Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN Dec 23, 2011, 01.39AM IST

NAGPUR: The state government has finally given shape to state biodiversity board (SBB) by appointing four members. The chairman of the SBB, Dr Erach K Bharucha, was already appointed a month ago.

Although Dr Bharucha, dean of Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune, was appointed chairman, there was confusion as to where the SBB office would be based. Talking to TOI, Praveen Pardeshi, principal secretary (forests), said that the board's office will be situated at Van Bhavan at Nagpur.

Pardeshi said that the orders to appoint four members have also been issued. These include MLA Vijay Khadse from Umarkhed in Yavatmal, Prof S R Yadav, a botanical scientist working in Shivaji University, Kolhapur, and Kishore Rithe, president of Satpuda Foundation and member of standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Anmol Kumar, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) for human resource, has been appointed as member-secretary of the SBB. "We plan to appoint more members," Pardeshi said.

With a biodiversity park commissioned at Raj Bhavan by governor K Sankaranarayanan and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday, the news of biodiversity board getting shape assumes significance. In 2008, the government had already cleared setting up of a board and Maharashtra Biodiversity Rules under the Biological Diversity Act 2002.

The government will now set up committees under the respective district collectors who will coordinate with agriculture departments to implement the rules. The panel would have experts as members from all the fields.

Pardeshi said that the SBB would deal with biodiversity including wildlife, traditional cultures, geological cycles, and a range of other attributes that are threatened.

The Biological Diversity Act 2002 is meant to achieve three main objectives - conservation of biodiversity; sustainable use of biological resources; and equity in sharing benefits from such use of resources.

The SBB will launch measures for sharing of benefits from the use of biodiversity, including transfer of technology, monetary returns, joint research and development, joint intellectual property rights (IPRs) ownership, etc.

"The power of declaring biodiversity heritage sites will lie with the SBB. It's important that the heritage sites should be designated only after consultation and moreover consents of the affected communities. Further, these should be in the control/management of local communities, and the provision for compensation will be made in the state biodiversity fund," a member said.

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Dec 9, 2011, 04.03AM IST

NAGPUR: President Pratibha Patil's tenure may have got some goodies for her hometown Amravati but her proposed visit to the place sounded death knell for over two dozen neem trees near Achalpur.

Huge branches of 25-30 neem trees were cut to ensure security for president Pratibha Patil into Achalpur. Worse, the proposed visit slated for Dec 12 has now been put off. Patil was to visit Achalpur in Amravati district to inaugurate Finlay Mills.

Amravati district collector Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal said he was unaware of the development. State PWD, that carried out the chopping, claimed they had only cut the branches and not trees but greens said the trees were so badly chopped they may not survive.

Huge branches of these 100-year-old trees have been cut in such a manner that they are just standing poles. The trees were damaged near Javardi village, 9 km from Achalpur towards Amravati.

The 50-km patch between Amravati and Achalpur is one of the few roads having huge shady neem trees along its side. Neem grows slowly and takes over 10 years to mature. It has a lifespan of 150-200 years.

S R Bhutada, executive engineer, public works department (PWD), Achalpur, admitted the act but said around 20 trees were trimmed and not chopped completely. Green activist Alkesh Thakre of Achalpur, who visited the spot, said around 30 trees were badly damaged.

"We did it to follow security protocol of the president issued by the civil aviation ministry," Bhutada said. The PWD constructed three helipads on 100x100 metre patch near Javardi. The trees were chopped to ensure that the choppers could approach with sufficient visibility.

Recently, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had visited Amravati and his helicopter had landed at a helipad near forest office in Paratwada. The president could have used this helipad. Many felt Achalpur was easily reachable by road from Amravati and the president could have set an example by motoring down instead of flying.

Greens like Kishor Rithe feel the damage to trees could have been avoided. "Such wanton damage goes against the spirit of massive greening campaign state has launched. The trees may rejuvenate but will take time and cutting them affects the environment adversely," he said.

Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson and officer on special duty (public relations) Archana Datta told TOI there were no orders from Rashtrapati Bhavan to chop or trim trees for presidential visits. "It's purely a state issue, we only release president's programme," she said.

Datta further said Rashtrapati Bhavan had become eco-friendly. "The sprawling president's estate is contributing in its own way to combat climate change by adopting a host of green initiatives," she stressed. To the dead trees of Achalpur, that makes little difference.

Aparna Nair, TNN | Dec 8, 2011, 01.34AM IST

NAGPUR: Sikkim, India's second smallest state after Goa, has 47% of its geographical area under tree cover; 31% area network under sanctuaries and national parks and only 11% area under agriculture. Yet, it has not recorded farmers' suicides.

The forested region like Vidarbha needs to learn from Sikkim, says Kishor Rithe, who recently visited Sikkim to inspect the proposed project site on behalf of ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) as a member of the standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Rithe inspected the proposed skywalk and ropeway project in Maenam sanctuary in south Sikkim region. A report on the site visit will be submitted to the MoEF soon.

Sikkim is least populous state in India and the second-smallest after Goa in total area, covering approximately 7,096sqkm. It has merely 11% agriculture land for its 6 lakh population and yet has no record of farmers' suicides unlike Vidarbha. Most of the farmers are marginal land holders and their crops are raided by wild animals.

On the contrary, Vidarbha, which has 97,321sqkm geographical area - equivalent to 13 states like Sikkim, and 2.30 crore population - 38 times more than Sikkim - has many things to learn from the small hilly state.

"Both the regions are forested and have to think of alternative options along with agriculture for overall development," says Rithe.

The Sikkim government has imposed a complete ban on use of pesticides and reduced the cost of agriculture production. The farmers there grow organic food and believe that this will help them in boosting tourism by inviting foreign tourists.

As Sikkim has no industries, it draws major source of revenue from tourism business. At present, the tiny state is planning to plough economic benefits of tourism industry to every household leaving in remote villages by encouraging 'home-stays' and developing village level community tourism infrastructure.

The Sikkim government has impressive plans to boost tourism industry. The government took a bold step to ban cattle grazing in reserve forest and focus on better livestock management to stop destruction of forest wealth.

here is a ban on felling of timber in reserve forest and export of timber outside Sikkim. Tree felling rules on private lands also have been framed and are implemented effectively.

Implementation of rules regarding ban on plastics and poly-bags is followed rigorously. For his green ideas, Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling has been awarded as 'Greenest chief minister of India', said Rithe.

Forest minister Bhim Dhungel met Rithe and requested him to help Sikkim in framing policy on wildlife management.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011,

New Delhi: Green activists today claimed that the report of high-level B K Chaturvedi committee would be a "death warrant" for forests and wildlife, if the government accepts its recommendations.

They alleged that the Chaturvedi report has recommended relaxing environmental safeguards to facilitate an expansion in coal mining, and abandoning the Environment Ministry's "go" and "no go" forest classification. "If accepted, the Chaturvedi report's recommendations will be a death warrant for large forest areas across India, and for the wildlife and communities that depend on them," environmental lawyer Rahul Choudhary told reporters here.

He was speaking after releasing a report on how coal mining poses a serious threat to tigers in Maharashtra's Chandrapur region, near the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). The report was prepared by a Fact Finding Mission to the area organised by Greenpeace India. Wildlife experts Praveen Bhargav and Biswajit Mohanty and Choudhary were members of the mission. The team said coal mining poses a serious threat to tigers in Chandrapur region and must be reined in.

"No new mines should be given clearance and further expansion of operational mines in tiger habitat should be stopped," Bhargav said.

"Despite scientific evidence of a valuable source population of tigers in the Tadoba landscape, it is shocking to find that this data has been glossed over and wilfully suppressed in the environment impact assessment report for the proposed Durgapur Deep Extension coal mine. These are clear grounds for rejection of the project," he said.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Preethi Herman said, "Our ministers, elected representatives of the people, must not sacrifice our forests in favour of corporate interests."

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/chaturvedi-report-a-death-warrant-for-forests_743243.html

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Sep 8, 2011, 08.10AM IST

NAGPUR: It should sound a good news for wildlife lovers. Tigers have staged a comeback in Jalgaon district in Dhule territorial circle after a long gap.

However, Khandesh Nature Conservation Society (KNCS), working for tiger conservation in Jalgaon forest division, claims tigers were very much there but there was no serious monitoring by the department.

Wadoda range forest officer (RFO) DR Patil has been monitoring a tigress with a cub for the past three months. Patil also claims presence of a male tiger in his range. The tigers have made densely forested Purna backwaters their home.

"This is after 2001 that tigers have staged a comeback in Jalgaon division. In 2001, there was tigress with three cubs," Patil said. It seems tigers move from Melghat-Ambabarwa-Yawal-Western Ghats.

However, Abhay Ujagare and Vinod Patil of KNCS say presence of tigers is there in Jalgaon district since 1993 but due to lack of serious monitoring their existence could not be ascertained.

However, if official tiger figures are to be considered, there were 7 tigers in Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary in Jalgaon, followed by 3 in 1993, 4 in 1997 and 1 in 2001. Since then no tigers were recorded in the protected area (PA). Besides, the last official record of tigers in Jalgaon division was in 2005 when three tigers were recorded.

"In past few years the newly added Wan and Ambabarwa to Melghat tiger reserve has improved protection and management. Several evidences of breeding tigresses have been recorded in camera traps from this cluster," said Kishor Rithe, member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL).

Rithe said there were unconfirmed tiger sighting reports in the past two years by villagers and local nature lovers in Jalgaon district. Presence of tigers shows that they are dispersing towards west in Jalgaon district.

The forest range Kurha (Wadoda) includes Kurha, Charthana and Dolarkheda rounds. The area of three beats North Dolarkheda (2,100 ha), South Dolarkheda (1,500 ha) and Sukali (1,450 ha) of Dolarkheda round in Kurha range is the most potential area for tigers having 10 perennial waterholes. Rithe's Satpuda Foundation has urged the state government to provide necessary wildlife management inputs to this area.

If you peep into history, tigers and lions used to live together in Gujarat. Tigers disappeared from Gujarat in the 1980s whereas lions could manage to survive. The last tiger seen in Gujarat is reported from Dang district bordering Maharashtra. Satpuda mountain is spread up to Dang district where it meets Western Ghats and Aravali mountain.

The tiger habitat continuity link is considered from Kanha-Pench (Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh)-Satpuda-Melghat and Yawal. Local bird watcher Anil Mahajan from Varangaon (Jalgaon) had recorded a dead cub last year. This is a proof that tigers are breeding in Jalgaon district and earlier claims made by KNCS were also true.

Conservationists were dreaming in last 20 years that tigers would again disperse towards west to Melghat. The state expert committee to declare critical tiger habitats (CTH) ex-PCCF B Majumdar, ex-APCCF Nandkishore and Kishor Rithe had recommended a compact cluster of Wan, Ambabarwa and Narnala sanctuaries adjoining Melghat to be included in MTR, which was accepted by the state and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Now it is high time this corridor is restored degraded forest towards west of Melghat to bring back tigers in Jalgaon and Dhule districts.

CHANDRAPUR: Deputy conservator of forest, Chandrapur division, P Kalyankumar has started an inquiry into the complaint received from informerUmeshsingh Jhire regarding exposure of his name to the poaching accused by some staffers in Mul range. Principal secretary (forest) Praveen Pardeshi ordered action against the staffers having collusion with poacher after state wildlife board member Kishor Rithe raised the matter with him.

Jhire had lodged a complaint with the DCF on August 30, alleging connivance of some staffers in Mul range with poaching accused Ravisingh alias Chaptya Patwa. The accused is absconding since June 28, after over 55kg of meat of Blue bull was seized from his residence by foresters in the raid carried out on the basis of Jhire's tip-off. While Patwa has eluded forest department for over two months, some of his accomplices started issuing threats to Jhire following which he filed a complaint with DCF and sought police protection.

Kalyankumar informed that an independent inquiry has been initiated into the matter and action taken report would be submitted to the higher-ups. "On August 30 the matter was brought to my notice and immediately inquiry was initiated. I am inquiring into the complaint and strict action will be taken against those found guilty," he said.

In light of threat perception to Jhire, DCF has written to the SP, Chandrapur asking him to provide protection to the informer.

Kalyankumar informed that Patwa obtained relief from the court under which forest department is needed to issue seven days notice to the accused prior to arrest. "As the accused is not available at his residence to receive the notice, we have pasted the notice at the entrance of his house. The notice period is going to expire on September 6, after which a full fledged manhunt would be launched for his arrest," he said.

PUNE: The Forest Owlet, a critically endangered species, will not be the state bird. Instead, the green pigeon will continue to hold the pride of place.

A proposal tabled by the Bombay Natural History Society to give the honour to the Forest Owlet was unanimously rejected by the State Wildlife Board on Tuesday.

The meeting, chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, resolved that there was no need for the change, but agreed to initiate steps to conserve the Forest Owlet.

Several NGOs felt the bird would be better protected if it was given the status.

Chavan said he would soon forward the state government's proposal to declare five new sanctuaries to the union government. These are Rajmachi in Thane-Alibaug, Sudhagarh-Tamni in the Western Ghats, Tipagarh in Gadchiroli, Kopela-Kolamarka in Gadchiroli and Isapur bird sanctuary in Yavatmal.

The meeting cleared the proposal to recruit forest guards, provide vehicles to range forest officers and granted them permission to use ammunition after sunset.

The State Board for Wildlife, Maharashtra government comprises prominent conservation NGOs like Satpuda Foundation, Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra of Chiplun and the BNHS.

"The decision to recruit more forest guards and provide vehicles to forest range officers is welcome. The chief minister also talked about purchasing 100 vehicles for the forest range officers," Nishant Kale, member of Satpuda Foundation, told TOI.

It was also decided to allow forest guards and forest officers to fully focus on wild life conservation and forest safety and not manage eco-tourism.

Kale said that the proposal for a nature interpretation centre, a leopard rescue centre and laying of electric lines in Ahmednagar district inside the bustard sanctuary will be taken up after the denotification process. The area is proposed to be reduced from about 8, 500 square km to around 1,222 square km.

The proposal to laying a transmission line through Sanjay Gandhi National Park was rejected and the members said renewable energy sources should be explored. The proposal to lay a 400 KV transmission line in Matheran was not decided upon.

"This is an eco-sensitive zone and it is not under any sanctuary. The Wildlife Board of India will take a decision," he said.

A proposal from a private company seeking forest land near Phansad wildlife sanctuary was also rejected.

The meeting granted permission for repairing the electric lines passing through the Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary. The proposal will now go to the Central Wildlife Board and has to get an approval from the Central Empowered Committee. All development projects in the 10 km radius of wildlife sanctuaries have to get a nod from this committee constituted by the Supreme Court, said Kale.

Bhau Katdare, founder of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra of Chiplun, said the board will meet twice in a year. Tuesday's meeting was held after 28 months.

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Jun 20, 2011, 05.34am IST

Read more:Kishor Rithe|Alan Rabinowitz

NAGPUR: Ahead of Monday's meeting to discuss mitigation measures for wildlife on National Highway 6 between Deori and Sakoli, Kishor Rithe, member, National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), has called for more scientific and technically advanced approach to deal with the road widening issue in view of tiger crisis.

In a letter to S K Khetarpal, PCCF (wildlife), Rithe said the issue was serious and needed to be resolved for ensuring tiger landscape connectivity in Central India. Looking at the corridor value of the patches between Sakoli and Deori which would be cut by widening work, on October 8, 2010, an expert committee had made certain recommendations.

However, NHAI seems to be underestimating the seriousness of the threat to wildlife, specially the tiger. Wildlife and NHAI officials will discuss the issue on Monday. Khetarpal has to send his comments to the NTCA on the NHAI report.

Rithe said large and wide-ranging carnivores faced huge threat and more constant declines than most other mammals. One of the reasons is linear intrusion like canals, roads and highways constructed without consideration of biological aspects.

Tiger scientist like Dr Alan Rabinowitz suggests GIS based models for identifying corridors and later designing site-specific plans to deal with the linear intrusion issues. "When National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) are working on such policies, states also need to take such issues more seriously. Hence, I really appreciate the efforts put by your office to ensure this," said Rithe.

In the US, the government departments have adopted an integrated approach to reduce the negative impact of projects on wildlife. "I expect that NHAI consultant should focus on target species in the area and using GIS and biological inputs, should produce more practical and site specific mitigation report," urged Rithe. "If it is not so, your office should not allow such project to come up," he demanded.

The Wildilife Trust of India (WTI) was first to raise the issue and has taken up the matter with the Supreme Court's centrally empowered committee (CEC). An affidavit filed by the Chhattisgarh government recently demanded construction of flyovers in the affected patch on their side.