NatureNews

NatureNews for the week ending January 25, 2008. To subscribe to NatureNews, please write to Library.

Environment - General

Unesco threat on Bharatpur sanctuary spurs govt into action
After a threat by Unesco to drop the Bharatpur bird sanctuary from its world heritage list, Rajasthan government is scrambling to bring 300 million cubic feet of water from Goverdhan drain to Keoladeo National Park in the hope that it will bring back the days of feathered glory. State principal secretary, irrigation, S N Thanvi, said that the state government has approved a Rs 65-crore project to lay a 16-km pipeline from the Goverdhan drain, which contains sufficient water of the Gambhir river, to the park which is fast losing its birds because of dwindling water levels. The Unesco threat was conveyed to Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje in a letter from Union tourism minister Ambika Soni. For more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Unesco_threat_on_
Bharatpur_sanctuary_spurs_govt_into_action_/articleshow/2700287.cms

Abu Dhabi unveil plans for sustainable city
WWF and the government of Abu Dhabi launched a Sustainability Strategy to deliver the world’s greenest city. Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, meeting or exceeding a set of stringent sustainability goals established under the “One Planet Living„” a programme established by WWF and environmental consultancy BioRegional. In a first for a city scale project, Masdar City's delivery on these targets is to be the subject of independent and public assessment. Another key undertaking differentiating Masdar City is the commitment to be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city. Through the “One Planet Living” programme, WWF will work with Masdar to ensure the city meets standards of sustainability which include specific targets for the city’s ecological footprint. For more: http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/29161

Climate Change & Energy

Major study concludes that global warming is killing off coral
If world leaders do not immediately engage in a race against time to save the Earth's coral reefs, these vital ecosystems will not survive the global warming and acidification predicted for later this century. That is the conclusion of a group of marine scientists from around the world in a major new study published in the journal Science. "It's vital that the public understands that the lack of sustainability in the world's carbon emissions is causing the rapid loss of coral reefs, the world's most biodiverse marine ecosystem," said Drew Harvell, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and head of the Coral Disease Research Team, which is part of the international Coral Reef Targeted Research (CRTR) group that wrote the new study. The rise of carbon dioxide emissions and the resultant climate warming from the burning of fossil fuels are making oceans warmer and more acidic, said co-author Harvell, which is triggering widespread coral disease and stifling coral growth toward "a tipping point for functional collapse." For more: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/cuc-msc122107.php

HSBC climate partnership programme launched in India
A climate change programme for India was launched in Mumbai by HSBC, the world's first carbon neutral bank, together with four world-class environmental organisations - The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF. The programme in India forms part of the HSBC Climate Partnership - a five year US$100 million initiative of the HSBC Group, to respond to the urgent threat of climate change worldwide with the same four partners - launched in May 2007. Through its partners HSBC will work with research institutions, businesses and individuals to combat the impact of climate change on forests, freshwater, cities and people. Of the US$100 million contribution by HSBC, the partners will spend US$12 million for work in India. The HSBC Climate Partnership India programme expects to achieve the following results in India by 2011:

Freshwater: WWF will help reduce the impact of climate change on people and livelihoods by promoting action in the Ganga river basin in northern India. This will lead to the development of a sustainable water and energy management framework for critical parts of the Ganga Basin.

Forests: STRI's Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) will conduct the largest-ever field experiment to understand the impact of climate change on the world's tropical & non-tropical forests. Research will address how carbon is stored in forests and how this storage capacity will change in the future. CTFS will also investigate the role of forests in regulating fresh water in the environment, assessing in particular how floods and droughts will impact tropical ecosystem. Earthwatch will conduct research to understand how human activities affect the resilience of forests to climatic variability, thereby helping to find the best forest management strategies for the future.

Cities: The Climate Group will assist leading businesses and the government in India to respond to the risks and opportunities of climate change and work with industry, governments and consumers to help Mumbai and Delhi become low carbon cities of the future.

People: Earthwatch will provide specialised training to over 3000 HSBC employees in India and give them the opportunity to participate in local volunteering projects in their workplace and communities to become 'Climate Champions'. For more: http://www.indiantelevision.com/release/y2k8/jan/janrel22.php

Ladakh’s vanishing rivers of ice
“In memory,” reads the small stone plaque by the side of the world’s highest road “of 18 men of the 201 Engineer Regiment who lost their lives fording the Khardung La.” Back in 1976, when soldiers began to blast their way through the 18,200-foot La, or pass, the road beyond the plaque opened on to a wall of ice. Trucks and cars moving northwest from Leh to villages in the Nobra Valley had to traverse a bridge across the Khardung glacier. Through much of the winter, maintenance crews had to battle the snow to keep the road open for military convoys making their way to the ring of frontier outposts that support Indian troops on the Siachen glacier. For the past five years, though, Ladakh has seen unusually mild winters and low snowfall. The Khardung glacier has thinned to the point of dispensing with the bridge that traversed it. “Over the years, I’ve watched this river of ice disappear. It is bizarre,” says Nobra’s representative in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Pinto Norbu. In a region which sees less than 50 millimetres of rain every year, glacial melt is the principal source of water — and Ladakh residents fear that they will count among the victims of global warming. If the fears prove well founded, the consequences will be various for much of Pakistan and India, both depending on river systems fed by Ladakh’s glaciers for much of their water needs. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/19/stories/2008011953491000.htm

India pushes for joint projects on climate change, Himalayan ecology with China
In the first tentative steps towards engaging China on the sensitive question of sharing information on the fragile Himalayan ecology, India is pushing for joint projects on earthquake research and disaster management. The issue came up in the conversations Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with China’s top political leadership during his three-day official visit. Efforts are underway to reflect this in the joint declaration at the culmination of the visit. According to sources, this would broaden the scope from just sharing hydrological and flood season data of Himalayan Rivers — essentially the Brahmaputra and Sutlej. India has been taken by surprise on more than one occasion on environmental issues related to Himalayan ecology largely due to lack of information from the Chinese side. For more: http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/260932.html

Lofty Himalaya Magnify Global Warming Impact
The Himalayas are suffering the effects of global warming more acutely because of their height and melting glaciers could flood local settlements, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said. "The Himalaya, that's really moving very fast. They're being hit very hard," IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre told Reuters at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Thousands of glaciers in the Himalaya mountains are the source of water for nine major Asian rivers whose basins are home to 1.3 billion people, including Pakistan and parts of India and China. The melting causes lakes to form at the base of glaciers, which may then break their banks and flood down the valleys. "When the glaciers recede there's a growing danger of glacial dams collapsing," Marton-Lefevre said. "The effect will be very dramatic." "There's a lot of poor people living at the foot of the Himalaya," she said. Marton-Lefevre said it could take decades to slow down the process of global warming, but hoped it would be possible. For more: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/46612/story.htm

Forest & Biodiversity

Tribal people oppose formation of Critical Wildlife Habitats
The Tribal Joint Action Committee, H D Kote, and Nagarahole Budakattu Hakkupalane Samithi (Nagarahole Tribals Rights Implementation Committee), Mysore and Kodagu districts, have urged the Centre to take measures to protect tribal people’s rights by suitably implementing Tribal Forest Rights’ Act without segregating the forest areas as Critical Wildlife Habitats (CWHs), national parks and sanctuaries. “The forest and wildlife should be managed and protected with the traditional wisdom of tribal people’s communities,” said the organisations. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/13/stories/2008011354690800.htm

Biodiversity information system to be created soon
The National Biodiversity Authority will soon create an Indian Biodiversity Information System, NBA Chairman S. Kannaiyan said. Mr. Kannaiyan said the Authority would bring together the existing databases to form a ‘meta-database.’ The Indian Biodiversity Information System would have all the information about India’s biodiversity and bio-resources and their traditional knowledge, including the people’s biodiversity register. A village-level biodiversity management committee, to be formed all over the country, would prepare the people’s biodiversity register, in consultation with the locals. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/15/stories/2008011554000500.htm

Put forest Act implementation on fast-track: PM to CMs
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked all states to ensure speedy implementation of the forest land rights Act, so that benefits of the “landmark” legislation reach tribals while preserving wildlife habitats. The Prime Minister has written to chief ministers, asking them to set up at the earliest state-level, district-level and other committees required under the Scheduled Castes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, for its effective monitoring. “This is a landmark legislation in independent India that seeks to provide rights over land in their occupation to forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing there for generations but whose rights could not be recorded,” his letter says. For more: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/260522.html

Marine & Oceans

Endangered status an advantage to turtle traders
More than half the freshwater turtle and tortoise species sold by pet dealers in Jakarta markets are threatened and nearly all are obtained illegally, according to a survey by the WWF-linked wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. Dealers told the survey team that protected status was a selling point for freshwater turtles and tortoises and they were able to ask higher prices for them. They were also quite open on most stock being sourced through illegal capture or imports. The TRAFFIC Southeast Asia survey covered 20 pet retailers in the greater Jakarta area and found 48 freshwater turtle and tortoise species, both native and exotic, were for sale. Of these, 26 were species featured on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List as threatened. For more: http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/29095

Wildlife & Endangered Species

Madhya Pradesh to whip up public support for wildlife conservation
Madhya Pradesh has decided to lay maximum emphasis on building up public support and mobilising resources for wildlife conservation. A meeting of the Board of Governors and general body of the Madhya Pradesh Tiger Foundation was held at Van Vihar National Park. The meeting was presided over by State Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah. Minister of State for Forests Narayan Singh Kushwaha also attended. Mr. Shah said individuals and corporate houses should be encouraged to come forward and pay for conservation and upkeep of tigers. The names of the donors would be displayed prominently in the National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries, he added. He issued instructions for arranging at least one ambulance in every National Park and said this should be done through public support. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/20/stories/2008012055800700.htm

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau Headquarters Begins
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau need to combine visibility as well as invisibility into its performance. Inaugurating the office premises of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau Headquarters Ms. Meena Gupta, Secretary, Environment & Forests further elaborated that visibility is required to create awareness among people on two accounts one have to access the Bureau in time to need and second to educate them about damage to our wildlife and our heritage. Ms. Gupta expressed the hope that this will be a good beginning for very effective measures, if not to stop, to minimize wildlife crimes and to reduce smuggling of illegal trade of wildlife. She said dangers to wildlife come from borders so the Bureau has to be more vigilant at these areas. Ms. Gupta said today we realize that Government cannot do everything but Government can become very effective if we tie up with other organizations and sharing information with others. She suggested to have good network with private sectors State Governments and other Government bodies to reduce crimes in wildlife. The Secretary suggested to install a hotline so that people can access the Bureau in time of need. A manual for enforcers on Red Sanders, a tree species that is endemic to southern India, listed on Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was released by Shri P. R. Mohanty, Director General of Forests and Special Secretary to Government of India on the occasion. For more: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=34819

India launches anti-poaching force to curb tiger, wildlife trade
India has opened a national wildlife crime control bureau to curb poaching of tigers and other endangered species, officials said Wednesday. The federal forests ministry said the agency, a multi-disciplinary force comprising of experts from the police, environmental agencies and revenue department, will aim to "reduce the demand for wildlife and its products." "The bureau would also aim to strengthen the enforcement at international trade exit points since the major demand for the wildlife and its products lies in overseas markets," said Forests Ministry spokeswoman Kalpna Palkiwala. "It is also mandated to advise policy changes, based on the information or data on wildlife crime," she said. For more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/177235,india-launches-anti-poaching-force-to-curb-tiger-wildlife-trade.html

21 elephants found in Western Ghats at Kanyakumari: census
The Department of Forests had identified 21 elephants in the district as per the census taken recently, said the District Forest Officer, Mr. Sundara Raju. The District Forest Officer said that more than 60 officials were involved in taking census in Western Ghat areas. The census was carried out recently on the basis of eye-witness and the foot prints. During such a survey they recorded eight elephants at Kilaviyaru in Kulasekaram range. They also saw one at Anai Niruthi in Kaliyal range (Kerala border), three elephants at Vannathiparai and four at Adakadu area in Kanyakumari district. Similarly the team noticed five elephants at Azagiyapandipuram range. The District Forest Officer has also appealed to the tribals to preserve the identity of elephants (including dwarf elephants) in the district. According to sources, the Kani tribals dwelling in the rain forest regions of the Western Ghats claimed that there were two distinct varieties of elephants in the Pechippara forest range (part of Western Ghats), one the common Indian elephant and the other a dwarf variety which they called Kallana. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/18/stories/2008011855820300.htm

UP to create special tiger corridors
At last the UP Government has woken up to make the movement of big cats hassle free in the reserved sanctuaries and national parks. The state Government has proposed to create special corridors in the Dudhwa National Park, Katarniaghat and Kishanpur reserved sanctuaries for the free movement of tigers. Of the total tiger population of the state, 60 per cent are found in these three forest areas due to which the state Government has declared them as Critical Tiger Habitats. It has been decided to evict villagers from these areas. In the first phase, villages falling in the way of the special tiger corridors will be relocated. According to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wild Life) DNS Suman, the state Government is in the process of issuing eviction notices to 10 villages lying within the forest areas of Kishanpur, Dudhwa and Katarniaghat. “There is a provision for this in the Wild Life Protection Act 38 V and we are following it,” Suman said. For more: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/264563.html

Another rhino alert in Assam
The Assam Government had no answers to the alarming increase of rhino poaching in the Kaziranga National Park but announced the constitution of a high-powered committee to assess the situation and come up with a report. While four highly-endangered one-horned rhinos, including a three-year-old calf, have been killed by poachers in and around the 1,000-sq km National Park in central Assam in the New Year, as many as 21 rhinos had fallen victim to the guns of poachers who managed to sneak in and escape after removing their horns. Assam Forest and Environment Minister Rockybul Hussain called an urgent meeting of top-ranking forest and wildlife officials in the wake of the killing of a female rhino and her calf. State Forest Commissioner BB Hagjer has been named the head of a 12-member high-powered committee that has been asked to proceed to Kaziranga and assess the ground situation. For more: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/264565.html

Wetlands, Rivers & Water

Sikkim has largest number of glaciers
The tiny mountain State of Sikkim, comprising 0.5 per cent of the landmass of the country, has the highest number of glaciers at 84. The present number of glaciers at 84, with the mapping exercise still under way to find out more ice caps in the State, has grown by about four times over the past six years as the figure of glaciers stood at 21 six years ago, a senior scientist of the science and technology department, which has been carrying out mapping of the glaciers and other landscapes of the State over the years said. The 84 glaciers have been mapped by using remote sensing application system and capturing data through satellite, he said. The rise in the number of glaciers belied the impact of the global warming phenomena in this region with the scientist pointing out that the impact of global warming has never been a factor in the climate of the border state with the state being landlocked and surrounded by the mountainous landscape on all sides. For more: http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jan1508\ne5

Birds

22 migratory birds dead in Orissa Chilika Lake
Twenty-two migratory birds have died in the Chilika lake, the lone brackish water lagoon in Asia, and their samples have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal to ascertain if they had the deadly birdflu disease. "Though there was no symptom of flu in the dead birds, we had collected blood sample for laboratory testing," Chilika Divisional Forest Officer, Abhimanyu Behera, said. The sample would be sent to the High Security Animal Husbandry Laboratory in Bhopal to ascertain the reason behind death of the birds, he said. Behera said though bird flu spread in other parts of the country, the Chilika lake had not been affected. "Last year also, we had sent blood samples of some birds. Those tested negative to H5N1 virus," he said. For more: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200801160910.htm

Reptiles & Amphibians

Govt forms panel to crack mystery of ghariyal deaths
Did the 69 ghariyals of Chambal river die of discharged industrial waste or some virus? The question had the environment ministry officials in a fix during a high-level meeting on Monday. For now, the ministry has given a green signal to formulate a crisis management group to study and tide over the situation. A senior ministry official said, “The crisis management group will include environment ministry officials, WWF representatives and the local forest officials. We are not taking the post-mortem reports as the final word.” Such a high number of deaths occurred within a span of one month. The animals died of liver cirrhosis but the cause remains a mystery. For more: http://www.mailtoday.in/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&querypage=4&boxid=279473696&parentid=1723&eddate=01/08/08

Experts at sea as ghariyals continue to wash up dead
At least 85 ghariyals were found dead within a month in the Chambal river, flowing through Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Although post-mortem reports indicate liver failure as the cause of the death, authorities are hard pressed to explain the cause of so many deaths. However, unfazed by the casualties, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Wildlife, Uttar Pradesh, D N S Suman, has decided to release 40 ghariyals into the river. While this was to initially take place on January 24, it has now been decided that the ghariyals will be released later due to the prevailing cold conditions. The temperature at the National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS) is currently hovering around two degrees Celsius mark. For more: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/264562.html

New frog species found in Kerala
A new species of shrub frog from the Western Ghats adds its name to the growing list of frogs discovered recently. The latest is a tiny oriental shrub frog, named Philautus ochlandrae, discovered in the evergreen forests of the Kakkayam Reserve Forest in Kerala. The squat little amphibian does not grow beyond 2.5 cm, has a short rounded snout and protruding eyes with striking golden yellow markings. With this, the number of frog species discovered in the last seven years in India stands at 25.The discovery was published in the international journal Zootaxa in October 2007. The frog lives in the hollows of bamboo reeds in the forests of the Western Ghats, where rain is abundant and temperatures are low, said K.V. Gururaja, doctoral fellow at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He is one of the five authors of the paper. The co-authors are T.V. Ramachandra, Professor, CES, IISc; and K.P. Dinesh, Muhamed Jafer Palot and C. Radhakrishnan, of the Western Ghats Field Research Station, Zoological Survey of India. For more: http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/20/stories/2008012051041800.htm

Top 100 weirdest amphibians list launched
They have tentacles coming out of their heads, live underground for months on end, do not need to feed for up to 10 years, and survived whatever killed the dinosaurs. The Zoological Society of London in the UK has launched the top 100 list of the world's weirdest, most wonderful and rarest amphibians. "They're extraordinary survivors," says Helen Meredith of ZSL. "Ninety percent of our top 100 amphibians survived the extinction of the dinosaurs." Yet they are also in dire need of help to ensure they will continue to survive. For more: http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/29660

EVENTS

Environmental Challenges and Sustainable Development; 1 - 2 March 2008; Aligarh, Uttar Pradeshi, India; abhalakshmisingh@yahoo.com

Seminar on Global Environment; 7 March 2008; New Delhi, India; http://www.geocities.com/ecoseminar2003_association/attention.html

The Law of Climate Change; 27 - 28 March 2008; Fremantle, Australia; http://www.nela.org.au