Make a wish, plant a sapling

How often have you wished to plant a sapling and found no space in front of the house? Or your wish to plant saplings in memory of your loved one has remained a distant dream. Or even if you wanted to plant saplings in celebration of birthdays and marriages, you were put off by the same question of maintenance and space. If you are wondering how to gift a tree to you friend, help is at hand. Several government departments, BWSSB, Lake Development Authority and an NGO have embarked on a green scheme to provide you with space for planting and also to take care of your trees.

The idea does not end at planting saplings and providing space. The main objective is to create a forest and improve the catchment area of Thippagondanahalli reservoir (in Bangalore rural district), which provides drinking water to parts of Bangalore City. In addition, it aims at involving the public, students and teachers in environmental conservation.

By paying a nominal amount of Rs 500 per tree, an individual or group or an organisation can plant and adopt a tree in the catchment area of the reservoir. In the Savinenapina Vana (memorial plantation) one can plant trees in the memory of the dead while in the Srimithi Vana (commemorative plantation), trees can be planted in celebration of birthdays, marriages, building of new houses or simply for the fun of it. A certificate bearing the tree number and location will be given to all those who plant the trees.

Parisara

Eshwar Prasad of Parisara - Environment Protection Organisation who is the brain behind the initiative says that all the trees that would be planted will be native varieties. Each tree will bear the name of the person and address who has planted it. The money is a one-time investment that will be spent on maintenance and guarding the trees. People who plant the trees can also spend a day every year at the forest that will be created, he adds.

When Eshwar broached the idea with the BWSSB, they were eager to support the initiative. Later, he approached the government for permission to afforest the 300 acres of revenue land in the catchment area. To start with, 18,000 saplings will be planted in the area and depending on the success the scheme will be extended to a larger area. Eshwar hopes to rope in school and college students, youth associations and the public to support this green cause.

Former development commissioner Chiranjiv Singh who was involved in the initiative right from the beginning says: “the concept is very good as it is participatory in nature. The best way way of giving back to mother earth is by planting trees.”

The project

Additional Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka Vijay Gore who has been supporting the project says that this is the best project in recent times. A forest in the catchment area will minimise water seepage and also moderate the climate. About fears that the trees may be cut down later by the government after it is fully grown, Mr Gore points out that the empowered committee will make a special clause and that will prevent the cutting of trees.

A committee has also been formed to oversee the implementation of the initiative. It comprises of representatives from Lake Development Authority, Deputy Commissioners of Bangalore Urban and Rural Districts, Department of Forest Ecology and Environment, Parisara, Forest department, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, University of Agricultural Sciences, State Bank of India, Canara Bank among others.

The scheme will be launched in the next fortnight and if the initiative succeeds, a nice little forest will drape the Thippagondanahalli catchment area in the next decade.

For more details, contact Eshwar Prasad, Secretary, Parisara on 9448077019, or email to ecolinker@hotmail.com

This article appeared in Deccan Herald on 24^th May, 2005.

City is a dumping ground for industrial wastes

While illegal dumping of garbage has become a fact of life, industrial and hazardous wastes are now becoming another common eyesore. A huge quantity of industrial wastes is lying in and around the City posing threat to the environment. Industrial wastes such as plastic cuttings, stone crushed powder, glass wool, ceramic wastes, metallic wastes and hazardous wastes such as waste oil, incinerator ash, effluent treatment plant sludge, sulphur, copper sulphate, printed circuit boards, pharmaceutical wastes etc have been dumped illegally in 60 places in the City.

According to Dr Lakshmikanth of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and Mr Mahendra Kumar M C and Mr Muniraju of the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ), who recently completed a survey across the City, the industrial wastes in these ‘wild dumping sites’ add up to a whopping 25,000 tonnes. 

These dumping sites are located along and in proximity to the main highways - Mysore road, Tumkur road, Hosur road, Bannerghatta road, Old Madras Road, Doddaballapur road and Airport Road.

The total quantity of wastes, though roughly estimated at 25,000 tonnes, can be much more if a systematic long-term survey is conducted, says Mahendra Kumar M C. Out of the 60 dump sites, 27 posed a high risk of contamination of water and soil resources. At some places, the wastes were spread over an area of 20 acres. Thirty-five sites had mixture of both domestic and industrial wastes. In some places, the wastes have been dumped on private lands, close to water bodies, agricultural fields and low lying areas. The wastes are also set on fire causing air pollution.

Says Ms Beenesha P, Chief Environmental Advisor, GTZ: “Improper disposal of industrial wastes could lead to water pollution due to leaching during monsoon season and soil pollution. There is a need to monitor these wastes to determine the extent of damage.” According to the Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, industries have to handle and dispose of hazardous wastes without affecting the environment. Since a Treatment Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) or a hazardous wastes landfill site has not been set up in Karnataka, the industry has to store wastes in their premises till a TSDF is set up. But not all industries follow these rules.

Some of them adopt the easy way out by disposing wastes wherever land is available. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board is now finalising the setting up of a TSDF in Dobbespet near Nelamangala and the facility is expected to come up next year.

KSPCB Member-Secretary Ramaiah says: “Action would be taken against defaulting industries. The wastes also need to be analysed to assess how much of them is really hazardous.”

But, what about the non-hazardous industrial wastes? A Ministry of Environment and Forests official says that while hazardous wastes, garbage and bio-medical wastes have separate laws for regulation, the non-hazardous industrial solid wastes have no rules for their safe disposal.

Waste dumped on these highways

Mysore road
Tumkur road
Hosur and Bannerghatta road
Old Madras road
Doddaballapur road
Airport road

This article appeared in Deccan Herald on 13th July, 2003.

Nagarakere: Citizens show the way

Nagarakere tank, in the water scarce Doddaballapur town near Bangalore inspired a silent revolution two years ago. This 500-year-old tank was completely choked with weeds. Without waiting for the government to step in, the citizens took up the task of cleaning the entire 180-acre tank of water hyacinth and other wastes. Even NGOs, school and college students pitched in, and in six months, 50 per cent of the tank was freed from the weeds.

“We realised that depending on the government for everything is not a wise thing to do. Whenever the water level has been low in the tank, the groundwater table has gone low. Considering that the entire town depends on groundwater for all their requirements, saving the tank becomes extremely crucial,” says Parisara Prajna Kendra Co-ordinator D R Nataraj who was one of those who pioneered the movement. “Lately, there are reports that the tank would be made into a bus stand. We strongly oppose it as the tank is the lifeline of the town,” he adds.

This article appeared in Deccan Herald on 27th July, 2004.

Red Alert.....Tanks in trouble

In Bidar, the tanks are dry even after the onset of monsoon. Of the 797 villages in the district, 200 villages face water shortage. In Kolar district, which has the highest number of tanks in the State people are digging the earth to over 1000 feet with the hope of striking potable water only to get water with high fluoride and nitrate content. All the big tanks are dry. Chikballapur faces water shortage even though it has several tanks. Even some of the tanks in a high rainfall district such as Udupi, are empty. The story is same in many parts of State.

Tank woes

The tanks which once provided adequate water to meet the needs of the people are no longer doing so. What remains in many parts of the State even after the onset of monsoon are dried up tank beds. In some cases, the tanks have broken weirs or damaged tank bunds or are choked with sewage.

Many of the 1300 tanks in Hassan are dying because of encroachments. Some tanks such as the Huniskere have been converted into a layout. The situation is similar in Mandya. Desilting of some of the tanks such as the Sathanur Kere was not possible because of encroachments. The lake has shrunk from 100 to 30 acres.

In Kolar, tanks have lost over 50 per cent of their water holding capacity due to silt and 40 per cent of them have been encroached. Due to which the area under agriculture is shrinking in the district. In some cases, the tanks don’t even exist as they have been fully encroached as in Bangalore City. Mudlifting for brick making has become another problem that threatens the existence of tanks.

The breach of the Gadimakunte tank in Jagalur taluk of Davangere district due to heavy rains is a pointer to the state of maintenance. The people of Jagalur who were in desperate need to store water could not do so as the bund collapsed at a crucial time. On the Western Ghats in Uttar Kannada district, the problem is no different. All the 13 tanks in and around Sirsi town are dry or in a state of mismanagement. Also in some of the tanks uphill, rich farmers use pumpsets to draw water for their fields.

Several reports in the past have recommended to vegetate the foreshore of the tanks to improve habitat for birds. And that no development works must be conducted till about 500 metres from the eye-water mark of the tank to ensure the quality of water replenishment, but these recommendations have been neglected time and again.

The Bonal tank in Gulbarga was built by Pam Naik in 17th century, and later Captain Meadows Taylor, who was a representative of the British at Surpur, increased the capacity of the tank to 1,600 acres with an average depth of 12 feet.

The perennial nature of the tank and the availability of the of food throughout the year, has made it a favourite nestling place for migratory birds. Even though the Bonal tank is almost thrice the size of Ranganthittu and attracts more species of birds, the tank lacks attention from the State government. Some of the rare birds that regularly visit the tank include White Necked Stork, White Ibes, Black Ibes, Brahmini Duck, Bar Headed Goose, Finitail, Common Tail, Tuff Tede, Pochad, Snake Bird, Purple Moorhen, Koot Large, Large Carmorand and Little Carmorand.
The same is the fate of other tanks and lakes in the district. Gulbarga district has also been bypassed by the Jalasamvardhane project in spite of the number of lakes in the district.

Enhance biodiversity
Karnataka has the second largest arid tract in the country after Rajasthan. Yet, it sustains a large population because people in the past found a way to tide over water scarcity by their ingenuity. Bunds were constructed across small seasonal streams to collect water. The impounded water was used for human and animal consumption and agriculture. In all, there are 36,679 tanks in the State having a potential to irrigate 6,84,518 hectares. And, Kolar district which does not have any perennial river, has the distinction of having the largest number of tanks in the State, about 4000. The largest tank in the State, Sulekere in Davangere district was built in the 12 th century and covers an area of 2,627 hectares.

Over the years, tanks are getting recognition for another reason. Many of the tanks in the State harbour a rich variety of aquatic plants, fishes, birds and other aquatic biota. “Tanks are wonderful habitats for water birds as they are dynamic habitats. They flock to these waterbodies in thousands during December to March across the State. Some of them are also used as a stop-over for birds that migrate from north to south India. Apart from the other water birds, many rare birds are also known to frequent tanks in North Karnataka. So it is crucial that tanks are maintained properly,” says Dr S Subramanya, an expert on birds, who has contributed to the book Threatened Birds of Asia.

Water use inefficiency
The tanks going dry can only be partially attributed to drought. “Mismanagement of water and bad cropping practice are the main factors. It has got more to do with excess withdrawal of water and growing the wrong crop. If one judiciously conserved rainwater, the situation will not aggravate,” says Dr M B Krishna who was one of the authors of the proposals for the National Lake Conservation Plan. To bolster the argument, Mr S M Ali Hasan of the Minor Irrigation department in Bidar says that amount of water used by paddy cultivation is thrice that for crops such as ragi.

There is also a gross inefficiency in use of water in the agriculture sector as only 40 per cent of the water released is used by the crops. Farmers violate prescribed cropping pattern and also adopt water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane. Precious water is wasted due to seepage and evaporation, warns the State of Environment Report, 2003. With the thrust on borewells to irrigate land, the importance of revival of tanks is going down. Tanks going dry and excessive withdrawal of groundwater for agriculture has also resulted in depletion of severe groundwater in 43 taluks across the State.

Desliting programmes
In many areas of the State, the much promised desilting of tanks has not taken place. As part of the Raitha Kayaka Kere scheme, a desilting programme was launched in Savalaganga tank, which is about 800 hectares large, in Honnali Taluk in 2001. But complete desilting is yet to take place even after three-years. Similar is the case for several tanks in Udupi and Raichur. Last year, the minor irrigation department spent only Rs 4.73 crore for tank maintenance and desilting in South Karnataka. An official of the minor irrigation department (which has about 3,000 lakes under its custody), says that there is shortage of funds to maintain and desilt tanks.

Tank management
The government has set up two new societies for restoration of tanks and their management system in the State. One is the Lake Development Authority (see Box: Urban lakes) and the other is the Jala Samvardhane Yojana Sangha (JSYS) (Also see interview). The JSYS was a follow up of the Rs 670 crore Karnataka Community Based Tank Management project undertaken by the State government to develop and strengthen management of tanks involving people. The whole premise of the project is on re-inventing the wheel – reminding the community of the forgotten tradition of maintaining tanks and giving them a sense of ownership. The involvement of the community in maintaining these waterbodies waned following the take over of management of these tanks by the British and subsequently by the government in post independence India. Presently, the tanks in the State are under the control of the ZPs (tanks less than 40 ha), minor irrigation (tanks more than 40 hectares to 2000 ha), and major irrigation departments (tanks over 2000 ha).

Totally, 2,000 tanks in 34 taluks and nine districts will be covered in the project (see table Decentralised management: JSYS tanks). The main reason for the setting up of the JSYS has been to facilitate rejuvenation of tanks with people participation.

Under the project, tank users groups would be formed in villages to rejuvenate and maintain their tank (which includes the tank bed, command and catchment area). The villagers will contribute 6 pc in cash and 6 pc in terms of voluntary labour. The remaining amount will be borne by the JSYS. The Tank Users Group will carry out the activities under the plan. The JSYS provides technical assistance to the tank users groups, impart knowledge on farming and efficient use of water by involving the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore and Dharwad and NGOs. “The outcome of the exercise has been the adopting of a new method of paddy cultivation called as the Madagascar method which uses very less water compared to normal cultivation in some of the areas,” says Basavaraj, an agriculture expert at JSYS. There are also other components to improve the economic conditions of the people.

“In tune with the Tank Maintenance Policy of 2001, the TU groups after restoring the tank gets the right to collect water charges from water users. The groups can retain 90 per cent of the amount which can be used for maintaining the tank system. The rest 10 per cent is to be paid to the government, ” explains Dr P Bore Gowda, Executive Director, JSYS. This approach helps the community maintain the tank and can also be a sustainable model, he adds. The funding agency, the World Bank is impressed with the model and wants to extend the same to Sri Lanka.
As of now this approach has been tried only in 128 tanks in the State and there are about 18,00 tanks where it needs to be still implemented according to the project proposal. And, there are only four more years to go! Associate Professor M K Ramesh of the National Law School feels that the JSYS should also restructure itself to reflect the aspirations of the communities which are managing tanks. It should help the State to evolve a proper policy to ensure that the benefits derived from the management of tanks remain with the community. This would ensure sustainability of the model, he says.

As of now it appears that the attempts to decentralise the management of tanks through communities has a long way to go before the tanks regain their lost glory.

URBAN LAKES

There are about 2,000 tanks at the urban centres in the State and many of them are facing abject neglect and abuse. Thanks to improper planning, encroachments, fragmentation of catchment areas, dumping of garbage and debris. With introduction of piped water from distant rivers at subsidised rates, the significance of these tanks as an easy source of water supply has also been lost.

A few decades ago, Hubli-Dharwad cities had several tanks but they were converted into a stadium, shopping complexes and residential plots. The famous Sadhanakeri in Dharwad which inspired noted poet Dr Da Ra Bendre is on a death-knell due to shortsightedness of bureaucrats and elected representatives. Another beautiful tank, the Unkal tank in Hubli is choked to the brim with sewage. Similar is the case with the well-known Amanikere in Tumkur city which was built in 1130 AD by Chola King Rajendra Chola.

This is unlike the case of Mysore where the situation is better. The Mysore Jala Samrakshana Okkoota comprising the DC, city commissioner, other government heads and representatives of NGOs was formed to restore the five tanks in Mysore. Among the five Kukkarahalli and Karanji tanks have been restored using grants given by the Asian Development Bank. As part of the restoration process, deweeding, desilting and diversion of sewage was done. But the fate of the three tanks is not known (Devanoor, Dalvoy and Lingambudhi). In 2002, the government constituted the Lake Development Authority to protect and conserve lakes in the urban limits of the entire State.

DECENTRALISED TANK GOVERNANCE

The government is contemplating to transfer the management of tanks less than and upto 40 hectares in the State to the gram panchayats (GPs). As a result of this, the GP will get powers to maintain and manage these water bodies. Associate Professor M K Ramesh of the National Law School of India University feels that this is the most appropriate move. “This is in line with the Schedule 11, Art 243 G of the Constitution which states that the control and maintenance of community assets such as tanks, common lands and other common property resources lies with the community.” But the crucial question is would the zilla panchayats which are above the GPs give adequate resources to the GPs to manage these water bodies.

JSYS TANKS

Districts No of tanks
Bellary 53
Chitradurga 72
Tumkur 397
Kolar 1,024
Bagalkot 26
Koppal 21
Raichur 158
Haveri 228
Bidar 26

INTERVIEW WITH DR P BORE GOWDA
With inputs from Shankar Bennur in Mysore, Shyam Sundar Vattam in Hubli, Anand Yamnur in Gulbarga, Girish Kerodi in Davangere, Vidya Maria Joseph in Shimoga, Ramakrishna Murthy in Udupi, M G Balakrishna in Karwar, Arvind in Tumkur, Mariyappa in Kolar, Rajesh Hegde in Raichur, Muralidhar Kulkarni in Bidar, Sridhar in Mandya, Shivkumar Kanasogi in Hassan and Sripada Joshi in Bellary.

This article appeared in Deccan Herald on 27th July, 2004.

The government is implementing a Rs 670 cr project, called the Karnataka Community Based Tank Management Project, to restore tanks in the State. Dr P Bore Gowda, Executive Director of Jala Samvardhane Yojane Sangha, an autonomous society set up under the Water Resources Department, which is facilitating the implementation of the project, shared his views about the project.
What are your achievements?
This is a pilot project and the first of its kind in the country and we are in the early stage of implementation and there is four more years to go.

The project is in various stages of implementation in about 100 tanks. Every stakeholder including government departments are being involved in the project. This is also the first time we are working with the community but the results so far have been good. The response from the community has been good.

Sustainability of the project after funding is stopped?
This is a crucial issue. We are working out the institutional arrangements. We want to link the tank users groups with the panchayats as one of their sub committees so that there is adequate funding later.

Any success stories?

The World bank is impressed and it wants to extend our model to other parts of the country and also in Sri Lanka. Even the State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department wants to extend the same model to other tanks not covered under the project.

Will the dolphins bounce back?

Hindu mythology is replete with stories which are connected to nature. According to one such story, the Goddess Ganga came down to earth from heaven and the Gangetic Dolphin heralded the descent of the holy Ganga. The dolphins are also mentioned in the epic Mahabharatha. However, this special status of the Gangetic Dolphin seems to be restricted to the realm of mythology.

In reality, though, the high levels of pollution in the river has left this graceful mammal struggling for existence. The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) is restricted to the Ganga and Brahmaputra Rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal and surveys show that only about 2000 of them remain in these rivers.

Indicator of a river’s health

Ironically, the Gangetic Dolphins were probably the first animals in the world to have been accorded protection. During the rule of Emperor Ashoka in third century BC, the dolphins were considered sacred and specially protected.

Locally, the dolphins are called ‘Susu’, because of the breathing sound that they make. Ecologists consider the Gangetic Dolphin an extremely useful animal for monitoring the river. These animals act as an indicator of health for the ecosystem of the river.

Being at the top of the food chain, its presence in good numbers signifies a rich biodiversity within the river system. The Gangetic Dolphin is among the four freshwater dolphins found in the world - the other three are the Baiji found in the Yangtze river in China, the Bhulan of the Indus in Pakistan and the Boto of the Amazon River in Latin America.

Like any other dolphin, the Gangetic Dolphin looks very beautiful. Like the other river dolphins, they too have long, pointed noses. The teeth are visible in both the upper and lower jaws even when the mouth is closed. The body is brown in colour and stocky at the middle. They have only a small triangular lump in the place of a dorsal fin. The flippers and tail are thin and large in relation to the body size.

The Gangetic Dolphins are considered to be blind because their eyes do not have crystalline eye lens. But they may still be able to detect the intensity and direction of light. Also, they can still effectively navigate and hunt in the murky waters of the Ganga by using using echolocation, which is similar to the use of sonars in submarines.

Their rapid decline in numbers in the last few decades testifies to the development and conservation policies of the country. Even though the dolphins have been declared ‘highly endangered’ in Schedule I under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, their numbers have plummeted. This is because aquatic habitats like rivers and lakes have received less or no importance as compared to terrestrial ecosystems like the evergreen and decidous forests in India.

Development, at what cost?

Extensive damming of the Ganga and Brahmaputra Rivers for electricity and irrigation have contributed largely to the decline in their population. Damming of the rivers has led to segregation of populations resulting in a small genetic pool in which the dolphins can breed.

They have also been impacted adversely by human activities in these rivers.

Entanglement in fishing nets can cause a significant damage to the remaining population. Some individuals are killed each year for their oil and meat which is used as an aphrodisiac and bait for catfish. It is also suspected that high levels of pollution of these rivers are contributing to their decline in numbers.

A recent announcement by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to accord the Gangetic Dolphins the status of National Aquatic Animal raises hope of survival for this highly endangered mammal and also the highly polluted River Ganga. This new status is likely to raise the public awareness and support for its conservation and protection.
However, the main issue which needs to be addressed effectively is the revival and conservation of river ecosystems that have been neglected for several decades. Or else, Gangetic Dolphins will merely become another symbol for campaigns such as ‘Save the tiger’!

Conversely, a successful conservation story of the Gangetic Dolphins will mean that we have achieved water security for the vast number of people dependent on the Ganga and the Brahmaputra.

Forests mired in problems

The woods are neither lovely nor deep in the State. Unfortunately, the State’s forest wealth is diminishing by the day. Contradictory policies and lack of a comprehensive approach towards forest conservation are slowly turning the forests brown. Only a small portion of forests (protected areas such as national parks and sanctuaries), receive comparatively best protection, are in their pristine condition. The rest is saddled with several problems.

Forest wealth

Karnataka ranks 18th in the country in terms of forest cover with 19.3 per cent of its land covered by it. Compared to many other states in the country, the number of types and habitats are very high. A significant portion of the Western Ghats, which is one among the 25 bio-diversity hotspots of the world, is found in Karnataka. It covers about 60 per cent of the forest area of Karnataka. A rich diversity of flora and fauna and most of which are still unknown to the scientific community can be found here.

The Shola forests, which are unique to the world, are found on mountain ranges at the Western Ghats. In the high rainfall region along the Western Ghats are the evergreen forests and down the Ghats are patches of moist deciduous forests. While the drier tracts and the plains have the dry deciduous and scrub jungles, the coastal region harbours a set of unique forests called as the mangroves. There are five national parks and 21 wildlife sanctuaries in State.

Diversion of forests

Despite housing rich bio-diversity, forests receive low priority. Contiguous stretches of forests are now in a fragmented state due to developmental activities like dams, canals, roads, mining, encroachments, agriculture and plantations.

Between 1956 and 1980, Karnataka lost 1,915.64 square km of forests for development. In the next two decades (between 1981 to 2002), another 345.20 sq km was cleared, of which 228.23 sq km alone went towards regularisation of encroachments and diversion for agriculture.

The decrease in diversion of forestlands in the last 20 years is mainly because of the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act in 1980 (FCA). Fragmentation of forests has led to problems for the wildlife. It has resulted in loss of corridors and migratory routes of wild animals and birds. A commonly encountered problem is the straying of elephants into agricultural lands leading to human-animal conflicts.

Paucity of funds

The problem runs deeper. Senior forest officials blame lack of staff, infrastructure and funds for the problem.

The plan outlay for forest department including externally aided projects is about one per cent of State’s annual budget. Considering that the department controls about 20 per cent of land in the State, the funds are dismal. As of 2001, the department had a shortfall of 2,200 personnel. A single guard with a stick in his hand has to patrol hundreds of acres on foot and deal with poachers who are equipped with rifles and jeeps.

“Most of the frontline staff who work as forest guards and watchers are temporary staff and would not always want to risk their life to save an elephant or a tiger. Sometimes, senior officers stay outside the forests in cities and towns and are not readily available during a crisis,” says a retired forest officer.

Involving community in conservation is the new mantra now. All along the Western Ghats there are patches of forests dedicated to gods called as Devarakadu.

These are forests conserved over centuries by people as an expression of important relationship to the God or Nature. These forests are also proof that our ancestors knew about forests and their importance. The State has more than 1,500 major sacred groves and Kodagu district alone has 15,500 acres of forests considered as sacred.

Communities in and around forests have never been considered as players in improving forest governance and conservation. In recent decades, however this mindset is changing. Afforestation programmes and forests are increasingly being managed by involving people around forests through joint forest management. The sustainability of this initiative in the State is uncertain as it is largely driven by foreign funds and is project-based.

There is a strong need to connect the urban people to the problem of forest destruction. The onus of conserving forests and wildlife, have been left to bureaucrats, corrupt politicians without considering urban centres, which draw abundant resources.

Many projects such as mining, power and water supply (which result in destruction of forests and wildlife) largely cater to urban needs.

              

THE VERDICT

The CAG report, 2003 says: “There has been laxity in the State Forest Department in monitoring the forest offence cases from the stage of their initiation till the disposal. The success rate of prosecutions of forest offenders has been very low. There have been innumerous delays in transportation of seized materials and in disposal of confiscated materials. Discrepancies were noticed in accounting of seized forest produce. Records for watching the progress of cases were incomplete.”

POOR PRIORITIES

Forests are storehouses for plant and animal genetic resources. They protect hydrological systems and regulate stream flow and protect soil erosion and act as carbon sinks. Forests have always been considered as a source of revenue rather than valued for its ecosystem services and this thinking needs to be changed. They also meet a large share of energy needs of the rural population and fodder for the cattle. Many of the non-timber forest produce such as tamarind, medicinal plants and fruits provide sustenance to rural people and tribals. But loss of forests is doing long-term damage to the viability of our rivers, soils, agriculture and bio-diversity resources that are crucial to the well-being of the people in the State. The prime example is the Bhadra dam which is filled with silt due to mining in the Western Ghats. 

This article appeared in Deccan Herald Newspaper on 17th August, 2004.

Lessons from London for Bangalore lakes

Right in the middle of the Heathrow flight path in London is a beautiful wetland brimming with birds and other wildlife. What makes it interesting is that four Victorian reservoirs have been regenerated to attract over 180 bird species and a host of other wildlife every year.  The wetland, named the London Wetland Centre, is an award winning wetland reserve managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the Barnes area.

As you wander into this 105-acre reserve, you can spot many rare and beautiful birds which otherwise would usually give any metropolis a miss. Among the birds that frequent the wetland reserve are the white-spotted bluethroat, reed warblers, bittern, little ringed plovers, curlew, greenshank, green sandpiper, teal, whitefaced whistling duck, cetti’s warbler, swift, yellow warbler, bearded tit, water rail, pochard, shoveller, gadwall, widgeon, sand martin, kingfisher and little grebe. A third of Britain’s dragonfly species, reptiles, foxes, insects, fish, amphibians, bats and molluscs have all moved into this reserve.

What makes reserve attractive?

But what makes the wetland reserve so attractive to birds and other organisms in a huge city like London? Every bit of the wetland has been thoughtfully re-created to resemble the natural habitats of various water birds and other wildlife. There are also nesting and breeding spaces for birds and places for birds to hide. A mosaic of habitats have been created ranging from a network of lakes and ponds, large reed beds, lagoons, marshes and even an artificial deep water reef, used as a nursery ground for fish. As for the flora, over 300,000 aquatic plants and 27,000 trees have been planted in this wetland reserve.

The other special feature of this impressive wetland reserve is that one can get close to wetland wildlife without disturbing it. This has been made possible by the numerous trails and boardwalks over ponds and lagoons.

Hides have been set up (some are two or three-storeyed high) within the reserve for visitors to observe wildlife at close quarters without the wildlife noticing the visitors. Even live images from the wilderness areas of the reserve can be transmitted back, coupled with interactive computers allowing visitors to explore the secret life of birds and other wetland wildlife.

The reserve has become an educational and inspirational centre for people to conserve wetlands. In fact, the reserve has also been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Britain in 2002 as a tribute to the positive ecological impact on the area.

What the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust has recreated in London has several conservation lessons for India which is losing its wetlands at an alarming rate. We could learn a lot about how to bring back life to our wetlands by planting trees, reeds and other aquatic plants, and regulating water flows. Wetlands across India are being drained rapidly to build housing colonies, bus stations, roads and industries at the expense of biodiversity. Wetlands are also dying due to dumping of industrial and domestic wastes and sewage.

Disappearing wetland habitats

In Bangalore, which was once called a city of lakes, wetland habitats are fast disappearing due to mismanagement and encroachments. The only measures that have been thought of are to de-silt the lakes and make them boating ponds and fringe them with a jogging track.

Our city planners and bureaucrats should take a cue from London’s practices and think out of the box, and come up with creative ideas.

They should make use of habitat restoration and management techniques, and reserve wetlands as conservation education centres. Until we incorporate ecological techniques in our planning and management, we will not be able to provide a safe home for many of our wetland wildlife including threatened ones.

Till that time, we will only continue to see the disappearance of wildlife from our remaining water bodies.