Forest Protection Blog

Already the telephone wires are hot and things are moving. Apparently more than 6000 messages have gone to the Project Elephant Inspector General of Forests in New Delhi and the fellow is demanding immediate clarifications from Kerala. An IFS officer has been deputed to visit the site today and report immediately. This chap had been the Warden of the Sanctuary earlier and is a very nice gentleman. Already I have explained what briefing should be given to him. The news is also out that the Minister is keen on a location outside the forest further west. But I think we will go ahead and press for an assessment of all the corridors and widening them even through land acquisition. Strict regulation of tourism near the corridors is also to be demanded.

Dear Friends

IN AFRICA they built a hotel on an elephant path so now the elephants
just walk straight through the hotel lobby every November. Is this what
the people in India want? We saw this on television here recently.

Good luck Claudia Booth

This majestic, very social mammal deserves our utmost efforts to keep it on this planet.He came first.His manners are gentle.His brain shows us that it is superior to ours.
Who are we to ruin it's livingspace?
Shame on us, Nature and God forsaken creatures, multiplying like rabits.

Thank you for forwarding this reply to us and giving us a chance to respond to it. We have tried to answer them one at a time, in italics.

Dear Prof. Braden,

I was very concerned to receive your e-mail on the INO project; I have been receiving identical mails from various other persons as well.

I am one of the members of the INO project and would like to point out the following:

1. Our proposed location is 7-15 km away from the boundary of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve, including the buffer zone.

RESPONSE: What exactly does 7-15 km mean? We find it rather odd that physicists would chose to use such loose language. The logical way to measure distance would be the distance from the INO portal to the closest boundary. One could claim it is either 7 km or 15 km,
not possibly both. And this distance is in fact 1.4 km from the boundary of the Core Zone (or Critical Tiger Habitat) of the Tiger Reserve as stated in our report (http://nbralliance.org/downloads/environmental-concerns-around-ino-site.pdf). We find it rather disturbing that Dr. Indumathi chooses to spread such misinformation as she has in fact been to the site and is aware of the real distances. We have also added a map to our website(http://nbralliance.org/downloads/images/ino-site-2.jpg) to make the matter clearer and prevent such distortions in the future.

All the Reserved Forests act as a Buffer to the Critical Tiger Habitat. And the INO site is completely surrounded by this Buffer. The declaration of Mudumalai as Tiger Reserve is relatively new, and the process of officially declaring it a Buffer is under way. The point we wish to make is that they can be no doubt whatsoever that the entire region is full of wildlife, and animals do not distinguish between core, buffer, reserved forests or even private TNEB land.

2. Our portal is in the land belonging to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). TNEB has dug 13+ km of tunnels in the vicinity due to their underground power project there. Hence the area is well-studied and this is an important safety feature. In fact, construction for the TNEB project was completed only a few years ago.

RESPONSE: It is true that the entrance to the portal is on land occupied by the Tamilnadu Electricity Board, and we have never tried to claim otherwise. What we again wish to emphasize is that the entire TNEB land is surrounded by forests and is a critical wildlife
area. It would be wrong to claim the TNEB “owned” this land. To the best of our knowledge it was leased to them by the forest departnemt for the purpose of the hydroelectricity project.
Further, the entire PUSHEP project has been a well documented disaster in the region, the effects of which are highlighted in the report.

3. The tunnel then passes under TNEB land and private coffee estates before it goes (several hundred m) under Singara reserve forest, NOT Tiger reserve.

RESPONSE: Every Tiger Reserve in this country consists of a core zone (critical tiger habitat), that is surrounded by a buffer area. This buffer zone could be any kind of land \'96 reserved forests, revenue forests, government land or even private land, just so long as there exists some amount of tree and vegetation cover that can act as a spill over area or corridor for wildlife. (Guidelines on the Project Tiger website). Common sense would clearly dictate the Singara Reserved Forests act as a Buffer area. The tree cover is excellent, and it not only acts as a spill over area and corridor, but is also able to sustain its own animal populations. The process to officially declare it is under way, and is likely to take a few more months.

As physicists is it understandable that the INO team will not have any knowledge of wildlife and would believe that only a protected area can be called a forest or harbour endangered species. But their incessant harping on irrelevant technicalities even after they were made aware of the large number of wild animals around the proposed site seems to be an attempt to divert attention from the real issues.

4. We have a detailed proposal for environment impact mitigation and several reputed environmentalists who have done the concerned study are convinced that Singara is the best site for our lab, provided the mitigation measures are correctly done.

RESPONSE: The obvious and logical question would be: Why is the supposed detailed proposal for environmental impact mitigation by reputed environmentalists not out in the public domain (on their web site)? Why did they refuse to give it to Environmentalists and why was is that it had to be obtained via the Right to Information Act? Given all the secrecy it is difficult to be sure about the mitigation plans. To the best of our knowledge there have been two documents prepared so far:

1. Rapid Environmental Impact by SACON. To call this detailed or by reputed environmentalists would be an insult. Our report has an entire section dedicated to the flaws in it, and it would out of the scope of this reply to even attempt to list the problems here. Though it is not available anywhere on the INO web pages we have made it available on our website.
2. A second Environmental Management Plan prepared by Care Earth. Since this is a private agency, we are not legally able to get this report, and have not seen it. Even without looking into the contents of it however, we wish to point out that there is a conflict of interest, as the same private agency is being paid (rather large sums of money) to plan and mitigate the impact.

5. Several other sites were studied and Singara is the best possible site, both from viewpoint of geology and environment.

RESPONSE: We fail to see how this could possibly be true when all their own documentation seems to suggest otherwise. The 2005 the mini report talks only of two sites, both is rather fragile areas. (http://www.imsc.res.in/~ino/OpenReports/minirep.pdf). Even as far back as 2003, an article in Nature talks of only two sites (Vol 423, 26 June 2003, www.nature.com/nature).

More details are available at our web-site

http://www.imsc.res.in/~ino

As fellow scientists with the objective of building a pure science lab, we are certainly keen to preserve our environment and are extremely serious about conservation efforts. We have made several public presentations and met many concerned environmental groups and individuals to discuss about INO in many cities and towns in India.

I find it unfortunate that a group of individuals with highly misleading articles---see for instance the NBR Alliance article on INO where even the boundary of Mudumalai and Bandipur National Parks are incorrectly marked! (http://nbralliance.wordpress.com/ino-at-singara/)---are resorting to such tactics. I do hope that you will read our web-site and rethink your stand on this issue.

RESPONSE: The satellite image does not have any boundaries marked, but it is true that the positions of Mudumalai and Bandipur are wrong. However, it clearly states it is a “Google Satellite Image”, with no manipulation from us. We have the freedom to use it for non commercial purposes, but we do not have the right to edit it. Operating without large budgets backing us, we do admit that the blog and free satellite images are rather amateur, but are all we have for now.

In this very general reply to you, I have not specifically replied to any of the perceived issues on INO. That is because I do not know precisely what documents you have read and what is the origin of this form letter that is being sent to us by so many people. (I would appreciate receiving this information from you).

Hence, please do not hesitate to write and ask me if you have any specific questions on the location of INO.

Thank you very much,

Regards,

Indumathi

RESPONSE: We all seem to agree that the biggest threat to nature and wildlife today come from large 'development' projects – mines, dams and the like. Today we are poised to set an extremely unique precedent – wildlife and nature threatened by a scientific project.

This entire debate has been skewed from the start. We all inherently assume that physicists setting up a pure science lab would be un-biased in their approach, and operate based on scientific data and facts. This in sharp contrast to environmentalists who
always seem keen on campaigns and a lot of noise, often not based on science. And this debate has been no different – the environmentalists have been branded guilty of exaggeration unless they can prove otherwise, while the INO team's statements are accept
ed unquestioningly without a semblance of data backing them.
Where is a report on the search all across the country for suitable sites?
Where is a map to scale that shows the INO portal is 7-15km from a critical tiger habitat?
Where is a document to prove the TNEB owns the land?
Where is the study of the impact of the massive number of trucks through a fragile elephant corridor?
What is going to be the effect of 0.68mm/s of vibration caused by explosives on denning species in the region?
Where is a study that shows all the damage is short term and reversible?
Where is a study to quantify the environmental damage so that a mitigation amount can be planned?
Where is the document that estimates the increase in human population and infrastructure likely to come up in a fragile area?
What is threshold human population the Segur Plateau can handle?

The FAQ on the INO website is similar – full of rather nice sounding promises, but with absolutely no data backing it. We find it absolutely ridiculous that fellow scientists try to claim this farcical effort at an EIA and mitigation measure is an extremely serious conservation effort.

Sincerely,

The NBR Alliance

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) which is a 1000+ strong community of tropical biologists worldwide have sponsored a resolution against INO.

We should certainly emphasize the fact that the community of tropical conservation biologists is certainly against such a project (regardless of a few pro-INO individuals like Sukumar). The marketing of the INO project has been completely dishonest which should be emphasised.

Priya Davidar

Rejoinder to Remarks of INO spokesperson

The India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Singara is located within the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, and is not ‘7-15 km away from the boundary of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve’ as claimed by the INO spokesperson. In fact the portal is less than 2 km from the core zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (map indicating location at http://nbralliance.org/downloads/images/ino-site-2.jpg). The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACO N) on the INO project clearly states that ‘There are at least two wildlife corridors present nearby the project site. They are Singara-Mavanhalla and Moyar-Avarihalla Corridor’, and both these corridors play a vital role in movement of wildlife and exchange of genetic materials (sic) as they connect Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary with Sigur Plateau and Eastern Ghats, which are vital for the long-term conservation of these species. These corridors are already highly threatened by various anthropogenic activities in the area’. What we again wish to emphasize is that the entire TNEB land is surrounded by forests and is a critical wildlife area.
The INO spokesperson claims that ‘our portal is in the land belonging to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). TNEB has dug 13+ km of tunnels in the vicinity due to their underground power project there’. In fact only the entrance to the portal is on land occupied by the Tamilnadu Electricity Board, and the tunnelling will take place partly within the Singara Reserved Forest that will form part of the buffer zone of the Tiger Reserve. The creation of the underground cavern and tunnelling will create noise, vibrations and the generate muck that needs to be disposed off. These impacts have already been identified by the EIA.
The INO spokesperson that ‘As fellow scientists with the objective of building a pure science lab, we are certainly keen to preserve our environment and are extremely serious about conservation efforts’. If so, why has the EIA prepared by SACON and the The Environmental Management Plan (EMP) prepared by Care Earth, a Chennai based NGO, not been placed in public domain, to enable concerned citizens and scientists to objectively evaluate the threats. Therefore the statement by the INO spokesperson that ‘We have a detailed proposal for environment impact mitigation and several reputed environmentalists who have done the concerned study are convinced that Singara is the best site for our lab, provided the mitigation measures are correctly done’, cannot be objectively and scientifically evaluated since they are not open to scrutiny.
The INO spokesperson claims that ‘Several other sites were studied and Singara is the best possible site, both from viewpoint of geology and environment’.
The 2005 the mini report talks only of two sites, both in ecologically rather fragile areas. (http://www.imsc.res.in/~ino/OpenReports/minirep.pdf). Even as far back as 2003, an article in Nature indicated that only two sites had been examined (Vol 423, 26 June 2003, www.nature.com/nature). We need to have more information and see real data on the other sites screened by INO.

you are quick acknowledging things! It makes me inwardly weep about these things - it is a natural feeling in some people to feel the pain of other creatures and for the forests etc. It is inbuilt as all life is part of that original kick-start except for cochroaches, ticks, mosquitoes and harmful viruses. At present in Europe the MEPs have managed to pass legislation to keep out seal products from Canada. They are now trying to stop the use of all primates in lab research and use the various new methods that give better and more accurate results. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have a current appeal whereby if I give them one pound sterling they get one pound sterling back from the Government, so I gave them 25 pounds = 50 pounds plus the tax back I paid on the original 25 i.e. 28 pence in the pound, thus giving another 7 pounds. The money donated is to buy a whole saltmarsh for bird protection. Another group, the Woodland Trust has another deal whereby if I give 20 pounds they get back 100 pounds for 10 pounds, so my donation gives them 200 pounds plus the tax on the 20 pounds, i.e. 5.60 pounds. The money comes from our Landfill Tax fund, i.e. every time a ton of waste is dumped in a landfill site the dumper has to pay a tax, so the funds taken are given back to environment projects. With this Trust they will buy 3 new ancient woodlands.

At present, I am assisting in my political party's campaign to win seats in our forthcoming Euro elections in June. It is proportional representation, so we stand a chance. Europe is corrupt and it is non-democratic and could eventually fall under a totalitarian regime. My concerns are the loss of European identity; reduction of Christian influence (although I am a non-practioner, but value its contribution to our civilisation and its inherent compassion); the reduction of mass immigration into the UK and other European states, particularly from Africa and Asia. I believe we should be helping people sort out their problems within their own countries and to have strong military, international forces to act as a world police force. The environmental destruction we face will lead to more environmental destruction refugees who will invade the West and so bring down States with high standards should become sealed and try to conserve every resource they have as it could become fortress like with so many trying to escape from overpopulation and loss of agricultural land. There is a good book - Plan B 3.0 by Lester Brown outlining most of this scenario. Also, the National Geographical shows the plight of the mustangs and the turtles in the USA - the horses are badly treated and the turbles are getting scooped up to fee the rich Chinese. It is like the elephants, no where to go for all life now. Do you remember Chief Seattle's speech which was later shown to have been written by a Swiss guy, but it did convey the reality of the unwinding of the web of life. Britain will eventually face civil war if we continue to destroy more and more of our farm land for houses for immigrants. The Asian gangs control London and islamists chase our police off the streets there. Some future!

Greer Hart

I know Mudumulai? I love my elephant her name is Mudumulai - Please India is a good coutry for animals, when I go IN iNDIA I like to stay with your beautifuls animals and people, please respect animals

HI I M WRITEING YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE ONLY WAY FOR ME WHERE I CAN TOLD ANY WRONG DOINGS WHICH ARE HAPPENS NEAR TO ME. I WANT TO TOLD YOU THAT I AM RESIDEING NEAR UNA (HP.).A GROUP FROM PUNJAB HAD BUY 150 BIGHAS OF MOUNTAINS. NOW THEY STATED DEMOLISING ALL THE MOUNTAINS AT 0 LEVEL .THEY HAD CUT DOWN 100'S OF TREES.THE SITE IS SITUATED AT UNA SHIMLA ROADAROUND 10 KM FROM UNA AND THE NAME OF THE VILLAGE IS SISPUR NEAR MEHROLI.THE STATE GOVERMENT IS HELPING THEM IN ALL THE WAY.NOW SOME BODY TOLD US THAT THE PERSON WHO HAD BUY THE LAND IS GOING TO CONSTRUCT A UNIVERSITY HERE AND HE BORROWS 200 CRORE LOAN FROM PUNJAB GOVERMENT FOR THAT PURPOSE. WE JUST WANT TO KNOW THAT WITH THE GOVERMENT'S MONEY SOME BODY IS DESTROYEING THE NATURE. AND AFTER THAT HE WILL EARN MONEY FROM GOVERMENTS MONEY.HAMARI CHAPAL OR HAMARA HI SER. WHAT IS THIS????

i say no 2 ino.destroying visible nature and life 2 study invisible neutrinos is nothing but gambling against nature,consequences as little known as the neutrinos itself. scientists better search the outerspace. dont destroy the earth searching for aliens

Vinayaga(Ganesha)Chaturthi falls on Aug 23rd this year.It is one of the most popular festivals celebrated all over India. Ganesha is also one of the most beloved of the Hindu Gods.
The elephant is also generally held to be sacred by the Indians. But somewhere, while we spend hundreds of rupees in each household, and millions of rupees collectively in celebrating the Ganesha festival, we do not connect the wild elephant as the symbol of Vinayaka.
If any or some of the 'Save the Elephant and its Habitat' organisations could begin a campaign every year about a month before this festival and exhort people to donate some money on this holy day to save this magnificient animal and restore the elephant corridor as a true gesture of prayer and supplication to the Lord, we may touch a chord in people's hearts.It will also be a good opportunity to create awareness among the public especially in the minds of the children and the youth.
Simple posters of beautiful photographs of the elephant superimposed by a picture of Ganesha,with perhaps a short message will be effective, posted in various public places, temples, and through e'mails etc.
Most people do not donate through the e-mail or net.They prefer to drop a little money in a collection box or give cash to a collecting volunteer. Arrangements have to be made to collect this kind of donations.These small donations are the ones which will add up to millions in India.
This can be done every year till the Ganesha festival becomes synonymous with protecting our elephant

I hope you do not mind if I posted a link on digg

Hi! Nice post..
Follow my blog also to see the beauty of the
ELEPHANT in SRI LANKA…videos…. Videos… videos… videos.. videos.. videos….. videos… videos… videos… videos.. videos…..!!!!!!!!!!

www.elephants-srilanka.blogspot.com
www.watsansrilanka.blogspot.com

Hi!

I admire this web page regarding Indian elephants.
I also want to write to you regarding the elephants in Burma, based on a doumentry I recently watched, with the intention of obtaining your support in connection with saving these innocent wild creatures.

As we know, elephants have become one of the endangered species on earth. Hence, I hope that you will do something in this connection.

Im a Sri Lankan, and our elepants are not suffering as this, according to my understaninding.

The DVD I watched was produced by the National Geographic, (namely "Elephant Power"), 2008, - Wildlife Wonders Collection Vol 13 (Herald Sun - Sunday.)

It was about how elephants are in the wild, were taken in to custody, and the way they were tamed to pull heavy wood /logs on mountains with heavy slopes. 7 yr. old young elephant was captured and totured for about 3 or more days without food & water. They call it "break down". Its Four legs were pulled by ropes for 4 sides and another heavy rope around its belly hang to the roof. They totured it, with pinning on feet, biting its ears, beating him and shouting like as in an insane home. Its coverd with mud and blood all around its body, and it is crying. Tears rolling down from its poor eyes. The toture go on overnights.

The government also sponsor this inhuman activities.

After they are totured they are ready to pull heavy logs across mountain slopes. It was such a hard work, that they die at the age of 50. (Though they should live for 100 yrs.) They call them "LIVING MACHINES", still we know they are like us, with feelings and thoughts though they are larger than us. They are not offered with sufficient food. The same will happen to the babies borne to the captured.

Therefore, I hope that you can do something with these burmese elephants. Please help them, at least to recover from these toturing period. If you need a copy of the DVD, I will issue it to you, if you can pl. let me know the way that I have to do it. (how I send it to you)

Thank you!

Please take immediate action to same them.

Nirosha.