Kerala raises alarm on ivory massacre, Tamil Nadu in denial

Yet to register cases after ivory hunters nabbed by Kerala confess to killing dozens

The Indian Express, 21 Nov, 2015

Tuskers in the Western Ghats forests are facing the biggest threat since Veerappan’s men almost permanently changed the elephant sex ratio two decades ago. Ivory hunters arrested by the Kerala forest department have confessed to mass poaching of elephants — 33 confirmed killings and an estimated toll of 80-100 in the last 18 months — in the state and the adjoining forests of Tamil Nadu. While the gangs are still active, the Tamil Nadu forest department is yet to initiate action or even accept that any elephant was poached in the state.

Five smugglers and poachers arrested by the Kerala FD and the anti-Naxal division of Tamil Nadu police last month admitted that their gang killed at least 15 elephants in Tamil Nadu’s Ooty, Coimbatore and Meghmalai forests and traded more than 200 kg of ivory in the last 18 months. At least another two gangs are believed to be operating in the forests of Tamil Nadu and together took out an estimated 35-45 elephants in that period. Kerala also took a severe blow with 18 confirmed poaching and an estimated loss of 45-55 elephants.

It is a shocking toll compared even to the two dark decades (1975-1995) when up to 2000 elephants, mostly tuskers, were poached in the southern forests. The populations and the sex ratio recovered since with more than 6000 elephants now in Kerala and about 4000 in Tamil Nadu.

On October 17, the deputy director of Kerala’s Periyar Tiger reserve wrote to forest bosses in Ooty North, Meghmalai and Sathyamangalam and Anamalai tiger reserves, sharing details of the poachers’ confessions and requesting them to register cases for follow-up action. A month later, the Tamil Nadu forest department is yet to respond or join the probe. 

“We wrote to them (Tamil Nadu officials) last month. They have not replied. I am not sure if they took any action,” said John Mathew, deputy director, Periyar East division. For the record, Meghmalai registered the only elephant poaching case in Tamil Nadu last week, only after all the accused got conditional bail in Kerala.

“I understand the gravity of the situation and registered a case on November 9. Kerala’s Periyar forests are adjacent to Meghmalai and the staff are coordinating. I cannot comment on why the other affected divisions (in Tamil Nadu) are not interested in registering cases,” said Kaja Moitheen, range officer, Meghmalai. Dr VK Melkani, Tamil Nadu’s chief wildlife warden did not respond to repeated phone calls and text messages.

“We are trying our best to prevent further damage. Karnataka is also probing the recent elephant killings in the state. But Tamil Nadu officials are not even accepting that their elephants are being poached. We don’t want an inter-state controversy but they should obtain provisional warrants, take custody of all the accused and take them to recover remains of recently poached elephants — like we found eight carcasses in Kerala — as evidence to strengthen the cases,” said a senior forest official in Trivandrum.

Since 2012, Kerala has seized more than 100kg of ivory, indicating an upsurge in the trade. This May, forest officials were tipped off by a gang member about rampant elephant poaching in the region. Having made more than two dozen arrests in the state since July, the Kerala officials followed leads to make four arrests — middleman Babu, and poachers Nagoya, Singam and Kubendran — from Theni in Tamil Nadu last month. In all, 25 muzzle-loading guns custom-made for big game were seized.

The poachers confessed to hunting at least 15 elephants in the forests of Kothagiri (Ooty), Kallar (Manampally range of Anamalai tiger reserve), Bhavani (Sathyamangalam tiger reserve) and Kadamalai Kundu (Meghmalai). Among two other gangs in operation in the Tamil Nadu forests, they said, the more prolific is the one led by Vanaraja. Tamil Nadu forest staff from the affected areas visited Kerala and were briefed about the interrogation. Soon after, the Kerala investigating team wrote to them.

Earlier, one of the leads brought the Kerala FD to Delhi where, along with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Delhi Police, it arrested ivory trader Umesh Aggrawal on October 2 and seized 487 kgs of ivory in an undercover operation on October 10.

A new sport in Rajasthan: Shoot and save the nilgai

The Indian Express, 11 November, 2015

Aspiring marksmen will soon be able to stalk, chase and shoot big game in the wild — all for conservation. As a desperate population control measure, Rajasthan has decided to “develop a sport” to sterilise nilgais using contraceptive darts. The state now plans to welcome enthusiasts to try their hand. 
As reported by The Indian Express on December 20, 2014, the Vasundhara Raje government has been wary of culling nilgais to prevent destruction of crops. Instead, it has chosen to inject the animals with immuno-contraceptive vaccines using non-lethal darts. A pilot project will be launched soon and legal clearance for public participation will be sought thereafter.
The “sport” will require marksmen to sneak up on nilgais, aim for the rump and shoot a marker dart. Every bull’s eye will inject the vaccine and leave a splotch of colour on the coat, marking the animal as sterilised. It will be a long shot to cover the state’s 55,000-strong nilgai population. 
“These are shy animals that scoot at the sight of people from as far as 50 metres. So it will be difficult to get them within range and aim accurately. Given the number of nilgais, a decision was taken in the last state wildlife board meeting (on October 17) to involve the public and promote it as a sport,” said a senior forest official present at the meeting. 

The state is considering two options — GonaCon or Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) — for the immuno-contraceptive. GonaCon stimulates production of antibodies that bind to gonadotropin and reduce the release of sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone). PZP, on the other hand, produces antibodies that attach to the sperm receptors on eggs in the female, blocking fertilisation. 
While PZP has to be injected every year, GonaCon is a multi-year vaccine and has been used on white-tailed deer, California ground squirrels, prairie dogs, wild horses and elk. Rajasthan is in talks with the US Department of Agriculture to make the vaccine available. GonaCon works on both sexes but only females are darted to check the population more effectively. 
As for managing the existing population, the government seems to have thrown in the towel. “If this drive works, we’ll count on natural mortality to bring the numbers down,” said an official in the forest department headquarters in Jaipur.

Cement firms up against 2% of project cost for wildlife funds; Centre relaxes policy

The India Express, 3 Nov, 2015

In a policy revision that is likely to benefit companies seeking to expand existing projects close to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, the Centre has eased the burden of shelling out at least 2 per cent of the project cost for impact mitigation and conservation.

According to an advisory issued by the environment ministry on October 28, developers will spend 2 per cent of the project cost or the actual cost of project-specific impact mitigation and conservation measures, whichever is less. Till now, user agencies paid 2 per cent of project cost or the actual impact mitigation cost, whichever was more.

The decision follows representations from Jaypee Himachal Cement Plant and Ambuja Cement that challenged the National Board of Wildlife’s (NBWL) decision to charge 2 per cent of their project cost for impact mitigation as a condition for wildlife clearance in August 2014. Together, the two companies were to deposit approximately Rs 70 crore.

Jaypee contended that the company had already paid the Himachal forest department Rs 54.12 lakh for wildlife management in compliance of environmental clearance conditions and sought relief from shelling out 2 per cent of its project cost of Rs 1500 crore. Similarly, Ambuja Cement said that it had already paid Rs 1.55 crore for wildlife management in lieu of the forest clearance for its Rs 2,000-crore project. 

The NBWL took up the issue this June and set up a five-member committee to work out policy recommendations. The panel’s report were discussed and accepted in the August meeting of the NBWL. Subsequently, the ministry modified its mitigation funding policy on October 28, a week ahead of the next NBWL meeting. 

“Normally, the projects for expansion or capacity augmentation or plant optimisation have less incremental impact on flora and fauna and their habitat compared to new project of the same nature and size. In such case therefore, the agency would pay 2 per cent of the project cost or cost of Impact Mitigation and Wildlife Conservation Plan for 10 years, whichever less,” said the advisory issued by the environment ministry. 

For new projects, developers will continue to pay 2 per cent of the project cost or cost of the actual mitigation plan, whichever more. In case of linear projects such as roads and canals, the advisory clarified that proportional cost of the project within the regulated zone will be taken into consideration for calculating the 2 per cent amount. This will benefit agencies such as National Highway Authority of India which has repeatedly rejected mitigation plans as too costly in the recent past. 

According to sources, both the Union ministry and the state forest department were under pressure to ease the financial burden on affected companies. In the June meeting of the NBWL, then Himachal chief wildlife warden JS Walia insisted that the 2 per cent of the project expenditure for wildlife management was “a small cost when considered against the colossal damage caused by the unit to the wildlife sanctuary.” He was the senior-most officer in the state department when the post of the head of forest fell vacant in July. Walia retired in August as CWLW.

Why NH7 widening project near Pench is stuck for 8 years

A legal battle over four-laning the Seoni-Nagpur stretch of NH7 through the Kanha-Pench tiger corridor has pitted the NGT against Bombay HC over jurisdiction. The Supreme Court hears the dispute today. JM recalls a bizarre logjam in one of India's key growth-versus-green debates

The Indian Express, 3 Nov, 2015

Year 2008. As its proposal for four-laning of NH7 between Seoni (Madhya Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra) faced scrutiny, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told a Supreme Court panel that it was ready to build a 9.3-km flyover over the Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh so that wildlife movements are not disturbed.

Year 2014. Once the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had cleared the MP stretch of the project, NHAI said it could afford only a 1-km flyover. By 2015, the plan had been further downsized to building just a few ecoducts (landscaping above the carriageway for wildlife movement) of unspecified length.

For the Maharashtra stretch, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 2012 proposed 5.56 km of underpasses. This February, Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said 3-4 underpasses of 50 m each would suffice.

The total proposed reduction, therefore, was 92% — from 14.86 km of road length to less than 1.2 km — in the mitigation plan. The numbers sum up the growth-versus-green debate playing out in one of India’s most bizarre logjams in project implementation.

Tiger Way or Highway

The NHAI’s initial proposal to build a 9.3-km flyover was rejected by the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which in 2009 backed the recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for an alternative alignment through Chhindwara by widening and upgrading existing state

NHAI refused to accept the plan, which involved a detour of around 70 km. As the deadlock continued, the NHAI reduced the forest land requirement in a fresh proposal in 2012. In its review, the WII proposed a series of flyovers adding up to 11.86 km — 6.3 km in MP and 5.56 km in Maharashtra — and of at least 7 m height. NHAI rejected the report, saying the flyovers would double the project cost.

The WII report also evaluated the proposed wildlife passageways for their openness index — calculated by height and distance (length and width) — which determines animals of what size may venture in. Of the 10 underpasses proposed in Maharashtra, only three were open enough for Indian bisons, and five for cheetals.

Even though Maharashtra accepted the 2012 WII report, it appointed, in January 2015, a new committee with members from the NHAI and the WII. This panel reduced the number of flyovers to 9, and their total length to 2.70 km. It also lowered the height to just 4.5 m, making 7 of the 9 structures unsuitable for large mammals. The NHAI said the cost was still too high.

Tribunal versus High Court

Following orders of the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, which took suo motu cognisance of media reports on the poor condition of roads, a panel comprising Gadkari, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis proposed 3-4 50-m underpasses in the Maharashtra stretch of the project. The proposal outraged conservationists, as none of these tunnel-like structures could be of any use to large animals.

Under pressure, the government appointed yet another panel with experts from the WII and NTCA. Following a rapid two-week survey, this panel submitted its report in May. It proposed 9 underpasses, but cut their cumulative length from 2.70 km to 2.20 km, and set the height at 5 m. Which meant that 6 of the proposed structures could not be used by any mammal larger than the cheetal.

The NHAI remained reluctant, as implementing the proposed measures would require Rs 98 cr over and above its mitigation budget of Rs 122 cr. At the NBWL meeting this August, however, the agency agreed to construct all 9 structures.

Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal stayed work on the project pending final forest clearance — and pulled up the Environment Ministry for exempting the project from NBWL clearance. In Nagpur, the HC issued a series of orders for prompt implementation of the stalled project. The two courts kept passing contradictory orders until the HC overruled the NGT over jurisdiction this September.

Growth versus Green

After Maharashtra notified the final forest clearance in September, NGO Conservation Action Trust (CAT) challenged it at NGT. CAT also filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court in October, seeking a resolution of the conflict between the NGT and the HC over jurisdiction. The apex court will hear the case today.

Four years ago, the Supreme Court had ordered that NHAI’s fresh proposals for widening NH7 “should be considered on merit” alone. It will now decide whether the NGT can examine the merit of the summary rejection of the alternative alignment, if petty bickering is worth stalling projects of national importance, and if a few hundred crores is unreasonable expenditure when it comes to securing one of India’s finest clusters of contiguous forests.

LONG, TWISTY ROAD

2008: Wildlife Trust of India approaches SC’s CEC against project
2009: CEC recommends realignment of NH7 via Chhindwara. NHAI rejects report
2011: After hearings in SC, MoEF asks NHAI to revise proposal
2012: NHAI reduces forest land requirement. WII proposes mitigation plan; NHAI rejects
2013: Nagpur Bench of Bombay HC gets involved
2014: MoEF exempts project from obtaining NBWL nod; grants Stage I forest clearance. Project’s MP stretch gets NBWL nod
2015: In Jan, second MoEF circular exempts linear projects from NBWL clearance. 

> In Feb, MoEF circulars challenged before NGT, which stays tree felling. But HC directs state to allow tree felling by Feb 28. 

> In May, NGT stays tree-felling permission granted by Maharashtra. 

> In Aug, NGT asks MoEF how project was exempted from NBWL clearance, seeks assurance that no trees will be cut till next hearing. 

Caught between two courts, Maharashtra exempts NH7 from NGT guidelines. 

> In Sep, after Maharashtra allows NHAI to resume felling trees, NGT threatens to initiate contempt proceedings. HC stays NGT order over jurisdiction rights. 

> In Oct, NGT adjourns hearing on appeal against final forest clearance. 

NGO moves SC to resolve jurisdiction issue