Learn Lessons From Summer 2024
Much has been written on the KBLP .The proposed Daudhan dam will submerge an area of around 9,000 hectares of land, of which 5,803 hectares lies within the tiger reserve . A total of 6,017 hectares of forest land will have to be cleared, of which 4,141 hectares are within the sensitive core of the reserve. To give an idea of the enormity of the tree loss, the deforestation is going to take place in the jungle, almost equal to 8,427 football fields. According to the report of a sub-committee of the Forest Advisory Committee, at least 23 lakh (2.3 million) trees will need to be cut down ( many experts quote the figure to 46 lakh) for the project implementation ,this is 1000 times more number of trees that were uprooted in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony in 2019 to build car sheds for the Mumbai Metro. Can we afford such a huge loss in the times of global warming?
Also read: Why India Should Rethink Over Coal Mining in Hasdeo Arand Forest
We should learn a lesson from the summer of 2024 .It is just a beginning. And as if KBLP was not enough. There is a proposed elevated corridor project to construct a 21 km road inside the national park which would require felling of more and more trees.This road patch of the NH31 also passes through the core area of the tiger reserve. The park director Anjana Tirkey said that the project is in a very preliminary stage and a permission for only a survey was given. But the very thought of road construction is scary. Besides KBLP, 32 lakh trees are estimated to be cut in Hansdeo Aranya in Chattisgarh for coal mining.Fore record, after Brazil, the country with the second highest levels of deforestation is India which has lost 668,400 hectares of forestry between 2015 to 2020, a report says.
More Projects in The Offing Means More Tree Felling
From 2020 to 2022, the ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given clearances to around 87 development projects, with three falling in protected areas. Around 2.3 million trees will have to be removed to support these projects, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state for MoEFCC, told the Rajya Sabha on February 2, 2023. As the government goes ahead with the implementation of the KBLP as part of stage-I clearance, a Landscape Management Plan (LMP) of entire Panna tiger reserve , including Ken Gharial Sanctuary, is being prepared by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which would provide options for habitat consolidation and conservation of Panna landscape, minister of State for Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on March 14, 2022 .
Also read: Ken-Betwa Project:Dam of Doom for Panna Tiger Reserve
The proposed Panna landscape has been identified by keeping PTR in the centre and connecting all the adjoining forest divisions as well as Nauradehi (MP), Rani Durgawati (MP) and Ranipur (UP) wildlife sanctuaries. The LMP includes 11 districts (3 in UP and 8 in MP) and a total area of around 47,620 sq. km. Total forest area in the landscape is 12,125 sq. km. The stakeholders as well as the forest managers and experts have been consulted at every stage of preparation of LMP.The project is thus aimed at not only providing water security in the Bundelkhand region but also ensuring the overall conservation of the region, especially for the landscape dependent species such as tiger, vultures and gharials., he added.
Also read: India’s Forest Cover : Up, Down Or Cover- Up
The LMP came into the picture, said a retired director of the tiger reserve, after the CEC left an “exit plan” for the government. The CEC report may have been lauded by independent environmentalists, but it left an “opening” in the form of LMP. ” Neither LMP nor compensatory afforestation of any scale can make-up for the massive massacre of trees”, he said. Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asian Network on Dams Rivers and People (SANDRP ) said, ” Ken Betwa River link Project still does not have all the statutory clearances. Its Stage 2 Forest Clearance is on conditions that would change the basic parameters of the project, requiring fresh environmental impact assessment (EIA) , environmental clearance (EC) and other clearances. Validity of its wildlife clearance has been questioned by the CEC and is yet to be considered by the Supreme Court.” He said that “Its EC remains challenged before the NGT. Should a project like this -requiring felling of 46 lakh trees- go ahead without even credible assessments or public consultation process that too in a climate change era ? Should it be considered when better, more cost effective and much less destructive options are available?, he opined.
” Avoid Such Projects”
Normally, a natural forest evolves over a period of 100 years, and we cannot recreate a natural forest , Large scale tree felling affects the water cycle, it would also lead to an increase in carbon dioxide, thereby increasing global warming. So by cutting 4 million trees, we, in fact, would aid , expedite or contributing further to the global warming. The Standing Committee to look into the impact of the proposed KBLP had made a scathing remark about the project: “No developmental project should destroy the ecology of [a] remnant [of a] fragile ecosystem and an important tiger habitat in the country. In an ideal situation, it would be best to avoid such projects in such wilderness areas with protected area status and specifically when it runs the risk of providing justification or unhealthy precedence for more such developmental project within the protected areas that will not be in the interest of wildlife and the overall well-being of the society in the long term.” In April 2022, the Madras High Court declared nature as a living being with all rights and duties of a living being.Let us atleast respect the court’s verdict.
By : Deshdeep Saxena
