The Devil is Green
An edited version of the piece below finds place in SAEVUS; May 2014.
Thanks are due to Saevus, Sree and Sudarshana.
Indebted to Dampa Tiger Reserve, Pu Tlana, Jhony, Joseph and Zakhuma besides many others in the landscape who shared time, awareness and tea.
Marauding oil-palms
Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram is arguably one of the
older and yet lesser-known Tiger Reserves in the region. As you read this, it
faces a threat like few others. Is it one of the usual suspects: Hunting?
Shifting-cultivation? Dams? No. This time the offender is deceptively green - or should I say - oil that appears green.
This comes at a time when camera-trapping exercises have revealed the splendour
of its wildlife wealth to be not only intact but also on the rise and the
field-director has titled his endearingly drafted piece – Dampa: Out of the
Woods?
The highly diverse forests in the villages that
constitute the Dampa Tiger Reserve and are a crucial habitat for all the
denizens of the landscape are forced to make way for the monoculture in
oil-palm. This invasion is taking place in the 488 sq kms that have been
notified as buffer and abut the 500 sq kms of core area (the Dampa Wildlife
Sanctuary). The government has been promoting oil-palm with zeal. Fund
allocation for 2013-2014 alone is Rs. 3,011.46 lacs. Mamit, the district which
houses Dampa, is one of the better performers and also has an Oil Palm Zonal
Committee under the Mizoram Oil Palm (Regulation
of Production and Processing) Act, 2004. Jay Mazoomdar in his article
‘Reading the palm right’ states ‘For all
its economic advantage, oil-palm is one of the most controversial crops.
Indonesia and Malaysia account for 87 % of the globally traded palm oil; its
plantation responsible for a third of their combined loss of forest in the past
decade.’
Given the uncharacteristically enthusiastic state-drive
and a buy-back contract with the invited companies (Godrej Oil Palm Ltd in this case) majority cultivators seem to
favour the palm. Besides, oil-palm takes way lesser time than its nearest
competitors – areca-nut and rubber to mature and generate revenues! People I
chatted with earlier this year, have planted between 50 and 500 oil-palms on
their plots and in one case the villagers have come together to plant
approximately 9,000 oil-palms on a single hill.
Not all, however, are sure. Some of whom I
interacted with mentioned that oil-palm requires large area and regular supply
of water which may be difficult and also that while the palms are young they
are favoured by barking-deers, wild-pigs and even tree-shrews! Some also shared
that the weather and altitude in Mizoram do not favour quick growth of oil-palm.
I asked them where they would get rice from till they begin selling the
oil-palm few years down the line. Most of them did not have a clear answer and
one of them was frank enough to share that they were lost! As I chatted with
them I wondered where they would get their supply of fire-wood and bamboo from if
they plant oil-palm extensively in their lands. That some of these villages
face shortage of both fire-wood and bamboo even today does not help.
Dampa, like
many other landscapes in the region, harbours as much biodiversity wealth
outside the Protected Areas (PA) as inside them and actions such as these will
sound a death-knell for these forests outside the PA. Where will the amazingly
beautiful lesser-cats and small-carnivores, who occupy a place of pride in Dampa’s
repertoire go if we snatch away their space? Will I
see their pugmarks as I meander in these forests few years down the line? Dampa
is well-know for the assemblages of forest birds it harbours. What will happen
to the birds whom I happily hear as I walk the village forests and in many
cases fail to spot unless (as it seems) they want to see me! Will Dampa too (unfortunately!) become an island? Have
we lost yet another opportunity to partner locals in sustainable conservation
of the landscape?
The scenario was not very different few years ago
when I was based at Baghmara (South Garo Hills, Meghalaya). Baghmara like Dampa
is a biodiversity rich landscape that borders Bangladesh. Culprit there being
rubber.
We unfortunately have not learnt from George
Santayana who stated "Those who
cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." On the other hand;
perhaps it is not too late and the extensive paraphernalia that we have in
place for conserving our national animal could be put to test!
Related reading :
Shankar's article in THE HINDU.
Mridula's article in SCROLL.
Related reading :
Shankar's article in THE HINDU.
Mridula's article in SCROLL.
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