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Eco-regional planning
By Kanchi Kohli
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An
attempt is under way to evolve coordinated plans for the sustenance of
ecosystems spread across States.
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TREES do not recognise State boundaries when
they spread their roots. Wild animals and birds traversing contiguous forest
stretches have no clue that there might be restrictions. A coastal stretch
spreads itself, not knowing that it is managed by 10 different sets of
people. And then how would the fish that swim across these stretches have
any idea that they might be "trespassing"?
But the fact remains that nature, which in its
creation is one single entity, is divided by administrative boundaries and
political restrictions. It can be compared to the Aravalli ranges in
northwestern India, which cut across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi
or for that matter the Western Ghats, which run through the States of
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
In the past few decades, there has been a slow
but increasing recognition of the fact that a different approach is required
in the planning and sustenance of complex ecosystems such as forests,
wetlands, mangroves and estuaries that cut across administrative boundaries.
One approach is to look at landscapes and eco-regions as a whole and plan
accordingly. Today, it is the need of the hour.
That kind of planning is not simple. To be
successful, it would need coordination among all the States that share an
eco-region. Otherwise there would be situations of contradictory priorities,
similar to the one that has arisen out of the proposal for the diversion of
the Mahadayi river close to the Karnataka-Goa border. The origin of one of
Goa's most important rivers, the Mandovi, lies in a section of the Western
Ghats in Karnataka. In Karnataka, the river is known as the Mahadayi. The
river flows through forests in both these States and finally joins the
Arabian Sea. The Karnataka government plans to divert the water of this
west-flowing river to another east-flowing river, the Malaprabha, in order
to meet the State's water requirements. The proposal is not acceptable to
Goa as the river is one of the main sources of livelihood in the State. Goa
fears that such diversion of water will have a severe impact on its people.
An attempt at eco-regional planning is being
made as part of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).
The NBSAP is a project of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)
and the technical execution of the NBSA is being done by a 15-member
Technical and Policy Core Group, coordinated by the non-governmental
organisation (NGO), Kalpavriksh. The project is funded by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The administrative coordination of the project is carried out by Biotech
Consortium India Limited.
Eco-regions within the NBSAP process are
looked at as biodiversity-rich ecosystems that cut across State boundaries.
Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (BSAPs) are being prepared for 10
eco-regions by multi-disciplinary working groups. These include the
Aravallis, the Central Forest Belt, the East coast, the Eastern Ghats, the
Gangetic plains, Northeastern India, the Shivaliks, the Western Ghats, west
coast and the western Himalayas. After researching these eco-regions in all
the States in question and after a series of consultations, the first drafts
of these plans have been completed. The implementation of many of the
strategies and action plans proposed in the drafts calls for a reorientation
of the "approach" that had previously been adopted in relation to
these eco-systems.
Take for example the strategies proposed under
the BSAP for the entire Western Ghats eco-region. The coordinating agency
and its working group have highlighted the need to have inter-State
mechanisms to counter smuggling and poaching, which are serious problems in
this eco-region. Apart from recommending the strengthening of conservation
efforts and the updating of current information about the Western Ghats, the
plan document suggests that a regional board, the "Western Ghats
Conservation, Planning and Development Board" be set up.
It is proposed that the regional board should
be a non-political body, with members drawn from the State-level
biodiversity boards/commissions, State Departments of Forests, Tribal
Welfare, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, academic institutions,
and NGOs working in the Western Ghats region. It is one way that the
eco-regional strategies presented in the BSAP document are actually
implemented and monitored. If the board is given adequate powers, it can
ensure that the strategies presented in the BSAP document are implemented.
This effort has an interesting parallel,
though smaller in scale, which finds a mention in the Western Ghats BSAP
document. It is the campaign to declare approximately 7,350 sq km of the
Western Ghats in north Karnataka, Goa and south Maharashtra as an
Ecologically Sensitive Area under Section 3(2) (v) of the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986. This clause gives the MoEF the power to take all the
measures that it feels are necessary to protect and improve the quality of
the environment and control environmental pollution. To meet this objective
the Central government can prohibit or restrict industrial activity in
certain areas.
The effort, which began with a memorandum of
Belgaum's (Karnataka) Nature Lovers Club, has come a long way. Today it
involves groups from three States. These groups, which propose to call the
area the Sahyadri Ecologically Sensitive Area (SESA), have been lobbying
with State governments and the MoEF for the past three and half years to
protect this vast and sensitive landscape. They have received support in
principle from the MoEF.
Interestingly, the SESA proposal calls for a
monitoring mechanism that is very similar to the Western Ghats BSAP. It
suggests the setting up of a Western Ghats Protection Authority (WGPA),
which will be constituted by the Union government in consultation with the
State governments. It also demands the involvement of educational
institutions and NGOs.
Both these plans have reached the stage of
implementation, and this is where the biggest challenge lies. On the ground,
action will be needed to accommodate the priorities of different
stakeholders and build on present land-use patterns.
Conservation efforts also need to develop
around livelihood security. All this will occur only if these plans see the
light of day.
There are other initiatives as well. One is
the Union government's move to create biosphere reserves in areas spread
across more than one State. This proposal links ecosystem conservation and
people's livelihoods. Other efforts include landscape planning in the Terai
Arc in India and Nepal and the Satpura-Maikal in central India by the WWF-India.
These areas harbour a sizable portion of India's tiger population. The
project aims at establishing connectivity between officially protected areas
and tiger habitats outside them, and in the process, conserve an entire
landscape.
All of these efforts emphasise the need to
look beyond traditional boundaries in the matter of planning.
Implementation, of course, is the most important step but mechanisms of
implementation have to be put in place first. Until we reconcile our
priorities and expand coordination efforts, forests will continue to be
destroyed along State borders, elephants will continue to be electrocuted by
fences, and human beings will continue to face the consequences of
contradictory objectives.
Kanchi Kohli is a member of Kalpavriksh
Environmental Action Group.
Courtesy http://www.frontlineonnet.com
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