Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Bengal tigers may not survive climate change

News

• Tigers are among nearly 5,00,000 land species whose survival is in question because of threats to their natural habitats, according to a report by the United Nations.

Findings

• The Sundarbans, 4,000 square miles of marshy land in Bangladesh and India, hosts the world’s largest mangrove forest and a rich ecosystem supporting several hundred animal species, including the endangered Bengal tiger.
• But 70% of the land is just a few feet above sea level, and grave changes are in store for the region, researchers reported.
• Changes wrought by a warming planet will be “enough to decimate” the few hundred or so Bengal tigers remaining there.
• Other factors related to climate change were more damaging to the Sundarbans’ tigers, one of the largest remaining populations of wild tigers in the world, the researchers found.
• Since the early 1900s, habitat loss, hunting and the illegal trade of animal parts have decimated the global population of tigers from around 100,000 to fewer than 4,000.
• In the Bangladesh Sundarbans, a spike in extreme weather events and changing vegetation will further reduce the population, the study found.
• And as the Sundarbans flood, confrontations may grow between humans and tigers as the animals stray outside their habitat in search of new land.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Sand, a global sustainability challenge: UN report

News

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report,that highlights a problem that has largely stayed under the radar: sand consumption globally has been increasing and we are extracting it at rates exceeding natural replenishment rates.
• Sand and gravel, are the second largest natural resources extracted and traded by volume after water, but among the least regulated.

Ecological damage

• Sand is created by slow geological processes, and its distribution is not even. Desert sand, available in plenty, is not suited for construction use because it is wind-smoothed, and therefore non-adherent.
• While 85% to 90% of global sand demand is met from quarries, and sand and gravel pits, the 10% to 15% extracted from rivers and sea shores is a severe concern due the environmental and social impacts.
• Their extraction often results in river and coastal erosion and threats to freshwater and marine fisheries and aquatic ecosystems, instability of river banks leading to increased flooding, and lowering of ground water levels.
• The report notes that China and India head the list of critical hotspots for sand extraction impacts in rivers, lakes and on coastlines.
• Most large rivers of the world have lost between half and 95% of their natural sand and gravel delivery to ocean.
• The damming of rivers for hydro-electricity production or irrigation is reducing the amount of sediment flowing downstream. This broken replenishment system exacerbates pressures on beaches already threatened by sea level rise and intensity of storm-waves induced by climate change, as well as coastal developments.

Suggestion

• The report suggests better spatial planning and reducing unnecessary construction including speculative projects or those being done mainly for prestige thereby making more efficient use of aggregates, investing in in infrastructure maintenance and retrofitting rather than the demolish and rebuild cycle, embracing alternative design and construction methods, even avoiding use of cement and concrete where possible, and using green infrastructure.
• Among the studies on recycled and alternative substitute materials the report points to, are several from India, including oil palm shell, waste foundry sand, crushed tiles, granite powder, mine waste, bottom ash, and discarded rubber. It also cites the use in India of non-toxic municipal waste in road-building.
• It is critical to raise awareness that what is seen as cheap and freely available is in fact a limited resource. With awareness, the other key issue is governance.
• At the policy level the way forward, the report suggests, is to strengthen standards and best practices to curb irresponsible extraction; invest in sand production and consumption measurement, monitoring and planning; and establish dialogue based on transparency and accountability.

Road accidents still cause most deaths: WHO report

News

• Road accidents are the leading cause of death among people in the 5-29 age-group worldwide with more than 1.35 million lives lost each year and 50 million sustaining injuries, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

Beyond News

• As per the data released by the Indian government, road crashes kill close to 1,50,000 people each year.
• However, the WHO global status report on road safety had challenged the numbers and stated that India might be losing over 2,99,000 people each year.
• Road crashes have emerged as the single biggest killer of people in the age group of 15-45.
• Meanwhile, the reasons listed for this trend include rapid urbanisation, poor safety, lack of enforcement, distracted, influence of drugs or alcohol, speeding and a failure to wear seat-belts or helmets, according to experts.

Schooling jumbos in Kerala to mitigate man-animal conflicts

News

• Kumki or trained elephants have a crucial role in mitigating man-animal conflicts.
• But many a time the Kerala Forest Department has to depend on Tamil Nadu or Karnataka for getting the services of Kumki elephants.

Beyond News

• The department has now come out with a solution and plans to train orphaned elephants housed in various elephant camps in the State. The elephant training programme resumed at the Muthanga elephant camp under the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary a few weeks ago, after an interval of two decades.
• The six-month training programme mainly aims at strengthening the Kumki squad to mitigate the increasing man-animal conflict in the State.
• Last year, three elephants were provided three-month training at the Theppakadu training camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
• Seven mahouts two from Muthanga, two from Konni and three from Kodanad were also trained.
• The services of these mahouts were being used to train the new elephants.
• The animals will first be trained to obey basic commands, and subsequently to carry out complex tasks. The elephants would be trained in operations such as managing marauding elephants, including arresting and leading such elephants during an operation, assisting in kraal making, boarding and alighting from a forest ambulance, and parading.
• They will also provide wild area exposure and training in tackling wild elephants.
• Most of the elephants in the camp were rescued when they were calves.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Coastal conservation study on track

News

• Scientists working on a project to evolve a conservation plan for biologically sensitive areas along the Indian coast have expressed satisfaction over their progress as the project completes the second of its three years.

Beyond News

• The present phase of the study covers the coast between Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, and one of the key efforts has been to identify Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSA) along the coast. Some of the EBSAs include Kovalam, the wedge bank off Kollam coast, Chettuva and the Gulf of Mannar.
• This is the first time that a study of this nature is being undertaken in the country and one of the key problems was evolution of a proper methodology, said a senior scientist on the sidelines of a review meeting at CMFRI.
• While the existing methodologies were best suited to temperate and cold conditions, what was needed in India was a methodology for the tropical conditions.
• The data, still under processing, will be useful in developing new policies, as well as help in marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based fisheries management, said the scientist. Stakeholders are given a key role in conservation efforts, with the knowledge of traditional fishermen being utilised in the study.

Odisha’s wildlife sanctuaries ravaged by Fani

News

• Cyclone Fani, packing wind gusts of up to 240 kmph, rendered not only millions of people homeless as it tore along India’s east coast last week, but also dealt a body blow to wildlife and forest resources in the region.
• The storm swept across several wildlife sanctuaries as it crossed the Odisha coastline.

Beyond News

• Once a treat to drive along the tree-lined Marine Drive road that bisects the Balukhand Wildlife Sanctuary adjacent to the Bay of Bengal between Puri and Konark, the sanctuary has been reduced to a wasteland with hardly any tree left untouched by Fani.
• The cyclone that tore apart the sanctuary, damaged nearly 55 lakh trees, mostly casuarinas. As many as 20% trees were uprooted, while the rest were found bent from the middle. It has left 400 spotted deer homeless.
• Apart from spotted deer, the sanctuary spread over an area of 87 sq km is home to wild boar, jackals, striped hyenas, wolves and mongooses.
• Refreshingly, prior to Fani’s landfall, the wildlife division had made announcements requesting people not to harm spotted deer if they strayed into human habitations.
• In Bhubaneswar, the cyclone had uprooted decades-old trees inside the Nandankanan Zoological Park.
• Several animal enclosures too had been affected. Authorities have shut down the zoo for an indefinite period, keeping in mind the safety of visitors.
• Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary, which is close by, was hard hit too. Thousands of trees lay uprooted in the sanctuary and authorities are attempting to assess the extent of damage.
• Hundreds of monkeys have now entered residential colonies in the periphery of Bhubaneswar following the loss of habitat due to trees being uprooted. There have been instances of monkeys attacking people after remaining starved for days.

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