The grant of World Heritage Site status to this hotspot of biodiversity should hopefully protect the ghats from being destroyed by incessant construction and so-called development activities in the name of tourism and enhanced civic amenities
It was a small story, buried in Page 7 or some such, regarding the cancellation of construction of an eco-resort in the Bababudangiri Hills of the Western Ghats, but it brought much cheer to conservationists, for it marked a significant victory in a persistent battle to halt commercial resorts in this landscape. The hills are adjacent to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, forming an important corridor that connects the reserve with the rest of the forest landscape. It’s a well used passage for wildlife — leopard, gaur, sambar, elephants and tiger. Evidence of breeding tigers in the region has also come to light, tragically, when an orphaned cub (now in Mysore zoo) was found here in October 2010.
Chikmagalur is coffee country. Legend has it that Bababudangiri is where coffee was first grown in India, back in the 16th century. Plantations still clothe these slopes, and while they have fragmented the old growth forest, they still allow wildlife the right of passage.
Over time, this Malenadu landscape, has faced myriad onslaughts —subsistence pressures of local people, and worse, developmental activities like roads, highways, dams, power projects and mining. Some of these were successfully resisted due to their very damaging impact on this fragile landscape.
The hills are still verdant, throbbing with life. But there are worrying new challenges, ironically, from projects packaged and promoted as ‘environment friendly’: Green Energy and eco-tourism. With its natural beauty, the Malenadu region has always attracted visitors, but these visitors were largely restricted to homestays, which did not put much additional pressure on the landscape. That has rapidly changed in recent years with several commercial, self-proclaimed green resorts —some masquerading as ‘homestays’— coming up to cash in on an increasingly holidaying middle class. Ugly, monstrous structures mar the lush landscape, and more of these structures are in the pipeline, including a Rs 125 crore project right at the doorstep of Bhadra.
Tourism is a double-edged sword. It can be a powerful constituency for conservation or a death knell. In its present form, the wildlife tourism sector in India is largely ill-managed, intrusive and unsustainable, putting immense pressure on tiger reserves and blocking vital wildlife corridors. The impact of such ill-planned tourism has been well-documented in Corbett and some other tiger reserves.
Here, the problem is still nascent, but unless nipped in the bud Bhadra may soon be islanded, walled in by mushrooming resorts, rivers diverted, hills gouged out for roads and for construction.
The tourism boom has already taken a toll. Construction of numerous resorts have thrown open new areas —pristine shola forests were slashed, roads widened, power and pipe lines laid — destroying and fragmenting habitat, blocking corridors and leading to increased human-wildlife conflict. Another worry is that most of the resorts either block or divert the flow of fresh water streams which flow through Bhadra, on the higher reaches of the hills to meet their own requirements, impacting vegetation and niche micro-habitat while reducing water availability to agriculture and sustenance of local people.
Tourism is just one of the threats to the ghats. There are other, equally worrying attacks — also touted as eco-friendly: Green energy for one.
The Bababudangiri range spans 57 km and varies in altitude from 1,400-1,800 metres. The steep heights and strong winds have invited wind mill projects and turbines are proposed to come up along 42 km of its length. Erection and maintenance of the turbines will require a well-connected road system, destroying and fragmenting the habitat. The high altitude and windy conditions also make these hills an ideal environment for raptors and other birds, including the endemic White-bellied Shortwing. The ridge also forms a buffer to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve. The vegetation here is the typical shola combination of grassland and forest, supporting highly diverse wildlife, and protecting vital watersheds of River Bhadra.
The cumulative impact is catastrophic. But the good news is, consistent resistance by local conservation groups like the Bhadra Conservation Trust, Wild Cat-C and Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation has achieved some success in stalling some of these projects — such as the recent stay on the Satori Eco-Adventures resort. This gives little relief, though, with over a dozen new projects on the anvil. The wind farm too, has been halted, but there is a looming threat of other, bigger players taking up similar projects.
While the turbines slam the ridges, a slew of mini-hydel dams are poised to drown and pillage remote valleys. Though they have been currently stayed by the Karnataka High Court, the threat from these ‘little green monsters’, as dubbed by scientist, Wildlife Conservation Society, Ullas Karanth, in an article detailing the devastating ecological impacts of such projects, refuses to go away. In fact, not only have they been granted Government subsidies, such projects escape much of the forest and environmental regulatory scrutiny, which has encouraged large projects to be broken down into several smaller ones in order to avoid crucial environment filters.
In response to a petition filed in the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests- appointed expert panel submitted its inspection report to the CEC in April 2011. The report clearly recommends that “all projects in Western Ghats region involving tourism, wind power and hydropower on Government lands and currently under consideration by the State or Central Governments should be stayed” based on the ‘precautionary principle’. It urgently calls for assessing the carrying capacity of the area, and identifying highly sensitive areas from the biodiversity and wildlife perspective. The report recommends that until such areas are notified, an immediate and complete moratorium be imposed on fresh clearances.
This landmark report, which could clearly bring much relief, lies in cold storage awaiting the CEC’s nod. Meanwhile, the unique biodiversity of the Western Ghats lies vulnerable to further assault.
Postscript: On July 1, the Western Ghats, already recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot, was declared a World Heritage Site. Its importance — ecologically and culturally — has been well-documented. The Western Ghats harbours a variety of spectacular wildlife: Tigers, elephants, lion-tailed macaques, great hornbills, king cobras. It nurtures and nourishes several rivers that sustains humanity in peninsular India.
- Prerna Singh Bindra (The author is member, National Board of Wildlife.)
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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