A wave of fires have blazed through Southern India in the last fortnight. This satellite image, courtesy of NASA, shows the hotspots especially in the forests of the western ghats. Over 6,000 sq km of the Niligiris ecosystem, straddling Bandipur and Nagarahole, Mudumalai and Silent Valley, were among those affected. The cause is not known.
Photograph: courtesy The Hindu/ NASA
hmm… these are not natural fires?
some hooligans were caught setting fire in a patch according that report.
During the start of summer somtimes the Forest Dpt will set fire to the dry twigs and shrubs in order to avert any major forest fire going into the summer. This is always done under a controlled environment.
But often the people who live on the fringe villages resort to this cheap act to settle scores with the Forest Dpt. Living on the fringes, these villagers feel that they should have an easy access into the forest much to the irritation of the Dept officials. And with a severe shortage of manpower, the Dpt may not be able to control such unpardonable mischiefs.
Loopholes in the forest laws (as they are different from IPC) and local pressures allow these people to get away. Linking crimes in the forest/on the wildlife with IPC is needed.
is this why increased sightings are reported
http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031550990200.htm
so where are these fires in the fringes or in the red zone?
Arun, also read somewhere that they are going to hire ex servicemen. what do you think of it?
btw did you check the motor boats at nagarhole? boating beku andre ooty hograppa. nagarhole yaake?
TS,
Nagarhole (and other places in the western ghats) becoming Ooty! What a dreadful thought!
These are the last vestiges of what is left of our forest cover. Sadly the people in power are least bothered and more often than not hand in glove with the perpetrators. the guilty have always gotten away with murder. I will not be suprised if the burnt down land is swallowed by some conniving crooks.
The junglelodges on the Kabini had jeeps that were so noisy that any game nearby would run away from the spot before we arrive to see them. However was very very lucky to spot a tiger in the wild which vanished into the forest in a blink of an eye. One does get to see the wild hogs, elephants, the usual pack of wild dogs chasing deer. The early morning non motorized boat ride is good but however there was a motorized boat (then in 2003 do not know now) that was also very noisy. One could see the crocodiles basking in the early morning sun being disturbed and slowly receding to the depths due to the noise.
I will rue the day it becomes like ooty which is very likely. Sometimes I feel we should have vigilantism aka Charles Bronson style (like in his Death Wish movies) against these crooks, alas! that is not a solution.
As someone said we have borrowed the land from the future generations and it is not ours to destroy. Hope the future gen dont have to see the Wild only in movies, photos or museums.
I had read an article by Tavleen Singh some time back about the passing of a bill in parliament regarding tribals being granted the rights to forest land which really was a concern as there was a high probability of real estate sharks conniving with tribals to loot the forest. Can some one throw light on this please
noise is the lesser of the evils, motor boats are notorious for spilling oil.
waterbodies and their ecosystems are incredibly difficult to repair. once the damage is done, it is irreversible.
what will a small little boat do? with tourism only increasing, accumulated impact of a small little spill today and little spill tommorrow can be serious. but you should also consider that these are not great waterbodies, like oceans, that have a lot of churning or a great variety of native biota that can take care of local perturbations. oceans are massive but even then … {btw there are people who wonder as to why a ship full of hondas never sink in the oceans. :)}
now this oil spill is only one type of impact. god forbid if the boats are not properly quarantined and they unknowingly induct an invasive species into the system. we can then say tata-bye bye to what ever little biota that is native to those waters. now you will ask how can any alien species be induced in waters that is in the middle of nowhere? i dunno, in countries where they lookout for such things, there are many such inland, totally isolated lakes infected by alien species. they have no clue how they landed there and this despite the fact that they have systems and regulations for cleaning the boats and what not.
so what, should we go all archaic and sing doni saagali? perhaps not. for conservation, survey activities perhaps motor boats can be used. but not for voyeuristic activity like tourism. if you are going to use boats use small ones that can manually powered and have the motors as a back up just in case you need to make a quick exit.
it is half as not important for every single visitor to sight the tiger every single time, as it is to minimally impact that ecosystem.
you want to see tigers, switch on a tv. you go to the forest only if you have a call of the wild are willing to live by its terms.
there are all these freshly minted trekkers to the ghatta who are now demanding toilets on top of the hills. are you fukking kidding me?
TS, the idea to hire x-servicemen may not be bad. But at the same time, the Forest Dpt personnel are not bad either. The commitment of the field staff, the knowledge levels of officers are exlemplary. But their ilk suffers from second grade treatment. The Dpt is taken for granted. Oflate, the Dpt has become a clearing agency (for projects) and not allowed to embark upon any massive conservation efforts due to ‘paucity’ of funds and the growing lobbies that have set eyes on the forest land.
Talking about x-armymen, their expertise in handling all-terrain combat would be of immense help to mow down poachers. Honestly, our Forest Dpt has only been gaurdians of our forests, shooing away intruders and no where near when it comes to fight poachers with advanced ammunition. Again, shortage of staff, money, training and more importantly motivation (at time guards are not paid of 6months). A combination of forest intellingence and army combat is needed. Support of locals is quintessential though. Creating awareness about ecology, wildlife and not to encroach are critical as these people are very important in conservation.
Nowadays, under the garb of ‘eco-tourism’, the forests are subjected to more wear and tear as everyone wants to ‘unwind’ at a far-off land enjoying 5-star accommodation. The sheer mis-utilisation of resources, water especially, at these resorts is highly questionable. Lot has been talked about the noise from the jeeps. This whole business of eco-tourism should be relooked. Govt should not allow anymore resorts to come up in the fringes.
One favour which the Govt can do is to close the forests for the next say 3-5 years to all commercial activities; try and relocate highways as much as possible and see the difference. Few months back, I had accompanied a friend in the Dpt into the Bandipur NP. My friend explained the regrowth of vegetation in the forest bordering a village, as they had put up a new camp with 2 guards. As the camp came into existence, villagers started to shy away from entering into the forest area and grazing started to decline,
though not completely stopped.
With terrorism finding safe heavens in the jungles of Karnataka, the much talked about reforms in the field staff of the Dpt has to happen as if there is no tomorrow. Adequately armed guards, reliable information gathering and intelligence sharing between states will go a long way in curbing poaching.
The Tribal Bill that almost distributes protected areas to ‘tribals’ and the new Environment Impact Analysis that is lenient towards industrialisation and less interested in protecting the ecology are two political decisions that are nothing but detrimental to the wildlife of the country.
We, humans, need to do nothing special. Nature can take care by itself. Let us give the forests and wildlife sometime to breathe and they will bounce back. Most of us would be glad to see the Govt plans in action as far as protection is concerned. But a threat in the name of tourism will be uncontrollable if not checked today as they generate jobs and more people will start consuming these resources.
Mining, highways, railways, power projects, et al are other larger threats. If we give precedence to these over conservation, then there is no bigger fool than us. If the Govt cannot consider our ecosystem as the biggest and most critical infrastructure, then no policy maker has understood infrastructure.