Climate change threatens the Nilgiri tahr

Aathira Perinchery Kochi

The Hindu,  July 11, 2018  

The antics of the sure-footed Nilgiri tahr are a treat to watch, but these endangered wild mountain goats – found only in high altitudes in India’s Western Ghats — could be losing their footing with increasing climate change. Even under moderate scenarios of future climate change, tahrs could lose approximately 60% of their habitats from the 2030s on, predict scientists in their study in Ecological Engineering, an international journal that emphasises the need for ecological restoration.
Scientists tried to predict how climate change can affect tahr habitat in the Ghats by mapping tahr distribution (using existing information and field surveys) and then using climatic factors of these locations to see where tahrs would be able to survive, given current and future climate change scenarios.
They found that tahr strongholds such as Chinnar, Eravikulam and Parambikulam in Kerala will still be stable habitats under different climate change scenarios.
However, other regions, including parts of Tamil Nadu’s Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and the wildlife sanctuaries of Peppara, Neyyar, Schenduruny and Srivilliputhur, could experience severe habitat loss in future; in total, approx. 60% of tahr habitat could be lost across the Ghats from 2030s onwards. There are only around 2,500 tahrs left in the wild and their population — “small and isolated, making them vulnerable to local extinction” — shows a “decreasing” trend, as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Local threat

According to senior author Jayahari K. M. of Delhi-based World Resource Institute India, the study has to be seen in the context of this identified vulnerability; the impacts of climate change may further increase the chances of local extinction, he said. The study’s findings demand a comprehensive species management plan, said co-authors Sony R.K. and Sandeep Sen of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.
Scientists, including P. S. Easa, member of the National Board for Wildlife (who also co-authored the latest report on Kerala’s tahr populations), had drafted a tahr recovery plan in 2010. According to the report, only the Eravikulam and Mukurthi National Parks stress on tahr-centered conservation activities in their management plans. Though the recovery plan identified “conservation units” and made site-specific recommendations, how much of it has been implemented is unclear, said Dr. Easa.
“It is important that we focus our efforts on these conservation units and monitor isolated populations,” he said.

 

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Air smells lemony in forestland

Giji K. Raman
MARAYUR (IDUKKI DISTRICT),  
The Hindu, January 26, 2015 

Come mid-January, and tribal settlements on the Marayur-Chinnar forest belt would be buzzing with activity. It is the season for processing lemon grass oil, and the area has the largest number of extracting units in the country.

There are hundreds of such units in the Muthuvan and Hill Pulaya settlements, where lemon grass is cultivated abundantly. Oil is extracted twice or thrice a year, with this season providing the highest yield. Lemon grass is usually dried under sun before the oil is extracted.

“Mist and rain could play spoilsport. Though oil can be extracted from fresh grass, it yields very less oil,” says Paramasivam of Kammalankudy. Lemon grass provides livelihood to 1,000-odd tribal families and the Forest Department encourages its cultivation as a means to prevent soil erosion and help soil regeneration.

Marayur Divisional Forest Officer Saby Varghese says that lemon grass, which has high citral and alkaloid content, is cultivated in almost 1,500 hectares of forestland.

There is much demand for the region’s lemon grass oil from pharmaceutical and detergent companies because of the superior quality of the product. The Forest Department purchases it at Rs.1,130 per kg.

Around 40 tribal settlements have lemon grass extracting units with an average of 10 to 30 in each ‘kudy’ (settlement), says M.G. Vinodkumar, Marayur Range Officer. The main settlements under lemon grass cultivation are Kammalankudy, Kuthukallukudy, Nellipettykudy, Thengaparakudy, Puravayal, Karpoorakudy, Theerthamala, Vannathurai, Palpettykudy, Pollavayal, Alampettykudy, Iruttala, Olikudy and Vellakalkudy.

The tribespeople have been extracting the oil for generations. They cut the grass during day and extract the oil at night. Though the Forest Department planned to set up a modern extracting unit to reduce the dependence on firewood and to improve the oil quality, it was put on hold since it would have disrupted the traditional extraction process, which is closely connected to the tribal lifestyle, says Mr. Varghese.

Burning firewood in the wintry cold is part of the tribespeople’s life. So is the fire in the extracting units. “Any intervention, however minor, in the processing could make them drift away from the industry. Let them extract the oil in their own way. It has a charm that cannot be easily gauged by others,” Mr. Varghese said.

 

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Rock paintings at risk of fading away

Giji K. Raman
MARAYUR,  
The Hindu, January 7, 2015 

The rock paintings in the Marayur-Chinnar forest belt of Kerala, the second largest concentration of cave paintings in south India, are at high risk of degeneration.

As per isolated studies conducted so far, there are 21 cave paintings of red ochre in this Kerala-Tamil Nadu region, a senior official of the Kerala Forest Department told The Hindu. Over 50 caves, situated in the forest belt, are believed to be of the prehistoric period. The cave paintings in Ezhuthala and Attala in Marayur sandal division, the most noted ones, were in more danger.

The official said the rock paintings were in the eastern slope of the Western Ghats, at around 3,000 metres above sea level. The sandy rocks were highly prone to degeneration, he said, adding that they needed new methods of protection. Without assured protection, visitors could not be allowed entry there, he added. Rocks were in bad shape in the Madathala cave at Alampertty in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, which was accessible to visitors.

The first cave painting in Marayur was identified in Ezhuthala Madi on the Tamil Nadu border by Padmanabhan Thampi as part of his research paper in 1974. In 2009-10, archaeological researchers Benny Kurien and Dhanushkody documented the paintings in Ezhuthala, where the largest number of paintings was identified.

 

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