Protecting biological or
genetic diversity is an investment into the future of any society.
Genetic diversity is useful for development of new products and
processes: crops, pharmas, etc. Genetic information is contained in a
seed and it is what is required for tracing the genome of a species.
Significant quantities of biological material are not required. A ‘few
seeds’ from a location can give all the information about the genome,
thus making bio-piracy very simple.
All information which is
non-rival in use and all non-depletable resources constitute biological
diversity and the accompanying traditional knowledge (TK). For the
‘owner’ of these to derive benefit, TK has to be made legally excludable
in use. Putting a value to TK is difficult. Locating a biological
resource with potential for a certain useful property is the proverbial
‘needle in the haystack’ problem. TK, relying on empirical knowledge
gleaned by traditional societies, enables the search (and associated
costs) in modern medicine to be reduced manifold. TK is non-rival in
use, but for the holder to derive value, needs to be excludable in use.
Thus, the value of TK is a derived value, rather than an intrinsic one.
There was a paradigm shift in the protection of TK
through the Biodiversity Convention (CBD), 1992. Prior to CBD, genetic
resources (and TK) were essentially global public property. CBD
recognized that states have sovereign rights over their biological
resources and TK and it provided a framework for access and benefit
sharing for genetic resources and TK.
However, CBD had many deficiencies. First, there was
no legal provision for ensuring excludability of genetic resources and
TK, which implied that ‘biopiracy’ could continue without penalty.
Second, there was a mandatory, but not enforceable ‘barter’ of access to
biological resources for ‘transfer’ of technology. Third, there was no
provision for access benefits to be paid in money. Fourth, ‘transfer’ of
technology was not defined. Thus, bio-piracy has increased. The use
office of patents granted 17,239 patents on 119 medicinal plants in
2000; the number rose to 20,835 in 2002 and 23,956 in 2004-05.
This increase in bio-piracy points to the need for a
multilateral access and benefits sharing (ABS) regime, with some basic
characteristics. One, both genetic resources and TK to be made
excludable in use. Two, grant of IPRs involving these resources must be
made contingent on a letter of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from holders
of the resources. Three, IPRs must be cancelled if issued without
disclosure of such use of wrongful disclosure. Four, it must provide for
a range of benefits to be mutually negotiated, rather than barter as in
CBD.
Implementation of such regimes will require
coordinated changes in CBD and TRIPS regimes. It will also require
efficient domestic legal regimes.
It is worth noting that India’s Patent Act now requires the
mandatory disclosure of origin (genetic resources) and prior art (TK).
Non-disclosure or wrongful disclosure would lead to cancellation the
patent. A further step is, however, required. This would include
insistence on a letter of PIC from the holders of genetic resources/TK,
endorsed by the National Biodiversity Authority.
Apart from the legal framework which needs to be rectified,
there are a number of other market failures associated with the use of
genetic diversity/TK which results in the holders getting poor returns.
First comes the asymmetric information between users and holders. The
user is better informed about the potential value of TK than the holder.
The latter cannot rely on past contracts, as resources and their uses
are highly diverse. The historical story of “selling Manhattan for a bag
of beads” is worth recalling.
However, even the user’s information improves with the progress of
R&D. Both, seller and user will be risk-averse if a complete contract is
to be entered into at the beginning. The problems of a potential
monopoly (holder)/monophony (user) bargaining situation may also result
in no contact being issued, to the detriment of both. Even more complex
arrangements, like a three-agent bargaining problem, where the TK
holder, the holder of the genetic resource and the user are involved,
may result in a situation of gain for all. Thus, while the legal
framework is important, a realistic assessment of the market and its
drivers are also required to ensure benefits accrue evenly from granting
access rights to genetic resources/TK.
The
Financial Express (New Delhi), 07 Sep. 2005
Over the past decade,
traditional knowledge (TK) has received increasing attention on the
international agenda. Factors contributing to this include the
recognition of TK’s importance in the lives of the majority of the
world’s population and in the conservation of biodiversity; concerns
about the rapid loss of TK and global cultural diversity; concerns about
unauthorized and inappropriate patenting and use of TK, with little or
no sharing of resulting benefits with the original holders of TK;
interest in harnessing the potential of TK for local sustainable
development; and increasing attention to indigenous rights. Many
countries and communities worldwide are considering how to best address
this issue at the national, regional and international levels. TK is a
complex and multifaceted issue. Therefore a holistic and
multi-dimensional approach is needed, comprising simultaneous actions at
national and international levels.
It is important to start
with identification of objectives and then to identify possible tools
that could help meet these objectives. Recent Unctad work has identified
three broad categories of objectives, namely, preservation, protection,
and promoting TK for development (‘the three Ps’) and identified menus
of possible actions and measures that could be taken, particularly at
the national or regional level, to meet these objectives. At
the national level, each country can choose the measures to take based
on national priority objectives identified. Multi-stakeholder
consultations are needed to raise awareness of the issues, identify
underlying needs and concerns of different societal sectors, including
indigenous groups, and ensure public engagement in and support of the
plan eventually developed.
To preserve TK, a number of actions can support the ex situ
preservation of TK, notably TK registries and museums, as well as, more
importantly, the in situ preservation of TK as a dynamic, constantly
evolving body of knowledge in living diverse communities. National
actions aimed at the latter include media transmissions in local
languages, including TK in formal education, training youth,
preservation of the natural environment, secure land rights and
enhancing livelihoods.
Protection aims to prevent the unauthorized or
inappropriate use of TK by third parties. This includes unauthorized
commercial use as well as applications for intellectual property rights
(IPRs) that are based on TK, but made without the prior informed consent
(PIC) of the TK-holders and without benefit sharing. Possible
national-level actions include disclosure of source of origin of genetic
resources and related TK in IPR applications, recognition of the
ownership of TK-holding communities of their TK, recognition of
customary law and use of conventional IP instruments, such as
geographical indications.
TK plays a key role in development, as it is the main resource
of the poor. To promote TK for development, sharing experiences among
communities, as well as countries, helps keep this body of knowledge
growing. Supporting the development of local and indigenous
community-run ventures aimed at sustainable livelihoods requires actions
that are similar to supporting any small enterprises, including capacity
building in entrepreneurial skills, access to finance and markets and
facilitating partnerships with larger enterprises. India’s
Honey Bee Network offers useful experience in means of promoting and
scaling up TK-based innovations. Value addition by, and benefit sharing
with, TK holders are important considerations. The international
community can support developing country efforts to harness TK for
development through technical cooperation and facilitating market access
and entry for TK-based products, such as non-wood forest products,
ethnic foods, traditional medicinal products and handicrafts. At the
international level, much of the attention has been focused on TK
protection. Many feel that there is a lack of balance in the current IPR
system as enshrined in the TRIPS agreement and various WIPO treaties.
One type of IP-that generally produced and owned by entities in
developed countries – is well protected. That category of IP in which
developing countries have comparative advantage, namely TK, is generally
considered free for all takers.
To redress this imbalance, a number of actions have been
proposed by developing countries, with India often at the forefront. A
key proposal is to amend the WTO TRIPS Agreement to require disclosure
of origin/source of genetic resources and associated TK in relevant
patent applications. This would help; countries keep track of how their
genetic resources are being used and patented abroad. Ideally, such a
requirement would also include evidence of PIC and benefit sharing.
India has also been a main proponent of another defensive IP
measure, namely, making TK that is clearly in the public domain more
accessible to patent examiners around the world, so as to prevent IPRs
on this TK being in appropriately granted to third parties. These two
measures could go a long way in preventing ‘bad patents.’ However, to
prevent unauthorized or misappropriate commercial use (without IPRs)
would require a farther-reaching positive system of protection. This may
involve an international sui generis system that recognizes national
systems related to TK protection, PIC and ABS. CBD negotiations on
international treaty on ABS have begun. Much will depend on
how those negotiations proceed and what weight the results will carry.
Effective treaties need teeth.
The Financial Express (New Delhi), 07 Sep. 2005
The Phancha panchayat
area in the remote Pandrah-Beesh area of Shimla district is a classic
example of what need-based micro planning can help achieve in improving
the socio-economic conditions of the people. Coordinated
efforts made under the forestry reform project have brought a sea change
in five wards of Phancha Nati Tikar, Phancha, Kandri, Pachagar, Magara
and Ghanvi.
Located at 42 km from Jeori, the panchayat abound in forest
wealth. The main occupation of the people is agriculture and sheep
rearing. The panchayat has no road connectivity and people have to walk
two to three hours on foot to reach the nearest road head at Ghanvi.
The Rs. 60 crore forest reform project, started in 2003 in
85 pilot locations in backward and remote areas of the state where
people are mostly dependent on forests for their livelihood, has changed
the life of the local people. The project is being implemented in the
five wards through 25 consumer groups. The main stress is being laid
on micro-planning at the grassroot level with the active participation
and involvement of the people. The construction of pedestrian paths,
worms compost pits development, water tanks, rainwater tanks, harvesting
structures, training and financial help are the main components of the
project.
Two storage tanks constructed under
the project have brought more area of the panchayat under irrigation.
Earlier, the farmers were dependent on the rains and only traditional
crops like “fafra”, “koda” and potato were grown. Now cultivation of
off-season vegetables is being adopted by the farming community.
The women folk have been imparted training in
handloom and weaving and people are adopting latest techniques in sheep
rearing. Financial help is being provided to set up handloom.
The Forest Department organises regular
awareness camps in the panchayat to educate people about the scientific
conservation of the precious forest wealth. A special afforestation
campaign has been launched in the panchayat with people’s participation
to cover the barren land.
The Tribune
(Chandigarh), 13 Sep. 2005
World Bank Nod to
Forestry Project Soon
The World Bank is likely
to give its final nod to the Rs. 370 crore Mid-hill Himalayan Watershed
Development Project, the biggest scheme in the forestry sector, by
October 1.
A team of the bank will arrive here on September 18 for the
final appraisal mission after which the project will be cleared. The
government had submitted a Rs. 540 crore proposal which was pruned
during evaluation by the experts of the bank. To be implemented over a
period of seven years. The project will cover the ecologically fragile
mid-hill areas on an altitude of 1800 feet to 5000 feet. In all about
400 panchayats of 10 districts, excluding those already included in the
Kandi project or D.I.F.I.D. project will be covered. Only the tribal
district of Kinnaur and Lahaul – Spiti will remain uncovered. The focus
of the project will be on conservation of water, which is increasingly
becoming scarce. Besides vegetative measures, check dams and water
harvesting structures and other civic works will also be constructed
under the project. The water impounded through the measures will be
used for irrigation to enable the farmers in the rainfed areas to
diversify into cash crops.
The integrated project will be
implemented through people’s participation adopting the watershed
approach. Micro planning will be carried out at the Panchayat level for
each watershed keeping in view the requirement of the local people and
available resources.
Along with afforestation and water
conservation measures, the project will aim at improving farm
productivity through dissemination of latest know-how, besides
high-yielding seeds and milch cattle.
The Tribune
(Chandigarh), 15 Sep. 2005
More Rights to States in
Forest Conservation Sought
The Rajasthan Forest,
Environment and Mines Minister, Laxminarain Dave, has called for
according more rights to states in the management and conservation of
forests by decentralization of powers in the norms implemented by the
Centre.
Mr. Dave also sought special
status for Rajasthan in view of its difficult geography.
Addressing a public function in Udaipur on
Saturday, Mr. Dave said Rajasthan needed a special package from the
Centre to facilitate 20 to 30% expansion in the forest area on the lines
of the north-eastern States, while the task of environment protection in
the desert state also required a special status.
Appeal for afforestation
Mr. Dave, while appealing to the people at large to contribute
actively to the afforestation drive, said devolving of more powers on
the state in the field would help in faster expansion and better
management of forest reserves.
The Minister, referring to the huge oil finds in
western parts of the state, said the state government was trying to get
an oil refinery established in the region.
This, he pointed out, would lead to an investment of Rs.
6,000 crores to Rs. 8,000 crores in the state, providing employment
directly to 20,000 persons and indirectly to nearly 1lakh people. Mr.
Dave said the mining policy to be implemented shortly in the state would
lay emphasis on simplification of procedures and launching of
employment-oriented scheme, besides augmenting revenue generation.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 06 Sep. 2005
Green Doon May Soon Become
a Memory
Jaskiran
Chopra
The brunt of Doon’s
so-called growth and development is being borne by its stately trees,
its grasslands and scrubs and its riverine eco-system. As the city
rushes into the fast track lane, it is tearing into the very fabric of
this green and quiet town. For the past few decades, Dehradun has been
expanding exponentially, encroaching into the surrounding agricultural
lands and forests and spilling into its riverine system. Things have
become worse ever since the town became the interim capital of
Uttaranchal five years ago. Construction is on at a frenzied pace in the
once serence valley as the burgeoning city expands to accommodate the
massive influx of urban population.
At risk are the valley’s majestic Amaltas,
Jamun, Silver Oaks and other trees that are being recklessly hacked and
uprooted to make way for wider roads, swanky showrooms and hotels. And
there is more destruction in store if the citizens do not wake up
immediately to this loss. A walk on the famous
Rajpur Road will show
just how many of the remaining stately trees are marked for the axe man.
The red X marks spell doom for the valley’s trees which have always
given it a unique identity. Says Lokesh Ohri, convenor of Indian
National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Dehradun, and a
conservationist, “Doon is treating its trees as encroachers,
turning them out and culling them at will. “All over the world,
cities harbour a variety of water bodies, parks and gardens and forests.
Some cities have old monuments and wonderful old trees as their wealth,”
he told TOI.
“The Doon valley was so synonymous with greenery
that it used to be said that even walking sticks sprout roots and shoots
during the monsoon,” he said. Over 650 species of birds can be spotted
during the year in the valley, which was often called “the town of grey
heads and green hedges.”
But now, said Ohri, the town was becoming a
tourist destination without an identity. “What becomes of a town that
has an East Canal Road sans a canal? What becomes of a town that has
Eucalyptus Road (these trees were not your run-of-the mill commercial
Eucalyptus but one of the finest, most stately species brought in from
Australia which provided the genetic material that heralded India’s
urban forestry resurgence under Sanjay Gandhi), without a tree in
sight?” he asked.
Infrastructural development is devouring the
green cover of the town, reducing it into a faceless concrete jungle.
“Why would people from the concrete jungles come here then?”
And this race for progress, it seems the Monitoring Committee to
ensure greenery in Doon, which was set up 14 years ago at Supreme
Court’s directive, has been given a quiet burial.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 18 Sep. 2005
Sweet Stevia Hot Among
Herbal Farmers
Amit
Bhattacharya
It is nature’s sweetest
produce; a shrub whose leaves are 15 to 20 times candied than sugarcane.
And unlike sugar, it is a zero-calorie food. This is ‘wonder herb’
Stevia rebaudiana, once found only in the highlands of Paraguay and now
the hottest plant among herbal farmers in India.
Stevia is free of carbohydrates and fat. It does not affect
blood sugar levels when consumed, making it deal for diabetics as well
as the calorie-conscious. And, it doesn’t leave a bitter after-taste
like most artificial sweeteners. The shrub, that grows to about two feet
in height, was traditionally used by Guarani Indians of South America
for sweetening food and as a medicinal herb. It was first documented by
the western world at the turn of the 20th century.
In a country with highest
number of diabetics in the world - estimated to touch 10 crore by 2010 -
stevia is set on a steady growth path in India. Conservative figures put
the stevia market at over Rs 1,000 crore in next five years. Seizing
on the prospects, farmer bodies and plant research companies have now
developed Indian strains of the shrub. Says Rajaram Tripathi, president
of Central Herbal Agro Marketing Federation of India (CHAMF), an organic
farmers’ cooperative boasting of over 1,500 members, “We have developed
two new varieties of stevia - MDS-13 and MDS - 14. These strains can
tolerate temperatures between 4 and 50 degree Celsius, so stevia can be
grown in most parts of the country.” There are reports of other
indigenous strains being developed. For instance, Pune based Sun Fruits
has come out with three new strains and plant tissue culture company
Growmore Bio-tech has also developed stevia varieties. CHAMF
plans to have 500 acres under stevia cultivation by December this year
and raise this to 10,000 acres within a couple of years. It is also
negotiating to export the herb.
“Stevia has emerged as the most sought after crop
for herbal farmers,” says Tripathi. Not without reason. For, the
returns are just as sweet. “Stevia gives growers 10 to 15 times more
returns than conventional crops,” says Tushar Ajgaonkar, brand manager,
Naturell, Mumbai-based Company that manufactured Stugar, a sweeterner
extracted from stevia.
Such is the potential demand among farmers that in July
this year. ICICI Lombard General Insurance introduced a weather
insurance cover for stevia crop in Punjab.
Stevia is available in the market as leaf, paste, powder or
herbal tea. Watchers say stevia will really take off if the government
grants permission for its extract to be marketed as a ready-to-consume
bio-sweetener.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 13 Sep. 2005
Campaign Launched for Biological Control of a Dangerous Weed
Gargi Parsai
The National Research
Centre for Weed Science, an institute of the Indian Council of Agriculture
Research, has launched a campaign for biological control of the Mexican
parthenium weed through beetles imported from Mexico. The weed is
popularly known as Congress grass. It is also called carrot weed because
it resembles a carrot plant and it now found in all parts of the country.
Parthenium hysterophorus is a weed that was imported into India
along with the PL 480 Mexican wheat seeds in the 50s. The weed has since
grown into uncontrollable proportions invading millions of hectares of
uncultivated wastelands, roadsides, railway tracks, etc. The fast growing
weed is a nuisance in public parks, residential colonies and orchards.
Not only that, it causes health hazards such as skin
allergy, hay fever and asthma in human beings and is toxic to livestock.
It squeezes grasslands and pastures, reducing the fodder supply.
Scientists describe it as a “poisonous, allergic and aggressive weed
posing a serious threat to human beings and livestock.”
The presence of parthenium in cropped
lands results in yield reduction up to 40%. The pollen grains inhibit
fruit set in tomato, brinjal, beans, etc. it is also responsible for
bitter milk disease in livestock fed on grass mixed with parthenium.
Parthenium is a fast maturing plant with a deep tap
root that can grow to a height of 1.5 to 2 metres having branched leaves
covered with fine hairs. It grows a large number of small white flowers
and seeds of light weight that are easily dispersed to distant places
causing allergy in human beings. Each plant can produce up to 10,000
seeds. It has the capacity to re-grow from the cut or broken parts. It has
no natural enemies such as insects and diseases because of which it
spreads rapidly in India.
According to N.T. Yaduraja, Director of the Jabalpur-based Centre,
one of the ways to control the weed is to uproot the weed before
flowering. Any newly emerging seedlings should be removed. Herbicides such
as glyphosate (one to 1.5%) for total vegetation control or metribuzin
(0.3 to 0.5%) could be used if the grasses are to be saved.
Another said an effective way of
controlling the weed is to spread seeds of self-perpetuating competitive
plant species such as cassia sericea, cassia tora, tagetus erecta and
tephrosia purpurea.
After much research, Mexican beetles (zygogramma bicolorata)
was considered a “safe” bio-control agent. The institute is now
campaigning for using this beetle for parthenium suppression.
The larvae feed for 10 to 15 on the leaves and on maturity enters
the soil and pupates below up to 15cm depth. The beetles emerge after
eight to 12 days and completes its life-cycle in 27 to 32 days. Both the
adults and larvae are capable of feeding on the parthenium leaves thus
checking the plant growth and flower production. Adults defoliate
the plant. Immature flowers are cut by the beetles in an effort to chew
the soft tissues beneath the flowers. Completely defoliated plants start
to show dieback symptoms and gradually get killed.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 04 Sep. 2005
Scientists at the
National Institute of Oceanography have found that a compound derived
from the blood of a horseshoe crab acts as a diagnostic reagent for
bacteria, which causes diseases like typhoid and meningitis. They have
also found that the shell of the crab can be used to create wound
dressings for use on burn victims and skin-graft donors. The compound
accelerates healing by 35-50% and helps reduce pain.
Now alarmed at the fast
pace of its extinction and stunned at the animals medicinal
properties, the ministry of science and technology is planning to ask
environment and forest minister A. Raja to declare the crab – which
also has potential to treat diabetes and cancer – an endangered
species.
While Japan has already declared it a protected animal, India
wants to include the animal in Schedule IV of the Wildlife act.
Science and technology minister Kapil Sibal said “We will write to the
environment ministry for such an initiative which would allow it to be
used for research purposes.”
The bizarre-looking horseshoe crab is a living fossil. It
pre-dates the dinosaurs and it hasn’t changed for 250 million years.
It’s not really a crab and is more closely related to a tick.
At present, there are five different species of the animal
found in US, India, Malaysia, Japan and China. “The blood of the
Horseshoe Crab has a critical component, known as T.A.L which clots
when exposed to bacteria.
All drugs intended for human use can
be tested with the compound. Some medical equipment and devices, such
as IV tubing, can also be tested with T.A.L.
The shell of the crab has also medical benefits. Chitin
filaments can be used to create suture material and wound dressings
for use on burn victims and skin-graft donors. We have already
received eight patents relating to horse shoe crab inventions,”
N.I.O. scientist Dr. K. Anil
Chatterjee said. N.I.O. meanwhile has also developed a process by
which blood is drawn from the base of the animal’s leg to extract
T.A.L. In other countries, the animal is killed to extract the
compound.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 06 Sep. 2005
Mahseer
Facing Extinction
Ravinder
Sood
The golden mahseer (Tor
putitora), which was categorized as an endangered species by the
National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, in 1992, has been
facing extinction in Himachal Pradesh. Its population is declining due
to various reasons, including construction of dams, barrages and
habitat shrinkage. While over cultivation and poaching deplete its
numbers, the construction of barrages acts as physical barriers during
its migration. Due to the construction of dams most of the mahseer has
become local population. Meanwhile, members of the Himachal
Angling Association are worried over the dilly-dally attitude of the
government in the construction of a mahseer seed farm. For the farm,
the Central Government had provided a financial assistance.
Despite investing
substantial money in various researches, the Fishery Department has
failed to develop a technology for controlled breeding of golden
mahseer. The association has submitted a Rs. 2.75-crore project on
mahseer preservation and promotion of angling to the state government.
Mr. K.B. Ralhan, secretary
general of the association, suggests measures for its conservation.
These are releasing more water from dams, educating the public on
better management of fishery resources, improving watch and ward
services and stocking fingerlings through scientific methods.
The
Tribune, (Chandigarh), 17 Sep. 2005
After the death of 38
Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilka lake in the past three years, the Orissa
Government has decided to move. A meeting called by Orissa Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday, decided to declare the brackish
water lagoon’s outer channel zone near Satapada a dolphin sanctuary,
impose restrictions on plying of motorised boats for dolphin watching
and using of various types of fishing nets.
The sanctuary would be
spread over 34.03 sq. km. More than 70% of the 111dolphins in the lake
are in the area earmarked for the sanctuary. It is here that a
majority of them fall victim to the propellers of boats and are caught
in nets. The high mortality rate has been worrying the State
Government and conservationists have been demanding action to check
the boats. According to data, 15, 11 and 12 deaths were reported in
2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. This number far exceeds natural
mortality rates.
About 500 mechanised boats are operated and more carcasses
are found from October to February – the peak season. Nets such as the
Almi and the Khonda prove fatal. Out of 12 deaths reported this year
four were due to nets.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 15 Sep. 2005
India has tightened
its surveillance against avian influenza, which has hit poultry and
ducks in several countries in Asia. States have been asked to be
particularly alert against infection from migratory birds arriving at
sanctuaries.
Responding to a Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warning issued on Wednesday, Animal
Husbandry Secretary P.M.A Hakim said, “India is free of avian
influenza. But we have strengthened surveillance and asked State
Governments to do frequent sample surveys. They have been asked to
report any untoward deaths of poultry or ducks. But there is nothing
to worry.”
The FAO has issued a warning for countries that fall along
migratory routes of wild birds to be on alert against the strain of
avian flu carried over long distance. “The deadly strain of avian
influenza that has hit several countries in Asia is likely to be
carried over long distances along the flyways of wild water birds to
the Middle East, Europe, South Asia and Africa,” the FAO said. India
and Bangladesh, which are currently uninfected, are also considered to
be at risk. Bangladesh – and to a lesser extent India – has large
numbers of domestic ducks. Both countries are situated along one of
the major migratory routes, and have the potential to become new large
endemic areas, the FAO has warned. Birds flying from Siberia, where
the H5NI virus has been detected, may carry the virus to the Caspian
and Black Sea in the foreseeable future. These regions in the Balkans
could become a potential gateway to Central Europe for the virus. Bird
migration routes also run across Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia,
Ukraine and some Mediterranean countries, where bird flu out breaks
are possible, the FAO said.
“Avian
influenza is an international problem that definitely needs a strong
international response,” to said FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph
Domenech.
Bird flu has killed more than 60 persons in Asia since
2003 and more than 140 million birds have died or have been
slaughtered in the efforts to contain prevent outbreaks. Health
experts have warned that bird flu has the potential to trigger a
global human pandemic if the virus adapts and becomes easily
transmitted transmittable between humans. Close contacts between
humans, domestic poultry and wildlife should be reduced and closely
monitored. On farms and markets, domestic birds should be strictly
separated from wild animals to the greatest extent possible.
Vaccinating poultry could also be considered in at risk situations.
India has
survived the outbreak due to strict vigilance at the borders and on
farm.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 02 Sep. 2005
House Sparrow on Verge
of Extinction
Vishal
Gulati
Cities of Punjab and
Haryana are no longer a habitat of a house sparrow. It’s chirping is
fading from the vicinity of human habitation.
A small plump
brownish bird, which is a widely distributed species in most parts of
Europe and Asia, it is slowly disappearing from urban areas. Flocks of
the sparrow, which were a common sight till a few years ago, are now
rarely seen. Ornithologists attribute a number of reasons to this
phenomenon. These include lack of nesting sites, use of pesticides and
non-availability of food. Even in the UK the bird has undergone a
drastic decline.
Lieut-Gen Baljit Singh (retd),
a Chandigarh-based bird watcher, says since the sparrow is closely
associated with man, it is the man who is responsible for its decline.
He observe that the decline is due to lack of holes for nesting in
modern houses and cutting of hedges from gardens.
Earlier houses had a number of crevices and holes. This enabled
the bird to make nests. These days’ houses have little space for
making nests. Use of heavy doses of pesticides in kitchen gardens and
fields results in the decline of invertebrate fauna. Small insects
play a very important role in the survival of newborn sparrows. It is
believed that with the decline in insect numbers the survival rate of
the newborns has come down.
Mr. Suresh C. Sharma, a member
of the Delhi Bird Club, blames the use of chemically treated seeds by
farmers for its decline. A sparrow feeds mainly on seeds.
Similarly, the treated grains available in the market are also a slow
poison for the bird.
He says it is almost extinct in
Bangalore. In Himachal Pradesh and the rural areas of Haryana, a good
number of sparrows can be spotted.
“We lace their food with liberal doses of pesticides,” says
Mr. S.K. Sharma, president, Environment Society of India, Chandigarh.
The pesticides are used for preserving the grains.
Reduced spillage of grains, improved storage, decline in the
practice of feeding sparrows, increased predation by owls and cats and
competition for food by other species, including pigeons, are
threatening the existence of sparrows.
The
Tribune (Chandigarh), 20 Sep. 2005
Vulture
Breeding Center Runs into Trouble
Ruchika M.
Khanna
The vulture-breeding
programme at the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore has
run into trouble with wildlife officials of Haryana.
The wildlife officials in the state say
though the center was set up for breeding of the highly endangered
white-back, long-billed and Himalayan Griffon vultures (Schedule I
birds), but in the past over three years no breeding of birds has
taken place at the center. The center is run jointly by the Bombay
Natural History Society (BNHS) and the Forest Department, Haryana.
Interestingly, while the wildlife wing of the
Forest Department is gunning for the center, Forest Department
officials have come in support of the Centre, claiming that there were
no discrepancies in its flagship project - the vulture-breeding
programme at Pinjore.
In a report submitted to the Union Ministry of
Environment and Forests, Government of India, the wildlife officials
have said that the scientists at the center cannot even identify the
sexes of the birds.
“The Principal Scientist of the B.N.H.S at the center,
Dr. Vibhu Prakash, has conceded that they are not even sure if
breeding in the coming years will take place or not,” reads the
report.
“As per the report submitted by Dr. Vibhu Prakash, there has been
no breeding of vultures at the center so far, during the past three
and half years since April, 2002. According to the scientist, vultures
breed only when they are four to five years’ old. Though there are
sufficient number of such vultures at the center, during the past
three to four years, yet no breeding has taken place till date”… says
the report submitted to the ministry. It also says that five of the 51
captured birds died at the center from January to June this year,
because of rock bee sting attack.
It was in the instructions of the Government of India that a
quarterly report was sought from the center officials by the Chief
Wildlife Warden, Haryana. Information was sought regarding area of
capture, date of capture, sex of captured birds and their health. The
center has been allowed to capture 150 Gyps species of vultures, on
the condition that they submit a quarterly report to the ministry
through the Chief Wildlife Warden. The report submitted by
the center on August 29, said that identification marks had been put
on all 51 captured birds, aviaries are maintained properly, vultures
are normal and are fed on freshly slaughtered goats. The report also
admits that there is no breeding of vultures, though a few white
backed vultures have shown signs of pair formations.
In spite of repeated attempts to contact the
Director of the B.N.H.S, Dr. Asad Rehamani at Mumbai and Dr. Vibhu
Prakash, over the past two days, they were not available. However,
senior forest officials say that breeding generally takes a long time.
“The vultures died at the center of bee attack, and not for any
negligence. With regards to the charges levelled against the center
for being unable to identify the sexes, sexing is an evolving
technique in India. The center for Cellular and Molecular Biology,
Hyderabad, which is evolving this technique, has been contacted for
the job. We are also trying to get in touch with some foreign
agencies, which have patented sexing of birds, to identify the sexes,”
says a senior forest department officer.
The
Tribune (Chandigarh), 15 Sep. 2005
Farm Chirus, Save Shahtoosh
Swaminathan
S. Anklesaria Aiyar
The shahtoosh shawl is
the most prized of all, beloved of Mughal emperors. It is very warm,
yet so soft and fine that it passes through a ring. But buying a
shahtoosh shawl today is illegal, and the industry is dying.
Why? Because the animal that yields shahtoosh, the chiru
of Tibetan antelope, is becoming extinct through relentless hunting.
Shahtoosh should
not be confused with pashmina, the fine fleece of the pashmina goat.
Pashmina can be combed out of the coat of the live animal. But
shahtoosh comes from the undercoat of the chiru, lying beneath the
outer coat, and cannot be harvested without shinning (and hence
killing) the animal.
Once, traders spread the myth that the chiru
rubbed its neck against rocks, shahtoosh fell off, and was gathered by
hunters. This was a plain lie. In fact, hunters had to kill the
animal, and needed to kill at least three chirus to get enough
shahtoosh for a full shawl.
In this context, the chiru is more like the
mink (which also has to be killed to harvest its fur) than the
pashmina goat (which can be sheared without harming it). Once,
millions of chirus roamed the high Tibetan plateau. Today, the number
is down to some thousands. There is a global ban on hunting chirus and
trading in shahtoosh. Yet, illegal hunting continues unchecked.
The official ban has simply driven the market for shahtoosh
underground. Prices in the black market have gone sky-high ($20,000 or
Rs. 9 lakh for one shawl). At these prices, the profitability of
poaching overwhelms any official ban. The few existing guards are
speedily bribed and become part of the poaching racket. So, the chiru
(and the shahtoosh industry of Kashmir) seems doomed to extinction.
Is there a way
out? Yes, a very simple one. Instead of continuing with a ban that
does not work, the government should permit the chiru to be farmed in
Ladakh, with local farmers getting the profits and not poachers. There
are many international precedents for saving animals from extinction
through farming.
The softest, warmest down in Europe was always eider-down, the
softest, fluffiest feathers of the elder duck. It was hunted
relentlessly for eider-down, and became extinct in some European
locations. But in Iceland a law was enacted in 1281 making eider ducks
the property of farmers on whose land they bred. In consequence,
Iceland’s farmers have always protected their eider ducks from natural
predators (foxes, ravens) and poachers. The farmers harvest down from
the live birds, and eider-down has become a billion-dollar business in
Iceland. The down is stuffed into pillows and quilts and sold at fancy
prices.
In Africa, the elephant and rhino were hunted to
near-extinction. But today, these animals are protected in large game
reserves, many privately owned. Even in government reserves, local
people are given a percentage of tourism and hunting fees, to give
them a stake in protecting the animals. In consequence, the elephant
population has risen so massively as to threaten farmers, so elephants
are being culled to control their numbers. In South
America, the vicuna and alpaca, relatives of the IIama, both yield
fine wool. The vicuna was hunted to the verge of extinction despite a
ban on all hunting. By contrast, the alpaca population today runs
into millions because it is farmed. Alpaca farmers and weavers
both earn good incomes.
In India, Nepal and China, the pashmina goat is farmed,
and supports thousands of farmers and weavers. The pashmina
population is growing and the pashmina trade is flourishing. By
contrast the chiru population is shrinking and shahtoosh weavers are
becoming extinct. The solution is obvious. We must allow the chiru to
be farmed and harvested. The farmed chiru will have to be killed
selectively, just as minks are killed for their fur. Because of this,
chiru farming is opposed by two groups of animal lovers.
One group opposes
any animal killing on ethical grounds. However, the same opposition is
not voiced to killing goats and buffaloes, and using their skin for
shoes, wallets, handbags and jackets. Farming chirus will be no more
unethical than farming goats for meat and skin.
Other critics say that if
chiru farms are allowed, poachers will pass off wild chirus as farmed
chirus. The risk undoubtedly exists. But it can be reduced by allowing
shawls to be woven only within regulated farms, and certifying these
as farm-based. Anyway, chirus barely exist in India: they are almost
all in Tibet.
If chiru-farming
spreads quickly, the price of shahtoosh shawls will crash. This will
make poaching less profitable and attractive. Low shahtoosh prices
will greatly reduce the money-power of poachers that today enables
them to buy all officials. In any event, farm rearing will ensure that
the chiru flourishes in farms, and does not become extinct.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 11 Sep. 2005
Is Musk Deer Going
the Sariska Tiger Way?
Anjali
Nauriyal
After tigers, the
price of human greed is being paid by yet another animal species - the
innocent musk deer. A study by zoologists some time ago stated that
over 5,000 adult male deer are slaughtered annually in its Himalayan
habitat. The animals are targeted by poachers for the high price the
sweet-smelling glands of the deer fetch in the international market.
The story is no different at a
captive breeding centre at Kanchula Kharak in Chamoli district. The
two decade-old centre set-up with a pair of musk deer aiming to
increase numbers, is once again left with what it began with, tells
Kedarnath Wildlife Division DFO, Ved Pal Singh. There was a time,
however, that the number of musk deer here had touched 24.
As per the 2005 census held in May, 37 musk deer were sighted
in the Kedarnath Forest Division. Their number was 61 in 2001 and 63
in 2003. The DFO defends the state of affairs by saying there are
usually more deer than the number sighted.
Musk deer live in high altitude areas that remain cut-off in
winters and so it is difficult for forest staff to keep a vigil, said
Singh, adding that he had called out for greater infrastructure
support. “Keeping an eye on 1,000 square kilometre area is beyond our
resources at the moment. The help that we have been getting from the
government is not sufficient,” he said. Poachers set up traps
beyond the tree lines and take shelter in bushes. To undertake
intensive patrolling in severe winters and inclement monsoon, the
department also needed to strengthen its intelligence network, he
added.
Interestingly, source revealed that
only two poaching cases were reported between 2001 and 2003. Citing
other reason for the declining numbers, Singh said the animals are
unable to adapt to climatic conditions or inadequate sunshine under
the thick forest cover. “We have also mooted a proposal to relocate
the breeding centre, which is being looked into by a committee,” said
Singh.
Musk, a strong-smelling secretion produced
by the glands of the musk deer, is being used primarily in perfumes
and Chinese medicine for over 6,000 years. Musk is used in about 500
traditional Chinese and Korean remedies, making it one of the most
common as well as precious medicinal products coming from animal
killings. Remedies include those for ailments of nervous system,
circulation, heart and lungs and also as a stimulant or sedative. For
this reason musk can be sold at three times its value in gold.
A range officer offers the last word of caution:
“Even though laws exist to conserve this fascinating animal, illegal
trade in musk glands (or musk pods) is rampant and dangerously
threatening populations of the deer not only in Uttaranchal but all of
its habitat in Asia.”
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 14 Sep. 2005
Orissa to
Set Up Community Reserve for Blackbucks
Wildlife organisation
of the forest department in Orissa has proposed to make
Balipadar-Bhetanai area in Ganjam district a “community reserve.” The
Balipadar-Bhetanai area is home to over 780 blackbucks.
Once notified it will be the first community reserve in
Orissa, where people’s participation will be maximum to protect the
local varieties of Krushnasara Mruga or Kala Baudia. The community
reserve is a new concept in the amended Wildlife (Protection) Act.
Prior
to the Act’s amendment in 1991, Balipadar-Bhetanai area, comprising
64.21 km, was declared as Game Reserve in 1989 to give protection to
the blackbucks and their habitat.
“Since the relevant sections
have been deleted in the amended Act, there is a need to give status
of community reserve to the area so that blackbucks can be protected
properly under the provisions of the Act,” Ghumusar south division
divisional forest officer E.I. Yanger Aier said. He also said
blackbuck was included in Schedule I of the Act.
“Farmers, whose crops have been harmed by the bucks,
will get compensated. The Blackbuck Protection Committee would
also get funds for community development as well as to improve the
animal’s habitat,” Aier said. The committee was formed temporarily
with representatives from 65 villages nearby. Despite
damages to their crops, people of the area have been protecting the
majestic animal with religious sentiments. The animal is associated
with their past history and folklore. According to the villagers, a
long spell of drought several years ago was over when people of the
area sighted a small group of blackbuck. Since then these animals
deserve protection.
Describing protection of blackbuck as an exemplary ‘human-animal
relationship’, state chief wildlife warden S.C. Mohanty said it had
prompted the department to propose a community reserve.
“We will submit a proposal to the government very soon and the
wildlife department will provide a big award to the Blackbuck
Protection Committee for their dedication,” he said.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 18 Sep. 2005
Elephants in the Mist
Suniti
Bhushan Datta
The early morning mist
rising off the Kabini Reservoir gives the land a surreal look. The sun
has not risen yet, and the grassy banks of the reservoir are calm. A
dark shape looms out of the bamboo on the fringes of the forest; the
mist swirls around as it makes it’s way slowly down to the water’s
edge. The elephant has spent the night browsing on the juicy bamboo
leaves and needs a drink of water before retreating into the cool
depths of the forest. The rising sun soon bums away the last tendrils
of mist, beginning another hot day at the Nagarahole National Park in
Karnataka.
In a country with a population exceeding a billion people, there is
scant place for an animal as large as an elephant to survive. Once
spanning most of the Indian subcontinent, elephant habitats have
shrunk to a few scattered forests in northern, north-eastern and
southern India. The healthiest population, by far, exists in the
diverse forests of south India. Ranging from dry teak to tropical
evergreen, these forests are home to about 15% of the world’s Asiatic
elephant population.
Elephant society is typically headed by the eldest and most
experienced female in the herd, known as the matriarch. The herd
consists of females, their calves and sub-adult animals. Bull
elephants are driven out of the herd when they reach maturity and
typically live solitarily, away from the herd. The matriarch knows,
through years of experience, which areas will have food in a certain
season, the location of water during the dry season and places where
the herd will be safe.
Over the
centuries, herds have followed rigid migration routes that take them
through areas of optimum food and water during the course of the year.
These routes are ingrained in the matriarch’s memory. But, in modern
times, these routes have been fragmented by man-made obstructions,
such as coffee plantations and human settlements. As a result,
elephants are increasingly coming into direct conflict with man. The
fallout is human casualties by elephants desperate for food and water,
and elephant deaths due to poisoning and electrocution. In a land
dominated by a large and hungry human population, elephants are seen
as pests and have little local support.
Despite a
bleak prospect, there is hope for these gentle giants. In south India,
the elephant has a fighting chance of survival. That chance lies in
the Nagarahole National Park, on the border between northern Kerala
and Karnataka. This park is a part of what is perhaps the largest area
of unbroken elephant habitat in India, known as the Nilgiri Biosphere
Reserve. This stretch of forest, covering in excess of 2,000 square
kilometers, comprises of the Nagarahole National Park and Bandipur
Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, Wynaad Sanctuary in Kerala and the
Mudumalai Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, along with adjacent protected
forests.
For the
Nagarahole elephants, the migration routes go through either Kerala in
the south or the Brahmagiri Sanctuary in the west and north. These
migration corridors, which are still some what intact, allow the
elephants a relatively safe passage between lush monsoon forests in
the hills and the grassy banks and abundant water of the Kabini
Reservoir in the summer. This reservoir, which forms the southern
boundary of the park, provides sustenance for a whole host of animals,
including elephants, during the hot and dry summer months.
Every year, around November, and waters of the Kabini
Reservoir are gradually drained to provide irrigation to the farmers
in the catchments areas around the nearby city of Mysore. The
resultant mudflats are rich in silt washed down from the Western Ghats
and by the time the forest dries up in April, there is an abundance of
fresh, succulent grass to sustain the elephants. It is perhaps a
unique phenomenon, where a man-made reservoir, that has drowned some
25 sq. kms of forest, has actually benefited the wildlife of the area.
Indeed, the seasonal movements of the Nagarahole herds are
intrinsically dependent on the annual drainage cycle of the reservoir.
By the beginning of March, the now lush banks of the
reservoir start to fill up with elephants. As summer advances, more
and more herds descend from the hills to partake in his annual feast
of grass. This is also a social aggregation for the elephants as
matriarchs meet each other and the meadows echo with the rumbles,
squeaks and trumpets of elephants vocalizations. Calves that were born
the previous year are now old enough to eat the soft, nutritious grass
and they too get a rare chance to play, tugging at each other’s trunks
and tails and butting one another. Younger calves stay close to their
mothers or gambol playfully with their elder siblings. Adult elephants
are remarkably tolerant of their young. The big bull elephants that
are normally solitary mingle with the herds, getting a chance to mate
and thereby pass on their genes. Conflicts occasionally occur, as is
wont to happen in any society, but they do not last long and peace
soon returns to the vast sea of grazing elephants. Towards
the end of May, the grass has worn away, leaving behind short, dry
stubs. There too are kicked up by the elephants, exposing bare, dusty
patches of soil. Soon the rains will come and the reservoir will fill
up once again and it will be time for the matriarchs to lead there
herds back into the cool, green heights of the Brahmagiri hills. The
lone bull elephants remain behind, to feed on the bamboo and fresh
sprout of leaves in the forest. The great elephant congregation
dwindles to just a few individuals. While the Nagarahole National
Park is a safe haven for elephants, most other reserves are not.
Killed for their ivory and continually persecuted by man in a land
where they are reversed as a god and were once allowed to roam free,
these animals are now regarded as pests. Elephants arriving on the
banks of the Kabini frequently carry the wounds and scars of shotgun
pellets, fired at them by the irate owners of coffee plantations, over
whose land the elephants have trampled through. Many are blinded by
pellets and killed or maimed by crude electric fences connected to
high-tension cables.
However, even as
Nagarahole continues to harbour healthy elephant populations, the
traditional migration corridors between this park and other areas are
being disturbed. As a result, the herds are increasingly becoming an
isolated population, which has led to inbreeding, making them
vulnerable to disease, and brought them into repeated conflict with
humans. Protected areas such as Nagarahole alone are not sufficient
for conserving elephants. There is an urgent need for more such areas
that can be connected by viable, undisturbed corridors. A sustained
and dedicated effort is required to prevent these beautiful, innocent
giants from disappearing into extinction.
The
Telegraph (Calcutta), 10 Sep. 2005
Relocate Tigers to
Sariska, says Rajasthan Panel
The State Empowered
Committee (SEC) on Forest and Wildlife Management, appointed by
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Sciendia in February, has
recommended that tigers be relocated to Sariska. The panel
was set up by the Chief Minister following The Indian Express reports
on missing tigers in Sariska and Ranthambhore tiger reserves.
Its report - “Securing the future”
- submitted on Tuesday, has called for rehabilitation of villages in
Sariska’s Core area to keep “the sanctumsanctorum of the park free
from all kinds of disturbances”. Once the villages are removed and an
adequate security system put in place, the report proposes relocation
of three tigers from Kanha and one from Ranthambhore. Recommending
an immediate “full-fledged high level CB-CID police probe into the
connivance and involvement of forest staff of all ranks and the local
people and other vested interest groups with the poaching gangs”, the
report goes on to slam the state forest department and the Project
Tiger for failing to detect the crisis.
On Sariska, the report
observed: “The Project Tiger with all its specified protocols and the
modern reporting systems proved to be woefully lacking, and therefore
these inputs from Project Tiger came to naught. In fact, the ‘early
warning systems’ created by Project Tiger failed to deliver”.
Seeking immediate action and
fixing of responsibility for the decline in the tiger population in
Ranthambhore from 47 in 2004 to 26 in 2005, the report points out that
“as late as (in) March 2005, an inspection report by Project Tiger
stated that there were no tigers missing in Ranthambhore and all
monitoring and early warning systems were in place”. It goes on to
note that “the systems put in place for monitoring Ranthambhore tigers
were either non-existent or failed to deliver”.
For Keoladeo National Park, the report
recommends ensuring suitable water reservation in the Panchana dam, so
the park receives 550 million cft of water by mid-July.
The SEC has discouraged any efforts to make the piped water
the mainstay - as it would cause “irreparable loss” to the wetland
eco-system.
The SEC has also recommended setting
up of a State Wildlife Crime Bureau in the police headquarters at
Jaipur and a state-of-the-art training centre for all forest staff..
Indian
Express (New Delhi), 09 Sep. 2005
Sariska to get Back Big
Cats
Saurabh
Sinha
Rajasthan government
has finally decided to reintroduce tigers in the Sariska reserve
forest. According to the plan, big cats from Ranthambore or MP’s Kanha
reserve would be shifted to Sariska but only after it is made safe for
them, state’s Chief Wildlife Warden R.N. Mehrotra told TOI. He,
however, didn’t give any timeframe but assured that “this would happen
soon”. “We have a plan that would be implemented with the help of
experts and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). With the Centre’s
support, we will first do some groundwork like diverting traffic from
the prime valley and also relocate villages that are situated inside
the forest,” Mehrotra said.
The Sariska reserve has
28 villages and in the first phase about 15 would be shifted from the
crore area. He added that the state government has worked out a
five-year plan to remove all villages from the sanctuary.
The Centre also seems to be enthusiastic about the plan. “WII had
conducted a feasibility report regarding reintroducing tigers in
Sariska. We’ve asked the state about the requirements. Once we get a
strong proposal for ensuring an undisturbed habitat and protection
from all threats, we will support the project in a scientific manner,”
Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal said. He added that the WII had
suggested that five tigers be introduced in Sariska once the area in
declared safe.
When P.M. Manmohan Singh
had visited Ranthambore some months back, the state government had
sought financial help for relocating villagers and taking some other
steps. Now, the ministry is going to ask the state how much
financial support it would require for reintroducing tigers.
The Sariska
Park has been closed for taking some corrective steps and is likely to
reopen by October-end.
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 10 Sep. 2005
Curb
Human Activity Near Sariska: Panel
The empowered
committee on forest and wildlife, appointed by the state government,
has recommended that the 28 villages coming under Sariska sanctuary
should be shifted elsewhere and human activities be curbed
immediately.
Committee chairman V.P. Singh
submitted a nine-chapter report, which puts forward many
recommendations to chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday.
It was suggested that neither a new hotel be allowed to
come up in and around Ranthambhors, nor should permission be granted
for capacity addition in existing hotels.After studying the problems
faced by Keoladeo national park at Bharatkpur, which is a UNESCO
heritage site, the empowered committee suggested that before providing
Chambal water to the national park through pipelines, its likely
effect on ecology and environment should be analysed.
The report has suggested various
steps to be taken in sanctuaries to prevent poaching, new
technological measures to be adopted for wildlife census and steps to
be taken for relocating tigers in Sariska, which is devoid of any
tiger population because of poaching. The committee, which was formed
in February this year, made an extensive study by visiting tiger
reserves. It found that there was an urgent need to draw a master plan
for religious places and also places of heritage value in Ranthambhore.
It felt the need for a similar master plan for Khandar and Udgir’s
forts and for Keoladevi temple falling in the Ranthambhore national
park vicinity.
One of the prime concerns of
the empowered committee has been to revive Sariska by reintroducing
tigers. This has never taken place anywhere in the world. It is a big
challenge before the state and the country for which a well conceived
coordinated strategy, backed by sound science and political will is
needed. The current crisis has exemplified the gross inadequacy of
field formations as well as administrative setup at the state-level to
effectively deal with matters both in the field and at policy levels.
A systematic restructuring and overhaul of present organizational
structure of the wildlife wing is urgently needed in order to enable
it to effectively fulfil its mandate and responsibilities.
In the report, specific
recommendations have been made to improve all aspects of protected
area management, including protection and intelligence gathering,
rehabilitation of villages, research and monitoring, tourism,
population estimation and dealing with traditional hunting
communities.The empowered committee has also suggested the formation
of a ‘Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund’, with the chief minister as
its chairperson.
Hindustan
Times (New Delhi), 08 Sep. 2005
With the help of
Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, the Project Tiger
Directorate will launch a countrywide tiger census this November to
bring out a clearer picture of tiger numbers in the country.
A team of
international observers will be invited by the Union Ministry of
Environment and Forests to be part of this exercise, which will go up
to February 2006. The census will begin on November
15. Talking to TOI here on Friday, B.C.
Chowdhury, a senior scientist of the WII, said in October, the WII
would train the spearhead team of scientists who would carry out the
census. “Director, Project Tiger, and his team will also participate
in the census,” he said.
He said states would be free to
invite any expert they wished to for the exercise, which would be
conducted for eight days at each location identified by the team.
“New techniques which will be used, will take
the focus away from the pugmark technique,” said Chowdhury. “The
revised methodology being developed by the WII is not
for counting tigers individually.”
He said idea,
behind the fresh census was to determine the prey base status of
various locations and study the habitat conditions. “We will also see
whether there is a breeding population of tigers or not in the areas
being surveyed.”
Chowdhury said the
country would be divided into landscapes and density factors would
be studied in accordance with the landscape. “Density will be judged
even on the smallest level, the beat level.” Uttaranchal’s
chief wildlife warden Srikant Chandola said the new methodology would
enable experts to get valuable information. “Uttaranchal will hold the
census sometime in January 2006.”
Former chief wildlife warden
Anand Singh Negi said a good estimate of tiger numbers in any area
could be made by their stripes, markings and faces. “The real problem
of counting is not in the protected areas but in the areas outside the
protected areas.”
The Times
of India (New Delhi), 10 Sep. 2005
Indian Tiger
Skins Flooding Tibet Blackmarket
Jay
Mazoomdaar
Despite the red alert
sounded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests across the country,
the trade in tiger and other big cat skins from India is flourshing a
alarmingly in Tibet and adjoining areas of China. With increased
suspplies of tiger, leopard and other skins, many new shops have
sprung up in what is arguably the world’s single largest wildlife
blackmarket.
These are some of the startling
findings of an ongoing survey conducted by the London-based
Environmental Investigative Agency (EIA) with the help of the Wildlife
Protection Society of Indian (WPSI). The survey report will be
released later this month but sources confirmed that the situation has
only worsened since October 2003 when China’s Anti-Smuggling Bureau
intercepted a truck in their “Tibetan Autonomous Region” that was
carrying a consignment of 31 tiger, 581 leopard and 778 otter skins
from India.
“This has been an extensive
survey and we also covered new areas. We will start analysing our data
before we finalise the report,” EIA’s senior campaigner Debbie Banks
told The Indian Express. Conducted last month, the key findings of the
recent survey are:
· Both the open sale and use of fresh tiger, leopard and otter skins
is even more widespread than last year.
· All dealers the team talked to said the skins had come from India.
· In Lhasa, many new shops were openly selling tiger and leopard skin
chubas – a traditional Tibetan outfit. At one shop, the team found
three fresh tiger skins – priced up to Rs. 5.4 lakh each – and seven
fresh leopard skins for sale. All these skins were said to have been
smuggled from India.
· Most Tibetans wearing chubas claimed they had purchased the outfits
during the past two seasons.
· Only 10 shops in the main Barkhor circuit stocked 24 tiger skin
chubas. Another 20 stocked 54 leopard skin chubas. There are a total
of 46 shops in the market.
· A large number of leopard and snow leopard skins were also
found on the streets of Linxia.
· The over-all situation is much worse than what was found during the
EIA survey last year. “The survey confirms without doubt that
there is large-scale poaching of tigers and leopards in India whose
skins are smuggled to Tibet,” said WPSI’s Belinda Wrights, also a
member of Rajasthan’s State Empowered Committee (SEC) on Forest and
Wildlife Management.
Wrights has pointed
out some of the preliminary findings in the panel’s report that was
presented to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje this evening in Jaipur.
Among other recommendations, the SEC report has emphasized the need to
curb cross-border smuggling in wildlife objects.
“We were told that the Tibetan
chuba is exempted from the law even if it is adorned with an entire
tiger skin. In Linxia, traders claimed that in the Hui Autonomous
Prefecture of Gansu Province, there is a special policy that allows
them to openly sell skins,” wrote WPI’s Wrights in the SEC report.
The information gathered by the EIA/WPSI
team has been passed on to the Chinese authorities. A delegation from
India – a MOEF and a CBI official – was in China a couple of weeks
back to attend a CITES meet. They were also briefed about the findings
at an EIA presentation.
Indian
Express (New Delhi), 08 Sep. 2005
Tiger Census May Spring
Surprises
Yudhajit
Shankar Das
With the Ministry of
Environment and Forests jolted out of its slumber by the Sariska
debacle, a transparent procedure has been drawn up to conduct the next
tiger census, due in November.
“For the very first time
internal and external observers, people who are experts in the field,
will be monitoring the census procedure,” Mr. Ganga Singh, joint
director, Project Tiger, said. Till now the state forest department
used to collect the data and analyse them with to checks from the
Centre on how far the figures made available were correct.
The Union
Minister For Environment and Forests; Mr. A. Raja, said on Tuesday
that the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, would also be
entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out the census from this
year. WII organized a one-day workshop on 29 August in New Delhi,
which was attended by forest department authorities from the states.
“We will also have several regional workshops in September and October
before the census begins to train and sensitise the forest department
staff,” said the director, Wildlife Institute of India, Mr. P.R. Sinha.
Mr. Sinha
told The Statesman: “This year’s census will provide excellent
information base which will help in framing policies for the future.”
He added that till now the numbers of ‘big cats’ provided by the
states were not accurate because they gave the total estimates,
instead of giving break-ups for each sector/section. “The Tiger Task
Force report also recommended the method that we will be using now,”
Mr. Sinha said. The method has three levels, and has been under field
testing in the Satpura-Maikal area of Madhya Pradesh, for the last
one-and-a-half years. To homogenize the area from where the forest
officials would collect data it has been divided into beats (of 15-20
sq. kms each). The initial data will be collected by the pugmark
method. In the second level the area will be stratified
on the basis of the numbers of tigers inhabiting it. The third level
will see experts intensively researching the stratum, beginning with
pugmarks, digital photography of the pugmarks, camera trapping, to
scad sample analysis.
Work
has begun in right earnest, and a team of experts have visited the
tiger reserves and filed preliminary reports, based on guidelines
drawn-up by the International Union of Conservation of Natural
resources, Mr. Ganga Singh said. Mr. Raja also spoke of creating a
Wildlife Crime Bureau on the lines of the Central Bureau of
Intelligence, that will be headed by an I.P.S officer, to
prevent terrorist infiltration in the forests. Some of the tiger
reserves like Namdhapa, Manas in the North-East and Nagarjunasagar,
Palamau and Indravati have been ravaged due to terrorist and Naxalite
activities respectively. This is probably the first time that the
Centre is actively participating in the census process, which, till
now, had been solely maintained by the various state governments.
“The figures
that were reported were in many cases not biologically feasible,” says
the Coordinator of the Tiger Conservation Project of the World
Wildlife Fund for Nature, Brig Ranjit Talwar. It was during the last
days of the mentor of Project Tiger, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, that the
gross misrepresentation of tiger figures by wildlife authorities
started. But after her, there was a lack of political will to do
anything substantial and the worst the degeneration in the
conservation was reached, Brig Talwar said. This census with all the
promised methodology and transparency is bound to spring some
surprises.
The
Statesman (New Delhi), 05 Sep. 2005
Uneasy existence
Meena Menon
At dusk, the state
transport bus disgorges people returning from work in Khatkali village
in the Melghat Tiger Reserve. “We go everywhere looking for work,”
says Gamba Belsare.
Despite this, he and
other villagers are quite happy with their existence in the forest.
They said they had many facilities, apart from water and fuel. Every
year, with dwindling jobs, the people of Khatkali clear forestland and
plant some crops. This year is no different. “We get about five to six
quintals per acre of jowar which lasts for six months,” says Belsare.
According to Badu Jamunkar, “There is no other way for us. We don’t
have any land and little food. We often sleep on an empty stomach.
There are malnourished children too.”
However, in the past, the
Forest Department punished people for this. Very few have land rights.
Dayaram Jamunkar defiantly adds, “How can they punish us? It’s our
land, which the Forest Department has taken over. We only want to grow
food to eat. We are not doing anything wrong. We are also constantly
accused of stealing firewood.”
Near the core area
Living in the forest has
problems too. People have to stay up all night to ensure that animals
do not destroy their crops. If clearing forests is an issue in
Khatkali, then in Dhargad it is the poisoning of deer. Early in July,
a sambar was killed at Koktu near Dhargad and one person was arrested.
Before that two chital or spotted deer were poisoned. Someone kept a
pot of urea, which leached into the water around the land pump. The
chitals drank this and died. This village has been settled since 1964
and it is near the core area of the Reserve. “The Forest Department
gave us land and built homes for us to stay here and look after the
forest. They also gave us work. But after this tiger project, there is
nothing for us. We have to steal firewood and clear land for
agriculture. We are treated unjustly,” says Pundalik Baliram Godmale.
The Korkus and the Gawlis inhabit
this village. People complained that the Forest Department allows
Kathiawadi cattle as well as cattle from a dairy to graze in the
forest. Over the years, there has been a lot of bitterness. “The
Forest Department has taught us to steal,” alleges one villager. In
June, two persons were arrested for the poisoning of the deer and let
off on bail. Villagers deny they poisoned the deer but they admitted
to eating it. “We love meat and we did inform the Forest Department,
which did not move away the carcass, so we ate it,” chuckles one
villager.
The people feel they have bigger
problems. They don’t understand why the Forest Department does not
permit the killing of wild boar, which destroys their crops. Both
Khatkali and Dhargad are part of the19 villages, which are to be
relocated from the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra’s Amravati
district. Three villages have already been moved out and there are
mixed reactions among the relocated people.
In Dhargad they have already been
shown land, which people have approved. “We are quite keen on leaving
the forest. The Forest Department suspects us of killing animals. Now
they even have military men to keep vigil on us,” said Godmale.
However, Vatsala Deokar fears that if they leave the forest, they may
have to pay for many things they now take for granted. During the
rains, the forests of Melghat Tiger Reserve are greener. The air is
full of bird cries and one may even spot a few deer. There has been no
detected case of tiger poaching since five years but there is no room
for complacence, according to the field director of the reserve, Nitin
Kakodhar. Here, other issues are as important and linked to the
tiger’s survival.
Reserve is understaffed
The Reserve, which has about 70
tigers, is under staffed with 206 guards and 72 foresters against a
sanctioned strength of 600. Of late the prey base is the increasing
target. One of the first nine Tiger Reserves included in Project Tiger
in 1973, the 1,676 sq. km. Reserve comprises the Gughamal National
Park, which is the core area, the Melghat Tiger Sanctuary and a
denotified area of 500 sq. km. area called the multiple use area.
Kishore Rithe of Nature Conservation Society, Amravati, says, “You
don’t need organized gangs from outside for poisoning water holes. In
May, a water hole was poisoned in the Chaurakund Range and sure enough
we found several species of animals and birds dead. People dig up the
banks of the water holes and place endosulfan or urea there.” Sambar
are either poisoned or hunted by dogs.
Problem of cattle
However, the Forest Department
is increasingly facing people’s anger when it tries to catch the
culprits. In Dhargad for instance, when the department went to
make an arrest, the people threatened to set fire to the jungle. While
parts of Melghat are hilly, agriculture is confined to the small
plains area. This is where the 19 villages are located mostly and that
is why they need to be relocated, argues Rithe. Kakodhar said that as
per records, 30,000 heads of cattle are grazing on the plains, but the
number could be more. He agreed that cattle was one of the major
problems in the forest and to get a good flush of grass, often the
grazers set the forest on fire. He said the poaching of herbivores had
to be curbed and some ex-army men had been appointed from July 1 to
keep vigil. The availability of fodder even for herbivores was under
threat and he feared this stress could affect their breeding, further
affecting the already low prey base. All these varied stresses have an
impact on the tiger.
Rithe points out that tigers
have become nocturnal and sightings are very rare. Cattle pressure was
tremendous in the forest and there were about 1,50,000 heads of
cattle, as against about 8,000 herbivores, he estimates, which speaks
poorly of the Reserve. In this complex situation, conservation
strategies have to be balanced in the interests of the people and the
animals. With the forest department, conservationists and human rights
activists at loggerheads on this issue, no easy solutions are at hand.
The
Hindu (New Delhi), 11 Sep. 2005
For Claws,
Lions Being Poisoned in Gir Forest
Haresh
Pandya
Another big cat is
under threat. Poachers are killing the Asiatic lions of Gir by
poisoning them. At least one lioness and five lions were found dead in
the Dhari and Khamba jungles in the last seven days. At a dozen lions
were poisoned this year.
A lioness was found in a
critical condition on Wednesday. She died at the animal care center in
Sasan, the heart of Gir, on Saturday. The same day, two burnt
carcasses of lions were found. Around the same time, the Gir Nature
Youth Club (GNYC) reported two more deaths. On Sunday, yet another
lion was reported dead. The startling similarity among these
carecasses was that they were without claws. Forest officers raided a
temple near Hirava in Gir on September 12 and arrested three people
for poisoning lions and removing their claws. Thirty-one claws were
recovered from them. There’re villages on the periphery of Gir where
lions venture regularly. Poachers try to lure them into the nearby
hamlets of Hirava, Gadhiya, Virpur and Madhavpur and then kill them.
Six years ago, an interstate gang of poachers was caught from Gadhiya.
There is a forest chowky at
Hirava. The staff works round the clock. But incidents of poaching
keep happening from time to time. On August 3, the carcass of a lion
was found at Hirava. The animal was without fifteen of its 18 claws.
In the same area, Lions
killed several domestic animals on July 25. Later, some poachers mixed
poison in the kill when the lions went for a stroll in the jungle. The
forest authorities got to know of the poachers’ plan. But it was too
late – the culprits had managed to flee. But the lions were saved.
“There is a big demand
for genuine lion claws as there is a flourishing business of animal
teeth. Poachers don’t hesitate to kill lions by injecting poison in
their kill or by giving them poisoned prey,” states wildlife expert
Indraneel Parmar.
“Poisoning of lions to remove
their claws is an old practice in Gir. Forest authorities need to
intensify patrolling in the sensitive areas where lions roam and
poachers camp. It’s high time they made a thorough search for the real
offenders and conducted an impartial inquiry into the whole scandal.
It doesn’t help nabbing one or two suspects and making a big show of
it and then allowing them to go scot-free for want of evidence,” says
Amit Jethwa, president, GNYC.
Hindustan
Times (New Delhi), 20 Sep. 2005
The roar of lions
could drown the sound of gunfire in Chambal. The Central Zoo Authority
is considering a proposal of the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a
lion safari park in the Chambal ravines-home to the dreaded bandit
gangs.
According to senior
environment ministry officials, the Uttar Pradesh government has
forwarded a proposal to set up a lion sanctuary in Etawah, the home
town of chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. But is
this a desperate measure to wrest control of the valley from the
dacoits? While the ministry considers the proposal, there is a whisper
campaign afoot that the government wants to create a fear of the
animals among bandits, which will force them to leave Uttar Pradesh
for the ravines in Madhya Pradesh. The central Uttar
Pradesh area is notorious for crime. According to official records,
Etawah has seen some 4,000 kidnappings and 180 murders in the past
five years.
The state’s chief
wildlife conservator Mohammad Ehsan scoffs at the claim. “I fail to
understand how it has been construed that the lions would scare away
bandits from that area.”
The plan to develop a lion
safari park has been in the pipeline for a long time, he said. “The
proposal forwarded by the UP government says that the green belt in
Chambal and the ravines near Etawan can be home to lions,” an official
said.
The government has selected a
150-hectare area on the outskirts of Etawah town for the park. The
initial cost of the project is estimated to be Rs. 10 crore.
Ministry officials say the proposal is in the advanced stage of
consideration.
Hindustan
Times (New Delhi), 05 Sep. 2005
A Jewel Crafted by Nature
G.
Ananthakrishnan
Just how the last
remaining natural spaces in the country should be preserved is now the
theme of a polarising debate in the conservation community.
Science-based conservation advocates find themselves in a
confrontational situation with activists who believe animals and
humans can co-exist in a wild setting. There is little doubt, however,
about where Bittu Sahgal, the founder-editor of Sanctuary magazine
comes from when he makes an impassioned plea to preserve a precious
piece of the wilderness in The Kaziranga Inheritance, a book that is a
tribute to a famous reserve.
He and lead author
Ranjit Barthakur have documented the uniqueness of Kaziranga and a
dedicated group of photographers have enlivened their writings with
handsome full-page colour plates. This is more an evocative journey
through a small fragment of a once-rich past where the one-horned
rhinoceros, the tiger and a host of other animal and bird species have
miraculously survived over the decades.
Visual narrative
A book such
as this one, sweeping across the panorama of life in Kaziranga, must
naturally provide a visual narrative that is as rich as the landscape
– and it does not disappoint, though no one can be blamed for asking
for more. After all, the National Park has recorded 505 species of
birds, some 100 of them migrants, and that is a breathtaking tally for
an ornithologist in a single reserve. There are also 440 species of
plants here. Figuring on the long list of birds, reproduced in the
book, are the beautiful Bengal Florican and the Oriental Pied
Hornbill. The history of this area takes the reader back in time the
early part of the 20th Century and the first attempts at securing a
future for the rhinoceros. It all began with the strenuous efforts of
J.C. Arbuthnott, the officiating Commissioner of the Assam Valley
Districts, to get the chief commissioner to announce a ban on hunting
and to protect three distinctly well- endowed areas as reserved
forest; in 1916, Kaziranga became a game sanctuary. That this was
achieved with little additional persuasion in a province where the
lucrative tea industry had already taken root should provide a
sobering perspective to present-day policymakers and bureaucrats at
the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Global Showpiece
Kaziranga is a global showpiece, a
World Heritage Site. It seeks to provide more space today for its
megafauna – the rhinos, elephants and tigers – to cross over to safe
territory during the monsoon and floods that move south. The animals
are driven by the waters to seek safety on higher ground, passing
through Haldhibari in the Karbi Anglong Hills and the Panbari and
Kachanjhuri Reserved Forests. The crossing is a terrifying ordeal for
the protected denizens of the Park: in 1998, some 600 animals drowned.
Man-made tragedy also strikes many others who die each on National
Highway 37 (on the southern side of the National Park) including
tigers, after being hit by automobiles.
Bittu Sahgal and his colleagues give vent
to their anguish in the book in some detail, lamenting the weak
responses to some of the challenges that Kanziranga and indeed all
protected area face. The overall thread that runs through this
large-format volume, however, is one of celebration, expressing great
joy at the survival of the national park and the need to look to the
future. The tough reputation of the Park in dealing with poachers, in
contrast to most other protected areas where armed patrolling is
woefully inadequate, would seem adequate reason for jubilation. It
become illegal to hunt in Kaziranga as early as 1908, as the authors
find from official records, and a particularly effective Chief
Conservator, A.J.W. Milroy (who had already made a name for himself by
reducing the trauma involved in capture of elephants) took on poaching
gangs with good results. Decades later, Kaziranga tries to maintain
its traditionally unforgiving approach to poaching, with a great deal
of help from the citizen sector.
The book tracks two key
conservation issues that form part of the current national debate:
greater use of science to help these protected area regenerate and the
role of communities in helping these wild places survive. One of the
leading investigators in the field, Dr. K. Ullas Karanth has
contributed a chapter, ‘The Science of Conservation’ dealing with the
effectiveness of camera traps to sample tiger populations. It would be
of interest to wildlife watchers that Kaziranga has higher tiger
densities compared to most other reserves. ‘The Human Factor’, a
chapter analyzing the impact of a growing human population that is
part of a consuming economy on three sides of the National Park raises
the contradictions that mark official policy. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has, in his foreword, expressed support to the National Park,
acknowledging its timeless value. Congress (I) president Sonia Gandhi
is even more forthright in a note published in the book, expressing
worry at the “greed of city dwellers increasingly feeding off the
forests” and commending the “far-sighted, stringent and successfully
enforced conservation measures” in Kaziranga. If such unequivocal
policy support to science is sustained, the Ministry of Environment
and Forests can be persuaded to fulfill its mandate to protect not
merely Kaziranga but all key habitats in the country. Many more such
celebratory works can then document the beauty of the land and its
wondrous creatures.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 13 Sep. 2005
Haryana Seeks
Rs. 28 lakh for Wildlife Census
Ruchika M.
Khanna
The Forest Department,
Haryana, has demanded a sum of Rs. 28 lakh from the Union Ministry of
Environment and Forests, in order to carry out the census of wildlife
in the state. The wildlife census will be carried out in January,
2006.
Officials in the Forest Department informed
TNS that a meeting of state wildlife officials was held with officials
of the ministry and the Wildlife Institute of India recently. The
meeting was held to work out a schedule for training wildlife staff in
the state, so that they could further train the junior staff to carry
out the census. The Wildlife Institute of India will train
the core group of wildlife officials from Haryana in December this
year. Aided by the wildlife Institute, the census of wild animals in
all major forest belts of the state will be carried out. This wildlife
census will provide a base for environmentalists and forest officials
to have estimates of wildlife population in the state.
The money sought from the Ministry of
Environment and Forests will be used for buying two pickup vans for
the census staff, a global positioning system, binoculars, cameras and
other infrastructure to be used by the census staff, including tented
accommodation for their stay when the 10-day census is on.
The census work, inform officials,
will be carried out in over 950 sq. km. forest area, including the
Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding areas like Kalsia
Forest in Yamunanagar, Morni, Bir Shikargah and the Raipur Rani area
in Panchkula and Aravali forest belt in Gurgaon and Mahendragarh.
It may be noted that census of
wildlife in Haryana was done in 2002, and again in 2003-04. However,
both the census reports have not been published. The census of
wildlife conducted in 2002 was accepted by the department, except for
the census of leopards and other wild cats. The pugmark traces of
these big cats collected on plaster moulds were not accepted by the
Wildlife Institute of India, “because these traces were not
visible”.
The census estimates put the number
of sambars at about 740, barking deers at 1031, wild boars at about
2300, gorals around 2850, chitals at 54; 311 chinkaras and about 250
langoors. This census also put the blue bull population at 38,000,
which was considered to be on a higher scale.
A census was ordered again in 2003-04.
After the census counting was complete, the compilation of census data
could not be carried out because of frequent changes in officers
assigned to do the task.
The census to be carried out now will
identify leopards, sambhars, chitals, barking dogs, black deer, blue
bulls and chinkaras.
This census will also include a count of
the actual blue bull population in the state, which has become a cause
of concern for the environmentalists as the sightings of this antelope
has been declining.
The
Tribune (Chandigarh), 13 Sep. 2005
अपने देश की हरी-भरी धरती पर उछलने-कूदने वाले कंगारुओं के मनमोहक
दृश्य आपको शायद कोरी कल्पना लगे,
लेकिन एक जमाने में यह हकीकत थी। आज से साढ़े
पांच करोड़ वर्ष पहले भारत की भूमि पर कंगारू उसी तरह विचरण करते थे,
जैसे आज
आस्ट्रेलिया और दक्षिण अमेरिका में।
हाल ही में गुजरात के सूरत जिले की वास्तान
लिग्नाइट खान से मिले करीब साढ़े पांच करोड़ वर्ष पुराने अवशेषों से इस बात
की
पुष्टि हुई है। दुनिया भर में स्तनपायी थलचर जीवों के विकासक्रम की कड़ी
जोड़ने
वाले यह अवशेष खोज निकाले हैं भूवैज्ञानिक सुनील वाजपेई तथा उनकी शोधकर्ता
टीम ने।
यह दुर्लभ खोज दुनिया भर के जीवाश्म वैज्ञानिकों को आकर्षित कर रही है।
वैज्ञानिक
टीम को कंगारू के अवशेष के रूप में मोरल दांत मिले हैं। वैज्ञानिक वाजपेई
का कहना
है कि हर प्रजाति के दांतों की संरचना एक-दूसरे से बिल्कुल जुदा होती है।
दांतों के
आधार पर किसी भी जाति विशेष का पता लगाया जा सकता है। एशिया में अब तक
सिर्फ कुछ एक
जगहों पर ही इस विशिष्ट स्तनपायी के अवशेष पाए गए हैं। कंगारू के सबसे
पुराने अवशेष
चीन में मिले हैं,
जो दस करोड़ साल पुराने हैं।
भूवैज्ञानिक सुनील वाजपेई आई.आई.टी.
रुड़की के अर्थसाइंसेज डिपार्टमेंट में कार्यरत हैं तथा पिछले कई वर्षों से
व्हेल
मछलियों पर शोध कर रहे हैं। उनके द्वारा खोजे गए व्हेल के अवशेषों ने समूची
दुनिया
के
जीवविज्ञानियों
तथा
भूवैज्ञानिकों
में हलचल मचा दी थी। उन्होंने बताया कि सूरत
में हुई खोज के दौरान कंगारू सहित घोड़ा,
जेब्रा जैसी
12
विभिन्न स्तनपायी जीवों की
प्रजातियों के अवशेष मिले हैं। वह बताते हैं कि साढ़े पांच करोड़ साल पहले
कंगारू
विकासक्रम की प्रारंभिक अवस्था में रहे होंगे। ये आकार में काफी छोटे तथा
आज के
कंगारुओं के मुकाबले काफी भिन्नता लिए होंगे। आज से
15
करोड़ वर्ष पहले इंडियन
प्लेट यानी भारतीय प्रायद्वीप गोंडवाना लैंड का हिस्सा थी।
अफ्रीका,
अंटार्कटिका,
आस्ट्रेलिया,
मेडागास्कर तथा दक्षिण अमेरिका भी इसी लैंड के हिस्सा थे। धीरे-धीरे
अन्य भूखंडों के साथ भारतीय प्रायद्वीप भी गोंडवाना लैंड से अलग होना शुरू
हुआ।
इंडियन प्लेट की यह यात्रा करोड़ों वर्षों तक दक्षिण से उत्तर की ओर चलती
रही। करीब
साड़े पांच करोड़ वर्ष पहले इंडियन प्लेट,
एशियन प्लेट से जा टकरायी और भूखंडों की
इस टक्कर से हिमालय का जन्म हुआ। माना जाता है कि इससे
इंडियन
प्लेट
पर स्तनपायी
थलचर जीवों का आवागमन एशियासे शुरू हो गया। डा. वाजपेई एवं उनकी टीम की खोज
से यह
सवाल उठता है कि कंगारू के पूर्वज भारत में इस टक्कर के बाद आए या पहले से
ही मौजूद
थे। समूचे एशिया से कंगारू क्यों विलुप्त हो गए और आस्ट्रेलिया एवं दक्षिण
अमेरिका
में ही क्यों सिमटकर रह गए। यह सवाल दुनिया में काफी चर्चा का विषय रहा है।
भारतीय
खोज से इस गुत्थी को सुलझाने में मदद मिलेगी।
दैनिक जागरण (देहरादून),
02 Sep. 2005
The time has come for
“green building technology” to benefit the middle and lower classes,
besides rural India, in order to achieve goals of energy independence
and housing for all, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said on Thursday. The
aim of every individual should be to conserve at least 10to 15% of
energy and water, he said. Delivering the inaugural address
at ‘Green Building Congress 2005’ here, Dr. Kalam said, taking green
technology to the people was key to harnessing the benefits of
development and modern technology and preserving the environment. It was
important that all buildings should not just be environment friendly but
also aesthetically beautiful and economically viable. “A transparent
cost benefit analysis will bring many people into the movement to the
green building revolution.”
Certification programme
Suggesting that a
nationwide certification programme for builders and architects for their
green and safety awareness be launched, the President said: “The
congress should document the experience, both successes and problems,
from Hyderabad and Gurgaon green buildings. This may lead to green
building code evolution and a process for the best practices. While
doing so, the rating systems for green buildings developed by The Energy
and Resources Institute (TERI), including the Indian codes, standards
and best practices, may also be taken into account.”
Stating that green
technology of the future would have a significant component of high tech
and cutting edge research and development in material science,
Dr. Kalam said: “Water harvesting and recycling will make every building
less dependent on external water supply, thus reducing the load on the
town and city resources. The green tech itself will become sustainable
only when it reaches the rural population.”
Cutting energy losses
“There are about
300 million people in the middle income group and about 260 million
people are living below poverty line. If we could reach the technology
to them, the massive construction effort will form the backbone of our
economy,” he said, adding that for energy independence, the need was to
cut down energy losses and accessing technologies that would provide
reliable, affordable, renewable and environment friendly sustainable
energy.
Speaking at the function,
Indian Green Building Council chairman Parasu Raman R. asked the
Government to make it mandatory for the buildings about 2,000sq. ft. to
incorporate minimum green features and at the State level, the urban
development authorities would come up with green measures.
At the function, the
President presented prizes to three architecture students – Elizabeth
Alex, Madhavi Jain and Sonal Jawale – for their essays on green
building. Awards were also presented for various green buildings.
The two-day international
conference on green building is organized by the Confederation of Indian
Industry and the Indian Green Building Council, which is hosting a
four-day exhibition and a seminar on green buildings and homes.
The Hindu
(New Delhi), 16 Sep. 2005
The Himalayan Forest
Research Institute has introduced Paulownia fortunei, a fast growing
exotic agroforestry species from China in the hills of Himachal
Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Institute
supplied quality seedlings of silver fir, spruce and deodar to the
State Forest Department for field plantation. All these conifers are
excellent timber species. It also planted 1000 seedlings of silver
fir and spruce raised in root trainers, at Shilaroo in Shimla to
evaluate their performance in forestry plantations for further
recommendations to the forest departments.
Mr. Surinder Kumar,
Director of the institute, said here yesterday that about 500
quality seedlings of Paulownia fortunei in the two states had been
supplied to the Forest Department. It would help supplement the wood
requirements for making boxes for fruits and vegetables besides
providing fuel and fodder in future. Over 50 seedlings of the
species were planted in the fields at Baragaon in Shimla district.
The institute also
planted 25,000 quality seedlings of Jatropha curcas, a bio-diesel
yielding forestry species, to evaluate its performance in grassland,
degraded land, bunds of agriculture fields and open forests of lower
and mid Himalayan regions of Himachal Pradesh. Nursery and planting
techniques would be demonstrated to the end users through these
plantations to motivate the rural people in exploring the species
for commercial purposes. Similarly, 1500 seedlings of wild apricot,
chulli-oil yielding variety had been planted in the field to
establish model plantations and extend nursery and plantation
techniques of wild apricot to local communities in Himachal Pradesh.
To optimize the
productivity and augement rural income, the institute has
established different intercropping models of commercially important
medicinal plants like Aconitum heterophyllum (patish), useful in
many stomach problems, angelica glauca (chora), Picrorhiza kurooa (karu)
and Polygonatum verticilatum (salam mishri).
The
Tribune (Chandigarh), 08 Sep. 2005
एफ.आर.आई. में हाई टैक नर्सरी व प्लांटेशन मैनेजमेंट ट्रेनिंग
कोर्स शुरू
वन अनुसंधान संस्थान के सभागार में वन संवर्धन प्रभाग द्वारा
‘हाई-टैक
नर्सरी एवं प्लांटेशन मैनेजमेंट ट्रेनिंग कोर्स’
का आज शुभारंभ किया गया।
जिसका उदघाटन संस्थान के निदेशक डा. एस.एस. नेगी ने किया। इस प्रशिक्षण
कार्यक्रम
में देश के विभिन्न हिस्सों के प्रमुख संस्थानों से अधिकारी भाग ले रहे
हैं।
उल्लेखनीय है इस तरह के दस दिवसीय कार्यक्रम का आयोजन वन अनुसंधान
संस्थान में पहली
बार हो रहा है जिसमें उच्चतर तकनीकों का समावेश किया गया
है। अपने उदघाटन भाषण में
निदेशक डा. नेगी ने बीजों की गुणवत्ता पर जोर देने की बात कही,
इसके अतिरिक्त
उन्होंने ‘टाल-प्लान्टिंग’
की महत्ता दर्शायी।
तदोपरांत दीपक खन्ना,
प्रमुख,
विस्तार प्रभाग ने संस्थान के विभिन्न प्रशिक्षण कार्यक्रमों के बारे
में जानकारी
दी। तत्पश्चात प्रशिक्षण कार्यक्रम निदेशक डा. राजीव श्रीवास्तव ने
प्रशिक्षुओं को
अधिकतम व्यावहारिक ज्ञान उपलब्ध कराने का आश्वासन दिया। अंत में
कार्यक्रम समन्वयक
कु. अमिता तोमर
ने
कार्यक्रम
के
अंतर्गत
होने
वाली
विभिन्न गतिविधियों का उल्लेख
किया। कार्यक्रम वैज्ञानिक मनीषा थपलियाल ने बीजों के रखरखाव व भंडारण
के बारे में
तथ्यों का उल्लेख किया और श्रीमती
‘नीलू
गेरा’,
आई.एफ.एस. ने पौधशाला में उपयोग आने
वाले उपकरणों और तकनीकों के बारे में विस्तृत जानकारी दी। प्रशिक्षण
सात सितंबर तक
चलेगा।.
दून दर्पण (देहरादून),
01 Sep. 2005
पहाड़ में महिलाओं की स्थिति का अंदाजा इससे लगाया जा सकता है कि
यहां हर महिला को चारे व पानी को हर रोज औसतन
7
कि.मी. का सफर तय करना होता है।
इतनी मशक्कत के बाद भी यहां की आर्थिक स्थिति काफी दयनीय है।
एफ.आर.आई. में आयोजित
‘जन-जीवन
और वन’
पर आधारित सेमिनार में टाटा एनर्जी एंड रिसर्च इंस्टीट्यूट के
वैज्ञानिक पी.पी. भोजवदे ने कहा कि यहां की खेती और वन टिकाऊ तो है लेकिन
बिकाऊ
साबित नहीं है। मुख्य अतिथि वन मंत्री नव प्रभात ने कहा कि हमारे लिए
गौरव की बात
है कि यहां का वन क्षेत्र अन्य राज्यों की तुलना में काफी ज्यादा है।
उन्होंने कहा
कि यहां आम जनता के सहयोग से बनी वन पंचायतों ने बेहतर कार्य किया,
जिससे इन्हें
बाद में ज्वाइंट फारेस्ट का नाम दिया गया। यह सच्चाई है कि आज वनों पर
जनसंख्या और
विकास की वजह से काफी दबाव है। उन्होंने बताया कि सूबे में
12
हजार 500
वन पंचायतें
कार्य कर रही है। उन्होंने कहा कि उत्तरांचल देश का पहला ऐसा राज्य है,
जहां जनता
की भागीदारी से
15
हजार हैक्टेयर भूमि पर वन लगाए गए हैं। स्टाकहोम एनवायरनमेंट के
प्रतिनिधि गुरान एजवर्ग ने बताया कि विश्व में वनों के कटाव की स्थिति
काफी दयनीय
है। जनसंख्या बढ़ने के साथ वनों के हो रहे कटान पर प्रकाश डालते हुए कहा
कि अगले दस
सालों में पानी की खपत वर्तमान की तुलना में ठीक दुगनी हो जाएगी।
वैज्ञानिक भोजवदे
ने कहा कि हालांकि,
सूबे में वनों का क्षेत्रफल
64
फीसदी के करीब कहा जाता है,
लेकिन देखा जाए,
तो सूबे में सघन वन क्षेत्र मात्र
8
फीसदी ही है। बी.बी.सी. के
प्रोजेक्ट मैनेजर एली हावर ने कहा कि वनों के संरक्षण को गैर सरकारी
संस्थाओं का
सहयोग लिया जाना चाहिए। उन्होंने कहा कि इसके लिए जरूरी है कि एक तरह का
जागरूकता
अभियान इसमें चलाया जाए,
जिसके लिए गैर सरकारी संस्थाओं और पत्रकारों को एक मंच पर
आकर कार्य करना होगा। एफ.आर.आई. के निदेशक एस.एस. नेगी ने एफ.आर.आई. के
कार्यों पर
प्रकाश डालते हुए कहा कि वन संरक्षण को मात्र एफ.आर.आई. या सरकार अकेले
कार्य नहीं
कर सकती। प्रदीप मेहता ने सालिड बेस मैनेजमेंट,
आर.एल.ई. की नेहा कपूर ने महिला
सशक्तीकरण,
हरिराम सिंह ने जैविक खेती,
सुजाता कौशिक ने पर्यावरण पर अपनी रिपोर्ट
भी सेमिनार में रखी। सेमिनार में बी.बी.सी. के केट बटलर और टी.ई.आर.आई.
के पौल
वर्गीज ने भी विचार रखे।
अमर
उजाला (देहरादून),
13 Sep. 2005
|
