Archive for year: 2019

Overgrazing is a problem, overgrazing is a problem, overgrazing is a problem – does anyone care?

Greta Thunberg, the teenager from Sweden who became a climate change activist, does not need any introduction. Everyone knows that she stopped going to school in 2018 because she thought she has no future since “nothing” was done to fight climate change. According to her, climate change may de-stabilize our civilization. She has established herself as a leading figure of protests worldwide.

Extinction Rebellion may not be so well-known because it is still limited to Europe, Australia and a few countries. This is a civil disobedience movement that attempts to force governments into action in order to protect species (including us humans) from extinction due to excessive environmental degradation.

Greta Thunberg is a heroine for many and a puppet for others. She is pictured in some media as acting for the “rich”. Extinction Rebellion, a movement of young people is labeled “cult”, “doomsday worshipers” and many other names. Even though Extinction Rebellion is attempting to remain peaceful, governments give stronger and stronger responses to their actions.

One may say that these movements by the youth are fashionable group reactions. Others argue that if we examined the situation rationally, we would not follow such extremes. This is ignoring the fact that government agencies have been looking rationally at climate change for 50 years. Appeals to change the business-as-usual routine have been by-and-large ignored. Most countries adopt minimal budgets to address climate change. Conservation is of lower priority. No amount of data, interpretation and demonstration has convinced decision-makers to act forcefully on the clear and present danger ensuing from the systematic destruction of the biophere.

Many scientists of various disciplines understand the peril posed to civilization. They are becoming more vociferous because deniers get most attention in the media. Biologists, who generally are not inclined towards activism are warning us clearly, on paper, against the environmental catastrophe which is unfolding now. This warning available here is signed by 23,000 of them from 180 countries. This should look more worrisome than Greta Thunberg and our children in the street but it is ignored.

Reason is one of the most powerful and likable qualities of the human species. It works very well in self-inquiry, debate and science. For example, science depicts a fairly good picture of the condition of our environment. However reasonable discussion does not work when one side only pretends to pay attention but does not care – for decades. When a debate proves to be impossible, other forms of interactions come into play even though they do not satisfy anybody.

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

Lantana camara undergrowth in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

We recently have published a paper: ‘Point intercept method for estimating biomass of invasive lantana (Lantana camara) in the Nilgiris, India’ in the Indian Forester (here). This paper is part of our student Muneer Ul Islam Najar’s Ph.D. thesis on the population dynamics of lantana in the Nilgiris Plateau.

I was astonished by the number of request for this paper. This study represents a good effort to estimate biomass with a bizarre method: it consist in counting the number of contacts a vertical pin will make with the plant in several sampling places. The number of contacts is proportional to the plant’s biomass as shown in this study. This method, quite cumbersome, can be used to estimate the degree of infestation of an area. There are other methods based on allometry (plant proportions) for example.

The interest in any publication on lantana is understandable. Lantana is originally from Central America and had invaded the jungles of India. Consequently, many people are interested in lantana, including us. A reaction we often get when we start with a conservation question is: “so and so is doing the same thing”. To be translated into: “why do you bother at all since someone else is already working on the problem?” Many students get cold feet when they hear such feedback and abandon their ambitions. In many ways, the question is valid: why reproduce someone else’s work? Science proceeds rapidly, it is better to focus on discoveries. Conservation moreover, does not receive a lot of money from governments and it is crucial to be effective. But science needs competition, conservation must have different voices and management often requires site-specific information. The chance of being totally redundant is consequently small.

Are we going to resolve the lantana invasion with this research? No. However, Muneer needed to measure the degree of infestation and he did it by exploring a new method. He also realized that in the Nilgiris, tree plantations, if managed properly, could become less infested. A student trained in plant population dynamics and new suggestions to planters and the Forest Department make a modest but useful contribution to a better environment management. So why not do it?

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

Today is the second time I was seriously charged by an elephant because of the irresponsible behavior of people.

The first time was on 25^th January at 10:20 am (these things tend to stick to memory). The personnel of a nearby school at Vazhaithottam came to the river near our house throwing loud fire crackers. I went to let them know they were elephants around and was charged very seriously by Cortes. This happened because I was looking for him on the wrong side and I could not see him early enough. I was probably three seconds from being killed if my wife hadn’t shouted at the top of her voice during the charge and also risked her life by running towards the elephant. Elephants get confused when they hear loud noise and tend to lose their focus of the target.

Cortes immediately after breaking the charge. Photo Peter Davidar.

It happened again today. We saw a group of seven people and a dog walking near the river again at 10:00 am coming from the Mavinhalla village. I went to advise them to leave. I barely had the time to ask them who they were and where they had come from, when I saw an elephant charging. I only had the time to shout “run”. Luckily, we all managed to reach the house safely, but if I had not gone at the risk of my life, they would have been casualties.

Group of tourists after the charge. One person is hidden, recovering. You can also suffer cardiac arrest…

Recorded human deaths due to an elephant charge due to human disturbance inflate the statistics of human-elephant conflict (HEC). However, as we can see here, there was no conflict. In the first case, a few local people wanted to have a good time near a stream across from a Reserved Forest. In this place they are bound to meet with elephants. In order to do what they want, they  regularly disturb threatened species – in a protected area. In the second case, the group of tourists came from a house that operates as an illegal guest house and absolutely everyone knows about it. Illegal business do not trouble themselves with visitors’ safety and environment regulation.

The question is: when is the law going to be enforced before someone is killed?

Jean-Philippe Puyravaud

The Sigur River

The Sigur River, flowing through the heart of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, provides water to a dry region of significant importance for the conservation of wildlife. The Kamarajsagar dam was constructed across the river in the 1960s. From a perennial river supporting over 30-species of fish, became seasonal and flowed only during the rains. This led to undocumented ecological destruction. There was no fish left in the river after 2000. In 2017 a minimum flow was restored, ensuring the re-establishment of conditions appropriate for ecological restoration.

On the 15th September 2019, the Sigur Nature Trust will provide a small grant (Rs 60,000 maximum) to document the ecological changes. The objectives are to compare the fish diversity of the Sigur River to that of other streams, assess the speed of fish colonization and provide guidelines for long-term management, including food security of local communities.

The grant is exclusively reserved for students. Candidates should send:

• their biodata
• a proposal (maximum 3 pages)
• a budget (1 page)
• a scan copy of a certificate of registration in an Indian education institution

By accepting the grant, the successful candidate also agrees to share data and provide a report to the Trust in a convenient format chosen by the candidate (M.Sc. thesis or Ph.D. thesis or report or preferably, a scientific publication). The Trust can provide additional support such as data analysis should the candidate request it. The Trust will first disburse half the grant value and the second half will be disbursed after a review conducted at the grantee’s convenience.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is the 1st of September 2019. Applications should be sent in PDF at the e-mail address: sigurnaturetrust@gmail.com.

Our call for support is now closed, since our generous sponsors – overshot the target. We thank Ms. Naheed Carrimjee, Ms. Priya Nehrurajan, Mr. Raian Irani, Mr. Rémi Daudin and Mr. Rustom Mehta for their generous, invaluable support.