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Action Alert: Critical Elephant Corridor in India to be Severed
Help avert two serious threats to the largest surviving Elephant Population in India – the imminent severance of the Muthanga Elephant Corridor in Kerala, and the construction of the India based Neutrino Observatory in Tamil Nadu
By
Forests.org, a project of Ecological Internet
-
March 3, 2009
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1.) Inform Yourself
NOTE: This is a protest, not a petition, sending emails to many real decision makers on matters vital to the Earth.
Caption:
Asian Elephants require connected large habitats (link)
The largest and potentially most viable population of Asian elephants is found in the mountains of the Western Ghats where the three Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka meet. You may recall that Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network first worked on Asian elephants in India, with some positive outcomes, in October of 2006.
Of a total population of about 2000 elephants surviving in Peninsular India in various fragmented habitat islands, the largest single population which may number over 1000 individuals is found in a near contiguous habitat extending over this 4500sq km tract. The best forage is in the Tamil Nadu section but the elephants need to migrate to Kerala and Karnataka each summer when water and food become scarce in Tamil Nadu
Direct movement from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka is no longer possible because of clearing and development and so now the only way for the elephants to migrate from the east to the west in the dry time and return during the wet season is via the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. But due to habitat fragmentation this route must now pass through a corridor which is only about 2.5 km wide extending from Mulehole in Karnataka to Muthanga in Kerala.
The major inter-state highway linking Bangalore with Calicut passing through this corridor is used by hundreds of vehicles round the clock. Recently a decision was made to relocate four different Kerala government departmental check-posts to within the corridor involving all manner of infrastructure - building complexes, housing, offices, toilets and dormitories for drivers, a fuel filling station and so on. The checkpoint clearance takes hours, so there would constantly be hundreds of lorries parked along the road on either side of the checkpoints within the forests preventing elephants from using the corridor. A suitable alternative site for these check-posts exists outside the forest.
In another part of this elephant population's range, the proposed establishment of the India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Singara, within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, threatens to further fragment elephant migration routes. Singara is in a critical wildlife habitat and falls within the Sigur plateau that acts as a hub between three major wildlife habitats in the NBR - Mudumalai TR/Nagerhole TR, Coimbatore Division/Silent Valley and The Eastern Ghats (Sathyamangalam/BRT Sanctuary/Bannergatta NP), and adjacent to the site is a crucial wildlife corridor linking Mudumalai with the forests towards the North and East. This large network of protected areas is home to remnant populations of large endangered mammals, which are disappearing rapidly elsewhere.
'The project will undoubtedly affect the Asian Elephant and almost every other species in the area, but the bigger problem with a project like this is the massive infrastructure development that is going to happen in this fragile area.
'Their offer to offset the damage they are going to cause by putting a small percentage of the budget into conservation is ridiculous. Its like suggesting we kill off a few tigers and elephants, sell all their body parts and use the money for conservation,' says Ajay Desai, the co-chair of IUCN's Asian Elephant Specialist Group.
The Wayanad Nature Protection Group (Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samati) has appealed to the world community to help prevent the severance of these critical corridors.
Please note there are two different protest emails to send on this matter. It is much appreciated if you send both.
Sample Email Sent
Elephants and the Neutrino observatory
To the Kind Attention of K S Sripathi, Chief Secretary
Dear Mr. Sripathi,
I am writing to express grave concern with the proposed
establishment of the India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
in Singara within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and in the
buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. The proposal
threatens the largest wild populations of the Asian
elephant, by severing an important migration corridor.
The Asian elephant once ranged widely throughout tropical
and subtropical Asia, but its numbers have steadily
declined over 80% within a century. The major cause of the
decline has been loss and fragmentation of habitats caused
by expanding settlements and changing land use patterns
that has caused restriction of traditional migration routes
and gene flow eventually leading to population extinction.
The Nagarhole, Bandipur, Wynaad, and Mudumalai protected
areas and the adjacent Nilgiri North Division have been
identified as one of the most important zones for long-term
conservation of elephants, due to its relatively intact
habitat and large elephant population. These four parks and
their adjoining Reserve Forests cover over 3300 sq. km of
forest and support a population of 1800-2300 elephants. The
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve encloses this entire region.
However the Sigur Plateau, on the east side of the
Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu state, which
serves as the only link between the Eastern and Western
Ghats for migrating elephants, remains largely unprotected
as a buffer zone. In addition to elephants, tigers,
panthers, wild dogs, gaur, hyenas, and several other large
mammals also live in the forests of the Sigur plateau. The
conservation of this critical elephant habitat would not
only serve to protect one of the largest Asian elephant
populations, but would also benefit the entire ecosystem,
including other rare species.
This habitat is going to be affected further by the
establishment of the India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
in Singara within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and in the
buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Singara is in a
critical wildlife habitat and falls within the Sigur
plateau that acts as a hub between three major wildlife
habitats in the NBR - Mudumalai TR/Nagerhole TR, Coimbatore
Division/Silent Valley and The Eastern Ghats
(Sathyamangalam/BRT Sanctuary/Bannergatta NP), and adjacent
to the site is a crucial wildlife corridor linking
Mudumalai with the forests towards the North and East.
The clearance for the INO project was based on a completely
inadequate and superficial EIA with the data being mostly
'guesstimates' and from 'secondary sources’, therefore
termed a 'Rapid EIA'. The EIA considered only a 15 km
radius around the site, manpower projections were
underestimated and the disposal of waste, noise and
vibrations caused by tunneling, potential increase in
human-wildlife conflict and degradation of forests not
measured at all. The EIA is still not placed in the public
domain and had to be obtained via the Right to Information
Act, despite the project having been cleared by the
Ministry of Forests and Environment. We also wish to
highlight the fact that the Neutrino Observatory is not
site specific, since it requires a site with one kilometre
of rock cover on all sides. Therefore it can be constructed
in numerous other places in Tamilnadu or India with similar
conditions (Desai et al. 2008).
Scientific research is undoubtedly of vital importance in
India, and we strongly support the establishment of such
international projects. Our only concern is that the site
has been decided upon without looking into the
environmental implications and the fate of the world's
largest Asian elephant population. The world is watching,
and we strongly request that INO be relocated out of this
globally important natural habitat.
Yours sincerely,
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