IndiaWilds Newsletter Vol. 6 Issue IX

IndiaWilds Newsletter Vol. 6 Issue IX

Newsletter-Sep-2014 (6.0 MB, 963 downloads)

CSR to Save Wild India

A few years ago realising the need to have an inviolate core area, a scheme was started to compensate families 10lakh rupees each to relocate outside the reserves. The MoEF had sought funds from the finance ministry towards this without much success. So this project continues to languish.

In the backdrop of many such worthwhile projects biting the dust, there is a need to be innovative in raising funds for these causes. Fortunately we have one such easily implementable big idea to raise funds.

Top 10 Profit Making CPSEs (2012-2013)**

Sl. No. Name of the CPSEs Net Profit(in Rs. Crore)
1 Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. 20,925.70
2 NTPC Ltd. 12,619.39
3 Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd. 10,778.08
4 Coal India Ltd. 9,794.32
5 Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. 6,614.73
6 NMDC Ltd. 6,342.37
7 Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. 5,005.17
8 Power Finance Corporation 4,419.60
9 Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. 4,234.50
10 GAIL (India) Ltd. 4,022.20
Total (1 to 10) 84,756.06
Net Profit of profit making CPSEs 1,35,048.07

(source: Public Enterprises Survey by Department of Public Enterprises)

The answer is a lot.

Securing wildlife corridors:

Except for a few places like Sanand where the Gujarat Government paid much higher rates to acquire land for corporates, in most of the other places the going rate for land is about 2.5 lakh rupees per hectare. Even if the Government spends double that amount per hectare (to have enough margin of error), Rs.2700.9 crores can buy back 54,019 hectares of land in one year alone. This equals to 540 square kilometres which is about the size of some of our smaller premier national parks like Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Unfortunately the challenges are massive.

According to the Elephant Task Force report, there are a total of 88 elephant corridors ***that needs to be protected (ref: Annexure IVa and IVb of the ETF report). Of the ten elephant landscapes only 18732.03 sq km. out of 65270.8 ie. only 28% of the elephant landscape falls under P.A.(protected areas).

A wild asiatic elephant elephas maximus

A wild asiatic elephant (elephas maximus)

Benefits of such land acquisition:

This land acquisition will help in securing the wildlife corridors. This will lead to a healthy gene pool for our animals, especially mega-herbivores like elephants, carnivores like tigers and leopards as well as many other plant, animal and bird species.

The man-animal conflict especially the man-elephant conflict will drastically come down. About 400 people are estimated to be killed every year in human-elephant conflicts and crop depredation by elephants impacts about 0.8 to 1 million hectares and about 500,000 families (source: ETF report, page 71). Due to these conflicts the Government has to often give compensation to people killed by animals, towards crop destroyed, cattle killed by carnivores etc. The problem of people and animals living cheek by jowl in many places will be eliminated.

In many of these cases the Government can also provide employment to the locals by engaging them in planting native species of plants and trees, patrolling, and also in eco-tourism. This will help in getting an easy buy-in from the locals.

The purchase of these lands from people, and spending of part of it by them will boost consumption and will lead to a big multiplier effect on the economy.

Securing such large landscapes and even simply leaving it fallow will help in the nature taking it back ie. native vegetation growing back. For heavily degraded lands would ofcourse need assistance in planting native tree, plants, shrub species.

Forest Cover Map of India

Forest Cover Map of India

With increase in green areas, there would be more of carbon sequestration and will also help in increased rainfalls. India would be at the forefront of fighting climate change and this may help in reversing some of the climate change related effects.

Modalities of this Fund:

Once such a fund is created, it would also be easier for the private sector corporates to voluntarily contribute their CSR quota either in part or in full.

As in everything in life, there would be people who would resent this good move and would eye this fund. So there would be many who would ask why this fund is only used for wildlife. Are there not any other worthy cause in India? To all those people we need to explain that a country like India with a majority of people depending upon agriculture, with many people remaining below poverty line, with a wide coastal belt which can get inundated due to climate change induced rise in sea levels climate change can hurt us a lot and has infact started hurting us as can be seen through frequent calamities like landslides in Uttarakhand in 2013 and flooding in Srinagar etc.

The present NDA Government had promised that they will bring about big changes. This is their chance to create a lasting and beneficial change by accepting and implementing this idea to create a Green India.

References:
*Companies Act 2013: http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/CompaniesAct2013.pdf
** Public Enterprises survey 2012-2013 : http://dpe.nic.in/sites/upload_files/dpe/files/survey1213/survey01/Overview.pdf#Aggregate Profit and Loss
*** Elephant Corridors: Elephant Task Force Report Annexure IVa and IVb
***Desertification: PIB http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=73081

 

IndiaWilds App for Android Mobile

In India most of the internet penetration is happening through mobile phones. And the existing users who have access to desktops and laptops are becoming much more mobile then they used to be a few years ago. So to raise awareness and reach out to more people we need to adapt ourselves and make IndiaWilds easily accessed through a mobile phone using android OS.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we have created a mobile phone app so that people can access IndiaWilds anytime, anywhere without being tied to a computer. No need to type. One can access at the click of a button.

We have developed this app through Business Compass LLC a company based in Randolph, New Jersey, United States so that we create a good app.

Awareness is the first step before a person can become a champion of wildlife. I hope this will help us in reaching out to more people to raise awareness and make a real impact on the conservation landscape. If you have an android device then please download the app from this link:

 

Conservation News:

Climate Change: Srinagar Flooding:

Its been a year after the devastation in Uttarakhand due to landslides and flooding where thousands of people perished. After the initial round the clock coverage of the crisis focusing on the evacuation of pilgrims, the tragedy was quickly forgotten. However, another Himalayan tragedy has hit us in form of unprecedented flooding in Srinagar.

This year there were unabated rains from September 2nd. However the total amount of rainfall on September 5th was 49mm which as opposed to an average of about half a mm of normal rainfall. Expectedly people were marooned in the rising waters. There have been estimations of several hundred deaths and about two and half million people affected by this tragedy.

The situations in both the places is similar as people have moved on taken over the flood plains of the rivers. In earlier days people used to stay on hill tops despite the difficulty of climbing down to fetch water. They understood that these hill streams can suddenly rise. Unfortunately today we disrespect nature and arrogantly believe that we can do anything and get away with it. In the name of development, today people construct houses and other buildings in the flood plains and there is no law or wisdom to prevent them from this disastrous undertakings.

There is huge impace of this flooding in Sringar and the Government there virtually came to a stand still with the Chief Minister saying that he has no Government left. Initial estimates by ASSOCHAM, an industry association, suggests that this has caused about 1000 crores of rupees loss to the apple growers. Kashmir, one of the most beautiful states of our country, has been boiling for sometime due to terrorism, ethnic cleansing of Pandits and general disenchantment towards the Government. With rising poverty levels joining terrorists was also a lucrative proposition for some. This massive flooding, which is the biggest in the last six decades will further contribute to internal strife. No country can prosper when there is no peace. So it is imperative that the Government wakes up to the impact of climate change and start taking urgent steps.

 

Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change constitutes High Level Committee to review acts administrated by the Ministry

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15680-MoEF-constitutes-high-level-committee-to-review-various-acts

 

Equipment Discussions

EOS 7D Mark II announced by Canon

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15695-EOS-7D-Mark-II-announced-by-Canon

Canon launches 400f4 DO IS II and another two lenses

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15696-Canon-launches-400f4-DO-IS-II-and-another-two-lenses

Zeiss adds 85mm f1.4 lens to Otus lineup

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15669-Zeiss-adds-85mm-f1-4-lens-to-Otus-lineup

Leica launches Medium Format camera with 4K Video

 

Wilderness Updates

Bhadra -A Wonderland of eternal blue

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?14771-Bhadra-A-Wonderland-of-eternal-blue

 

Natural History

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?8852-Country-notebook-m-krishnan&p=70962#post70962

 

Sounds of Nature

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15649-Jog-Night-Frog

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15683-Call-of-the-peacock-Bandipur

 

Wildlife Photography

Elephants in Infrared by Sabyasachi Patra

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15665-Elephants-in-Infrared

Thoseghar falls by Jitendra Katre

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?14746-Thoseghar-falls

Malabar Pit Viper – Orange Morph by Bibhav Behera

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15637

Jog Night Frog by Abhishek Jamalabad

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?15638

Fruit piercing Moth Caterpillar by Prajwal Ullal

http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?14740
To post in the IndiaWilds forums, you can register free of cost using your Full Name as user id at
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/register.php

 

Regards,

Sabyasachi Patra

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Newsletter-Sep-2014 (6.0 MB, 963 downloads)

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