basic livelihood resources in the name of wildlife conservation. Not surprisingly there is considerable opposition to wildlife conservation by local communities and there are many such fires burning in different parts of the country. Our job should be to work towards extinguishing these fires, not lighting up one more for an animal we didn’t have the wisdom to save when we had it in our midst. Rather than spending huge amounts of time, human resources, energy and money towards an ‘esoteric’ bringing back of the ‘dead’, the effort has to be concentrated on preventing it happening again — with other species. That would be a far more worthwhile and valuable endeavour. We can’t undo the extinctions we have caused already. Let the fate of cheetah be a grim pointer to that reality.
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/is-the-government%E2%80%99s-cheetah-programme-sound/229834.html
Pankaj Sekhsaria
First Published : 10 Dec 2010 11:13:00 PM IST
Do we want the cheetah back? If the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s (MoEF) ambitious programme for the reintroduction of this animal into the country is anything to go by, the question has already been answered. A recent assessment conducted by the MoEF, the Wildlife Institute of India and the Wildlife Trust of India has identified the Kuno-Palpur and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh and the Shahgarh Landscape in Jaisalmer for the introduction. An estimated `300 crore will be spent initially on the project and potential sources for the animals are also being explored. It’s quite likely that the cheetahs, if they come, will be either from Namibia or South Africa. The project has the whole-hearted support of the minister in charge, Jairam Ramesh and the ball for the cheetah’s return to India is clearly on the roll now.
There is a more fundamental question, however, that has no clear answers yet — why? Why do we want the cheetah back? The rationale provided has been two-fold. The first this is what Ramesh himself articulated sometime back — to regain a part of the lost glory and history of this country. The magnificent cheetah that was once a living, bounding part of this nation’s reality must be brought back. The other, as has been pointed by some wildlife experts, is that the cheetah, like the tiger, is the apex species of the grassland habitat and it’s presence would, both, indicate and ensure the health of this badly abused ecosystem.
Writing in the recent issue of the wildlife magazine Sanctuary Asia, M K Ranjitsinh, doyen of Indian wildlife conservation and a prime mover of the cheetah reintroduction project has argued that, “The cheetah restoration will be part of a prototype for restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity, helping to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity…” He also notes that re-introducing the cheetah will help to save other threatened grassland-scrub-open woodland species such as the caracal, Indian wolf, the desert cat, the Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican.
Prima facie the arguments seem valid, but if looked at carefully, both have serious problems. It is certainly important to realise, for instance, that grassland habitats are extremely productive systems that are both undervalued and abused. They have to be protected and cared for and we have to find ways of doing it. Arguing, however, that we need an introduction from Africa to enable us to set our house in order is akin to putting the cart before the horse. There are far simpler and effective ways to do it if we have the common sense and political will for it. It is also an extremely unfortunate part of our history that this glorious animal was shot into extinction nearly six decades ago. The scarier reality is that many species of plants, birds and animals stand today on the verge of joining the cheetah into that void called extinction.
Flagship programmes — Project Tiger and Project Elephant, for instance, face serious challenges and some might even say that they are floundering. The most recent case of the death of the translocated tiger in Sariska Tiger Reserve is an excellent example of the many challenges that have to be faced. How prudent would it then be to get into something new without ensuring the success of what we already have on hand?
There is another worrisome aspect of the project that has come to light only recently. The introduction of the cheetah is going to be mounted on the back of displacement of people in the areas where the reintroduction is being planned.
Eighty seasonally used human settlements of 5-10 households each will have to be relocated from the Shahgarh landscape and 23 human settlements will have to be moved from the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary. Three will also be moved from Kuno Palpur in addition to the 23 that were moved a few years ago for the reintroduction of the lion from Gujarat.
Now, anyone who follows wildlife conservation in India knows that this landscape is littered with huge issues of conflict. Millions of people living in and around our protected areas face the sword of displacement or experience constant harassment and denial of basic livelihood resources in the name of wildlife conservation. Not surprisingly there is considerable opposition to wildlife conservation by local communities and there are many such fires burning in different parts of the country. Our job should be to work towards extinguishing these fires, not lighting up one more for an animal we didn’t have the wisdom to save when we had it in our midst. Rather than spending huge amounts of time, human resources, energy and money towards an ‘esoteric’ bringing back of the ‘dead’, the effort has to be concentrated on preventing it happening again — with other species. That would be a far more worthwhile and valuable endeavour. We can’t undo the extinctions we have caused already. Let the fate of cheetah be a grim pointer to that reality.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Lost song of the Jarawas
Lost song of the Jarawas
BOOK REVIEW
http://currentnews.in/Details.aspx?id=1418&boxid=3557328
The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier
Edited by
Pankaj Sekhsaria and Vishvajit Pandya
Published by UNESCO and Kalpavriksh
Reviewed by
Madhusree Mukerjee
The Jarawa are among the most threatened people in the world. These hunter- gatherers live in great evergreen rainforests along the western coast of South and Middle Andaman, and number 365 at last count. Genetic studies indicate that they have occupied these islands for tens of millennia, being direct descendants of the first humans to colonize the territory. Throughout history the Jarawa have resisted outsiders— attacking and killing those who would fell trees or hunt and fish within their territory. In the process they have maintained their environment in a pristine condition, so that it overflows with resources such as timber, cane, fish and game that outsiders covet. Therein lies the danger.
British occupation of the Andaman Islands in 1858 led to the extinction by epidemics of most aboriginal tribes on the islands. (Having been isolated since prehistoric times, the islanders have no immunity to killer diseases such as syphilis that are common in the “civilized” world, and easily succumb.) The Jarawa were spared such decimation because of their sustained hostility to outsiders, which limited contact. But a decades- long programme of pacification by the Indian government resulted in their laying down their arms in 1998. The Jarawa immediately started falling prey to diseases such as bronchitis, measles, mumps and malaria, the effects of which have been partially contained by medical intervention. A single new germ line, such as HIV,
could still wipe them out.
The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier, a compilation of documents that describe the history, geography and biology of the Jarawa homeland, is a valuable resource for researchers who seek to familiarize themselves with this obscure but fascinating terrain. Its editors are environmentalist and journalist Pankaj Sekhsaria, who runs a vitally important webgroup on the islands, and anthropologist Vishvajit Pandya.
Both have extensive experience of the Andamans. So do the contributors, especially activist Samir Acharya, who as founder of Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (SANE) has led the struggle to protect indigenous rights and environment on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Researchers Manish Chandi and Harry Andrews acquired intimate knowledge of the islands’ flora and fauna during their tenure with the
Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET), and provide rare insights. Also featured are members of the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), who surveyed the food resources of the Jarawa. The appendices are especially useful, containing legal documents and other materials that are hard to find elsewhere. These include a list,
compiled by Chandi, of encounters between settlers and Jarawa that goes all the way back to 1789. Another list, of the Jarawa’s forest camps, was compiled in 2002 and indicates the extent to which their privacy has been penetrated.
The most worrisome development is that ever since pacification the Jarawa reserve has been overrun with poachers. As an essay by Andrews shows, now that the Jarawa are no longer hostile their species-rich jungles, swamps, hills, streams and beaches have attracted hundreds of trespassers from villages around the reserve. The invaders no longer shoot the Jarawa, as they used to, but seek instead to manipulate them by offering gifts, or by inculcating addictions such as to tobacco and alcohol. They come in search of timber, cane, fish, boar, honey, fruit, and sex. The threat to the Jarawa, through introduced disease and loss of their resource base, is immediate and urgent.
To make matters worse, the Andaman politicians make no secret of their determination to throw open the resources of the Jarawa reserve to their constituencies.
The current MP even advocates seizing Jarawa children and raising them on the Indian mainland—actions similar to those for which the Australian government was recently forced to apologize to aboriginals. One can see the MP’s point of view: Once the Jarawa are rendered sedentary and dependent on a welfare system, as the Onge of Little Andaman have largely been, their resources can all the more easily be claimed by grateful voters. No matter that such a seizure would mean cultural genocide of the Jarawa, if not actual genocide. One hopes that the MP will come to realize that if the Jarawa forest is further degraded, its ability to retain and supply fresh water to surrounding settlements will be depleted his vote bank will then have to pack up and depart.
More than a decade of activism to defend the Jarawa, and to educate the Andaman’s settler population as to the vital role these hunter-gatherers play in maintaining the island ecology has, however, resulted at best in stalemate. The Andaman administration has failed to implement court orders regarding the protection of Jarawa territory: in particular, it has ignored a 2002 Supreme Court order closing the parts of the Andaman
Trunk Road (ATR) that run through the Jarawa reserve. As a result, the administration’s laudable new effort to create a buffer zone around the reserve has run up against complaints of inconsistency.
Predictably, the MP has threatened a bandh against the measure he has also called for further defying the Supreme Court by constructing a railway line alongside the ATR. The dossier provides an insightful survey of the past, and contains necessary information for pointing the way to the future, if the Jarawa are to have any. It would have been even more useful, however, had it contained a description, either by
Sekhsaria or Acharya, of the various efforts to protect the Jarawa, through appeals to the public, the courts, and the National Advisory Commission—and an analysis of why these endeavours have faltered. To be sure, no one had expected that the administration would ignore the Supreme Court, and the fact that it continues to do so is symptomatic of the collapse of governance across India.
Those rare battles that adivasis have won against dispossession, such as the triumph of the Dongria Kondh in Orissa, suggest that a groundswell of protest, properly publicized, can on occasion gain indigenous peoples their rights. But the Jarawa are not being given a chance to speak on their future nor, as the MP’s stand indicates, are their territorial or other rights getting much support from the mainstream population of the Andaman Islands.
As if that were not enough, a long-standing debate over whether the Jarawa should be “civilized” or not continues to rage— despite the acceptance, throughout the world, of the principle of self-determination. It is for the Jarawa alone to decide whether or not, and at what pace, to integrate.
Becoming integrated, or “civilized,” will inevitably lead to sedenterization of these nomadic people—with its attendant social and medical problems, such as depression and alcoholism—and must not be forced on them by robbing them of their resources.
In this context, it would have been useful to have the United Nations declarations on indigenous rights, which calls specifically for the protection of Jarawa territory, in the appendix. A review of how similarly fraught situations are being dealt with on other continents (perhaps by anthropologist Sita Venkateswar) would have been instructive. Creative solutions have been developed for informing semi-isolated peoples about the outside world without disrupting their culture, and these can show the way for empowering the Jarawa.
Such omissions do not, however, detract from the usefulness of this compendium, which is an essential resource for anyone who seeks to understand the plight of the Jarawa and appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of the environment they have preserved, often at the cost of their lives.
BOOK REVIEW
http://currentnews.in/Details.aspx?id=1418&boxid=3557328
The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier
Edited by
Pankaj Sekhsaria and Vishvajit Pandya
Published by UNESCO and Kalpavriksh
Reviewed by
Madhusree Mukerjee
The Jarawa are among the most threatened people in the world. These hunter- gatherers live in great evergreen rainforests along the western coast of South and Middle Andaman, and number 365 at last count. Genetic studies indicate that they have occupied these islands for tens of millennia, being direct descendants of the first humans to colonize the territory. Throughout history the Jarawa have resisted outsiders— attacking and killing those who would fell trees or hunt and fish within their territory. In the process they have maintained their environment in a pristine condition, so that it overflows with resources such as timber, cane, fish and game that outsiders covet. Therein lies the danger.
British occupation of the Andaman Islands in 1858 led to the extinction by epidemics of most aboriginal tribes on the islands. (Having been isolated since prehistoric times, the islanders have no immunity to killer diseases such as syphilis that are common in the “civilized” world, and easily succumb.) The Jarawa were spared such decimation because of their sustained hostility to outsiders, which limited contact. But a decades- long programme of pacification by the Indian government resulted in their laying down their arms in 1998. The Jarawa immediately started falling prey to diseases such as bronchitis, measles, mumps and malaria, the effects of which have been partially contained by medical intervention. A single new germ line, such as HIV,
could still wipe them out.
The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier, a compilation of documents that describe the history, geography and biology of the Jarawa homeland, is a valuable resource for researchers who seek to familiarize themselves with this obscure but fascinating terrain. Its editors are environmentalist and journalist Pankaj Sekhsaria, who runs a vitally important webgroup on the islands, and anthropologist Vishvajit Pandya.
Both have extensive experience of the Andamans. So do the contributors, especially activist Samir Acharya, who as founder of Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (SANE) has led the struggle to protect indigenous rights and environment on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Researchers Manish Chandi and Harry Andrews acquired intimate knowledge of the islands’ flora and fauna during their tenure with the
Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET), and provide rare insights. Also featured are members of the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), who surveyed the food resources of the Jarawa. The appendices are especially useful, containing legal documents and other materials that are hard to find elsewhere. These include a list,
compiled by Chandi, of encounters between settlers and Jarawa that goes all the way back to 1789. Another list, of the Jarawa’s forest camps, was compiled in 2002 and indicates the extent to which their privacy has been penetrated.
The most worrisome development is that ever since pacification the Jarawa reserve has been overrun with poachers. As an essay by Andrews shows, now that the Jarawa are no longer hostile their species-rich jungles, swamps, hills, streams and beaches have attracted hundreds of trespassers from villages around the reserve. The invaders no longer shoot the Jarawa, as they used to, but seek instead to manipulate them by offering gifts, or by inculcating addictions such as to tobacco and alcohol. They come in search of timber, cane, fish, boar, honey, fruit, and sex. The threat to the Jarawa, through introduced disease and loss of their resource base, is immediate and urgent.
To make matters worse, the Andaman politicians make no secret of their determination to throw open the resources of the Jarawa reserve to their constituencies.
The current MP even advocates seizing Jarawa children and raising them on the Indian mainland—actions similar to those for which the Australian government was recently forced to apologize to aboriginals. One can see the MP’s point of view: Once the Jarawa are rendered sedentary and dependent on a welfare system, as the Onge of Little Andaman have largely been, their resources can all the more easily be claimed by grateful voters. No matter that such a seizure would mean cultural genocide of the Jarawa, if not actual genocide. One hopes that the MP will come to realize that if the Jarawa forest is further degraded, its ability to retain and supply fresh water to surrounding settlements will be depleted his vote bank will then have to pack up and depart.
More than a decade of activism to defend the Jarawa, and to educate the Andaman’s settler population as to the vital role these hunter-gatherers play in maintaining the island ecology has, however, resulted at best in stalemate. The Andaman administration has failed to implement court orders regarding the protection of Jarawa territory: in particular, it has ignored a 2002 Supreme Court order closing the parts of the Andaman
Trunk Road (ATR) that run through the Jarawa reserve. As a result, the administration’s laudable new effort to create a buffer zone around the reserve has run up against complaints of inconsistency.
Predictably, the MP has threatened a bandh against the measure he has also called for further defying the Supreme Court by constructing a railway line alongside the ATR. The dossier provides an insightful survey of the past, and contains necessary information for pointing the way to the future, if the Jarawa are to have any. It would have been even more useful, however, had it contained a description, either by
Sekhsaria or Acharya, of the various efforts to protect the Jarawa, through appeals to the public, the courts, and the National Advisory Commission—and an analysis of why these endeavours have faltered. To be sure, no one had expected that the administration would ignore the Supreme Court, and the fact that it continues to do so is symptomatic of the collapse of governance across India.
Those rare battles that adivasis have won against dispossession, such as the triumph of the Dongria Kondh in Orissa, suggest that a groundswell of protest, properly publicized, can on occasion gain indigenous peoples their rights. But the Jarawa are not being given a chance to speak on their future nor, as the MP’s stand indicates, are their territorial or other rights getting much support from the mainstream population of the Andaman Islands.
As if that were not enough, a long-standing debate over whether the Jarawa should be “civilized” or not continues to rage— despite the acceptance, throughout the world, of the principle of self-determination. It is for the Jarawa alone to decide whether or not, and at what pace, to integrate.
Becoming integrated, or “civilized,” will inevitably lead to sedenterization of these nomadic people—with its attendant social and medical problems, such as depression and alcoholism—and must not be forced on them by robbing them of their resources.
In this context, it would have been useful to have the United Nations declarations on indigenous rights, which calls specifically for the protection of Jarawa territory, in the appendix. A review of how similarly fraught situations are being dealt with on other continents (perhaps by anthropologist Sita Venkateswar) would have been instructive. Creative solutions have been developed for informing semi-isolated peoples about the outside world without disrupting their culture, and these can show the way for empowering the Jarawa.
Such omissions do not, however, detract from the usefulness of this compendium, which is an essential resource for anyone who seeks to understand the plight of the Jarawa and appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of the environment they have preserved, often at the cost of their lives.
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