Elephant census begins on May 17 in Kerala

E.M. Manoj, Kalpetta
The Hindu, May 12, 2017

An elephant census will be held in southern India from May 17 to May 19.
It is estimated that there are more than 6,000 elephants in the Wayanad, Nilambur, Anamudi, and Periyar elephant reserves of the State. The last census in 2012 had put the number of elephants at 6,177.
P.S. Easa, wildlife expert and coordinator of the programme, told The Hindu that along with Kerala, the census would be held in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. “Elephants are migratory animals and cross over to the adjoining States, which may lead to overestimation or underestimation. Hence, the count will be conducted simultaneously with the three States,” Dr. Easa said.
A twelve-member core committee has been constituted for the programme. Amit Mallick, field director, Periyar Tiger Reserve, is the nodal officer and chairman of the team.
The census, involving direct and indirect count, will cover elephant habitats spread around 9,670 sq km of the 11,119.3 sq km forest area of the State. The direct counting method is based on sightings of elephants, while in the indirect method, surveyors follow a dung decay formula for arriving at an estimate.
As many as 641 select blocks, a block may be of six to seven sq km, have been identified in the State and a three-member team, including a watcher and two beat forest officers, will be engaged in each block.
As many as 120 resources persons have been trained for the census and they will train close to 2,000 field staff.
The direct count will begin on May 17 and the indirect count on May 18.
The third day will be exclusively for collecting information on population structure of the jumbos and will be in open areas where the pachyderms are frequently sighted.
The Periyar Tiger Conservation foundation will coordinate the census.

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Walking to revive a near-dead Varattar

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, PATHANAMTHITTA 
The Hindu, May 11, 2017

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will lead a ‘river walk’ along the Varattar, a more or less dead tributary of the Pampa, on May 29 as part of the government’s proposed Varattar rejuvenation project. The initiative is to collect first-hand information on the original boundaries of the river, spread across Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts.
The nine-km Varattar was a perennial freshwater source linking the Pampa and the Manimala rivers till its degradation started four decades ago. Dr. Isaac visited the Varattar river mouth near Othera-Puthukkulangara during an official programme of the Eraviperoor grama panchayat on May 1. The once prolific river is almost dry now, with heavily weeded patches of water and narrow streams at certain points. Indiscriminate sand-mining over the past four decades drastically lowered the riverbeds of the Pampa and the Manimala, blocking the natural water flow between the two rivers through the Varattar.

House panel inspection

An inspection by the Legislative Committee on Environment in 2002 found that almost two-third of the Varattar riverbed had been encroached upon for cultivating tapioca, paddy, vegetables, and fodder. Concrete structures too have come up on the riverbed at certain points. In its report to the government, the panel recommended rejuvenation of the Varattar, saying it could be a boon to the water-scarce river basin. The river was once a water channel for the kettuvalloms (cargo boats) from Alappuzha to Aranmula.

Meeting planned

Water Resources Minister Mathew T.Thomas will convene a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram to prepare a draft rejuvenation plan for the Varattar. Dr. Isaac too will attend the meeting.
Local body chiefs of the Thiruvanvandoor municipality as well as the grama panchayats of Thiruvanvandoor, Eraviperoor, Kuttoor, and Koipram too will accompany Dr. Issac in the ‘river walk’. Eraviperoor panchayat vice-president N.Rajeev said the panchayat resumed 12 acres of river poromboke from encroachers in 2015. Dr. Isaac said the government was planning to include the Varattar rejuvenation plan in the Harita Keralam project. He said Central funds would also be sought under the Pampa Action Plan.

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AHADS projects cut a sorry figure

K A Shaji, Attappady
The Hindu, May 11, 2017 

With the State government backtracking completely from initiating follow-up action to preserve its gains in areas of eco-restoration and tribal empowerment, the once celebrated Attappady Hill Area Development Society (AHADS) has turned into a complete wastage of public money. Lack of maintenance of the multi-crore projects it implemented, along with the prevailing drought and acute drinking water scarcity, are making life miserable for the common man.
The society, which had received an assistance of Rs. 219 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), stopped functioning when the contract with the external agency was over three years ago. It was then the responsibility of the State government to initiate follow-up actions to preserve the achievements of the society, especially in revitalising the dried up water sources.
River dries up again
The 38-km Kodungarapallam, which had a rebirth because of the eco-restoration initiatives undertaken by AHADS, has completely dried up now because of indiscriminate sand-mining and deforestation. Same is the case of Uppumkarapallam, a 11-km rivulet that ensured water security to a number of tribal hamlets.
Though the project helped afforestation of 11,000 hectares of barren land, apart from bringing 5,000 hectares of fallow land under cultivation, lack of efforts over the past three years made the initiative an abject failure.
Soil and water conservation projects initiated in 17,000 hectares have also turned big failures. Check-dams and rainwater harvesting measures initiated under the project have completely failed because of the lack of periodic repair and maintenance.
Other than converting AHAD’s huge office complex at Agali as a training centre for local bodies, nothing has been done to preserve its achievements.
“Before winding up its projects, AHADS had prepared a Rs. 253-crore total hamlet development programme. It had also submitted to the government a Rs. 159.34-crore agriculture package to sustain the gains of the project and make Attappady an organic food hub of Kerala,” says S. Palaniswamy, a tribal activist who had worked with AHADS initiatives. Around 310 institutions having participation of tribespeople have turned idle after the collapse of AHADS.

 

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Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary hitches wagon to star tortoises

Ignatius Pereira,  KOLLAM
The Hindu, May 08, 2017

An ambitious project of the Kerala Forest Department at the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) to rehabilitate Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans) seized from smugglers has turned into a major success. This makes the CWS the only rehabilitation centre for star tortoises in the country.
The CWS is the only place in Kerala where star tortoises are known to occur in the wild. The sanctuary is now a haven for at least 450 such tortoises seized from poachers in less than two years. The success of the programme is so overwhelming that the star tortoise has turned into an icon of the sanctuary.
It all began in August 2015 when Customs sleuths of the Nedumbassery International Airport seized an out-of-the-ordinary consignment that contained 200 star tortoises meant for an east Asian destination. In these regions, live Indian star tortoises are considered auspicious for gaining wealth. It is the reason why Indian star tortoises, which are protected under the Wildlife Act, are poached and smuggled. Seized consignments have to be handed over to the Forest Department under law but it led to the question of where to release them.
Fearing they would perish in a zoo or a forest area where they cannot adapt naturally, the CWS authorities created a special project under the Wildlife Warden of the Eravikulam National Park G. Prasad, and CWS’ Assistant Wildlife Warden P.M. Prabhu.

Species indentification

The tortoises were then kept under quarantine for 30 days at Chinnar, where they were scientifically identified as a southern Indian species, Mr. Prasad said, adding, “This was important to avoid mixing of genetically different populations since there was also a western Indian species inhabiting Gujarat and Rajasthan.” Mr. Prasad said that species identification is done through a molecular genetics process.
Rehabilitation partly adopts the ‘soft releasing’ process in which randomly selected tortoises are taken to the wild in an enclosure from which they may enter the forest at will.
The enclosures are monitored to prevent attacks by wild animals, and after the entire batch leaves, the enclosures are removed, Mr. Prasad said.
He added that during the quarantine period, the natural food preferences of star tortoises were identified and found to include a herb locally known as thazhuthama, and a particular variety of cactus found abundantly inside the CWS.

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Leopard entangled in steel net dies

The Hindu,May 07, 2017
KOLLAM,  

A wild leopard that strayed into human habitat close to forest areas at Edapalayam here got entangled in a steel net and died following suspected fatigue as it tried in vain to free itself. The net was spread by farmers to keep crop-raiding wild boars at bay.
Aryankavu forest range officer Jiyaz Jamaluddin Labba said the male leopard was around 9 years old. The net was spread on railway land by nearby residents who are growing crops there. The hind left paw of the leopard got entangled in the net. It tumbled onto a slope and remained suspended by the entangled leg.
Rubber tappers who passed that way early on Sunday noticed the struggling leopard and informed the forest office. Shortly afterwards a team of forest officers led by Mr. Labba reached the site. The leopard was alive at that time. But it took some time for the forest veterinary officer to reach there from Konni. The intention was to tranquilise the trapped animal and set it free.
When the veterinarian reached the site by 10.30 a.m. the leopard was already dead. Mr. Labba said the carcass was taken to the Chief Disease Investigation Office of the Animal Husbandry Department at Palode where the post-mortem examination will be conducted on Monday. Till then the carcass will be kept in deep freezer.
Meanwhile, residents of Edapalayam said the conflicts with wild animals straying from forest areas were on the rise there. Such conflicts have become a daily affair and several livestock and dogs were attacked by leopards in the past. Also wild wild elephants, deer, and boars raided crops, they said.

 

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Varattar rejuvenation soon

The Hindu,  PATHANAMTHITTA May 03, 2017

The State government will soon prepare a comprehensive action plan to rejuvenate the Varattar river, a tributary of the Pampa, and execute the same in a time-bound manner, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Issac has said.
The Minister was inspecting the badly degraded Varattar riverbed at Othera-Puthukkulangara, near Thiruvalla, on Monday. Dr Issac said the present sad state of affairs with the Varattar was nothing but a man-made tragedy. The nine-km-long Varattar, a natural flood escape of floodwater between the rivers Pampa and Manimala, has its origin from the Pampa at Puthukkulangara.
The Varattar mouth opens into the Pampa at Meppuram and meanders through Thaimaravumkara, Thalayar, Nannad and Thriuvanavandoor, before it merges with the Manimala at Vaalathode, near Eramallikkara, in Alappuzha district. The once-prolific river is almost dry, leaving heavily weeded small patches of water and narrow streams at certain points.
This is due to the indiscriminate sand-mining that had blocked the natural water flow between the Varattar and the Pampa four decades ago.
Varattar is, perhaps, the worst affected water source in the illegal encroachment spree the Central Travancore region had witnessed over the past four decades.
A major portion of the riverbed have been encroached upon by private parties.
Some of them have even managed to obtain ‘possession certificates’ from the authorities concerned for the encroached portion of the land in their possession.
Study under way
The Minister said he had discussed the matters concerning rejuvenation of Varattar with the Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas and the government would convene a meeting of major stakeholders soon.
The Water Resources Department had already started studies on Varattar rejuevanation and a scientific wetland planning would be made to ensure sustainable flow of the river.
Dr Issac said the causeways that hinder the smooth flow of the river would be demolished and bridges would be constructed at all these places. He said fund would be implemented as part of the Pampa Action Plan. Veena George, MLA; T.N. Seema, Haritha Keralam Mission deputy chairperson; K. Ananthagopan, Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Workers Welfare Fund Board chairman, and N. Rajeev, Eraviperoor panchayat vice-president, were present.

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Water shortage: Crop loss pegged at Rs 724.5 crore

Times Of India, May 3, 2017
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water shortage has brought about crop damages to the tune of Rs 724.5 crore this summer, agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar said in the assembly on Tuesday.

The estimates were based on preliminary findings and the damage figure could go up once final tabulation is done, the minister said.

Water scarcity has damaged crops in about 41,592.3 hectares across the state.

As many as 62,897 farmers have been affected. The worst hit were crops such as vegetables, paddy, banana, arecanut, coconut and pepper.

With the summer season wreaking havoc in the farming sector, the agriculture department has been framing an action plan for mitigating the impacts of long-term climate change on the sector.

"The action plan will look into various aspects, including farming methods which require. The plan is to restructure farming practices to align with drought situation triggered by climate change," said Sunilkumar.  

He said the government was planning to begin 44 'coconut villages' in the state.


The idea was to encourage farmers to productive coconut trees. Each unit in one village will have 250 hectares of coconut cultivation. It would increase coconut production in the state, Sunil Kumar added.

As per central statistics, total coconut production declined to 33.70 lakh in 2014-15 from 41.07 lakh in 2013-14.

Coconut crop covered 7.93 lakh hectares in 2014-15 compared to 7.98 lakh hectares in 2013-14, said the minister.

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