Bengaluru: The two mega drinking water projects planned by successive governments, the Ettinahole and the Mekedatu project, will prove to be a death warrant for the last remaining animal habitats in Karnataka's Western Ghats and the Cauvery Sanctuary.&nbsp;
Environmentalists have warned that the sinking of 12,000 acres of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and the Ettinahole project will strike the very heart of the Western Ghats.
However, opposition Congress has declared it as a mission to implement the Mekedatu project for providing drinking water to Bengaluru and the surrounding areas. The Congress state President D.K. Shivakumar has repeatedly stated that the implementation of the Mekedatu project was inevitable and as soon as his party comes to power it will be implemented without any further delay.
The Ettinahiole project involving the diversion of rivers was mooted by the BJP government headed by former CM D.V. Sadananda Gowda. "Both projects will destroy the core area and heighten the man-human conflict," explains retired senior bureaucrat and environmentalist Dr A.N. Yallappa Reddy.
Talking to IANS, Yallappa Reddy explained that the vast virgin forest region is the only place where elephants flock. This is the regular corridor for elephants from time immemorial. This is called 'Gaja Aranya' (elephant forests) and 'Dandakaranya' (thick forests), he said.
No one is thinking about recycling of water, which can solve the drinking water problem in Bengaluru. "I have been observing the developments since 1962 as I was a bureaucrat. The human activities not only in the core areas of the forests but in the periphery have increased.
"Core areas of forests, which are breeding centers of the wild animals, have been lost. The mining activities, hydro-electric projects, mini-hydro-electric projects have completely fragmented the forest area. The government is liberal in allowing plunder. Vast areas of the ecosystem have been wiped out and the core forest area is severely fragmented.
"The Forest Conservation Act and guidelines have been diluted by the government. The mining has made the perennial water flows and the water holes from where wildlife got the water, extinct. The Karnataka government during the tenure of Late Ramakrishna Hegde had given 78 lakh hectares for the forest department. Tragically, the present government is planning to take back 6 lakh acres.
"The people who are taking forest lands are not tribes, but they are the powerful landlords who have considerable influence. They indulge in plantation, mining and commercial activities," Yallappa Reddy explains.
The Bannerghatta National Park near Bengaluru was notified in 1978. Nearly 100 square kilometers of forests of Bannerghatta have been destroyed. It was the biggest habitat for elephants. The elephants used to traverse in the corridor from Tamil Nadu, Biligirirangana Betta in Chamarajanagar and reach Bengaluru. They also reached elephant camps in Mysuru district and mated with tamed female elephants.
"The famous group of five tuskers was called the Rowdy Ranga gang. The group dominated for 12 years. Recently, there was a media report, where a group of elephants entered a godown in Hassan, broke open the door and carried rice bags into the forests. This is disturbing and indicative of future human-animal conflict," Yallappa Reddy says.
Yallappa Reddy has filed a PIL before the Supreme Court regarding the loss of the forest land. The court is yet to take up the petition. "I rendered my services as the Secretary of the Environment Department. I am hopeful that the Apex court takes up the inquiry," he says.&nbsp;
—IANS

The two mega drinking water projects planned by successive governments, the Ettinahole and the Mekedatu project, will prove to be a death warrant for the last remaining animal habitats in Karnataka's Western Ghats and the Cauvery Sanctuary. 

 Bengaluru drinking water projects threaten only wildlife habitat in K'taka

Wildlife

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government constituted an expert committee on August 22 to study the increasing conflict between humans and elephants, especially in the Gudalur area, and to come up with practical solutions to the issue.
The committee headed by Conservator of Forests and Madhumalai Tiger Reserve Field Director, D. Venkatesh has commenced the study on the basic reasons behind the man-elephant conflict.
In May two people lost their lives on successive days. A 40-year-old woman who had gone to attend to nature's call in the early hours was trampled to death by a wild elephant. The woman Malu (42) was killed on May 27,
On May 26, Anandan (51) was killed by a wild elephant when he was going to open his tea stall at Gudalur at around 5.30 a.m.
In August before the committee was constituted, Murugan (46), a forest watcher, was trampled to death by a wild elephant when he had gone to the forest border to relieve himself.
People losing their lives in areas close to the forest borders has been reported regularly in Tamil Nadu with an average of 35 to 40 being killed in a year.
The forest department had to resort to bringing in two Kumki elephants to drive the wild elephant into the deep forest. The expert committee is studying all the possibilities to solve the vexed issue.
While the stories of elephants killing humans have been reported widely, many wild elephants also lost their lives due to human intervention in their habitats.
Three wild elephants were mowed down by the speeding Mangalore- Chennai Express on November 26, 2021. After this incident, the forest department and Southern Railway planned to jointly operate a wireless system to prevent the elephants from reaching the railway lines running through deep forests.
A 20-year-old male elephant was also hit by a moving train prior to this in March 2021; in the past five years eight elephants have been killed by trains. After the mowing down of three elephants on November 26, the forest department of Tamil Nadu and Southern Railways took several measures to discourage elephants from coming near the tracks.
The expert committee is of the view that most of the elephant attacks on human habitations was in search of food. The Kerala forest department has recently taken a policy decision to plant jack fruit trees inside forests as jack fruit is like a magnet to the elephants.
The department also envisages planting wild mango trees and wild gooseberry trees. According to the Kerala forest officials this will help in stopping elephants, monkeys and other wild animals from entering human habitations in search of food.
A recent study by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the Periyar Tiger Conservation Foundation has revealed that the major reason for the human-elephant conflict is the reduced availability of fodder in the forests. The study also revealed the reduction in fodder was mainly due to the presence of invasive plants that shrink the fodder.
However, some senior officials of the Tamil Nadu forest department told IANS that human-elephant conflict has always been there but the increased reporting has led to bringing such issues before society in large numbers.&nbsp;
—IANS

The Tamil Nadu government constituted an expert committee on August 22 to study the increasing conflict between humans and elephants, especially in the Gudalur area, and to come up with practical solutions to the issue.

Man vs tuskers: TN committee initiates study to find solution

Kolkata: In June this year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the West Bengal government to immediately close down all hotels, camping sites, homestays,
lodges and restaurants within the Buxa Tiger Reserve, currently in Alipurduar district and earlier in undivided Jalpaiguri district in the northern part of the state. The NGT order gave hope to environmentalists that this is the first positive move for freeing the jungles not only in Buxa but the entire north Bengal of human encroachments.
However, almost three months have passed since the NGT order, and the activists allege that the judgement has not been honoured in its true spirit and tourism activities within the core area are still being carried out albeit in a reduced manner. They also allege negligence on the part of the state government in putting in place a proper displacement and
rehabilitation policy for the tribal population in the villages within the core areas.
Speaking to IANS, environmental rights activist Dr Raja Raut said that although after the NGT order the state government has
taken some steps to limit tourism within the Buxa Tiger Reserve, the order has not been implemented in its true spirit.
"Although night stays within the reserve forest area have been banned after the NGT order, some lodges with dining arrangements are still operating during the day till sunset. And with these arrangements continuing, the tourists flock, play music, litter food and food packets which continue to affect the natural ambience of the forest. We along with other environment activists had intimated the state forest department several times and what we got are just assurances. I understand that the state government is promoting tourism and homestay culture in north Bengal. But it cannot be at the cost of the natural ambience of the jungle," Raut said.
Besides the Royal Bengal tiger the fauna of Buxa Tiger Reserve, a part of which is also in neighbouring Bhutan, includes elephants, leopards, giant squirrels, chital deer, wild boar and
Indian dhole.
Raut said the continued existence of around 100 small forest villages within the core forest areas scattered over the three districts in north Bengal, namely Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Darjeeling is yet another hurdle in making the core forest
areas totally free of human encroachment. "These are extremely small forest villages housing hardly 1,000 to 1,200 families. I do not think that rehabilitation of these families is a difficult task. But I think some political interference poses hurdles in that rehabilitation process," Raut said.
According to forest minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, the state government is keen on rehabilitating the population in the forest villages and talks are going on in this regard.
However, there is a technical hitch since these forest villagers mostly do not have land rights and it is often difficult for the state government to offer rehabilitation packages under the existing legal framework.
Mullick added that the state government has urged the Union government to share the compensation burden. "We expect the rehabilitation package to be finalised soon," he said.
On the issue of the continuing day time operations of some homestays, he said that he will ask his officials to look into the matter.
However, a senior state forest official, on condition of anonymity said that ensuring a 100 per cent closure of all tourism-related commercial operations in the forest areas like
homestays and restaurants is not an easy task. "As it is, entry
restrictions in the core area have left the local villagers fuming since that was an important source of income. The people have invested in setting up homestays after the state
government encouraged that. Now the overnight closing down of all operations will antagonize them," the official said.
He said that unless the state government arranges for alternative sources of income for these villagers besides
giving them a one-time compensation, displacing them from the core areas will be an uphill task.&nbsp;
—IANS

In June this year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the West Bengal government to immediately close down all hotels, camping sites, homestays,

 Homestays, relocation of forest villages constant threats to Buxa Tiger Reserve

New Delhi: Amidst the governments increased focus on conservation of wildlife, instances of human-animal conflict have resulted in loss of life of both humans and animals over the years.
As per the information from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, between 2018-19 and 2020-21, a total of 29 tigers were killed by poachers while the deaths of 197 tigers was under scrutiny. A large number of elephants also died due to various reasons including electrocution and others. The data said that a total of 222 elephants died by electrocution across the country, 45 in train collisions, 29 were killed by poachers and 11 by poisoning during the same period.
On the other side, a large number of humans also became victims of the conflict leading to their deaths. Elephants killed 1,579 humans in three years – 585 in 2019-20, 461 in 2020-21, and 533 in 2021-22. So far as the states are concerned, Odisha recorded the highest number of these deaths at 322, followed by Jharkhand at 291, West Bengal at 240, Assam at 229, Chhattisgarh at 183 and Tamil Nadu at 152.
So far as the deaths of elephants are concerned, out of the 222 elephant deaths caused by electrocution, Odisha recorded 41, Tamil Nadu 34 and Assam 33. Odisha (12 out of 45) also had the highest number of elephant deaths caused by trains, followed by West Bengal (11) and Assam (9). Poaching deaths were the highest in Meghalaya (12 out of 29) while poisoning deaths were the highest in Assam (9 out of 11, including 8 in 2018-19 alone).
The Ministry in a Parliament reply on July 25 said that assessments of human-wildlife conflicts indicate that their main causes include habitat loss, growth in the population of wild animals, changing cropping patterns that attract wild animals to farmlands, movement of wild animals from forest areas to human dominated landscapes for food and fodder, movement of human beings to forests for illegal collection of forest produce, habitat degradation due to growth of invasive alien species and others.
The Parliament standing committee on Environment and Forests in its March, 2022 report took note of the human-animal conflict observing that the cases of man-animal conflict are on the rise and it still remains an area of concern. “As such, there is an urgent need to minimize the instances of man-animal conflict that was resulting in both human and animal killings,” it said.
The Committee recommended that the Ministry should take proactive steps to sustainably manage and minimise man-animal conflict in a balanced manner, whereby the wildlife habitat is improved. “The Committee urges upon the Ministry to evolve a mechanism at the national level for uniform compensation, early settlement of compensation and rehabilitation of the victims of man-animal conflict. The Committee recommends that efforts should be made by the Ministry at local level and especially among the communities living in peripheral forest areas to sensitise them towards ecological balance through co-existence with wildlife,” it said.
As per the Ministry, financial assistance is provided by the Ministry to States/Union Territories under the centrally sponsored schemes of ‘Development of Wildlife Habitats’, ‘Project Tiger’ and ‘Project Elephant’ for activities like creation and maintenance of water holes for wild animals in the protected areas, soil and moisture conservation measures, establishment of anti-poaching camps, strengthening wildlife veterinary care, eradication of weeds, creation and maintenance of fire lines, deployment of Tiger Protection Force and others.
Critical elephant habitats are notified as ‘Elephant Reserve’ for focus and synergy in elephant conservation and to reduce conflict. The notification is carried out with the approval of the Steering Committee formed in the Ministry. So far 31 Elephant Reserves have been established in 14 major elephant states.
Similarly, the National Tiger Conservation Authority has issued Standard Operating Procedures to deal with emergencies arising due to straying of tigers into human dominated landscapes and tiger depredation on livestock and for active management towards rehabilitation of tigers from source areas at the landscape level.&nbsp;
—IANS

Amidst the governments increased focus on conservation of wildlife, instances of human-animal conflict have resulted in loss of life of both humans and animals over the years.

 Elephants, tigers main victims of rising human-animal conflict

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Centre and Kerala government to file a compliance report within six months on the reported construction of a mega car parking facility and a football ground inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve allegedly without sanctions.&nbsp;
The southern bench of NGT comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati was dealing with two similar applications filed by different persons alleging violation of provisions of the Forest Act, Forest (Conservation) Act, and other allied Acts dealing with the National Tiger Conservation project.
After the submissions, the tribunal asked the Centre to respond as to whether the repair and formation of the football ground can be treated as a forest right under Section 3 (2) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and to reply on its impact on the wildlife.
The tribunal also 'deprecated the attitude' of the applicant for not mentioning the entire facts in the application, including the existence of a tribal settlement and the vacant area, as seen from Google image etc.
The Chief Secretary of the state was also directed to produce all the relevant documents, including from the Vigilance Department on the matter.
From the vigilance report, it was revealed that as per the Conservator of Forest, (I&amp;E), Kottayam, all the works related to the construction of the football ground were done violating the existing forest and wildlife legislations, the applicant had argued.
The Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary covering an area of 925 sq km in Idukki district was declared as Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in 1978.
Kerala obtained approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for tiger conservation plan as per an order dated March 21, 2013, for the purpose of conservation of tigers in the reserve and for other purposes.
While approving the Tiger Conservation Plan, NTCA had clearly stated that the project shall not overrule the existing laws in the country, especially the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The plea alleged that in the guise of the sanction order, the state Department of Tourism wanted to develop the area and make certain constructions in the tiger reserve, and constructed a mega car parking facility at Anavachal.
It further pointed at another activity, wherein a football ground was being developed near the Vanchivayal tribal settlement area under Vallakkadavu range inside the core area of Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), a crucial zone of the forest where tigers are sited frequently.
The forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribe namely Urali community of Vanchivayal tribal colony is located in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve, and they are included in the buffer area as per a 2011 notification of the state government.
The tribal representative denied the allegations that the authorities were taking steps to convert the core area located in Periyar Tiger Reserve as a playground. The open ground is not a part of the core area of Periyar Tiger Reserve, he said.
The tribal colony is inhabited by 76 tribal families since 1940 and located inside the forests and around 3.5 km away from the nearby public road. Most of the families of the tribal colony earn their livelihood through organic agriculture, particularly the cultivation of pepper.
Till two decades ago, they had been living in complete drudgery and penury and suffered heavily at the hands of middlemen till the Periyar Tiger Reserve management intervened with the constitution of a tribal eco-development committee, as per the locals.
On the other hand, the petitioner argued that in both the cases the Google image produced along with the documents will go to show that they have enlarged the area for the purpose of expanding, though claimed to be an existing playground to a larger extent and a football tournament was also conducted which is not a permissible activity even assuming that the tribal community has got any right under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
It also produced additional documents to establish that heavy machinery was used for the purpose of removal of mud, and the nature of publicity made for conducting the football tournament, and the presence of people at the time of the tournament.
The state government argued that it is part of the buffer zone of Vanchivayal tribal settlement colony situated within the Periyar Tiger Reserve area and it is not within the core area and this area is being used as a common place for gathering for festivals, marriages etc.
The state authorities said that the said notification of buffer area states that to promote the co-existence between wildlife and humans with due recognition to livelihood, developmental, social and cultural rights of local people, the area of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary kept out of the critical tiger habitat is now declared as buffer area to the critical tiger habitat.
During the 2018-19 floods, a huge sand deposit was made in that area, and even in 2017, Gram Sabha of the tribal settlement community had resolved to repair the playground and that was forwarded to the Eco Development Committee and with the funds available with the committee, repair works were undertaken.
No additional area has been added and no trees were cut for these purposes. Any irregularities committed therein is being inquired into by the government and appropriate action will be taken against the officials, if there are any serious irregularities against the provisions committed by the officials.
The green court observed that though representations were made, no action was taken is the complaint made by the applicant in both the cases.&nbsp;
—IANS&nbsp;

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Centre and Kerala government to file a compliance report within six months on the reported construction of a mega car parking facility and a football ground inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve allegedly without sanctions. 