Spotlight on Adavi and Gavi

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
PATHANAMTHITTA,  
The Hindu, September 18, 2014 

The State government has taken steps to include Konni in the tourism circuit of the Central Tourism Department by promoting the ecotourism initiatives taken up in the forest reaches of Adavi and Gavi in a big way.

The Departments of Forest and Tourism had started chalking out schemes to explore the tourism potential of Konni, Adavi, and Gavi by including these places in the tourism map of Kerala, said T. Pradeepkumar, Divisional Forest Officer. The departments would be launching attractive travel packages on the Konni-Adavi-Gavi route.

Forest Department sources said that the Central Tourism Department would include four circuits, including the Konni-Adavi-Gavi stretch, from Kerala in the Tourism Circuit. With this, the State would get Central assistance to the tune of Rs.8 crore for tourism development in the region.

Elephant camp

Mr. Pradeepkumar said the Elephant Camp at Konni had been identified as the eco-tourism hub in the region and steps would be taken to provide better amenities there. The park at the camp would be kept open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. A modern restaurant would be opened jointly by the departments.

He said the Forest Department had given priority to promote ecotourism spots such as Adavi and attracting more tourists to these places.

Coracle ride

The recently introduced coracle ride along the Mundommoozhy-Thannithode stretch of river Kallar at Adavi has been attracting tourists from different parts of the State in a big way.

The Forest Department would be setting up a rehabilitation centre for elephants in 160 hectares of forests on the banks of the Kallar.

Mr. Pradeepkumar said the Rs.350-lakh centre, modelled on the one at Pinnawala in Sri Lanka, would have a 5 km river frontage. The State had already sanctioned Rs.100 lakh for the same.

A herbal garden, bamboo park, arboretum, elephant breeding places in natural settings, honey bee park, and a butterfly park would be the other attractions at the Adavi ecotourism centre.

Familiarising people with the wild through such projects would be of great help in checking anti-forest activities, the DFO said.

 

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Punarjani rejuvenates arid Chinnar region

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
PATHANAMTHITTA,  
The Hindu, September 17, 2014 

Water is the most needed natural resource in the rain shadow region of Chinnar on the Western Ghats. The Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary gets rain only by the cyclonic disturbances over the Bay of Bengal during the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon. The rivulets and streams inside the sanctuary become live only for some time after the northeast monsoon and dry up quickly, making life difficult for the wildlife and the tribal population in the sanctuary.

The Forest Department has initiated a successful experimental venture, Punarjani, to address the issue. Thanks to the earnest initiative taken by Prasad G., Wildlife Warden in Munnar, to restore the three existing check-dams there with water brought from the east-flowing Chinnar river through gravitational flow. The department team led by Mr. Prasad, and assisted by N.T. Sibin, assistant warden, has laid an underground pipeline linking the Chinnar river at Churulippetty to the check-dams.

Now, the check-dams as well as the waterholes near the watch tower in the sanctuary are being invigorated with surplus water. This otherwise dry thorny forest area now swirls with fresh water, quenching the thirst of the wild animals as well as the tribal people, says Mr. Prasad.

The restored check-dams fill the nearby waterholes and retain water round the year. As a result, the number of animals frequenting the area such as elephants, deer, wild dogs, wild boars, gaurs, and so on, has increased, and the aquatic floral species such as Typha, Utricularia and many algae have made a comeback, he adds.

 

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Periyar trout facing extinction

Giji K. Raman
KATTAPPANA,
The Hindu,September 17, 2014 

Brahmanakendai (Lepidopygopsis typus), a freshwater fish species in the family of cyprinidae, endemic to the Mullayar tributaries in the Western Ghats, is under threat of extinction due to habitat disturbance and introduction of hybrid varieties such as tilapia and common carp in the Thekkady lake. The species is also known as Periyar trout as it is endemic to the waters there.

The fish which is already on the red category list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) could be in more danger as nearly 80 per cent of its total population was endemic to the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) where the African Catfish proves a threat to its existence, say experts.

According to Rajeev Raghavan, IUCN South Asian Co-chair, the fish species was once considered to be in the Schizothoracinae family as it was physically similar to the Snow trout found in high altitude streams. Recent genetic tests, however, grouped it in cyprinidae family.

The species is found in flowing waters and lay eggs in deep waters. It was once a main diet of the Mannan tribe. The name Brahmanakendai may be due to a thread, similar to a ‘poonool,’ in its body, says conservation researcher Anvar Ali.

He says that studies by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in 1999 and individual studies later pointed to high level of survival threat on the species in its natural habitat.

This is one of the 63 species endemic to the Western Ghats’ southern region. It was first reported by Divan Bahadur Sundararajan in the tributaries of the Periyar and the Mullayar and in the portions the streams join the Thekkady lake.

Mr. Ali says that there has been no scientific study on the impact of the hybrid varieties of fish introduced in the Thekkady lake on the endemic species.

Brahmanakendai faces extinction threat as there is high stress on the waters due to competition for food and existence threat raised by the African Catfish. The species has many specialities and unique features and considering the high threat on its survival, a plan of action to protect it in its natural habitat needs to be implemented, he says.

 

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Mangroves vanishing in Kerala

T. Nandakumar 
Thiruvananthapuram,  
The Hindu, September 17, 2014

Mangroves forests that once covered 70,000 hectares of the State’s coastal area have come down to just 17 sq km, largely due to human encroachment. According to a book titled ‘Kandal- Kerala’s Vanishing Asset’ released here on Tuesday, the popular misconception that mangrove forests are of no use has added to the slow death and near total disappearance of the species.

Authors of the book, Tresa Radhakrishnan and M.R. Anilkumar, observe that out of the 17 sq km of remaining mangrove forests, only 2 sq km came under the state government.

Of the existing mangrove resources in the State, 36 per cent were degraded or in degrading condition.

The mangrove forests in the State are confined to the upper reaches of estuaries, lagoons, backwaters and creeks in all the districts except Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad and Wayanad, with the maximum extent reported from Kannur.

The book observes that the value of mangroves had gone unrecognised, leading to their disappearance in many parts of the world.

Mangrove systems require intensive care.

The authors pointed out that mangrove, besides being a natural breeding ground for several species, including fish, reptiles, birds, insects, and crustaceans, acts as natural lungs and kidneys of the ecosystem.

They act as a buffer zone, protecting the coast from erosion.

While mooting incentives for sustainable management of mangroves on private and village community land, the authors propose the restoration and rehabilitation of degraded mangrove forests with people’s involvement.

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Travancore frog back from the brink?

Giji K. Raman
KATTAPPANA,  
The Hindu, September 13, 2014 

Travancore Bush Frog (Raorchestes travancoricus), classified as extinct by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board and on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was found last month by Mumbai-based researchers David V. Raju and Saurab Sawanth in the grasslands of Wagamon, believed to be their habitat. The other habitats are the Periyar Valley (Kerala), Meghamala and Bodinayakanur (Tamil Nadu), and Coorg (Karnataka) in Western Ghats.

The animal, in the family of Rhaorpherdae, was not recorded for long since its first description by George Albert Boulenger in 1891. In 2009, S.D. Biju and Franky Bossuyt, two Delhi University researchers, had announced its rediscovery in the Western Ghats, as part of the first amphibian survey of the Western Ghats, conducted by the School of Environment Studies, University of Delhi. The duo had detailed their discovery, along with 11 other species, in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in 2009. A single male was spotted in 2004 from Vandiperiyar, near Thekkady, in Kerala.

The Travancore Bush Frog, also known as Travancore bubble-nest frog, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The tropical moist evergreen forest and tea plantations are its natural habitat. The male measures 23 to 25 mm and the female, 30 mm in length. Mr. Raju told The Hindu that its discovery in Uluppuni, in the sensitive Wagamon grassland, a biological hotspot, was a good sign. However, uncontrolled human intervention in Wagamon could pose problems for the species. He said he was planning to carry out a survey in the area for their clusters.

The new discovery opens up a window for more chances of their fragmented habitats in an intensive survey, Mr. Raju said.

 

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Freshwater crustaceans in Western Ghats face extinction

T. Nandakumar
Thiruvananthapuram, 
The Hindu, September 12, 2014 

Several species of freshwater shrimps and crabs in the Western Ghats could be hurtling towards extinction, as taxonomic uncertainties and escalating human activities in their habitat pose major challenges to their conservation, scientists say.

A recent study on the conservation status of these poorly known species, published in the online version of the international journal, ‘Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems,’ reveals that three species of freshwater invertebrates are threatened with extinction while 48 are classified as ‘data deficient’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Underestimation

About 49 species and six subspecies of shrimps (69% endemic) and 39 species of crabs (92% endemic) are currently known from the Western Ghats region — a diversity that is believed to be a gross underestimation, given the lack of biotic surveys and taxonomic research on these groups.

The study identified 40 sites spread across the Western Ghats region for the conservation of freshwater crustaceans, of which only seven lie within the existing network of protected areas. The paper noted that the specialised natural history and endemic nature of freshwater crustaceans, together with the increasing human impact on the aquatic ecosystems in the Western Ghats, made conservation and management of these an immediate and urgent challenge.

“The uncertainty regarding the extinction risk of such a large number of ‘data deficient’ species is a major issue that will hamper the formulation of conservation and management plans,” says Rajeev Raghavan, researcher at the Conservation Research Group, St. Albert’s College, Kochi and lead author of the paper. “

The priority is to improve the present knowledge of the diversity and distribution of freshwater crustaceans and create detailed biotic inventories that yield molecular data for species delimitation,” says Neelesh Dahanukar from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune who co-authored the paper.

“As most of these populations are geographically isolated, there is a need to take up detailed studies to conserve them as distinct stocks with unique evolutionary lineage,” says Siby Philip, Assistant Professor of Zoology, Nirmalagiri College, Kuthuparamba, another co-author.

 

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Western Ghats: Ecologically Sensitive Areas maps to be digitised

T. Nandakumar
Thiruvananthapuram,  
The Hindu, August 31, 2014 

With the Central government informing the National Green Tribunal of its intention to implement the report of the K. Kasturirangan committee on the Western Ghats, the Kerala government is gearing up for the final phase of the exercise to demarcate Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in the State.

The Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC) has got down to the task of preparing digitised maps showing the extent of the redefined ESAs in the 123 villages identified by the High Level Working Group (HLWG) led by Dr. Kasturirangan. Paucity of funds, however, threatens to bog down the project.

The Environment Department has reportedly turned down a request from the KSREC for an assistance of Rs.14 lakh to cover the expenses involved in the preparation of the cadastral maps earlier this year. The Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre KSREC, an entity under the Planning Department, has been asked to mobilise funds from its own kitty.

Following a draft notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in March, the KSREC had prepared cadastral maps redefining the boundaries of the ESAs.

Colour-coded maps

The colour-coded maps demarcating forests, residential areas, waterbodies, and rocks were scanned, electronically stitched, and uploaded onto the website of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB).

“The cadastral maps are only scanned sheets with field-level data copied onto survey maps. They need to be digitised and converted to the GIS (Geographic Information System) format to enable calculation of the area, based on survey number,” a scientist associated with the mapping project said. KSBB Chairman Oommen V. Oommen said that the MoEF had directed the State government to prepare a report on the cadastral-level maps.

This report would be uploaded onto the Ministry’s website along with the final notification expected to be published by mid-2015.

A team of officials from the MoEF regional office at Bangalore were expected to visit the State next month for a ‘random sampling ground truthing’ of the redefined ESAs. The team, which held a preliminary meeting with State officials here in June, was expected to carry out field verification in at least 25 per cent of the 123 villages.

 

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