West Bengal: Forest department, NGOs ready plans to help wildlife in distress
Taking a cue from Amphan, when urban wildlife, particularly birdlife, took a hit a year ago, many wildlife activists have come forward with helpline numbers where one can contact and report about animals in distress after cyclone Yaas, that’s likely to make a landfall on Wednesday evening.
The state forest department has also planned a number of steps in case of emergency to safeguard wildlife in the Sunderbans region.
Joydip Kundu of city-based NGO SHER said that the idea is to rescue wild animals in distress and hand them over to the forest department. “Our focus will mainly be on wildlife like birds, snakes and mongoose. Our member, Kalyanmoy Das, who looks after our work in Howrah and Hooghly has come up with the initiative,” Kundu added.
According to him, district-wise details of phone numbers, where one can report about animals in distress, have been shared on SHER’s Facebook page and other social media platforms. “This is the nesting time of birds. We have shared contact details of our members and volunteers from districts such as Hooghly, Howrah, South and North 24 Parganas, Birbhum and East Midnapore among others,” Kundu added.
“Four flood relief centres and trap cages and tranquilizer guns have been kept ready. 15 days of ration and medical kit have been distributed to all offices and camps and bamboo and nylon nets have been kept ready for emergency repair of net fencing,” said the senior official.
Buxwaha: False Claims of counting trees and active tree feeling in the region has risen the issue
Lakhs of trees in dense forest are to be cut down for diamond mining in Buxwaha. The number of trees proposed to be cut is claimed to be counted on the basis of samples, but the ground reality is that in the area where land is proposed to be given for diamond mining in the forest, no trace appeared on the trees to prove the counting of trees.
On the other hand, the area being given to more than 450 hectares of the forest for diamond mining, where many species of wild animals have habitats, will also be threatened.
An Australian company, Rio Tinto, had earlier worked here, but left work four years ago. In this atmosphere of discussions about felling of trees on the proposed forest land, forest cutters have now become active and many teak trees have been cut down and some trees have been cut down and thrown into the forest itself.
They will be the worst affected:-
- How much forest will cut-382 hectares
- How many trees will be cut – 2 lakh 15 thousand
- Which animals- bears, nilgai, deer and leopards are present in the area?
Meanwhile several NGOs and NSS volunteers are making awareness among people and increased their protest in favour of the forest. Volunteers from all over India are using slogans and hashtags to save the forest.
Don’t loose this chance, save prakrti, raise your voice safe and healthy environment is every organisms right.
Aashi Tomar
SAVE BUXWAHA FOREST
Trees are the lungs of the world.” – Don’t cut trees. They provide us with oxygen and clean air and help us breathe. SAVE BUXWAHA FOREST
Sachin Parihar
Save 215000 Trees: Save Buxwaha Forest
Soyal Puri Goswami
Infrastructure projects intensified cyclone Tauktae’s impacts in Kerala
Cyclone Tauktae caused damage on India’s western coast but in Kerala, human activities such as large-scale land reclamation, development of ports, shrimp farming, river diversions, dredging, and sand mining intensified its impact.
Over 500 houses of the Chellanam, a coastal village panchayat located between Ernakulam and Alappuzha in Kerala, were inundated in the worst-ever sea attack since Cyclone Ockhi of 2017.
The unscientific and rapid development of big infrastructural projects is being pointed out as one of the reasons for the intense impact of the cyclone.
Max Martin, a researcher working with coastal communities in Southern Kerala, said: “The impact of the cyclone (Tauktae) was heavy on the northern parts of all major constructions in the sea in Kerala, mainly ports and breakwaters. Rampant coastal zone violations and destruction of adjoining wetlands have contributed immensely to the destruction. The coastal region of Kerala is now under high risk, and it is high time that ways are found to minimise the impacts of climate change.”
Experts also allege that rampant coastal zone violations including destruction of adjoining wetlands worsened the situation in the state. They warn that the coastal region of Kerala is now at high risk, and ways must be found to minimise the impacts of climate change.
To tackle coastal erosion, Kerala undertook the erection of seawalls and now they are in almost 60 percent of the state. The cyclone has raised questions about the efficacy of this intervention.
NGT upholds rights of pastoralists in Banni grasslands, wants encroachments removed
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered all encroachments to be removed from Gujarat’s Banni grasslands within six months and directed a joint committe to prepare an action plan in a month. The region’s nomadic pastoralist community, the Maldharis, whose livelihoods are depend on this protected shrub-savanna, welcomed the move.
The community, united under Banni Pashu Uchherak Maldhari Sangthan (BPUMS), had filed a case against the rampant encroachment in the ecologically-sensitive grassland in May, 2018.
“Banni ko Banni rehne do (Let Banni remain Banni),” echoed pastoralists from the Banni grasslands during the virtual hearing.
The panel comprising the divisional commissioner and the chief conservator of forest of Kutch will define the extent of the encroachments and an action plan to remove them in the report, the court mandated.
The court also said the Maldharis will continue to hold the right to conserve the community forests in the area, granted to them as per the provisions in Section 3 of Forest Rights Act, 2006. NGT highlighted that the lack of coordination between the forest department and the revenue department lead to the problem of encroachment.
Banni grassland is spread over 2,618 kilometre and account for almost 45 per cent of the pastures in Gujarat. It comprises 48 hamlets / villages organised into 19 panchayats, with a population of about 40,000.
Two ecosystems, wetlands and grasslands, are juxtaposed in Banni. The area is rich in flora and fauna, with 192 species of plants, 262 species of birds, several species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
Banni grasslands, traditionally, were managed following a system of rotational grazing. On May 11 1955, the court notified that the grassland will be a reserve forest.
👉DTE
Agra: Poachers make off with two dozen baby turtles, wildlife officials hot on their trail
Barely a few hours after wildlife authorities released 785 baby turtles into the Chambal river in Agra on the occasion of World Turtle Day, the news of turtles being hunted down by poachers in the region has alarmed the local forest department and the police.
On Sunday, a team of wildlife officials conducted a raid in the Raipur Dikshit village of Jaitpur after receiving intelligence of turtles being hunted by poachers there. By the time the team reached the village, the poachers had managed to escape with two dozen turtles and the team only found a dead turtle, which has been sent for post mortem.
The team had conducted the raid on getting information on social media about two dozen turtles being captured in the village using nets.
Environment India 