Green scribes flag conservation issues

This is the link to my story in The Hindu on an 'ecologue' (dialogue on conservation between green journalists and forest officials and environmentalists) held in Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary from January 22 to 24, 2010:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/27/stories/2010012753440400.htm
And this is the text:
P. Venugopal
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‘Stop work on new road across wildlife corridor’
Plea to take over forest lands with expired lease
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A three-day workshop on conservation issues, organised by the Jaiji Peter Foundation, an organisation of green journalists in the State, in association with the Forest Department, has urged the State government to abandon the move to turn a 20-km stretch of forest road in the Konni Forest Division into a shortcut highway for pilgrims visiting Sabarimala.

Nearly 40 journalists covering conservation-related issues for around 20 visual and print media organisations in Kerala, along with top conservation officials and environmentalists, met in the Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary in Kollam district at the workshop discussing the conservation issues of the State in general and the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve in particular. The workshop ended on Sunday.

In its recommendations to the State government, handed over to Forest Minister Benoy Viswom, the workshop noted that the proposed wildlife corridor between the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve and the Periyar Tiger Reserve, which stretched along the Achencoil-Konni-Ranni forests, was a region of very high biodiversity. The corridor was also the region from where the rivers Pampa and Achencoil, which were virtually the lifeline of Central Kerala, originated.

Work on the construction of a new road was fast progressing from Achencoil to Kalleli Mukku and thence to Chittar, right across this wildlife corridor. The State government had also announced its intention to turn the new road into a shortcut highway for pilgrims visiting Sabarimala from the Tamil Nadu side. The workshop noted that this road project would cause alarming disturbance to the wildlife and the verdant forests of the region and urged the government to immediately abandon the road construction.

Land distribution

The Ponmudi Hills were also extremely sensitive so far as the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve was concerned, both in terms of biodiversity wealth and water security. Streams that fed the Kallada River and Vamanapuram River in South Kerala originated from the Ponmudi Hills. The workshop noted that that the State government was going ahead with a programme to distribute large tracts of ecologically sensitive land in this area to landless families in the State. The workshop pointed out that this initiative was totally against the interests of conservation in this very sensitive area and therefore strongly urged the government to drop it.

Mathikettan shola

Although forest encroachers had been evicted from the Mathikettan Shola in Idukki district and the region declared as a National Park, in the recent times, there were reports about new problems from the area. The workshop urged the government to take sufficient precautions to ensure that the shola recovered from the encroachers was not once again alienated due to want of diligence in fighting some of the cases now before various courts.

Railway line

At Murukappanchal near Aryankavu, within the Agathyamala Biosphere Reserve, there was the possibility to remove the existing break in the free movement of wildlife between the southern and northern side of the rail and road links between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The railway line in this route was now being converted from metre-gauge to broad-gauge and the Indian Railways were laying the track across the Murukappanchal stretch along a long over-bridge. The workshop suggested that, if the road along this stretch too could be laid along a new flyover, parallel to the railway over-bridge, it would facilitate the free movement of wildlife in the region.

Border realignment

The workshop further recommended that the borders of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve might be realigned in such a way as to include the contiguous forest areas stretching up to the Periyar Tiger Reserve to the existing territory under the biosphere reserve. Such realignment would be in the larger interests of macro-level conservation of an extremely significant ecosystem in the Western Ghats, considered one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world.

It also noted that the State Forest Department was heavily understaffed, especially the field staff. It was also evident from the very low allocation of funds the department was getting in the State budget that the State government was giving very low priority to the conservation of forests. At a time when the forests were facing consistent threat from various forces destabilising the ecosystem and the forest protection officials had to effectively carry out new responsibilities emanating from new conservation concepts such as Participatory Forest Management, there was an imperative need to strengthen the department at the field level. Further, the government needed to devise all possible measures to keep the morale of the protection staff at a high level by removing the disparity between their remunerations and those of other uniformed forces such as the police.

Central policy

The workshop pointed out that the Union government’s policy was to progressively increase the area under forest cover. If this was to be achieved in Kerala, the State government should not let go any opportunity to recover from private individuals the forest tracts given to them on lease. The workshop urged the State government to systematically take over all forest lease lands for which the lease period had expired. The government should adopt the policy that no lease over forest tracts would be renewed in future. Workers employed by the lessees might be suitably rehabilitated.

The workshop appealed to the State government to enforce the terms of all forest leases and also the rules relating to Cardamom Hill Reserve with unwavering diligence. For instance, reports say that there had been large-scale destruction of trees in an estate in Bison Valley in Idukki district recently. Whenever such offences came to the notice of the government, the takeover provisions of the law should be immediately employed in the case of the estates concerned. Punitive action should be such as to discourage all anti-conservation tendencies.

Kurunji Reserve

The full area declared as the Kurunji Reserve in Idukki district had not yet been taken over by the Forest Department. The workshop urged the government to do it as early as possible. The workshop further noted that the basic concept of ecotourism was being violated.

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