Periyar dam: Kerala Irrigation Dept. seeks nod for transfer of land

K.S. Sudhi
The Hindu, Dec 23, 2010

KOCHI: The Kerala Irrigation Department has sought permission for the transfer of forest land for constructing the Periyar dam.
The executive engineer of the Minor Irrigation Department (MID), Kumily, has approached the Kerala Forest Department (KFD) with a request for allotting 50 hectares for the project. The KFD, however, is in a fix over the allocation of the land as it fears widespread environment and ecological imbalances in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, which is one of the 38 reserves dedicated to the big cats, and an elephant reserve, where the dam has been proposed. The new site is 366 metres away from the Mullaperiyar dam.
The MID has stated that the site identified for the new dam, which is “inside the national park sanctuary area, is the only feasible site approved after joint inspection by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.”
The new dam is considered as an alternative to the 115-year-old one. The area of submergence will be 50 hectares. Of this, 24.37 hectares will be submerged on construction of the dam and the rest will come under the area that will be additionally submerged. The Rs. 600-crore project will have no biodiversity impact and there will be no displacement of people, the Irrigation Department has stated.
Obtaining clearance for the construction of the dam will be a cumbersome process as the permission from a number of State and national agencies and officials have to be sought. The final clearance for the allocation of land should come from the National Board for Wildlife, which is chaired by the Prime Minister.
DFO clearance
As per the procedure laid down for allotting forest land for non-forest purposes, a report from the Divisional Forest Officer of the area will have to be obtained. The field reports from the Forest Range Officer of the region will also be considered for the preparation of this report. It will also have to be considered by the Field Director of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
The views of the Chief Wildlife Warden and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest of the State will follow and the reports by these officials will be placed before the State Wildlife Advisory Board. The Board, on its part, will forward the report to the National Board. The clearance of the National Tiger Conservation Authority will have to be sought in this case as the proposed site is the core critical tiger habitat of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
The State Forest Department has not formed its opinion on the proposal and the department, whose mandate is to protect the forest and its ecology, is concerned about the implications of the project, said a senior official of the department. Incidentally, the Kerala government had been campaigning for a new dam highlighting the safety issue of the ageing Mullaperiyar dam.
Besides the impact of massive constructions on the fragile ecosystem and biodiversity-rich area of the tiger reserve, conservationists are worried about the possible fallout of the de-commissioning of the existing dam on completion of the new dam. The decommissioning will also leave widespread impact on the forest reserve and aquatic habitats, which evolved over a century, pointed out a forest official.

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Floral chests of the Western Ghats still hold many more surprises

E. M. Manoj
KALPETTA,  
The Hindu, December 14, 2010 

A recent study of the Wayanad part of the Western Ghats has once again proved that the biodiversity of the region is still not explored fully, with even higher plants waiting to be discovered.

In their latest trip, scientists from the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation here identified 2,100 flowering plants, seven of them fresh discoveries, including Impatiens veerapazhassi, Impatiens jenkurumbae, Impatiens malabarica and Impatiens meenae.

A species of the unique high-altitude Ceropegia and a genus in the milkweed family christened Ceropegia manohari; a wild yam named Dioscorea longitubosa, belonging to the genus Dioscorea; and a narrow-leaved under-shrub, called Memycylon wayanadense, belonging to the family of Melastomataceae, are the other new discoveries.

Miliusa wayanadica and Miliusa gokhalae, belonging to the Annonaceae family (custard apple family), and Oberonia swaminathanii of the orchid family were discovered in an exploration last year.

Scientists Ratheesh Narayanan, P. Sujanapal and V. Balakrishnan, assisted by five research scholars, conducted the study under the direction of N. Anilkumar, Director of the Foundation.

“Since the start of a floristic study in 1999 and a rare, endemic and threatened (RET) plant species study of Wayanad district five years ago, our scientists have identified 14 new species, six of which have been published, four accepted and the remaining are in publication,” Dr. Anilkumar told The Hindu.

This year's discoveries come in the second phase of a project on the RET plant species. They were financed by the Mumbai-based Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.

Impatiens veerapazhassi was found in the Kurichiarmala range of forest. Others of the genus Impatiens were found from the sloppy forests in the Chembra peak in the South Wayanad forest division, Dr. Narayanan said.

The four species are of the ‘scapigerous' form, a rare group of Impatiens that appears immediately after rain and usually thrive for only a couple of months on dripping rocks or moss-covered tree trunks in evergreen forests. Twenty-two such species were reported from the Western Ghats and one from Sri Lanka, he said.

Christopher Grey Wilson, an expert from the Kew Gardens in London, had confirmed the status of the new Impatiens species.

Ceropegia manohari belongs to a rare plant group evoking scientific curiosity, with its many members endemic to the Western Ghats and having unusual flowers.

S.R. Yadav of the Kolhapur University, an expert in Indian species of Ceropegia, and David J. Goyder of Kew Herbarium, an expert in world Ceropegia, have confirmed its status.

Edible discovery

Wild yam Dioscorea longitubosa is found in the Muthanga range of forests in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. This is extremely rare in distribution and found only in the wet evergreen forests, normally an unusual habitat for wild yams. The new species serves as food for the forest-dwelling communities such as Kattunayakka. Paul Wilkin of Kew Herbarium, an expert in world Dioscorea, has confirmed its status.

Memycylon wayanadense, a narrow-leaved species, was discovered from the Kattimattom forest in the Vellarimala peak in the Mepadi range of forests. This species has been accepted for publication by Rheedia, a journal published by the India Association of Angiosperm Taxonomists. DNA studies done at the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, revealed the taxonomic significance and supported the morphological evidence.

“Before we started this study, it was never expected that these many species are distributed in the Western Ghats as undiscovered, as it is one of the best-studied floristic regions of the country,” Dr. Anilkumar said.

 

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10-year conservation plan for tiger reserve

KATTAPPANA,  
The Hindu, December 4, 2010

The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) is preparing a 10-year conservation plan that focuses on conservation of wildlife and ecology and sustained growth of ecotourism in support of the local tribal community.

The draft of the project, Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), has been prepared by the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi, in association with the Periyar Foundation.

A three-day seminar of senior forest officials and conservation experts held at Thekkady in September had drawn up the framework for the plan, before the preparation of the draft. Senior officials of the PTR are now conducting field studies to make modifications in the plan before submitting it to the Tiger Conservation Authority under the Union government for implementation.

The PTR became an internationally acclaimed reserve for tiger after the Project Tiger was implemented. Sustained conservation efforts have been launched here with the participation of local communities under an ecotourism development plan.

Sanjayan Kumar, Deputy Director, PTR, told The Hindu on Friday that it is a long-term conservation plan and field studies are being conducted to take local factors into account.

Local tribespeople will be included in the eco-tourism plan under the TCP to reduce their dependence on the forest. At present, tribespeople work as watchers and guides for various tourism packages of the PTR.

Mr. Sanjayan Kumar said that some of the tourism packages, though exclusive to the PTR, are less attractive and the draft focusses on their modification to make them attractive. The draft demarcates the PTR area where further protection is needed and focusses on local participation in conservation efforts and ecological upgradation. The draft has detailed action plans for veterinary care, nature protection, habitat management, conservation of water sources and wildlife protection.

Mr. Sanjayan Kumar said that eco-development would be clubbed to tourism packages to strengthen public participation in conservation efforts.

Wildlife protection and forest preservation became a success in the PTR after those people who had once connived with smugglers and anti-social elements were included in the task of protecting the forest wealth and wildlife after absorbing them as forest watchers. This ensured a regular source of income for them.

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