Industry throws a spanner in the KSBB works

T. NANDAKUMAR
The Hindu, February 27, 2016

Faced with stiff resistance from industry, the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has turned to the government for help in implementing the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism for commercial utilisation of biological resources.

According to officials, certain sectors of industry had complained to the government that the proposed levy would add to their financial burden and weigh down their prospects of becoming competitive in the global market. The government, in response, has asked the KSBB to provide the details of the ABS mechanism and the guidelines issued by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA).

The board had earlier written to the Environment Department, seeking a government order to implement the ABS mechanism under the provisions of the Biodiversity Act, 2002 and the Kerala Biodiversity Rules, 2008.

The KSBB has identified 2,694 industrial units in the State that will be liable to pay a levy for access to bioresources and associated traditional knowledge.

The companies will be required to plough back a portion of their sales revenue to the State Biodiversity Fund, in return for commercial exploitation of plants, animals, microorganisms, their parts, and genetic material (excluding human genetic material). The fund would be utilised for conservation activities.

The proposed levy opens up a new revenue stream for the government, but there are fears that it would be bogged down by litigation.

The bio resource-based industries identified by the KSBB include Ayurveda drug companies, tea and coffee manufacturers, agro-based units, food and fruit processing centres, leather, cashew, textiles, paper, rubber, coir, spices, wood and bamboo based industries and exporters of these products. Traditional healers and farmers have been exempted.

KSBB officials said some sectors of industry were using their lobbying power and connections with Union Ministries to delay the proposed levy, while others had begun efforts to sell high value products as normally traded commodities eligible for exemption.

K.P. Laladhas, member secretary, KSBB, admitted that the organised resistance from certain sectors was thwarting efforts to implement the ABS mechanism through a consensus approach. “As an advisory body with no enforcement mechanism, our only option is to seek the help of the government.”

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Wetlands attract more winged visitors

Thiruvananthapuram, 
The Hindu, January 26, 2016

The five major wetlands in Kerala, including the Vellayani, Sasthamkotta, Vembanad, Ashtamudi and Pookode lakes, and their surrounding areas are attracting more migratory birds this year, a survey conducted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has revealed.

Check list

The board is preparing a check list of birds, as part of the biodiversity assessment of the wetlands. Birdwatching teams are keeping a close tab on the lakes to take stock of the winged visitors. The teams comprising the project groups tasked with the preparation of Panchayat Biodiversity Registers (PBR) visit the allocated area at least two times every week for the survey.

The survey team for the Sasthamkotta wetlands recently recorded the first sighting of the white-necked stork.

Also known as the woolly necked stork or Karuvarakkuru in Malayalam, the species had earlier been sighted at Vembanad, Kole wetlands and along the banks of the Bharathapuzha.

The white neck of the bird contrasts with the black head and body and the large bill is grey with a reddish tip. The legs and feet are red and the eyes deep red.

Measuring up to 95 cm in length, it prefers waterlogged areas and cultivated areas and mostly feeds on fish, frogs, snakes, crabs and molluscs. They rarely wade.

According to the IUCN status, the bird is classified as a vulnerable species.

“We have noticed that the number of migratory birds visiting the wetlands of Kerala is higher this year,” says KSBB member secretary K.P. Laladhas. “It requires a detailed study to understand if this is linked to climate change”.

Favourite spots

The birdwatching team deployed at the Sasthamkotta lake has identified 65 species while that for Vellayani has recorded 131 species.

“The high altitude lake at Pookode in Wayanad seems to have a strong biodiversity, perhaps because of its proximity to the forest,” Dr. Laladhas said.

The biodiversity assessment of wetlands assumes significance in the light of the threats faced by the fragile ecosystems, including the three Ramsar sites — the Sasthamcotta and Ashtamudi lakes and the Vembanad- Kole lands.

In the absence of a conservation and sustainable management plan, the lakes in Kerala are increasingly prone to encroachment, pollution, and debilitation caused by invasive alien species.

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Vellayani lifts veil on Painted stork

T.Nandakumar
Thiruvananthapuram,  
The Hindu, August 1, 2015

A bird survey conducted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board at Vellayani Lake near here has revealed the presence of rare species, justifying the efforts to claim biodiversity heritage status for the region.

The KSBB has submitted a proposal to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) seeking heritage tag for the freshwater lake and its environs.

The Rs.75-crore proposal seeks to enlist the support of local communities to protect bird nests and prevent poaching. The bird survey had revealed the presence of over 100 species in the Punchakari area bordering the lake.

KSBB Member Secretary K.P. Laladhas said a team of birdwatchers had been tracking the native and migratory species at Vellayani for some time.

On July 31, the team spotted a single Painted stork in the wetlands. A large wading bird, the Painted stork ( Mycteria leucocephala ) is a near threatened species rarely found in Kerala.

Dr. Laladhas said the late sighting of the stork at Vellayani, coinciding with the delayed start of a full-fledged monsoon, could make it an indicator of climate change.

The Jacobin cuckoo or pied crested cuckoo ( Clamator jacobinus ), a bird associated with rain since ancient times, was also first spotted at Vellayani during the survey.

Biodiversity register

The KSBB is preparing to bring out a biodiversity register exclusively for the Vellayani region.

Three other locations in Kerala, Kalassamala in Thrissur district, Ashramam in Kollam, and Pathiramanal island in Alappuzha, have also been proposed as biodiversity heritage sites.

Official sources said the government was expected to notify the sites after issuing the guidelines for biodiversity heritage status.

Of the four proposed sites, Kalassamala is home to about 200 trees of the Syzygium travancorium species. Listed as critically endangered in the Red Data book published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the species is known to have a population of only about 400, all of them in Kerala.

While Asramam is known for the mangrove forests on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake, Pathiramanal was proposed for the biodiversity heritage tag for its rich diversity of migratory birds.

 

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Ghats yields new limbless amphibian

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

The new species, named Gegeneophis tejaswini after the Tejaswini river in north Kerala, is the 12th Gegeneophis species discovered from the Western Ghats.

A team of scientists from the Government College, Chittur, Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB), and Natural History Museum, London, have reported the discovery of a new species of caecilian (limbless) amphibian from the southern part of the Western Ghats.

The new species, named Gegeneophis tejaswini after the Tejaswini river in north Kerala, is the 12th Gegeneophis species discovered from the Western Ghats and the fourth from Kerala.

Caecilians are limbless subterranean amphibians found in wet tropical and sub-tropical regions.

Of the 204 caecilian species reported so far, some resemble snakes while others look like worms.

Over two years

The scientists collected the specimens over a period of two years from 2008 from Bedoor village bordering the Kamballur reserve forest, near Cheemeni, in Kasaragod district.

All the eight specimens were dug out from the soil in home gardens bordering plantations and the reserve forest.

Nearly blind

The species is nearly blind, with the eye covered by bone. The identification of the species has been confirmed by the Natural History Museum.

The team of scientists including K. Ramachandran from the Government College, Chittoor; Mark Wilson from the Natural History Museum; and Oommen V. Oommen, Chairman, KSBB, have published the finding in the latest edition of Zootaxa, an international journal on zoological taxonomy.

Features

Measuring 135 mm to 224 mm in length, the specimens are pinkish in colour and easily mistaken for earthworms.

According to the authors, people usually fail to recognise caecilian amphibians because of their secretive underground life and superficial similarity to earthworms.

‘Data Deficient’

Given that G.tejaswini is known only from a small series of specimens from a single locality and that very little is known of its general ecology and nothing of its reproductive biology, the authors have proposed that the species be classified as Data Deficient under IUCB criteria.

Not abundant

They surmise that the species is not abundant in the region, considering that 39 man hours of digging in localities 20 km from the site failed to yield additional specimens.

According to the paper, the discovery of G.tejaswini reinforces the perception that the Western Ghats region of northern Kerala and southern Karnataka is particularly diverse for caecilians.

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Bio-fence to breathe life into Sasthamcotta Lake

T. Nandakumar
Thiruvananthapuram,
The Hindu, June 9, 2014 

The Sasthamcotta lake in Kollam district, the largest freshwater lake in the State, will soon have a green ring along its periphery as part of conservation measures for the Ramsar wetland.

The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has taken up a project to create a bio-fence around the shrinking lake that dries up partially during the summer, threatening to cut off water supply to Kollam city and the neighbouring panchayats.

The board had procured 2,000 seedlings of bamboo and other trees to be planted along the 24-km boundary of the waterbody. Fruit trees that attract birds have also been selected to enhance biodiversity. “We are working on a participatory programme to protect and maintain the seedlings,” K.P. Laladhas, Member Secretary, KSBB, said. Board Chairman Oommen V. Oommen said a joint biodiversity management committee had been set up for the lake. The committee had representatives from the Sasthamkotta, East Kallada, and Mainagapally panchayats.

KSBB had chalked out a programme to protect the fish wealth of the lake and create a lake biodiversity register. It was coordinating with the panchayats to cut down the acacia trees in the neighbourhood of the lake. The trees had been identified as one of the reasons for the depletion of water during summer months.

The board had also submitted a representation to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy seeking his intervention to expedite the proposals to rejuvenate the lake. Under a package approved at a meeting convened by Mr. Chandy in June 2013, it was decided to mitigate the pressure on the lake by tapping the Kallada and Pallickal rivers as alternative water sources for Kollam city and the Chavara-Panmana areas.

The meeting had also resolved to check the sewage inflow into the lake.

But the proposals had failed to materialise, triggering concerns among the local people who feared that any further delay would be disastrous for the lake.

Prof. Oommen said the Chief Minister was expected to convene a review meeting soon.

 

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