Dilution of norms for quarries irks Greens

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu, March 25, 2019

In a decision that has raised the hackles of regulatory experts and environmental activists, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has cut the minimum distance for quarries from forestland by half, to 50 metres.
The 87th meeting of SEIAA in January took the decision to dilute the distance regulation after a detailed discussion on the report of a sub committee which studied the environmental impact caused by quarrying adjacent to forest areas. The meeting observed that a large number of quarries were operating in the forest boundary without environmental clearance from the SEIAA or district level EIA authorities.
The authority chaired by H. Nagesh Prabhu verified available documents and found that neither the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change nor any State EIA authority had fixed a minimum distance for quarries from forest boundary.
Taking the facts into consideration, the meeting decided to impose a minimum distance of 50 m between quarries and forest land. However, it authorised the State Expert Appraisal Committee to recommend higher distance from the forest based on scientific reasons.
Sensitive areas
The decision, however, has been opposed by regulatory experts who caution against diluting the regulations for quarrying in a State like Kerala with large tracts of ecologically sensitive areas.
Former chairman of SEIAA K.P. Joy said the authority had prescribed a distance of 100 m from the forest for mining activity as a safeguard for the protection of the environment.
“The decision on the buffer distance was taken after considering the importance and fragility of the ecosystems of the Western Ghats.
Sub terrain disturbances and tremors caused by mining and the noise and dust from quarries would be catastrophic to not only to big animals like tigers and elephants and huge tropical trees but also small life forms like rodents, birds and snakes,” he said.
“Allowing quarries to operate close to the forest boundary may lead to a spike in the instances of man- animal conflict,” says T.V. Sajeev of the Kerala Forest Research Institute.
“The constant dust and sound from quarries could force animals to leave the forest in larger numbers,” he observes.
“Sound waves travel fast through granite and could destabilise the slopes, enhancing the risk of landslips during rains,” says Dr. Sajeev.
A study conducted by KFRI in 2017 found that there are 79 quarries within one km from protected forests and 1378 close to reserved forests in the State.

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Burrowing frogs add to diversity of Western Ghats

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu , June 19, 2017 

Opening another window into the fascinating world of amphibian diversity in the Western Ghats, a research student at the Delhi University has reported the discovery of four new species of burrowing frogs.
The finding, published in the international journal Zootaxa, is the result of five years of extensive explorations in the Western Ghats forests. The four new species belong to the genus Fejervarya, but unlike other members of the family, they possess the ability to burrow.
“Two of the new species could be facing serious threats from human activities,” says Sonali Garg, who conducted this study as part of her PhD research.
“Like most amphibians, they are highly sensitive to changes in the climate, and hence can be studied as environmental indicator species,” says Ms.Garg.
“We need to be concerned about the threats to these frogs and do more studies to re-assess their conservation status,” says Prof. S.D. Biju, who led the study.
The first of the new species, Manoharan’s Burrowing Frog (Fejervarya manoharani), was discovered from the Agasthyamala hills in South Kerala and is named after T.M. Manoharan, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, in recognition of his conservation efforts. The Kadar Burrowing Frog (Fejervarya kadar) was collected from the Vazhachal forests and named after the Kadar tribe that was in the forefront of the agitation against the Athiripilly hydel project. The CEPF Burrowing Frog (Fejervarya cepfi) was found in Amboli, a popular hill station in Maharashtra and is named after the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund which had contributed to the preservation of biodiversity in the Western Ghats.
Discovered in the Parambikulam tiger reserve, the Neil Cox’s Burrowing Frog (Fejervarya neilcoxi) was named after Dr. Neil Cox of the International Union for Conservation of Nature who was instrumental in preparing the Red List of global amphibian species.

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A new cast of crabs in Western Ghats

T.Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram 
The Hindu, June 08, 2017

The Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot is in the spotlight once again, as scientists have discovered a new genus and six new species of freshwater crabs in these mountainous forests.
With the recent finding in Kerala, freshwater crab diversity in the State has risen to 34 species, the highest in the country. Nearly 50% of crabs in the Western Ghats (27 of 47 species) occur here.
All six species were discovered on the Kerala side. The researchers including S.K. Pati and P.M. Sureshan from Zoological Survey of India, L. Rajesh, Smrithy Raj and A. Biju Kumar of the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala and V.U. Sheeja, Holy Cross College, Nagercoil published the find in Journal of Natural History.
Karkata, which stands for crab in Sanskrit, has been given a separate genus, indicating a higher order of distinctive features. It is endemic to the Western Ghats.
One of its species, Karkata ghanarakta, was collected from the Thattekad bird sanctuary in Ernakulam district while the second, Karkata kusumbha was reported from Mankulam in Idukki district. The species name ghanarakta is derived from the Sanskrit for maroon, reflecting the colour of the crab. The word kusumbha (Sanskrit for safflower) refers to the orange-red colours of the creature that resemble the floral hues.
The researchers found two new species in the genus Pilarta. While Pilarta aroma inhabits cold water mountain streams in the Agasthyamala Reserve in Thiruvananthapuram, Pilarta punctatissima was collected from Ovumkal in the Thattekad sanctuary.

Paddy embankments

One new species, Cylindrotelphusa longiphallus, came from deep burrows along paddy fields at Kuzhikattusseri, Thrissur. The name is derived from the Latin ‘longi’ for long and the Greek ‘phallus’, a reference to long male gonopods of the animal. Another new discovery, Cylindrotelphusa breviphallus, is from Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Western Ghats unveil its amphibian diversity

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu, November 17, 2016

Reinforcing the importance of the Western Ghats as a valuable reservoir of amphibian diversity, researchers from the University of Delhi have reported two new species of leaping frogs from Kerala and Karnataka.

The new species - Indirana paramakri and Indirana bhadrai - have been reported in the latest issue of PLOS One, an open access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science.

The authors, Sonali Garg and S.D. Biju, conducted DNA barcoding of over 200 samples to provide new estimates of the species diversity and distribution of Indirana frogs, an ancient genus endemic to the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.

The specimens of Indirana paramakri were collected from wet rocks near streams and under leaf litter in disturbed forest areas in Settukunu and Sugandhagiri, north of the Palakkad Gap in Wayanad district.

The species epithet is derived from the Malayalam words ‘para’ meaning rock and ‘makri’ for frog, referring to the occurrence of the species on rocky terrain. Reddish brown with a black band extending from the nostril to the sides, the species is distinguished by its small snout- vent size and unique toe webbing.

Named after its habitat, Indirana bhadrai is currently known only from the Muthodi forest in the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, located north of the Palakkad Gap in Karnataka. The frogs were found on leaf litter in a secondary forest.

Distinguished by a pointed snout and toe webbing, I. bhadra is light brown with irregular dark brown blotches along the dorsal skin folds and a dark greyish-brown band between the eyes.

According to Dr. Biju, though several studies have been carried out on the Indirana genus, taxonomic ambiguities have remained an impediment for proper identification of species and estimates of diversity and distribution. “Our study provides new distribution records for all the currently known Indirana species.”

The researchers have outlined a distribution trend suggesting genetic isolation between populations of the amphibians found north and south of the Palakad Gap, indicating the role of elevational discontinuities in distribution. They have proposed a reassessment of the IUCN categorisation of all species for effective conservation of these relic frogs.

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Pampa River Action Plan gets a new lease of life

T. Nandakumar, Thiruvananthapuram
The Hindu, April 1, 2016

The Pampa River Action Plan for pollution abatement and conservation of the river basin has received a fresh lease of life, with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change sanctioning the release of grant-in-aid of Rs.5 crore.

The aid was sanctioned on March 28 after the Ministry approved the utilisation certificate submitted by the State on work taken up under the scheme in the last 12 years.

However, the Central share of the project was slashed from 70 per cent to 50 per cent on directions from the Ministry of Finance.

Officials said the release of money signalled the Centre’s willingness to commit more funds for the ambitious scheme. Incidentally, the failure to submit the utilisation certificate in time had resulted in reduced flow of funds from the Ministry, eventually leading to allegations that the State had failed to tap the Centre for assistance.

The Ministry had sought clarifications from the State after noticing discrepancies in the initial utilisation certificate submitted in 2014 and the failure to furnish the expenditure statement.

Sanctioned in 2003, the Pampa Action Plan was allotted Rs.18.45 crore on a 70:30 cost-sharing basis between the Centre and the State. Of the Central share of Rs.12.92 crore, an amount of Rs.2.75 crore was released.

The project includes construction of a sewerage system and sewage treatment plants, bathing ghats and community toilets at Pampa and Sabarimala to control pollution of the river, primarily caused by the influx of pilgrims during the festival season.

Hailing the settlement of accounts since 2003, Pampa River Basin Authority Project Director George Chackacherry said the fresh tranche of funds would be used for upgrading the sewage treatment plant at Pampa and constructing connection drains.

The authority has prepared a Rs.200-crore master plan to enhance pilgrim amenities at Sabarimala and control pollution of the river. The proposal is awaiting clearance from NITI Ayog.

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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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