Butterfly survey spots 206 species in Munnar

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor,  PATHANAMTHITTA
The Hindu,  September 30, 2015

The first ever comprehensive butterfly survey held in the Munnar wildlife division has spotted as many as 206 new species. The three-day survey, conducted by the Kerala Forest Department in association with the Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS) and the Kottayam Nature Society (KNS), came to a close on Sunday.

According to G. Prasad, wildlife warden at Munnar, the survey team has systematically reviewed the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary as well as the four national parks of Mathikettan Shola, Pampadum Shola, Anamudy Shola and the Kurinjimala wildlife sanctuary. He said 15 strategically located base camps, covering all the habitats, had been set up as part of the survey. Mr. Prasad said the highest number was recorded at Mathikettan Shola with 148 species, closely followed by the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary with 141 species. The Anamudi Shola recorded 94 species and Pampadum Shola had 88 species.

Migration of Common Emigrant, Common Albatross, Common Crow, Double Branded Crow, and Great Eggfly was noted in Chinnar and Kurunjimala sanctuaries. The highlights of the survey in the Shola national parks included Eversheds Ace, Indian Awlking, Nilgiri Four Ring, Broad-tailed Royal, Pale Green Awlet, Sullied Sailor, Dirty Sailor and Anomalous Nawab, he said.

The noteworthy finding from Kurunjimala Sanctuary include the Palani or Davidson’s Bushbrown, which is an endemic butterfly seen only in and around the Palani hills. This grassland species was recorded at Kadavari region.

Mr. Prasad said the largest butterfly in India, Southern Birdwing, was sighted at Kurunjimala and Pampadum Shola and the smallest butterfly, Grass Jewel, was sighted in the Chinnar sanctuary.

The other important sightings at the Kurinjimala were Palni Fritillary, Palni Four-ring, Yellow Striped Hedge Hopper and Nilgiri Clouded Yellow, all endemic butterflies of Western Ghats,

The sightings in Chinnar wildlife sanctuary included the Coorg Forest Hopper which is an endemic butterfly of Western Ghats and Nilgiri Tit, a very rare and exclusive butterfly of low elevation dry habitat, said Mr. Prasad.

With this survey, the checklist of Chinnar wildlife sanctuary has touched 222 butterfly species.

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Counting Munnar’s winged beauties

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
Pathanamthitta, 
The Hindu, September 23, 2015

The Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department is to launch the first-ever comprehensive and scientific survey of butterflies in the Munnar landscape soon. The three-day survey will commence on Thursday, according to G. Prasad, wildlife warden at Munnar.

Mr. Prasad says the area is characterised by a wide variety of habitat, starting from the low-lying dry scrub jungles of the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary to the ascending peaks with shola forests in the four adjoining shola national parks and the Eravikulam National Park with vast spreads of grasslands.

There is also a wide gradient of altitude, temperature, and vegetation, which all put a lepidopteran enthusiast in great excitement.

The survey

As many as 60 butterfly enthusiasts, including Kalesh Sadasivan of the Travancore Natural History Society and B. Sreekumar and Toms Augastine of the Kottayam Nature Society, will be participating in the butterfly survey, says Mr. Prasad.

E. Kunhikrishnan, senior wildlife biologist, will be the programme coordinator and Mr. Prasad will lead the survey to be held at the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary as well as the four national parks of Mathikettan shola, Pampadum shola, Anamudy shola, and the Kurinjimala wildlife sanctuary. All the four shola national parks and the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary will be systematically surveyed by establishing 14 strategic base-camps covering all the elevations and habitats. The data will be gathered using structured checklists and data sheets and critically analysed with GPS readings, says Mr. Prasad.

Butterfly calendar

For the first time in the world, the Wildlife division at Munnar has made attempts to prepare a butterfly calendar for the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary this year, he says. So far, as many as 208 butterfly species, including 58 new species, have been identified in the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary alone, he says.

Nilgiri Clouded Yellow, Nilgiri Fritillary, Palni Four-ring — all rare and endemic to the Western Ghats, Davisons Bush Brown and Red Disk Bush Brown, which are endemic to the Southern Ghats, are a few of the rare butterfly species identified in Chinnar.

The survey results are expected to be published during the Wildlife Week celebrations to be held from October 2 to 8.

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Greens see red as State relaxes norms for quarries

The Hindu, September 17, 2015

In a decision that is bound to have far-reaching consequences, the State Cabinet has exempted quarries up to one hectare from the need to secure environmental clearance.

Talking to the media after a meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the decision was taken in the light of the strike by quarries and crusher units to protest the revised rules for issue of mining licence.

The resultant short supply of rubble had affected development projects across the State, he said.

Citing the huge financial burden for securing environmental clearance, small quarry owners had been exerting pressure on the government to relax the new licencing rules.

But experts and a section of government officials maintain that the Cabinet decision is not legally sustainable. Lawyer and environmental activist Harish Vasudevan said the move to exempt quarries up to one hectare from environmental clearance amounted to a violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the Deepak Kumar vs the State of Haryana and others case.

On February 27, 2012, the apex court had ruled that leases of minor mineral, including their renewal for an area of less than five hectares, be granted by the States/ Union Territories only after getting environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Mr. Vasudevan said the Supreme Court order had been upheld by a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on March 23 this year while dealing with a writ petition filed by the All Kerala River Protection Council against the functioning of illegal quarries.

The Cabinet decision is a clear violation of the Supreme Court judgement and the Environment Protection Act, 1986 which makes it mandatory to obtain environmental clearance for all mining operations, points out a government official seeking anonymity. The government will find it difficult to surmount a legal challenge by environment organisations, he added.

“Besides, environment is a Central subject and the State Cabinet is out of its bounds in taking a decision to relax the norms for quarries,” he observed.

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Rare gull sighted at Puthuvype

KOTTAYAM,  
The Hindu, September 10, 2015

A rare breed of gulls has been sighted at Puthuvype in Ernakulam district by a birdwatcher from Kottayam.

According P.J. George, birdwatcher and English teacher at St. Dominic’s College, Kanjirappally, a pair of the rare Arctic-breeding Taimyr gulls were sighted on January 22. “This is first sighting of these gulls in Kerala, and the second in India. The first sighting was in Okha on January 12 this year,” he said.

Speaking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, Mr. George said he along with wildlife videographer Shah Jahan was in Kochi with the plan to visit Kadamakkudi when they heard that a large flock of Pallas gulls were nesting in Puthuvype. They were photographing and videographing the gulls, which included a large crowd of Pallas, Heuglin and Brownheaded and Blackheaded gulls when he spotted these two very different gulls.

The photographs and report were sent to Praveen Jayadevan and Prasad Ganpule, noted ornithologists who identified the presence of similar birds during the same period in Gujarat. The details were then sent to Klaus Olsen, the international authority on gulls.

“After detailed examination of the samples Olsen has confirmed that they are Taimyr gulls, one of the three large white-headed gulls. Olsen compared the pictures with his files from Japan and Korea and confirmed that these match them perfectly,” said Mr. George.

Taimyr gulls with lightly-spotted winter-head, much paler mantle, yellowish legs, and showing late moulting, are different from Heuglin and Steppe gulls, said Mr. George. According to him, they breed in the Arctic and a few have been found wintering in Iran and Bahrain. “Now, a couple of them seem to have come this far to bask in the sunshine on God’s Own Country!”

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Ghats plant found to have anti-diabetic traits

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu, September 8, 2015

Scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) have completed pre-clinical studies establishing the anti-diabetic properties of a plant found in the Western Ghats.

The five-year-long study was based on the knowledge shared by T.M. Shahul Hamid, a traditional healer hailing from Karunagapally. “The trials have yielded promising results,” said P.G. Latha, Director, JNTBGRI. “We have proved that the plant by itself, and in combination with two other herbs, possesses anti-diabetic properties. It was also found to have anti-fatigue, hepato-protective (liver) and anti-oxidant properties, enhancing its potential as a drug addressing the many problems faced by diabetic patients.”

The team has filed for a patent on a novel polyherbal formulation with multiple therapeutic effects. Mr. Hamid has been named as inventor in the application. The name of the plant has not been disclosed but scientists said it was easy to propagate.

Agreement

The studies were preceded by an ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing) agreement between Mr. Hamid and the research team.

“As the person who imparted knowledge about the plant, Mr. Hamid was included in the research team,” said S. Rajasekharan former Head, Division of Ethnomedicine and Ethnopharmacology, JNTBGRI. “He has also been named as inventor in the patent application.”

Mr. Hamid had told the scientists that the therapeutic properties of the plant were revealed to him by a mystic. He claimed success in treating diabetics with the herbal formulation for over the last 10 years.

JNTBGRI has tied up with the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology for detailed phytochemical investigations on the plant.

Funded by the Department of Biotechnology, the research project will focus on isolating the molecules that can be used to develop a modern drug for diabetes. “We will also try to identify the active principles and come up with a scientifically validated herbal drug formulation,” Dr. Latha said.

She added that JNTBGRI had come up with promising leads on the therapeutic properties of 15 other herbs. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is scheduled to release a monograph of the pre-clinical studies here on Wednesday.

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Alien plants strangle local ones

E.M. Manoj, KALPETTA,  
The Hindu, September 7, 2015

The rampant growth of invasive alien plants is a concern for the wildlife managers in the district. “The spread of invasive plants, especially Senna spectabilis , is posing a major threat to the forest areas of the district, due to its quick growth and coppicing character,” says S. Mohanan Pillai, wildlife warden, WSS.

Eradicating the plant is a herculean task, says S. Heera Lal, assistant wildlife warden. The forest personnel had tried to eradicate the plant adjacent to the forest office at Muthanga as per the guidelines of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, last year, but many a tree sprouted from its roots this year.

An adult tree grows up to 15 to 20 metres in a short period of time and every year distributes lakhs of seeds after the gregarious flowering. The thick foliage arrests the growth of other indigenous species of trees and grass, and causes food shortage for the wildlife population, especially herbivores, during summer. “This may worsen the man-animal conflict in the district,” said North Wayanad Forest Divisional officer Narendranath Veluri.

A survey conducted by the Wildlife Trust of India and the Forest Department last year revealed that the plant was a major presence in the Muthanga, Sulthan Bathery and Tholpetty range of forests under the sanctuary. “On a 3,000 sq km-stretch of the region, including the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, North and South Wayanad forest divisions and the adjacent Muthumalai, Bandipur and Nagarhole tiger reserves, wild growth of invasive plants has been reported,” Mr. Narendranath said. Plants such as Mikenia micarantha , Lantana, Eupatorium and Parthenium were also spreading in the region. The wild growth of Mikenia vine on dried bamboo pods would adversely affect the regeneration of bamboo seedlings in the region, he added.

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Evict encroachers from forestland: HC

The Hindu, September 5, 2015 
KOCHI,
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the State government to initiate proceedings under the Kerala Land Conservancy Act and Kerala Forest Act to evict those who had encroached upon forestland after June 1, 1977 and complete the eviction in six months after the completion of the proceedings.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique issued the directive while disposing of a public interest writ petition filed by Nature Lovers Movement, Kochi. The court directed the State government to take steps to initiate the proceedings in six months.

The court observed that it was an admitted fact that there had been encroachments on forestland in the State and the extent of land encroached was more than 7,000 hectares. Therefore, it was the obligation of the State government to ensure that these illegal encroachers were evicted in a time-bound manner. The court pointed out that that regularisation of the encroachment could be done only after getting permission from the Union government under the law. Thus, in the absence of such permission from the Centre to get the forestland assigned in favour of those who were illegally occupying the land, the government was bound to take necessary steps to evict such encroachers.

The court further observed that there was no mention of any proceedings that had been initiated under the Land Conservancy and Kerala Forest Act against these encroachers. The petitioner had sought a CBI probe into the illegal issue of title deeds and other documents to those who had encroached on forestland in the State. The petitioner alleged that these documents were obtained in connivance with the Forest and Revenue officials.

The government in its affidavits said earnest efforts had been made to evict post-June 1977 encroachers. But it had not yielded any result. Forceful eviction was not resorted to as it would lead to law and order situation and social unrest. In fact, there had been only marginal encroachments after June 1, 1977. The decision of the State government to regularise encroachments made before June 1, 1977 was followed up by a joint verification conducted by the Forest and Revenue officials. The eviction of those who had encroached upon forestland after June 1, 1977 could be ordered only in accordance with the law, without creating any law and order problem.

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ESA in Kerala may be 9,839 sq km

T. Nandakumar,  Thiruvananthapuram,  
The Hindu, September 5, 2015

A four-member delegation led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy met Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on Friday to clarify the demarcation of ESAs (Ecologically Sensitive Areas) in Kerala.

The delegation, which included Environment Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Environment, Mara Pandian, and Chairman of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board Oommen V. Oommen, handed over the explanatory note and maps sought by the Ministry.

Mr.Radhakrishnan told The Hindu over the phone from New Delhi that the clarifications provided by the State had been approved by the Ministry. The delegation handed over Kerala’s shapefile (a GIS data format), geographic coordinates of the ESAs, and a note explaining the fragmentation of ESAs in the State.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said Kerala succeeded in convincing the Union Ministry that the high population density in the State justified the exclusion of human settlements, farmlands, and plantations from the ESAs. “The Ministry has indicated that our stand is acceptable. Accordingly, the ESA area in Kerala will be revised to 9,839 sq km.”

The Kasturirangan committee on the protection of the Western Ghats had earmarked 123 villages spread over 13,108 sq km in Kerala as ESA. Following widespread protests by villagers in the high ranges in Kerala, the State government carried out a ground level verification to exclude settlements and plantations from the ESAs. In March 2014, the MoEF issued a draft notification revising the extent of ESAs to 9,993 sq km in 123 villages.

With the government later adopting the stance that only protected forests would be considered as ESA, four villages in Kottayam district were dropped from the ESA list. “Now that the Ministry has accepted our clarifications, the final notification to be issued shortly is expected to revise the extent of ESAs in Kerala to 9,839 sq km,” Mr.Radhakrishnan said.

The delegation also highlighted Kerala’s concerns over the CRZ notification, 2011, and its impact on housing and infrastructure development in the coastal areas.

An expert committee appointed by the Centre to look into Kerala’s plea for revising the CRZ norms had submitted its report last year. “We expect a positive response to our demand to relax the norms,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

He added that Mr. Javadekar had promised to provide financial assistance to reduce the man-animal conflict in the buffer zones around forests in Kerala.

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Nilgiri tahr population in new pockets

K.S. Sudhi, KOCHI,  
The Hindu, September 4, 2015

Nilgiri tahr populations have been recorded from 17 hitherto unrecorded pockets across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, according to a non-governmental organisation. This is the only species of mountain ungulates that exists in southern India.

It was during a four-year-long survey, organised by the WWF and forest officials, that its presence in new and small pockets was identified. The mountain goats, endemic to the Western Ghats regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, numbering 131 individuals, were counted, according to the WWF.

In Kerala, the populations were confirmed at nine locations, including Pathrakadavu, Atumudi, Koomban, Madumudi, and Chokramudi. The eight locations in Tamil Nadu included Nagamalai, Marakkal Malai, and Vasakku Malai.

The total population of the species in the region was estimated at 3,122. The single largest population of the species is in the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala. Though many unknown populations were believed to exist in small pockets throughout its range, they had not been surveyed due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain. Inclement weather also limited the understanding of the status and the distribution of the tahr across its range, according to the report.

The population status and distribution of the tahr across its entire distribution range were observed for four years from 2008The population of the species is believed to be declining due to “uncontrolled hunting, conflict with livestock grazing, and habitat loss,” according to the report, which will be released shortly.

The field surveys were carried out by Paul Peter Predit and Varun Prasath.

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ESA demarcation: State to bank on population density argument

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram,  
The Hindu, September 3, 2015
he State government went into a huddle on Wednesday following the clarifications sought by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on the demarcation of ESAs (Ecologically Sensitive Areas) in Kerala.

Ministers and senior officials participated in a series of meetings convened through the day to prepare the State’s response to the letter from the MoEFCC Secretary to the Chief Secretary, seeking details of Kerala’s shapefile (a GIS data format), explanation on management of fragmented ESAs, and geographic coordinates of the ESA boundaries.

Officials said a note providing the details sought by the Ministry had been prepared and submitted to the Principal Secretary, Environment, by evening.

Sources said Kerala had sought to project the high population density in the State to justify the exclusion of human settlements and plantations from the ESAs and the fragmentation of ESAs.

According to the data provided in the note, Kerala had a much higher population density than the five other States bordering the Western Ghats. While the average village level population in Gujarat is 3,265, it is 2,557 in Maharashtra, 3,683 in Goa, 2,068 in Karnataka, and 4,402 in Tamil Nadu, while in Kerala, the figure is as high as 20,052.

The figures are a clear indication of the critical importance of people’s participation in conservation programmes in Kerala, says an official.

Pointing out that Kerala has a forest cover of 29.1 per cent, higher than India’s forest cover of 21.5 per cent, the official said any effort to increase the green cover would be totally dependent on community involvement.

Sources said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was scheduled to hand over the State’s response to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on September 4. Mr. Chandy will be accompanied by Environment Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Environment, Mara Pandian and chairman of Kerala State Biodiversity Board Oommen V. Oommen.

The final notification on the recommendations of the Kasturirangan committee for protection of the Western Ghats is expected to be issued on September 9.

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New hope for Wayanad’s vultures

E.M. Manoj, Kalpetta
The Hindu, September 1, 2015

Wayanad’s majestic vultures may yet live on. Vulture conservationists in the State are upbeat over the curbs on Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug acknowledged to have caused the decimation of vultures in the Indian subcontinent. It had cast its pall over Wayanad too.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recently restricted human formulations of injectable Diclofenac to single, 3 ml dose packs. The larger multi-dose vials that used to deluge the market have been the main source of Diclofenac for veterinary use, being more convenient for illegally treating cattle, which requires much larger doses than humans, than using several small vials. So the government restriction is now hoped to reduce the misuse of Diclofenac, says C. Sasikumar, ornithologist and vulture conservationist working in the Western Ghats.

Diclofenac for veterinary use was banned in the country in 2006, but was available in 30ml vial even as late as last year in areas adjacent to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, says C.K. Vishnudas, a field ornithologist who conducted a study on the impact of post-ban availability of the drug recently, as part of a vulture conservation programme in South India. As many as 35 White-rumped vultures, five Red-headed vultures and two Indian vultures were sighted during a recent survey in the sanctuary.

The Wayanad sanctuary is the only region where vultures thrive in the State. The breeding population of White-rumped vultures, Red-headed vultures, and Indian vultures in the sanctuary depends entirely on wild carcasses for food. The availability of Diclofenac in the vicinity had posed a serious threat to the surviving vulture population, he adds. There is a large cattle population in the tribal settlements near the sanctuary.

“The pharmacies in the area should be monitored strictly to ensure that they are not selling higher volumes of Diclofenac. The carcasses of cattle in the habitats must also be watched regularly to identify the level of Diclofenac residue in them,’’ Mr. Sasikumar added.

As the three species of South Asian vultures have declined nearly 97 per cent in the country, the restrictions on Diclofenac will have far reaching effects, says Mr. Chris Bowden, programme officer, SAVE, a global platform for Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction.

A White-rumped vulture sighted inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

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