Western Ghats

Western Ghats

Western Ghats and ESA

The Western Ghats extend from Gujarat at its northern limit and extend across the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa, down to Kerala in the south. They are the source of several rivers, Godavari, Cauvery, Krishna, Tunga, Bhadra and Netravathi. The Ghats are also home to some of most diverse animal, bird and reptilian species. It is no wonder then that the Ghats are recognized by UNESCO as one among the world’s eight most important biodiversity hotspots, which must be preserved for posterity. The Ghats form an ecological zone and must be conserved for continued sustainability of the entire nation, chiefly the southern and western states. Furthermore, economically important plants such as coffee, tea, jackfruit, mango and spices like vanilla, pepper and cardamom are grown in this region.

This vast area is under constant danger of degradation. Its bio-diversity being threatened as the habitat is degraded and the thick forests are under severe pressure from overgrazing, illicit wood-felling, forest fires and poaching. Illegal mining operations and housing also threaten the ecological balance nudging it towards a threshold beyond which it can never be regenerated.

Imagine a point in future, where the ghats and all the rare avi-fauna are irretrievably lost to our future generations! The time has now come for of us to act, without prevarication or live in regret forever…

Ecologically Sensitive Area or ESA

The Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has belatedly decided to implement the Kasturirangan report with several modifications. Notification dated Oct 04, 2018 for the declaration of 56,825 sqkm or 37% of the Western Ghats as an ecologically sensitive area (ESA) (http://envfor.nic.in/content/esa-notifications).

Dodamarg-Sawantwadi Forest

While the notification declaring an area ESA places restrictions on mining, quarrying, thermal power plants, setting up of industries, construction, it has critically omitted the Dodamarg-Sawantwadi forest from the ESA. This forest along the Maharashtra-Goa border is an important elephant and tiger corridor and connects the Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary in Kolhapur in Maharashtra to Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka. This is despite the 2013 Bombay high court decision requesting Maharashtra government to declare the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor an ESA.

An appeal
 

This is an appeal to everyone to object to non-inclusion of the 38kmx10km Sawantwadi-Dodamarg forest as ESA. Please send your objections to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor bagh Road, Ali Ganj, New Delhi-110003
or e-mail at: esz-mef@nic.in

You may use the template below or create your own.

To
The Secretary,
Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change
New Delhi-110003

Dear Sir / Madam,

Subject: Request to include the 38kmx10km Sawantwadi-Dodamarg forest as ESA in notification dated Oct 04, 2018

With regard to the above subject, I kindly request you to include the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg forest, which forms an important wild-life corridor, as ESA in the notification dated Oct 04, 2018.

Name (include full name)
e-mail ID

Our planet's alarm is going off, and it is time to wake up and take action!
Leonardo DiCaprio

Ranganathittu Revisted

Ranganathittu

Birding Paradise

Last year, on my way by road to Mysuru, we could not resist taking a small detour to visit Ranganathittu, a birding paradise. Here are a few pictures from the visit.

Grey Pelican

Cattle Egret

Painted Stork

Indian Cormorant

Great men are them who plant trees, whose shade they know they will never sit

Over the Years

Kalwa residence

We shifted to our residence in Kalwa during the late 1990s. The building was new and surrounded by grassy, reed-covered fields. Parts of the surrounding area were water-logged and home to aquatic birds like moorhen, pond heron and egrets. During the monsoon, the grassland acted as a sump allowing the water to seep into the ground. The entire locality was sparsely populated. On a clear, sunny day the there was nothing to obstruct our view of the Nasik by-pass which ran alongside the water pipeline. Further ahead, no man-made structures intruded into our sight right up to the green hills of SGNP lining the western horizon. 

Rains turned the entire area lush green, with pleasant weather and an atmosphere of clean and fresh air, free of dust. Towards the end of the monsoon, tall grass covered the marshy area, interspersed with blue-colored flowers (morning glory, I guess). At this time, small groups of men and women laborers set about clearing the overgrown grass and tall reeds, stacking it in bundles, to be peddled to middle-men or farmers who then transported it away in tractor-trailers. I suppose the grass and reeds were of great value in villages for use as cattle feed or replacing worn-out roofs of thatched houses. 

Over the years, as the land (must have) changed ownership several times, the grasslands gradually reduced and the area was covered with trees and thickets of shrubs and weeds.  As more buildings were constructed on vacant plots, the area lost its forested appearance. The mealy-bug infestation of rain-trees also caused a huge loss of tree cover on either sides of old the Mumbai-Pune road. Oddly enough, tree-cover on privately held land and in residential complexes increased over time.  The trees planted along the Nasik highway have now grown and blocked our view of the road and hills. As traffic increases, I fear that these would hacked down for road widening projects. New, high-rise residential complexes on Ghodbunder road and Saket-Balkum road are now visible in the background. 

Our quiet residential area is today right in the middle of a busy intersection. A 90-foot road lies next to our building complex. The traffic noise level in night is almost unbearable with incessant honking and two-wheelers speeding around with specially designed silencers.
To add to the congestion, work on a poorly designed “joggers-lane” was initiated just before the local elections in 2017 (need I say why? to fool the voters of course..) and then abandoned, draining the exchequer of lakhs of rupees. At night, trucks and buses are parked on both sides of the road forcing pedestrians to walk on the road.

Can degradation of nature be reversed?

Maybe not. However, the governing authorities and political leaders must show great maturity and leadership skills to increase green cover and combat effects of climate change to reverse or at least prevent further degradation. As responsible citizens, we can bring about change by taking up these issues with local corporators, some of whom are quite dedicated to their jobs.

Here are a few pictures taken over the years.

 

Year 2008

 

Year 2017

 

Year 2008

 

Year 2017...the kids must be all grown up now

 

Year 2009

 

Year 2017

 

Year 2007: Nasik highway is just beyond the pipe-line

 

Year 2017

 

Year 2008: grass, reeds and thickets

 

Year 2017: not seen here, but the grass and reeds no longer exist

 Each and everyone of us can make changes in the way we live our lives and become part of the solution - Al Gore

Forests and rivers of Western Maharashtra

Thane and its surroundings have been bestowed with nature’s bounty which is now under threat.

Thane and the newly formed Palghar district have large tracts of mangrove forests, fresh water bodies (lakes and ponds), estuaries, the forests of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Tungareshwar. The magnificient Western ghats are also in close proximity and easily accessible. It is from these forests and the western ghats that we draw our sustenance in the form of annual monsoon rains. 

There are two rivers flowing through Thane district, Vaitarna and Ulhas. The river Vaitarna originates in the hills of Tryambakeshwar as does river Godavari. However, Vaitarna covers a distance of about 150 kms only, compared to the mighty Godavari which flows over 1400 kms and finally flows into the Bay of Bengal. Vaitarna has several tributaries, some of them are Pinjal & Tansa. Ulhas river has its origins in Tungarli (near Lonavala) and its tributaries include Bhatsa and Barvi rivers.
The thick forests in the western ghats form a watershed ensuring an almost perennial source of water for states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with major rivers like Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery originating in these ghats.

Last undisturbed areas

These forests, rivers and wetlands are under pressure of the exploding human population and illegal occupation by land sharks. Compounding the problem is a reduction in diversity of forests with clearing of forests for agriculture, overgrazing by livestock, tree felling, pollution from industries and human settlements, and poaching of threatened bird and mammal species.

There are only a few areas present in the five coastal districts (Thane, Greater Bombay, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg) of Konkan Region that are undisturbed from human activities. With the present government’s emphasis on infrastructure development without adequate compensatory afforestation, there is clear and present danger to the very existence of the western ghats.

Some of the infrastructure projects affecting the environment are Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL): will flamingo habitat; the Mumbai-Nagpur Super expressway: will lead to land scale destruction of forest land; the Navi Mumbai airport and Goa highway expansion through Karnala bird sanctuary: can adversely affect migratory & endemic species; the metro III depot in Aarey colony: this would be the death knell for green cover in Mumbai. 
Of course these projects are required to make commuting easier for all of us. But we can only hope that they do not tilt the delicate ecological balance against humankind. 

Bird watching

Pictures from visit to Narsapur (off Kalyan Murbad highway) 

Tributary of river Ulhas.

White Wagtail 
It is easily recognizable due its characteristic black and white plumage.

It has a typical habit of bobbing its tail, hence the name ‘wagtail’.

It is more common than the yellow wagtail.

The Large Pied Wagtail

It is much larger that the smaller White Wagtail.

Commonly seen near water bodies and grassy patches in gardens adjoining rivers and streams foraging for insects and worms.

Also spotted Tickell's Blue Flycatcher.