WHITHER RAINFORESTS?

THE TELEGRAPH , Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Correspondent :
Land under rainforests of the Western Ghats is being usurped for planting cash crops like coffee, cardamom, areca and rubber, leaving in their wake a rubble trail of lost biodiversity. The flagship species of the region, the lion-tailed macaque could be losing out, writes Meghna Krishnadas

The first rays of the morning sun break through the dense canopy of the rainforest creating a chiaroscuro of golden shafts across a still dark forest. The sounds of the night give way to the gentle stirrings of the coming day. The pre-dawn stillness is broken by the raucous cackle of jungle fowl, soon to be joined by a myriad other birds that sing their refrains to their forest home. Such is a morning in a rainforest, amongst the numerous stands of tall trees, which reach for the heights in still, awe inspiring beauty, like giant sentinels of an ancient secret.

Treasure trove

To say that the tropics are a treasure trove of biodiversity is to belabour the obvious point; and India happens to be among the biodiversity superpowers of the world. India is also home to some of the most biologically important areas of the world, and the tropical evergreen forests of the Western Ghats are one such complex agglomeration. These rich ecosystems, created over millennia of evolutionary forces, eulogise the incredible dynamism of processes that shape natural systems.

In terms of flora, the evergreen forests are distinct from the rainforests in the north-east of India. Having evolved in relative isolation, ancient relics of the time when the Indian continental mass was drifting free from Gondwanaland (180 MYA), nearly 80 per cent of the nearly 5,000 tree species here are endemic. In terms of fauna, although it does not have as many species as north eastern India, the Western Ghats rainforests are home to some remarkable endemic species like the Travancore flying squirrel, brown palm civet, brown mongoose and the famous lion tailed macaque, the flagship species for these forests.

Karnataka has some of the best in the variety of evergreen forests. The Brahmagiri-Pushpagiri ranges, through to the Kudremukha-Someshwara-Agumbe complex, holds an array of evergreen forests. The low altitude forests of Someshwara, to the Agumbe plateau are distinct in type and appearance from the higher, wetter forests of Kudremukha and Brahmagiri.

The latter two regions also possess some of the best remaining tracts of montane evergreen forests and shola grasslands. These forests are also important catchment areas for many of the important rivers of south peninsular India, like the Tunga, Bhadra, Netravathi, Sharavathi and the much disputed Cauvery.

Ironically, these very areas of immense aesthetic and biological value are also amongst the most threatened. The incursion of humans into these forests is rapidly and dangerously pushing back the boundaries of wild lands, fracturing the evergreen stretches into unviable fragments. As our burgeoning population continues its march towards development, the forests are the first frontiers to fall. Land under rainforests is being increasingly and unthinkingly usurped and encroached upon for planting cash crops like coffee, cardamom, areca and rubber, leaving in their wake a rubble trail of lost biodiversity.

The districts of Chikmagalur, Kodagu and areas in North West Karnataka are notorious for this. Mining continues to be a huge problem in many areas. Mini and micro hydel projects, the latest fad in the hugely subsidised green energy sector, threaten to puncture the rainforests swiss cheese style, submerging multiple patches of forest adding up to a sizeable whole. Thoughtless ecotourism resorts in many areas compound the fragmentation with their construction and road building activities.

Destruction of forest biomass

Huge tracts of forest biomass are lost annually in the form of fuel wood and non timber forest produce. Rainforests are exploited for fruits like garcinia indica, garcinia gummigutta, myristica and acacia species for use in pickles, medicines, juices, and paint and soap industries. This is an ugly offshoot of the increasing commercialisation of nature and natural products, once meant for local use and consumption, and now being sold in the world market.

Hunting for game and wild meat continues to be a problem in many areas, with wild fowl, sambhar, mouse deer and giant squirrels being the common targets. In many areas, like Someshwara, one does not even hear the customary morning cackle of jungle fowl, an ominous indication of forests becoming increasingly ‘empty’. Regrettably, many of the evergreen areas in Karnataka do not even enjoy a significant protection status. The vision for connectivity conservation, needed to maintain gene flows across forests for healthy animal populations to sustain, and ensure that these areas do not remain ecologically unviable pockets of green surrounded by human dominated land use, is seriously lacking.

Languishing as reserve forests, these areas are open for all. Consequently, the available habitat for endemics and rainforest specialists like the lion tailed macaque is drastically curtailed. Even in sanctuaries and national parks, an understaffed and overworked forest department, made cynical by bureaucracy, fail to do what they are most required to do – protect the forests.

Need for proactive steps

So does it mean that the future is all grey for the evergreens? Indeed not, if proactive steps are taken by the government and the public in dealing with issues at hand. Our priority should be to consolidate the level of protection given to sanctuaries and national parks. Increasing the ranks of the frontline staff, employing young and energetic local men, with a sound knowledge of the terrain, will go a long way in enhancing protection.

Providing the ground staff moral and systemic support to crack down on poaching and encroachments is crucial. Further, our thinking needs to be in terms of connectivity of forest areas and preservation of catchments, providing protection to areas between protected parks and sanctuaries. Destruction of forests and river systems for developmental projects like mines, dams and windmills should be stopped. Also, the commercialisation of forest products should be discouraged and depletion of forest biomass stopped.

It is imperative that we arrest the cascades of destruction sweeping through the rainforests of the Western Ghats. Timely action and participation by the public can ensure that species like the lion-tailed macaque continues to awaken to many more rainforest mornings.

 
SOURCE : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/60848/whither-rainforests.html
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us