Sriharikota wilderness regained?

Text: Ranjit Manakadan

About the Project The Sriharikota projects were conducted from November 2001-October 2004 and November 2004October 2007, and were funded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The basic aim of the two projects was the documentation of the faunal diversity of Sriharikota Island.

RANJIT MANAKADAN

RANJIT MANAKADAN

The Indian Chameleon is one among the many reptile species of the Island

y first visit to Sriharikota came out of the blue to attend a meeting of the team of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services funded Bird Migration Project of the BNHS in 1991. A jeep ride in the Islands wilderness and birding in the adjoining waters of Pulicat lake made me fall in love with the place in no time. How nice it would be to work in this place, I thought! Well, wishes do sometimes come true, and in December 2001, I was back in Sriharikota to work on a three-year (2001-2004) project on the faunal diversity of Sriharikota Island at the invitation of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The BNHS has a history of working in the Island, the first team was headed by Slim Ali to carry out a survey of the birds of the Island in 1970 and 1971. In the second project, the BNHS carried out bird banding and census on the Island and Pulicat lake under the Bird Migration Project funded by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The third, in which I was

involved, was an inventory project, titled, An ecological account of the faunal diversity of Sriharikota Island and its environment, with reference to mammals, birds, herpetofauna, fish and butterflies. The three years spent in Sriharikota are till date the best in my life as I got to work on fish for the first time, my passion in life. Not to say that I did not enjoy the birding and field trips to document the wildlife, ranging from the nocturnal Slender Loris Loris lydekkerianus to the smallest amphibian in the Island, the Ornate Microhylid Microhyla ornata, which grows to a maximum size of 25 mm. The variety of habitats ranging from tropical dry evergreen forest, scrub jungle, sandy beaches, grasslands, brackish-saline water lakes and marshes, freshwater ponds and streams and creeks, with Pulicat lake on one side and the Bay of Bengal on the other, was enchanting. The Project ended in October 2004 and now the macro-fauna of the Island is fairly well-documented for science. The

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The Malliplate (Mavalam Vagu) a freshwater stream serves as a refuge and nursery for fish and other aquatic fauna

The Olivaceous Keelback Atretium schistosum, an aquatic snake of Sriharikota

illustrated reports published through the faunal diversity project have generated much interest in the wildlife wealth of the Island among the people, and especially school children. The Project also resulted in a Conservation Education Centre getting established, putting to good use the database generated from the studies. This Project was followed by a three-year project (Investigations into some ecological aspects of Sriharikota Island) on frugivory by birds and mammals in Sriharikota and a small study on the Slender Loris, which ended recently, and hopefully, the association of the BNHS with Sriharikota (and ISRO) will continue for the years to come. As for an introduction to the Island, I quote what was described in an earlier article on Sriharikota published in Hornbill (Jul-Sep. 2006) to make the article complete: Sriharikota (181 sq. km) is a spindle shaped Island with its southern tip about 40 km north of Chennai (former Madras). The waters of Pulicat lake (460 sq. km) skirt its western, northern and southern borders, while the Bay of Bengal laps up its eastern shoreline. Early records reveal that the forests of Sriharikota were being exploited even as far back as the 17th century. Recorded systematic exploitation of the forests goes back to 1898, when the forest areas were divided into compartments and clear-felled (except for minor forest produce species). A particular area of the forest was felled once
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every 25 years so to not exploit it completely, that is, in rotation of 25 years. In fact, there was a system of tramways established by the British, and in operation till 1970. These were used for transport of wood to collection sites on the Buckingham Canal on its western boundary, and from there to be sent by boats to Chennai! Additionally, plantations of casuarina, eucalyptus and cashew were raised over the years by the forest departments during the prior independence period, by locals and then ISRO. In addition to all these disturbances, the Island had about 20 villages, inhabited mostly by settlers from the mainland, who had more or less usurped the land from their original inhabitants, the tribal Yanadis. Between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the ISRO took over the Island to establish Indias spaceport, recently renamed as the Satish Dhawan Space Centre-SHAR (SDSC-SHAR). As part of a resettlement package, the displaced villagers were relocated to the other islands in Pulicat lake or on the mainland. Another major development was that the Island got connected by road to the mainland (at Sullurpet) prior to this, access was via boats from Tada. Judging by the former scenario in the Island, it would not be wrong to presume that very little of the forest or wildlife would have remained if ISRO had not taken over the Island. A number of factors have been

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S. SIVAKUMAR

The Starred Tortoise is one of three tortoise-turtles of the Island, besides the Olive Ridley that nests on the beaches

S. SIVAKUMAR

responsible for this. The first by change in the status of the Island to that of a high security zone and the resulting rehabilitation of the human population to other areas. This resulted in an absence or near-absence of human pressures (and disturbances) on the natural resources and wildlife. Another was that ISRO took a pro-conservation initiative from the onset, the catalyst being its former Chairman, the late Prof. Satish Dhawan who had a love for the wilderness. It was he who was instrumental in inviting the BNHS to work in the Island in the bird survey of the early 1970s and the faunal diversity project, and it was his dream that the tropical dry evergreen forest of Sriharikota should be preserved for posterity. Fortunately, the wildlife conservation and research ethos of Prof. Satish Dhawan has rubbed on to his successors. A visit to the areas outside Sriharikota easily provides one with a clear picture of what would have happened to Sriharikota if ISRO had not taken over the Island. The bane of India, its human population (now unfortunately touted as its strength Indian politicians know how to create slogans to skirt issues!) is taking a toll even in what were earlier considered far off places through the laying of a 6-lane road. Industrialisation is now taking place in the

towns bordering Pulicat lake some with Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status. These once small towns are growing rapidly and teeming with people. Sewage, plastics, wastes and pollution that plague our cities are now problem issues in these former shanty towns. Considering these changes, it is quite certain that Sriharikota would have ended up as nothing but a cluster of overgrown fishing villages if ISRO had not taken over the Island. We have a good case of wilderness regained in Sriharikota, but what are the long term prospects? Like all the wilderness areas of India, even those in Sriharikota are not without conservation issues. These issues are primarily related to the expansion and infrastructure development of the spaceports facilities, resulting in loss and fragmentation of forest cover and their related impacts on the fauna. Another is the raising of plantations, carried out as part of afforestation and for work and revenue-generation for tribals (who now live in a colony in the residential area in the Island), and creation of shelter-belts along the sea coast for protection against cyclones. The pauperization of fauna in general as a result of monoculture plantations had been highlighted in our project reports, and fortunately, the authorities have put a stop to further eucalyptus plantations and are also

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PATRICK DAVID

Strychnos nux-vomica, food for bats, is widely used in homeopathic medicines and is also poisonous if consumed in certain forms

planning to remove eucalyptus in phases to allow the native forest to regenerate and get back their pristine glory. However, casuarina plantations are to continue as a shelter-belt along the sea-coast overall foresters have a weakness for plantations for the quick, show-results greenery, especially important in cases of compensatory afforestation programmes. However, it appears that even this will change as during a recent seminar in Sriharikota, it was agreed that the wealth of the Island is its tropical dry evergreen forest and conservation of this forest type should be the focus of nature conservation in Sriharikota. At the same time, there was an ominous statement that there will be unavoidable and increasing need for land in the years to come for development of the spaceport. A different but somewhat similar case of wilderness regained is the case of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) area in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. I was part of a team that conducted a faunal survey of the areas that had been afforested after mining in the past. On arrival, it was shocking to see the vast

areas scarred by open cast mines. A visit to the reclaimed areas was soothing with the created forests that had become habitats for birds and other fauna, and where I saw my first Dusky Eagle-Owl Bubo coromandus. There was also a small heronry adjoining a waterbody that had been created. In fact, I had to rethink on whether mining had been overall good or bad for the area after seeing the barren areas outside the complex during the return trip. But, I also wondered what would happen once the lignite deposits get exhausted and NLC finally abandons the area. Will the created forests (and their wildlife) be gifted back to the people? Another similar situation was in the Kalpakkam Atomic Power Plant area in Tamil Nadu, where a heronry had got established around a small wetland in the complex and where I saw the largest flock of 32 Oriental Darters Anhinga melanogaster in my birding experience. What are the lessons that can be learnt from the Sriharikota and other similar examples? One is that organisations that have vast tracts of land at their disposal can play

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a major role in protecting wilderness areas provided there is a proconservation attitude among those at the helm of affairs. The second is that such wilderness areas appear to be have better possibilities of survival, especially those having high security status, e.g., ISRO, atomic power plants and defence establishments (who most people do not realise are Indias largest landlords!). However, as seen in the case in Sriharikota, even such wilderness havens may face threats in the not too distant future due to expansion programmes, and it will be wise that policies are framed so that these wilderness areas survive into the future or threats are minimised. To conclude, I need to deviate to issues of a more global concern. It is now becoming very evident that the 21st century is going to be the most testing and destructive time for the earths wilderness areas. India, once known as a land of beggars, sadhus, yoga, kamasutra and snake charmers, is emerging as a superpower. This is something that all Indians should be proud of, but what is frightening about this is that it will be a superpower with a billion plus human beings without any signs of a slowdown (unlike China). And the central and state governments dare not even whisper about population control as it will affect their vote bank. The demands for natural resources and need for more land due to the burgeoning human population growth will place huge pressures on the last remaining wilderness areas. We are loosing wildlife habitats and species, and polluting ecosystems at a pace and extent like never before. The impacts of climate change have now finally started confronting countries all over the world. Devastating floods earlier more of a problem for Bangladesh, unheard of tsunamis hitting India, hurricanes making the USA look like a third world country, etc., make one wonder what is going on! We can expect more catastrophes or changes in the climate to aid in the destruction of wildlife

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Feral cattle roam the southern grassland areas

Sriharikota has an estimated population of c. 250-300 Slender Loris

habitats. With a maximum elevation of 4 m above sea level, I wonder what impact rising sea levels will have on Sriharikota! Would the tropical dry evergreen forests disappear under the seas and what about the spaceport? Only time will tell.

Ranjit Manakadan has been working with the BNHS since the early 1980s. He is presently an Assistant Director at the Society.

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Source: SDSC-SHAR PHOTOGRAPHY DIVISION