Expressions

1ExpressionS MARCH 2012

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icareindiabringing people together

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featuring

snakes by AMIT BIJON DUTTAphoto story by HIMANSHU

TOMARthe last second before midnight by ISABELLE RICHAUDthe mountain gorilla massacre by CHRISTINA BUSHenvironmental pollution in INDIA by SURBHI ARORAcarbon taxation, a reality by YUDHISHTER PURAN SINGH

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WI-FI Campus of 20 Acres

Helpline Nos.98376347379837382151

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Inspired by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s vision of making India a developed country by 2020, we bring to you for the FIRST TIME in UTTARAKHAND a National Level Youth Summit

Vision 2020 which will showcase the voice of the youngistaan.

All these years the youth have not been believed to be the hope of tomorrow for no rhyme or reason. They are a young and vibrant resource with the ability to bring fresh innovative ideas and concepts to the table. According to us what is needed, is tapping into this minefield of energy in the hope to bring

the youth together, engaging them in dialogue in the quest for making India a superpower by the year 2020

Abstracts invited from students in not more than the specified word limit on the followingLaw * Legal Awareness is the need of the hour.B.Tech * Suggest Innovative technical advancements in key sectors of the nation, emphasize on providing opportunities to youngsters and need to develop R&D. Management * Need to propagate and promote the concept of Green Economy. ESSAY Role of young minds in shaping India’s path towards becoming a superpower. BEST IDEA Any vision for development is incomplete without focus on education. Suggest socio-economic and cost-effective ideas to promote the current education system.

Word Limit350

1000

3501500

500

* TEAM SIZE: 1 -3

REGISTER NOW LIMITED SEATS, REGISTRATION CLOSES 30th MARCH 2012

Objectives of the SummitGive young people the chance to speak out and be heard,

Encourage conversations about serious issues within the age group that is involved and impacted,Support youth and adults working together to solve problems through civic and political action.

Why to ParticpateGet a chance to work on your core area which will provide you the much needed

impetus in your ongoing course. Once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of a National Youth Summit

in your own city – Dehradun. An opportunity to share the platform with eminent people from your respective area of study.

Provision of Certificates to all the participants.Share your ideas and propose changes in current political and legal system.

Cash Prizes for all the winners.Various categories of awards to be presented.

Show the change you want to see through your ideas.Unlock your Leadership Potential by competing with the best from the country.

Winning team’s articles to be published in Newspapers and ExpressionsUttarakhand’s 1st Environmental e-magazine.

A letter of recommendation to Top ten teams from icareindia.

Registration Fees 1. For Summit (Abstract Submission) ` 200 per team member For Essay Writing ` 100 per team member For Best Idea Competition ` 100 per team member

*2. For each outstation team member, ` 1000 will be charged onaccount of boarding & lodging (meals included)

SHOBHIT SHARMA+919760163959

(B.Tech)

HARSHIT KHARE+919634007061

(Law)

SUCHITA UNIYAL+919557186626(Management)

ANKIT SHRIVASTAV +919760210280(General Queries)

mail us at [email protected]

www.youthsummit.icareindia.co.in

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A popular joke doing the rounds these days goes something like this: “To hell with global warming! So what if our kids don’t get to see polar bears? We didn’t get to see dinosaurs either!” While the joke, like all others in poor taste, should probably be laughed away and forgotten, I was slightly irked by both the sheer ignorance underlying its mild callousness of thought as well as the continued propensity of this age’s humour to comprise anything that extracts quick, cheap, thoughtless laughs. I might be over-reacting but I don’t think it’s funny either: there’s no reason our children and our planet should suffer because of imagined wrongs against us.

Each generation, in general, wishes to leave behind a world that is more comfortable and rewarding for its children. While our comfort and the planet’s safety are often at con-flict, it does not have to remain that way. We might think that there’s nothing that can be done about the ceaseless deforestation to accommo-date a growing population; continuous industrialization and polluting of our rivers so that modern comforts continue to be produced; unstoppable air pollution to accommo-date modern luxuries such as ACs and cars. We are wrong. We have to reduce this con-flict. We must reduce this conflict.

There are strong reasons for these opposing forces to not remain in conflict. Ultimately, the planet’s comfort will determine how comfortable our children’s future is. Consider a planet in turmoil: unclean air and water will lead to diseases and deformities that stunt our children’s growth. Unclean soil, fewer trees will disturb ecosystems. It will destroy the planet’s potential to produce clean water, more food. How will our children survive in a planet that’s wounded?

We use the same term for both planet and children: “ours”.How can we let either suffer?

thereaders’expressions

from the editors’ desk

Shubhodeep PalCopy and Desk Editor, Expressions

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Conserving the African Lion was a really informative article. Loved reading it. I have truly become a fan of Christina Bush’s articles being featured in Expressions.

Rohitash Thapliyal

Amar Nayak’s exclusive photo-story was a treat to the eyes. Loved the photographs. Honestly to a lay-man it seems taking photographs would be so easy but ask a professional the hard-work that one has to put in. Kudo’s to Amar. Sunita Rai

We indeed need to slowdown fast. How I wish more people can realize the importance and serious-ness of the problem and take appropriate actions. Loved the article by Surbhi Arora. Would love if you could write more on the same topic.

Ankur Gupta

It’s heartening to see young students coming forward and expressing themselves for a good cause. Expressions provides a hope that the youth have a medium if they wish to use it for propagating the need to work collectively towards creating a more sustainable future. Rakhi Kapoor

Expressions should go for a print-version soon, its high time this magazine is made available on stands so that the whole idea of creating awareness and reaching out to the masses can be achieved. Would love to know what do the promoters have to sav about the same? Sanjay Sharma

Loved the photo-story by Amar Nayak. Was left speechless. Vikram Singh

6 ExpressionS MARCH 2012 7ExpressionS MARCH 2012


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Carbon Taxation - A Reality Yudhishter Puran Singh

The Last Second before Midnight Isabelle Richaud

Let Us Make a Choice Now Dr. Ratna Bannerjee

The Mountain Gorilla Massacre Christina Bush

Radio Active : Development of Mexico Sean Southey

Snakes Amit Bijon Dutta

Adapt or Perish Sneha Pande

Environmental Pollution in India Surbhi Arora

ExpressionS ExpressionSthe expressions INSIDE

the CREATORS

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PHOTO STORY

IN THE NEWS

Himanshu Tomar

Yudhishter Puran Singh

FOUNDER & EDITOR

Akshay Madan CREATIVE EDITOR & DESIGNER

KarishmaGulatiFEATURESEDITOR

Harshit SinghNEWS EDITOR

Sandip Puran Singh

Shubhodeep Pal COPY & DESK EDITOR

Pooja Bhatt SENIOR EDITOR

Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Expressions., its publisher and/or editors. We at Expressions do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute

accuracy of the information

ALL EDITORIAL QUERIESMUST BE DIRECTED TO

The Editor, Expressions,51-A Subhash Road, Dehradun 248140, Uttarakhand, India

PERMISSIONSFor permissions to copy or reuse material from EXPRESSIONS, write to [email protected]

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cover and magazine design akshay madanThis emagazine is user interactive.

Click on above page numbers to navigate to the respective section.To arrive back on this index page, Click on the bottom left corner of any even numbered page

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Global warming is a serious problem, which the world is slowly but surely taking a note

of. We have reached a stage where ignorance is only going to add to our woes. It’s a well known fact that over the past few years Greenhouse gas emissions have risen considerably. Global warming is mainly linked to increasing world at-mospheric concentrations of green house gases (GHGs), of which carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most significant and thus Carbon tax is a short-hand for carbon dioxide tax or CO2 tax.

Carbon tax can thus be described as a form of pollution tax which will have “near-term, mid-term, and long-term” effects on “lifestyle choices,”

Over the years there have been many recom-mendations by senior scientists cum Environ-mentalists who believe that that the carbon tax be returned to the public in “equal shares on a per capita basis.” James Hansen a senior scientist suggests that wealthier people whose activities emit more CO2 should pay more in carbon taxes than they get back, while those who earn less will receive more in refunds than they will lose through taxes. “A person reducing his carbon footprint more than average makes

money. Thus in simple words “a person with large cars and a big house will pay a tax much higher than the dividend.”

Despite various reports and suggestions by reputed organizations very little taxation of car-bon is presently in place in the world. Finland was the first country to enact a carbon tax as early as 1990 but not many countries are keen on the same. But at the same-time there have been economists, policy makers and concerned citizens who have realized the importance of levying carbon tax as it is seen as an essential means to combat the current climate crisis pre-vailing across the globe.

In Australia Carbon Tax has become a reality with the Gillard government passing the ‘Clean Energy Bill 2011’. In a few months from now Australian govt. will start charging 23$ per-tonne carbon tax. The carbon tax aims to cut Australia’s emissions by 5% from year 2000 levels by the year 2020 and bring emissions down by 80% by 2050.

I will put forward a simple scenario, a manufac-turer ‘A’ produces a good which is eco-friendly and the manufacturer ensures that all possible

steps have been taken to ensure as less pol-lutants are released. This would entail certain extra costs which otherwise he would not have incurred if he was not conscious thus leading to an increase in the over-all price of the product whereas there is another manufacturer ‘B’ that produces the same good but is least bothered about the level of pollutants released and is merely concerned about keeping the costs down and thus leading to more profitability. Who do you think the government should favor and offer rebates to? In the absence of any taxation slab, the govt. would treat both the manufacturers equally, but ask yourself is it justifiable? If you are not able to offer any incentives why will a business entity look towards sustainability when in the end they know that they don’t stand to benefit? Are we promoting eco-friendly initia-tives by the corporate sector? The answer is a CLEAR NO. Thus with the implementation of Car-bon Tax all the organizations which are releas-ing more carbon emission would be taxed more as compared to those who are taking measures to ensure bare minimum emission. Thus in the end leading to a situation wherein taxing carbon emission would promote environment friendly practices.

This would also induce customers to buy envi-ronment friendly products since the carbon tax is not restricted to manufacturers but is also levied

to consumers who will thus have to alter their respective lifestyle or bear the brunt by paying the additional tax.

India doesn’t have any policy with regards to taxing carbon emission but badly needs one. Global warming is a reality and we have to pre-pare ourselves the earlier the better. It is a well known fact that corporates in our country openly flout all environmental guidelines whether it is waste disposal or carbon emission. Let us be honest an average corporate is least concerned because he sees this as an added burden where-by he would have to spend more to comply with all the necessary guidelines.

The average American is responsible for creating as much CO2 in a day as do people in develop-ing countries in a week. In the end I do agree that the future of an effective climate regime depends mainly on India, China and the United States. But why do we have to look upon United States or the West to set the trends for us to fol-low. Let us show the world that we CARE and let us move in the right direction and not shy away from admitting that we have time and again neglected the ever so important Environment sector but now we are not going to do the same mistake again. icare Do you?

carbon taxation

a realityYudhishter Puran Singh23 year old graduate from Mumbai University, a young entrepreneur who loves to devote whatever time he can towards creating awareness about the need for preserv-ing environment. Presently he leads the icare-India team and is also the Editor of Expressions.

Rank Country Annual CO2 emissions[7][8](in thousands of metric tonnes) Percentage of Global Total

World 29,888,121 100%

1 China[9] 7,031,916 23.33%

2 United States 5,461,014 18.11%

- European Union (27) 4,177,817 [10] 14.04%

3 India 1,742,698 5.78%

4 Russia 1,708,653 5.67%

5 Japan 1,208,163 4.01%

6 Germany 786,660 2.61%

7 Canada 544,091 1.80%

8 Iran 538,404 1.79%

9 United Kingdom 522.856 1.73%

10 South Korea 509,170 1.69%

Source: GHG data from UNFCCC


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thelast second before midnight

Isabelle Richaud

A 30-year-old citizen of the world, Isabelle Richaud works in Antwerp, Belgium for the European branch of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, based in New Delhi).

Established theories suggest that our whole world started with a “big bang”, some 15 billion years ago.

According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was created in a sudden explosion. Most galaxies, includ-ing the Milky Way, originated during the first few billions years after the big bang. Our Sun originated from giant parcels of gas in the Milky Way almost 5 billion years ago. A huge ball of gas and dust must have become flattened by rotation, after which it frag-mented into chunks orbiting at various distances from

the centrally forming Sun, creating the various planets of the solar system.

Located 150 millions of kilometres away from its closest star, the Earth is estimated to be about 4.5 billion year-old. It was at first a proto-planet, formed by accretion (or accumulation by gravitational attraction of matter) from the solar nebula. It is remarkable how our planet,

during the 4.5 billion years of its history, slowly transformed from an accumulation of stardust into a burning, agitated proto-planet, to finally become the perfect haven for the rich life we are now lucky enough to be part of.

This evolution is in large part the result of the work of bacteria and other microorganisms, which remained the only forms of life on Earth for more than two billion years. Microorganisms shaped the Earth surface and atmosphere into an auto-regulated system apt in maintaining itself alive. By doing so, microorganisms in-vented the biological techniques that are until today essential to all forms of life: fermenta-tion, photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, respira-tion, etc .

Stemming from these common ancestors, life could then evolved into an incredibly large spec-trum of various forms, progressively including plants, invertebrates, vertebrates and animals comprising fish, amphibians, and, lastly, mam-mals. Life evolved under the combined action of continental drift, climatic changes and ac-cidental genetic mutations. This combination of various phenomenon resulted in the birth of the homo-sapiens, or human species, about 250,000 years ago.

If the history of the planet was condensed in one day, human life would have appeared in the last second before midnight. What happened within that second is the extraordinary story of human evolution. Within the last fragments of that even second, humanity evolved from close-to-apes, hunting and gathering animals to highly social creatures, living in their own built environment.

Until about 10,000 years ago, or for more than 95 percent of its history, Homo sapiens lived in small bands as nomadic hunter-gatherers. The progressive advent of agriculture – i.e. the domestication of plants and animal spe-cies for food production – triggered in Eurasia, Africa and South America the Neolithic revolu-

tion. This revolution has undoubtedly been the most important single factor altering the fate of humanity. At first sight, the benefits of the Neolithic revolution to human welfare seem strikingly evident: agriculture freed populations from the necessity to follow resources where they are located, and it allowed the production of much larger amounts of food per unit of land and human effort than hunting-gathering could ever provide.

But these blessings also came with important drawbacks. First, contrary to a common be-lief, the overall health of people dramatically deteriorated after the advent of agriculture due to the changes induced towards mono-culture of starchy crops, and therefore poorer diets. In addition to bringing malnutrition, agriculture also resulted in periodic episodes of starvation, which resulted from the failure of any one of the few crops on which farmers where depend-ent.

Most importantly, while hunter-gatherer so-cieties were intrinsically rather equalitarian because food search was everyone’s responsi-bility, farming allowed a healthy, nonproducing elite to live on the food produced by others, thus leading to class divisions. Finally, hunter-gathers had to keep their children spaced at four-year intervals, since a mother must carry her baby until it is old enough to keep up with the adults. Sedentary farmers, instead, can af-ford having more frequent children, so agricul-ture not only meant more food per hectare, it also resulted in more mouths to feed .

Agriculture fed – in every sense of the word – demographic growth, commerce and the elabo-ration of complex societies. As language be-came more complex among these communities,

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ideas could be exchanged quickly and passed down through generations, and cultural evolu-tion outpaced biological evolution, marking the end of prehistory and the beginning of History.

Human history witnessed the successive devel-opment of the micro-States, military forces and empires, and revolutionary evolutions in the fields of science, philosophy, religion, metal-lurgy, printing, culture, transport, governance, communication, etc. In parallel, technological development and unfettered demographic growth allowed humanity to explore and to im-pose its footprint on every corner of the globe (and slightly beyond).

At the beginning, the planet offered an ideal environment and plenty of resources for our species to prosper. Early human settlements were dependent on proximity to water and, depending on their specific lifestyles, other natural resources, such as wild comestible plants and prey to hunt, or arable land for growing crops and grazing livestock. Humans’ impacts on their environment were thus rela-tively limited and localised.

Humans have progressively developed a unique capacity for altering their environment. Extraordinary mental and linguistic capabilities allowed them to understand, explain and ma-nipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. Combined with an erect body carriage that frees the arms for manipulating objects, humans’ intelligence led them to make great use of tools and tech-nologies, thus extending their effective power to transform their environment.

As a result of this evolution, tremendous pres-sures are now imposed by human activities on the natural environment. These pressures are felt on every continent and every ocean. They result in the pollution or depletion of every kind of natural resources, from air and water to forest and minerals. These pressures funda-mentally disrupt the natural balances of the planet, starting with the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. The extent of these disruptions

is such that the term “Anthropocene” is now used to designate the dawn of a new geological era, characterised by a profound alteration of the planetary functions resulting from human activities.

If we continue with business as usual, by the early 2030s we will need two planets to keep up with humanity’s demand for goods and services . And, while it is possible to live on credit with natural resources for a short period of time, that situation is unsustainable over the long term, leading to environmental bank-ruptcy and therefore disastrous consequences for human well-being and economy.

Remember, as long as it may appear from our human point of view, the story of humanity from its birth to present times has happened the very last second of the hypothetical first day of our planet’s life. And it is only in the last 2 hundredth parts of that second that humanity has achieved to disrupt many of the ecosys-tems and squander most of the resources that have been slowly evolving throughout that hypothetical day. There is no doubt that the face of the planet will never be the same after this destructive experience, but it is humanity’s responsibility, and it is in its own interest, to try its best and avoid a dramatic disintegration of life as we know it.

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I want to share my own story here. It was the even-ing of 19th February, 2012. I got a call from my

brother who stays at Delhi telling me that his ten months’ old son got diarrhea along with severe infection and had been hospitalized. This news really shook me when I realized that just a ten month old boy was suffering in pain. I immediately started for Delhi. On reaching, I saw this small baby, so weak and thin, being given high dose of antibiotic in his veins. My heart just went out to him when his eyes met me. After four days of ago-nizing treatment he was finally discharged with the whole list of oral antibiotic medicines.

Through this incident I could experience that in spite of being well kept and maintaining proper hygiene this small baby caught the infection through water or air. The doctor could not trace any cause for his condition as there could be any number of causes. I had one question which trou-bled me a lot. If at the time of growth for a baby under five years of age goes on with high dose of medicines for around ten to fifteen days, then would not the average growth of the baby gets affected? Is giving strong medicines to our chil-dren the only solution left with us? If we talk to the pediatricians in India, the kids generally come for treatment for viral infection, throat infection, lungs congestion and stomach infection.

Since my brother is in the tourism industry, I have come to know many facts about people living in European countries. When people from outside come to India and live a casual life style they get sick and majority of the time the problem is re-lated to bronchial. In India majority of the clinical business runs because of bronchial problems and the main source of this cause is air pollution. It is the air which we breathe in. Personally I feel that the poor maintenance of infrastructure is main cause of dust. Approximately 10 mg of dust in per

cube meter volume along with burnt smoke from vehicle are there in the atmosphere.

It is difficult to imagine a healthy life and healthy brain unless and until there is check in air pollu-tion. Healthy body is the source of creative brains. If we consider the physical growth of the people here in comparison to our West counterparts, the average height gets affected because of air and water pollution. For water pollution there are still some controlled solutions but for air pollution i.e. the dust particles in our atmosphere we do not have as such any solution but to prevent it. Sometimes we may go on a holiday for recreation but get more exhausted and sometime even get sick because of the polluted air around. We might get skin allergies, eye infections, throat infections, stomach disorders and what not.

Another side of the story may be that by tolerat-ing this type of environment we develop some amount of resistance power but however the fact is that at least once in a month on an average our kids fall sick due to viral infections. And this is increasing day by day. Dust is the medium to carry virus, bacteria and germs. Dust allergy may weak-en our lungs and our respiratory system becomes inefficient and may not function properly. Dust can be avoided by sodden the yards with green grass, maintaining the basic infrastructure, by regular checking of vehicle for pollution control etc. These are small efforts which each of us can take to prevent the effect of pollution in our lives.

Now when I see my brother’s son playing hap-pily – I really wonder what we can pass to our next generations – polluted resources or a happy and healthy environment? Let us make a choice now before it is too late!

letusmake achoice now

Dr. Ratna Banerjee is an Assistant Professor in the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies who is multi-faceted and well respected by the student community and can be reached at [email protected]

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Christina Bushhas been featured by National Geo-graphic, Animal Planet, ABC’s Extreme Home Makeovers, The International Anti-Fur Coalition, The Paw Project and many other organizations around the globe. A lifetime supporter of animal protection and education, she works with groups all over the world using her imagery to help save and improve the lives of animals everywhere, both in the wild and in captivity. This is a very rewarding way for her to turn tremen-dous value into her passion for wildlife, photography and art. Visit her photo-gallery athttp://www.christinabush.com

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THEMOUNTAINGORILLAMASSACRE

THEMOUNTAINGORILLAMASSACRE

No one who looks into a gorilla’s eyes - intelligent, gentle, vulner-able - can remain unchanged, for the gap between ape and human vanishes; we know that the gorilla still lives within us”

George B. Schaller

No one who looks into a gorilla’s eyes - intelligent, gentle, vulner-able - can remain unchanged, for the gap between ape and human vanishes; we know that the gorilla still lives within us”

George B. Schaller


http://www.christinabush.com


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The robust Mountain Gorillas are one of the most feared animals in the world, thanks to

movies like King Kong. While it is true that they are large, powerful creatures with the strength of ten human men, they are also gentle and af-fectionate. They face serious challenges in their regions including extreme poverty, the bush-meat crisis, aftermath of the civil war, disease

and poaching. According to the African Wild-life Federation there are now only about 720 mountain gorillas left in the world and they are critically endangered. All of them live within four national parks in West and Central Africa, split in two regions that are 28 miles apart. One population inhabits the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda and the second popula-

tion is found in a mountainous region referred to as The Virungas in Rwanda and the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo. This area of the world lacks economic development and infra-structure. Despite the region’s natural wealth of resources, it is one of the poorest areas in the world and the local people have suffered insecurity, war and extreme poverty for many generations. Conflict in the area has been one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the loss of over four million lives in the past two decades. Caught in the middle of all this crisis are the endangered mountain gorillas, which are quickly being driven to extinction.

After chimpanzees, the charismatic gorilla, the largest and rarest of all living primates, is our closest living relative among the world’s great apes, sharing 98.6% of our nuclear DNA. It is perhaps surprising that an animal as enormous and strong as the gorilla is primar-ily an herbivore that eats over 100 different species of plants. They rarely need to drink water because their diet is so rich in succulent herbs that satisfy their thirst. The discovery

of the Mountain Gorillas took place in Congo’s Virunga Mountains in 1902 on the ridges of the area volcanoes by Captain Robert Von Beringe. The species was given the scien-tific name “gorilla gorilla beringe” in honor of the Captain. The Virunga National Park - a 3,000 square mile expanse of forests, jungles, volcanoes, rivers and lakes - is Africa’s oldest national park with one of the most diverse eco-systems in the world and is also the home to nearly half of the world’s wild mountain gorillas.

The primary threats to the species, aside from the civil war and conflict, comes from forest clearance, the illegal charcoal trade and the bushmeat crisis in the Congo Basin. Here as much as 1 million metric tons of bushmeat is eaten each year (the equivalent of almost 4 million cattle) by as many as 30 million poor rural and urban people in that area. With farming unprofitable and almost no off-farm jobs available, many rural people have re-sorted to hunting the wildlife that is free-for-the-taking. The trade in bushmeat is leaving

Scientific Name: Gorilla gorilla beringei


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the forests stripped and empty. There are also criminal gangs called “the charcoal mafia” running the illegal charcoal trade in the area that stalk the majestic apes like assassins out on a contract hit; killed in their own sanctuary. The parks dense forest is rapidly being depleted to satisfy the de-mand for charcoal, which is used for cooking and heating by the millions of people living in the troubled region. In the Congo alone poachers claim around 3,000 chimpanzees and 600 gorillas a year, leaving hundreds of orphans. Gorilla infants tend to die in the first 2 to 3 weeks after capture.

In Africa the shrub and forest areas are referred to as the bush; thus any wildlife de-rived from there is called “bushmeat”. This term applies to all wildlife species hunted in those territories such as elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, baboons, forest antelope, bush pig, porcupine, monitor lizard, guinea fowl, etc. The people of Africa’s equatorial forest region have been hunting and eating wild animals for over 100 years, and their meat of preference are the primates. This commer-cial bushmeat trade threatens wildlife popu-lations across West and Central Africa, where wildlife provides rural families with around 40% of their animal protein consumption. Gorilla ribs and chimp arms are sold for meat in the markets across the Congo. Gross sales of bushmeat are estimated at $50 million annually and primates account for 20% of that commerce. A significant percentage of the animals being hunted for food are clas-sified as threatened or endangered and are protected by international laws. “If we don’t respond to the bushmeat crisis, we may lose chimpanzees and other endangered species in Africa and around the world in the next 20 years”. Dr. Jane Goodall (The Jane Goodall Institute)

Habitat loss continually threatens the long-term survival of the species, but hunting is now known to be the most immediate threat to most all wildlife populations around the world. On average, current hunting rates in the forests of Central Africa are 6-8 times

the maximum sustainable levels. Over-hunting risks a whole cascade of extinctions, endanger-ing the diverse landscape and wildlife that in-habit them. Investigators discovered that crimi-nal gangs running the illegal charcoal trade are behind most of the killings and some were due to internal poaching.

In recent years, the region has been gripped by conflict and civil war. Since August 2007, the gorilla sector of the national park has been under the control of rebel forces. Until recently, officials has not been able to enter the area, and many of the 1,100 rangers had to flee to safety with their families and over 150 have lost their lives in the past decade due to hostilities by vari-ous militia groups. The great Gorillas are being massacred in numbers as high as 300 annually for the bushmeat and exotic animal black mar-ket. Gorilla meat is easily smoked and passed off as buffalo, which makes it easier to sell openly in most areas. Hungry humans can hunt and eat species to oblivion and as public awareness about the illegal selling of ape meat grows, the commerce goes underground.

People in the Congo Basin eat as much meat as Americans and Europeans, and approximately 80% of their animal protein is derived from wildlife. As much as one million metric tons of bushmeat is eaten annually in this area, which is the equivalent to almost 4 million cattle. Ru-ral families eat bushmeat on average two days per week while families living in logging com-munities eat it two to three times more often. Bushmeat consumption is expected to increase by 3% or more per year as human populations continue to grow. Commercial bushmeat hunting is one of the few currently available methods of generating income for many rural families. As hunting technology improves, the ability of the

hunters to kill more animals increases. Shotguns and cable snares are replacing bows and woven nets as the preferred hunting tools.

An undercover investigation by Endangered Spe-cies International has found that up to two goril-las are killed and sold as bushmeat each week in Kouilou, a region of the Republic of Congo. Mr. Pierre Fidenci, President of Endangered Species International, also stated that “Gorilla meat is sold pre-cut and smoked for about $6 US per hand-sized piece. Actual gorilla hands, used many times for ashtrays, are also available for about $6 US. The gorilla meat goes to the near-est, biggest and most profitable place.” Accord-ing to interviews and field surveys, Mr. Fidenci estimates that “4% of the population of gorillas is being killed each month, or 50% in a year.”

In Northern Congo, the Wildlife Conservation So-ciety is working directly with timber companies to halt hunting of endangered and protected species such as apes, within logging concessions, to ensure wild meat is not transported out of the area and to provide workers with affordable al-ternatives to eating wildlife. Securing long-term support for all protected areas of Africa will be the only survival solution for this species. It is time that those who care about the survival and well-being of the apes, and all life in Africa, to confront this crisis. If the slaughter of protected and endangered species is to be stopped we must do so with and through the people who are now involved in the trade, from logging execu-tive, to hunter to housewife. Conservation must pursue the bio-synergy of humanity and nature in order to find alternative ways to satisfy hu-man needs that drive the destructive commercial trade in wildlife bushmeat in the local communi-ties.

“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future”.

Dian Fossey“Gorillas in the Mist”

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Article & images*: Christina Bush Animal Magnetism Wildlife Awareness column

http://www.christinabush.com/Gorillas.html

* except for the article cover image

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radio activeradio active

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putting a lot of heart into development in

MEXICO

Sean SoutheyExecutive DirectorPCI-Media Impact

“Watch out Televisa and Azteca.” That’s what famed writer Álvaro Cueva had to say about a new television drama, Mucho Corazón/A Lot of Heart, in his February 2nd column. Why should the two Mexican media giants watch out? Because a handful of dedicated public media professionals and virtually volunteer actors have taken the everyday challenges faced by residents of Chiapas, Mexico and a shoestring budget, and turned them into a program so powerfully dramatic it rivals the multi-million dollar productions of the conglomerates.

Mucho Corazón is a 35-episode Entertainment-Education telenovela penned by Georgina Tinoco and

Alberto Aridjis, both of whom have a long history of successful telenovela

scriptwriting. Entertainment-Education is the incorporation of critical information

into engaging storylines to simultaneously amuse and educate audiences. The drama

tells the story of Maruch, a young indigenous woman from a rural community in Chiapas.

Maruch suffers from harassment, corruption, racial and gender discrimination and a lack of

opportunities because of her social class. In the absence of her mother, Maruch supports her

alcoholic father and tries to help him overcome the disease. Determined to see her father get better

and improve her own life, Maruch takes advantage of government programs for women and empowers other

women in her community to start their own tomato farm. Everything seems to be going well until Don Justo, the

town’s leader, forces Maruch’s father to give him his daughter’s hand in marriage, even when Maruch loves another: Justo’s son.

I’d like to share the ending, but don’t want to spoil it should any faithful viewers read this column.

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You may be wondering why I’m discussing a drama about women’s rights in an environmental magazine. It’s because we cannot expect to make change on the environmental front – be our issue sustainable agriculture, population or resource management – if the needs of 50 percent of the population are not met. The beauty of Entertainment-Education is that it allows us to touch on several issues at once; just take one look at the story above and you will see what I mean. The methodology is rich. And its depth makes it the perfect tool to use when promoting sustainable development, which is precisely what it is designed to do.

Mucho Corazón launched in mid-January at a live event attended by many local notables, including the State’s First Lady, Mrs. Isabel Aguilera de Sabines, who championed the drama from concept to reality. The Mexican State of Chiapas is the first in the world to base its constitution on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to accelerate development in communities housed there, and has been recognized by both the United Nations and UNICEF for this innovative approach to governance. The government has also created many services to ensure women are able to exercise their new rights – including access to education and health services, and the right to own land.

The program partners (see side bar), an extensive list of government ministries, broadcasters and PCI-Media Impact (Media Impact), are using Media Impact’s My Community approach to Entertainment-Education to spread the word about the MDGs and the importance of sustainable development, gender equity and respect for Indigenous Peoples. A cornerstone of the program is to build a network between State ministries to use the power of law and communications to showcase the natural resources and human diversity of Chiapas, enhance knowledge sharing, engage the public and support community-based adaption activities across the state. The drama’s authors have successfully woven information about the MDGs and the new government services into

an entertaining and – to be honest – downright addictive show.

Official broadcasts began on January 24th and one new 30-minute episode will air weekly on Canal 10, run by the Chiapas Radio, Television and Cinematography System, until the program’s conclusion. Two additional agreements have been signed to expand the program’s reach. Televisión de América Latina (TAL) will make the drama available to its network of 23 stations throughout Latin America, and Mexicanal will broadcast the drama to Mexican immigrants in the United States starting this month.But the program doesn’t stop at the broadcast. The My Community methodology focuses on building capacity of local partners to produce dramas with the goal of using them as a tool to generate debate and action. To that end, after each episode of the drama, producers and special guests meet on “Hablamos de Mucho Corazón/Let’s Talk about Mucho Corazón” to discuss the show and its content with listeners. The television drama is also complemented by ongoing promotion through the State of Chiapas radio and television networks, and community action campaigns to encourage viewers to adopt the behaviors modeled in the drama. Mucho Corazón is the second Entertainment-Education drama produced by the State Government of Chiapas in the past year. The partners previously collaborated to produce and broadcast Corazón de Mujer/The Heart of a Woman, which launched on the International Day of Women, March 8th, in 2011. The radio drama was wildly popular and, though it was originally scheduled to broadcast only on the State Government’s radio station, has since been rebroadcasted on more than 50 stations in three countries.

The show’s popularity is heartening not only because of what is says about the ability of state-run radio and television stations to “play with the big boys”, but also because Entertainment-Education on behalf of women works. An example of this is the Indian radio drama Taru, produced by Media Impact in 2002. According to a 2010

evaluation, Taru reached an audience of between 20 and 25 million in its four target states (Bihar, Jharkhand, Mahdya Pradesh and Chattisgarh), but its popularity led to re-broadcasts throughout North India, and an estimated total audience of 60-75 million. Survey research discovered significantly stronger beliefs about gender equity and family planning after the series aired: The use of modern family planning methods increased and the research also found a 10 percent shift towards using family planning methods after having two children, compared to after three or four children prior to the broadcasts.

Similar impact is expected from both Corazón de Mujer and Mucho Corazón. Initial survey data shows more than 80 percent of radio drama listeners report having learned about a woman’s right to not be abused from the show. It’s a good start, yet there’s much that remains to be done.

That’s why we, at Media Impact, are honored to help with the production of Mucho Corazón. The world could stand to see more strong TV heroines who use their own resources to save themselves. It is our experience, after all, that what we see on TV quickly becomes reality.

Mucho Corazón at a Glance:Platform: TelevisionStart date: January 2012Duration: 35 30-minute episodesAudience: Indigenous Communities in Chiapas, Mexico

Issues Adressed:Sustainable DevelopmentGender Equality with an emphasis on the right to educationRespect for Indigenous Peoples

Program Partners:• State Government of Chiapas, México • Chiapas Radio, Television and Cinematography

System • System for the Family Integral Development • Secretaria para el Desarrollo y Empoderamiento

de las Mujeres (SEDEM)• Instituto de Población y Ciudades Rurales

Sustentables• Instituto de Reconversión Productiva y

Bioenergéticos (IRBIO)• Instituto de la Salud del Estado de Chiapas

(ISECH)• CDI- Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de

los Pueblos Indígenas• Secretaria de Economía• Secretaria de Pueblos y Culturas Indígenas• Consejo estatal de Derechos Humanos (CEDH)• Televisión de América Latina de Brasil (TAL)• Mexicanal (US and Southern Canada)• Universidad Nacional de Colombia• México TV (US)• Nuevo Mundo Televisión (Canada)• Sistema Estatal de Comunicación Cultural y

Educativa Radio Querétaro• Sistema Quintanarroense de Comunicación

Social• Coordinación de Radio, Cine y Televisión de

Tlaxcala• Universidad de Matehuala, S.C. San Luis Potosí• Comisión de Radio y Televisión de Tabasco• Sistema Molerense de Radio y Televisión• Radio y Televisión de Aguascalientes• Corporación Oaxaqueña de Radio y Televisión• Instituto Colimense de Radio y Televisión• Televisión Metropolitana S.A de C.V. Canal 22• Sistema Lobo de Radio y Televisión UAD.

Durango• Radio y Televisión de Guerrero• Sistema Michoacano de Radio y Televisión• Sistema de Televisión y Radio de Campeche• Sistema de Radio y Televisión Mexiquense

(Cable y Sky)

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River-rafting

After reaching Rishikesh (Oct. 21, 2011),

with my batch mates from IIM Indore

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ExpressionSpecial WILD CLICKS

The 3rd edition of Canon Wild Clicks - India’s Only Live Photography Contest was held in Kanha National Park. With nearly 40 contestants of various age groups from over 13 cities, the participants competed against each other for 3 days in the wild heaven on Kanha in Madhya Pradesh. At the start of the event, the contestants were given 5 themes - Mammals, Avionic Wonders, Landscapes, Macros, Abstracts. The contestants battled the acute winter, unseasonal rains and morning fogs to create some superb wildlife images across all categories. Wildlife photographers and members of Nature Wanderers Expert Panel - Shivang Mehta & Tejas Soni - helped the participants in selection of the images for submissions. The final judgement was done by an esteemed panel of judges : Ganesh H. Shankar & Mike Pandey.

The contest results were:

Overall Winner

K.R. DeepakWon a Canon 7D and gift vouchers fromCamps of India, Manfrotto, SanDisk

Abstracts Winner

Divyanshi JainWon gift vouchers from Camps of India,Camp Kohka Pench, Manfrotto, SanDisk

Avionic Wonders

Shantanu PrasadWon gift vouchers from Camps of India,Camp Kohka Pench, Manfrotto, SanDisk

Macros

K.R. DeepakWon gift vouchers from Camps of India,The Ranthambhore Bagh, Manfrotto, SanDisk

Landscapes

Jitinder ChadhaWon gift vouchers from Camps of India,The Ranthambhore Bagh, Manfrotto, SanDisk

Mammals

Saurav MahantaWon gift vouchers from Camps of India,The Ranthambhore Bagh, Manfrotto, SanDisk

K. R. Deepak Overall Winner


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WILD CLICKS

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Divyanshi JainAbstracts Winner

Sumit Jain Abstracts


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WILD CLICKS

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Jitinder Chadha Landscapes Winner


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WILD CLICKS

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Manish Sahai Natural Abstracts Ketan JoshiNatural

Abstracts


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WILD CLICKS

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Sunny Yadav Mammals

Saim Ahmed Birds


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WILD CLICKS

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Nihar Mehta Macro

Rupankar Mahanta Macro


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WILD CLICKS

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Gaurav Chopra Natural Abstracts40 ExpressionS MARCH 2012 41ExpressionS MARCH 2012co

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Amit B. Dutta is an Engineer by profession and a photographer by heart and can be contacted at www.amitbdutta.in

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S N A K E SAmit Bijon Dutta

Snakes and common misbelieves

Snake means death! It is sad and quite amus-ing that in todays day and age such misbeliefs still exist. I have tried to highlight some of the most common myths that people generally have about Snakes in our country and they are as follows:

1. It is totally erroneous to believe that snake bites can be cured by mantras, mantriks, magic spells roots and herbs. In our coun-try about 25,000 people die playing fools to such beliefs. Anti-Venom is the only cure for the snake bite. The other remedies are useful to relieve fear and treat shock, but should never be substituted for the anti-venom treatment. Snake bites are cured only when timely treatment is rendered to the patient. Casting spells, using snake stones to suck out the venom, etc. are all futile. The snake stone is merely a benzoin or a gall stone and has no effect on the venomous bite.

2. Snakes are revengeful. There is no scien-tific basis to this. A snake’s brain is not developed to the extent that they can retain memory. It is said that if you kill a snake, (its mate will follow you and take revenge. The only related fact is when one kills a snake; it expels its musk from the anal opening. The only possibility is that a nearby snake may show up to investigate what the musk (a sex - attractant) is all about.

3. Snakes guard wealth. This is a common misbelief. Old crumbling houses are ideal for snakes as they find plenty of hiding

places together with food- rats and mice. In the days of yore, people often buried their wealth and it could be a possibility that a snake and the hidden wealth were un-earthed together, giving away this impres-sion.

4. Old snakes have hairs on them but this is not true. Periodically snakes cast of moult and if some moult remains, it appears like hair. Sometimes some snake charmers even stick hair onto the snake’s head.

5. Snakes hypnotize. This is believed to be so because snakes stare fixedly as they do not have eyelids and cannot blink.

6. Snakes sway to the music of the flute. This misbelief has been strengthened by our ever popular but ludicrous Hindi films. Even though it is now proven that they can detect some airborne sounds, there is no evidence that snakes can appreciate music. It is the natural instinct of the snake to keep a close track of any moving object. In fact they instinctively stay away from all artificial vibrations.

7. Cobras, particularly the king cobra, is sup-posed to wear a ‘nagmani’ that can make one a millionaire. The poor Irula tribal snake-catcher has a good answer to the legend of the jewel or light in the head of the snake. When asked about this belief, an Irula will reply, “If it would have been so, we would have become rajas not snake-catchers.”

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8. Snakes suck milk from a cow’s udder by coiling around its legs. This is not true. Milk is not part of a snake’s natural diet. They have no powers of suction and with over hundreds of sharp teeth in the way.

9. Sand boa bites cause leprosy. The blotches on the skin of the sand boa have given rise to this notion. Since this harmless snake has a body pattern that vaguely resembles that of patients suffering from this dreaded disease, people are quick to make this association. Actually, snakes are clean and free of disease.

10. A green tree snake pierces a man’s head with its pointed head. The vine (common green whip) snake is accused of poking one’s eyes out or `stinging’ one on the forehead. Actu-ally, the pointed nose of this harmless snake is soft and rubbery. The vine snake can inflict a painful but harmless bite on the finger or even on the nose, but no one has ever received an eye injury.

11. The tails of rat snakes, despite various sto-ries about them, are no more dangerous than pieces of rope and so not have stingers, do not suffocate cows, lash down paddy and so on.

12. Bites by a snake with rings on its body, does not give the victim’s body a ringed pattern.

13. In north western India, kraits are supposed to suck a man’s breath away as he sleeps. This is perhaps the farmer-labourer’s explanation for the respiratory paralysis that a severe krait-bite brings on.

14. In Maharashtra, the little earth bound saw scaled vipers are believed to jump through the air for six feet or more. Six inches would be more accurate

15. Cobras are believed to mate with rat snakes, but they in fact mate with only their own spe-cies and generally keep away from the larg-er and sometimes cannibalistic rat snake

16. The red sand boa has an extremely blunt

tail; thus there are several popular stories about `two headed snakes’. Just as it fools the mongoose and other predators into at-tacking its tail while the head seeks escape, a large percentage of humans are also fooled.

17. Pregnant women loose their eyesight if they see a snake. This is again not true.

18. Pythons suck their prey from a distance.

Many of our old traditions respect flora and fauna. These sacred traditions had a meaning and were observed thoughtfully. But somewhere down the line, these traditions have lost their meaning and became plain ceremonies and rituals. Nag-Pan-chami is celebrated with fervour and we perform a puja, pay obeisance to the snake only for that day and the next day if it crosses our path we are scared to death and think of ways to kill it if found around our homes.

Due to lack of proper information, misbeliefs and fears, many important species of flora and fauna have become rare and are threatened with extinc-tion ; consequently, disturbing the natural cycle of coexistence. Rampant killing of the snake has led to enormous increase in the number of rodents, which in turn destroy food grain. Records indicate that about 26 % of food grain produced in the country every year gets destroyed due to rodents. The number is likely to increase if the number of snakes continues to decrease at today’s pace. Legal restrictions can control the destruction to some extent. The Wild Life Protection Act of 1972 passed by the Government of India has included all Indian snakes in the list of animals to be pro-tected from being killed. The Act also bans sale of items made from snake skin. Exceptional import licenses are issued, but strictly for scientific pur-poses. Snakes will continue to be killed until we all learn to observe these rules.

Interesting Facts about Cobra

A Venomous Asiatic and African fanged snakes, of the family elapidae, that can expand the skin of the neck into a hood. A cobra is found in hot tropi-cal climates like those in the Philippines, Southern Asia and Africa and there are about 270 species of cobra. The cobra is usually coloured brown, brownish-black or a dull grey, the venom fangs of a cobra are half an inch long The smallest cobras are the Mozambique spitting cobras, which grow up to lengths of 4 feet and the largest is the King Cobra

King Cobra stats and facts• Weight: 6 kg (13.2 lb)• Length: 3.6–4 m (12–13 feet)• Lifespan: 20 years• Diet: The King cobra eats Lizards, Birds, Ro-

dents and other Snakes• Baby King Cobras have a length of 45 to 55

centimetres (18 to 22 in)• King Cobras are often used by snake charmers

in Burma• Cobras have an excellent night vision.

The Cobra Hood• A cobra raises its head and spreads out its

hood when angry or threatened to frighten any predators

• The cobra hood is made up of flaps of skin that is attached to long ribs behind the head

Cobras swallow their prey whole, the joints in the jaws of cobras are flexible allowing them to open up their mouths really wide to swallow their prey easily, the metabolism of the cobra is very slow so it only needs to eat every couple of months. Cobras are also very capable of spitting venom, cobras are used by snake charmers because they respond well to visual cues and these charm-ers specialize in getting the Cobra to rise up and “hood-out” to please tourists.

King Cobras are the only snake in the world that builds a nest for their young, just like a bird, but on the ground. King Cobras lay 20-40 eggs in a nest, which is faithfully, guarded by the mate. The incubation time is 60-90 days. Hatchlings are about 50cm long.

King Cobras (Ohiophagus Hannah) eat other

snakes! The Latin word for “snake-eater” is Ohi-ophagus. Cobras are the only snake in the world that can spit their venom, and they are accurate up to about half their own length. King Cobras are the longest venomous snake in the world. Cobras have a “Jacobsen’s Organ” (like most snakes) that gives it super smelling ability. They can sense tiny changes in temperature, which helps them, track their prey at night. Cobras are at the top of the food chain. Their only natural predators are the mongoose, and man. Cobra’s venom is not the strongest but cobras can inject so much venom in a single bite that they can kill an elephant. Sea snakes have deadlier venom, and rattlesnakes have weaker venom. Most cobras are shy, and run and hide when people are around. The exception is King Cobras, who are aggressive, and will rear up and stand their ground when confronted.Cobras are not poisonous, they are venomous. This means that even though they have deadly venom in their sacs, the rest of the snake is edible to predators, if they are brave enough to try. Many snake charmers remove the fangs or the venom sacs from their snakes, because it is too danger-ous. This practice is illegal, and is considered inhumane to the snake. Cobras are very intel-ligent, and can learn quickly, which helps them avoid dangerous areas. Cobras can hear, although they sense sound through contact with the ground much better than humans. Cobras don’t always inject venom when they bite something. They can do a “dry bite” if they want to. Baby cobras have full strength venom and can defend themselves fully like their parents. The male King Cobra stays with the female and her eggs, and takes turns guarding the nest and hunting.

Cobras are revered in India and Southeast Asia. The Hindus consider them manifestations of Shiva, the god of destruction and regeneration. The Buddhists believe a massive cobra spread its hood over the Buddha to protect him from the sun while he meditated. Cobra images guard the en-trances of many Buddhist and Hindu temples. King Cobras have also been worshipped as sun deities and associated with rain, thunder, and fertility. On the annual lunar holiday of Nag Panchami, Hin-dus refrain from ploughing and field work out of respect for cobras. A group of cobras is called a quiver.

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Russell’s Viper

It is one of the deadliest snakes in the world and coupled with their smaller relative, the Saw-Scaled Viper, account for more snake bite deaths than all other species put together. The Russell’s Viper will transfer a large amount of venom into a single bite. This does not bode well for the victim. Some of the symptoms from a Russell’s Viper bite include pain lasting for 2-4 weeks, drop in blood pressure and heart rate, bleeding of the gums, vomiting, swelling, and of course death may occur over two weeks after the bite. Even if you do survive the deadly bite there can be life long complications such as renal failure and a total lack of blood coagulation. Interestingly enough males bitten by this snake may lose their facial hair, have decreased libidos and actually have a reduction in male hormones.

Viper are (of the Viperidae family) characterized by hollow venom-conducting fangs in the upper jaw, the best-known species are the European adder, the European asp, the African horned viper and the Indian viper. The Saw-scaled viper is one of the most venomous snakes in Asia just 5mg of its venom is enough to kill a human. Viperidae, or vipers as they are more commonly known include types of snakes including:• Rattle-Snakes• Cottonmouths• Adders• Copperheads• Their fangs are long and hinged, Vipers are found all over the world except in Madagascar and Australia. The venom of vipers is stored in a large

sac-like structure, known as the aveoli, and it is in-jected its tubular fangs, Vipers can eat prey that is three times bigger than their mouths as they have tendons in the mouth that can stretch to this size. A venomous snake will use venom primarily to kill and subdue prey, rather than for self-defense.

Vipers diet: Lizards, Birds, Rodents, they detect their prey with their keen sense of smell.Length: Vipers are 50 to 65cm longHabitat: Wet areas of the rainforest and damp areas in general.

Adders grow to a length of 60 to 90 centimetres (24 to 35 in) and a mass of 50 grams (1.8 oz) to about 180 grams (6.3 oz). Russell’s Viper from In-dia is responsible for most of the snakebite deaths within its habitat. Russell’s Viper is light brown in color and is covered with three rows of dark brown or black splotches, bordered with white or yellow.

Russle’s Viper clicked at the same Jungle near a lake side after a walk into the jungle around 2 km. These are beau-

tiful and very posisinous.

The Krait - (Bungarus caeruleus)

The Krait bite is much less obvious and it is very difficult for people to know that they have been bitten at all. There may be no pain and no symp-toms to be alarmed at; one may not take it seri-ously and go to hospital, especially in the middle of the night when most of such bites occur. So, unfortunately, the Krait bite is more often fatal than bites from the other.

Kraits usually range between 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 m) in length. Most species of krait are covered in smooth glossy scales that are arranged in bold striped patterns of alternating black and light-coloured areas.

All kraits are nocturnal hunters, and are more aggressive during the night. Although they tend to be more timid around humans, they are often encountered at night, in and around housing or agricultural areas and their neurotoxic venom is

16 times stronger than cobra venom. Krait venom is extremely powerful and quickly induces muscle paralysis. Any bite from a krait is life threatening and a medical emergency. Before anti-venom was developed, there was an 85% mortality rate among bite victims.

Distinguishing Features: Medium-sized; smooth, shiny scales; head faintly, wider than the neck; jet black, generally with distinct white cross lines.Average Length: 1 m; At Birth: 25 cm; Maximum: 1.75 m (male).

Description: They are smooth, glossy, bluish-black snakes with rounded head which is slightly distinct from the neck. Their body colour varies from a dark steely blue-black to pale faded bluish-grey. They normally have around 40 thin white cross bands throughout their body. Few adults and young ones may have white spots along the first-third of the

The Pictures were taken at a jungle near Hingna, Nagpur.


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backbone in place of the cross lines. Their under-side is white. Common Kraits are often confused with Wolf Snakes which are quite smaller, with flat, fairly pointed heads. This species is the best known of the 6 Krait species found in India.

Distribution: Common Kraits are found in most of India includ-ing the Andaman and Nicobar, up to 1,700 m above sea level. They are scarce in Bengal, Assam and Orissa, where Banded Kraits are found.

Habitat: They usually occur in sandy soil, termite mounds, burrows of small rodents and piles of brick and rubble, as they are mainly snakes of the plains. Despite the fact that they are common in some parts of the country like coastal area of Tamil Nadu, one rarely sees them.

Habits: Kraits are nocturnal and they hide during the daytime in holes of field mice and rats. They are short-fanged snakes with a bulldog clasp and extremely fast and active at night. When a male krait is introduced to a cage of captive speci-

mens, a jerking dance often follows, at times ending in a serious fit of biting.

Young: Female lays up to 8 or 12 eggs around March to May which may hatch in May-July. The female incubates her eggs and stays with it like other snakes do.

Food: Kraits mainly take snakes, lizards and rodents. They are true cannibals and can even gulp small kraits from a captive group.

Status: They are quite common and abundant in few ar-eas. They dwell near human settlements and stay undisturbed because of their secretive nocturnal habits.

Venom: Kraits are extremely venomous and their venom induces nerve paralysis. As it leaves no local symptoms, a patient should be cautiously ob-served for signs of paralysis and treated immedi-ately with anti-venom.

Name: Montane trinket (Coelognathus Helena monticollaris)

Size:• Adult: 70 cm • When Born: 25 cm • Maximum: 1.5 m• Non Venomous Snake

Appearance: The light brown body with regular black cross bars. It can be identified by the broad dark stripe

running along each side of the hind body to the tail tip, two short and dark parallel stripes on the neck, and an oblique stripe running from each eye to the outer edge of the mouth. Sometimes there may be another vertical stripe below the eye.

Behaviour: It is very famous for its threat display but the snake can be handled with care. They do strike repeatedly when threatened.

Distribution:They are endemic to Western Ghats and some regions around Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa. In Maharashtra found in ever green forests and towns (Lonavala). I have found this snake in regions around Maharashtra border like in Hubli and Dharwad.

Habitat: During summers, these snakes inhabit the termite mounds and crevices of rocky places while in win-ter, they prefer the low lying bushes and trees.

Diet: Just like the famous rat snake of America, the trin-ket is prodigious rodent eating machine. It feeds on rats, lizards and small birds

Reproduction:The female snake lays around 6 - 8 long slender eggs. The young ones resemble the parents

Status: Trinkets are rarely seen. They like agricultural fields as much as they like forest regions. So the transformation of forest regions into agricultural fields did not affect their survival to a greater extent. Even though they are large and beautiful, they are not killed for the sake of their skin as they are very fewer in number and are rarely encoun-tered

Fang Facts: Trinkets are very well known for their threat display. When threatened they coil up into a ‘S’ shaped loop and hiss loudly with an open mouth.

Sand boa

Historically snakes are shrouded in mysteries. Though some of the snakes are sanctified and revered, not all enjoy the same advantage. The re-cent rampant trafficking of Sand Boas, a harmless snake, following an enigmatic mythical belief is of growing concern. The Sand boas are non venom-ous snakes found both in forests and agriculture fields. The snakes belong to Boidae family and are related to Python. In India there are three species of Sand boas. Russell’s sand Boa (Eryx conicus) and John’s sand Boa (Eryx johnii) are the common ones. A new species have been described recently by herpetologists and is named as Whitaker’s sand boa (Eryx whitaker)

Sand Boas are heavy and stout. Generally they grow up to 3 feet; however specimens reaching a length of 4 feet have been recorded. They have a high preference for sandy localities. As an adap-

tation, the mouth is placed under the projecting snout that enables them to burrow under the sand. The snakes move equally well on the land and also just below the sandy surfaces. They are usually sluggish in nature and hardly ever bite.

In appearance the snakes resembles a young Py-thon. The head merging in to the body without any narrowing makes them to appear without neck. In John’s sand Boa (Eryx johnii) the tail is blunt and looks similar in shape to the head, giving its leg-endary two headed appearance. To portray it as a two headed snake, the snake charmers are known to make a laceration on its tail, which, upon heal-ing looks like a mouth. When in danger, the snakes have a habit of hiding its head below its coiled body and will try to imitate the tail as its head.These snakes are usually nocturnal and preys on rats, mice, frogs, lizards and small terrestrial

Rostral a little broader than deep, visible from above; suture between the internasals much shorter than that between the prefrontals; frontal as long as its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals; loreal somewhat longer than deep; one large pre-ocular; two post-oculars; temporals 2+2 or 2+3: 9 (exceptionally 10 or 11) upper labi-als, fifth and sixth, or fourth, firth, and sixth enter-ing the eye; 5 or 6 lower labials in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are as long as or a little longer than the posterior.

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nesting birds. The snakes ambush their prey by burying below the surface of the sand with only their eyes or head exposed on the surface. They kill their prey by constriction, literally squeezing the life out.

The two headed appearance of these snakes has given rise to much folk-tales. The snake is misbe-lieved to use the two heads alternatively for six months. Some people believe that, the bite from these snakes will cause leprosy to humans. Also, the snakes are said to possess mysteries pow-ers to cure various ailments in human. In many countries they are kept as pets in the belief that they bring good luck.

In spite of the flourishing pet trade, the rumour that the snake is in high demand for cancer re-search in western countries has fuelled the ram-pant trafficking. Since the forests are well pro-tected the trappers and smugglers are targeting the farmlands were they are commonly found. As the snake is a predator of rats and remov-ing them from farmlands will certainly increase the population of rats, which in turn escalates the menace of rats in the crop fields. The reptile has been categorized under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act. In India, capturing and involving in any kind of trade of these reptiles is punishable under this act.

Sand boas are small, stout bodied snakes of the subfamily Erycinae of the family Boidae.

They tend to prefer areas with loose sand or soil.Sand boas vary in length by species.

The largest of the species, E. johnii rarely ex-ceeds 120 cm.

Most species of sand boas stay in the 60 cm range.Their patterning and coloration varies depending on locale.

Most species of the sand boas reflect the colours of their native habitat for camouflage. Sand boas have small eyes and hard, small scales to protect their skin from the grit of sand. Sand boas are found throughout arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, throughout the Middle East and into Pakistan and India as well as the former Soviet states of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.The sexual dimorphism in sand boas is immense, the females generally being much larger than the males.

Sand boas spend much of their time basking be-low the surface of the sand, with only their head exposed on the surface. When a potential prey item approaches, they erupt out of the sand, bite, and employ constriction to subdue it. Their pri-mary diet is rodents, but they will also consume lizards and birds if they can catch them.

Rat snakes

Rat snakes are non venomous. They are large, fast moving snakes which grow to a length of 2 ½ meters or more. Colour varies from pale yellow, olive, brown, gray or black. There body is lightly or strongly marked with black; Marking usually distinct on tail. Lip scales usually sepa-rated by vertical black lines. Underside often has prominent dark cross-bars. Scales smooth or keeled (upper rows). Head is broader than neck. Large eye has round pupil. Rat snakes are found wherever rats and frogs/toads are prevalent. So, of course, they are often found in rice fields and in human habitation. As hill forests are cleared and agriculture spreads to the slopes, rat snakes

too are spreading “upwards”. Recent records say that they are found 2,000 meters up in plains. Formerly they were rarely seen above 1,000 meters. The rat snake is active during the day, hunting for rodents, frogs, toads and birds along fields and in bushes. Large rat snakes can give a painful bite and are quick to defend themselves.

Reproduction:

The female lays about 8 to 16 eggs. At hatching young sizes between 320 - 470mm (13 - 19 inches.). Young ones start on hatching start their diet on frogs and toads. Dur-ing a breeding season, male rat snakes perform a combat dance. This is actually their way of protecting the area they live in and prevent-ing other male snakes from entering their territory. This dance has nothing to do with mating as people claim.

Distribution: This snake inhabits a wide range of habitats - coastal, arid, wet, mountainous, open fields as well as forests. Found throughout South and Southeast Asia, from Sea level to 4000m (13,120ft).

Lookalikes: Indian Rat snake lookalikes are Cobras, Banded Racer, Indo - Chinese Rat Snake and King Cobra.

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adaptor perish

Sneha Pande19 year old studying in Graphic era University. With writing as her passion, she utilizes it for her concern towards the environment.

Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.H. G. Wells

There may be differences about the cause of climate change and related issues, but it is

a fact that global climate is set to change. And it is not for the first time it is happening. It has happened several times in the geological past and also during the hominid (human ancestors)

and human evolution and history. Several civili-zations flourished and then suddenly vanished because of environmental factors. Past droughts forced man to develop ways and means of stor-ing rainwater - which we now call as Rainwater Harvesting.

Climate, since the day our urban planet came into being has been constantly changing. Life has been experiencing and adapting to the vicissi-tudes of climate since eternity. One might think that if such was the case then why so much hul-labaloo over climate now! The answer is simple. Earlier when the planet underwent climatic up-heavals most of the time the human beings were not there. In the process of severe climate chang-es many forms of life were lost and many more adapted to the changed climate/environment. Since the arrival of humans on this planet it has witnessed warming and also the Ice age too.

Talking about the climate change in different countries, we can notice that, one of the most confounding questions facing the third world countries in the face is, whether there is a conflict between environmental protection and develop-ment. With industrial revolution, people lost sight of the environmental issues, and concentrated on developmental issues only.

There are several factors that impact on the qual-ity of the environment. The rise of environmental movements is a healthy trend, as it sensitizes people on the dangers in specific actions and projects. But environmental movements need to take a balanced and enlightened approach, which does not make an enemy of all developmental activities. Next, environmental awareness would also have a major effect on the quality of human life.

Indeed, one of the major reasons for poverty lies in the depletion of natural resources and the deg-radation of the environment. It is only through good quality air, water and other natural resourc-es that the quality of human life can improve. The first step in bringing about change is the creation of adequate awareness in this field.

Green technologies would have a profound effect on human life in the 21st century. It is techno-logical options that would provide human society with the means to consume goods and services and enjoy a standard of living in keeping with universal aspirations while not damaging the environment.

Several examples of this trend are in evidence all over the world today. For instance major cities in the developed world do not have unacceptable levels of air pollution, largely because automo-bile and fuel technology has changed substan-tially. But green technologies also respond to market signals and regulatory measures. This is where forward-looking policies and institutional change becomes an important determinant of how technologies will be developed and used in future. But the real change, like charity would have to begin at home. Unless there is a consist-ent mass movement towards an anti-pollution drive that catches every person’s imagination, the Green technologies are not going to go a long way. One of the projects that has caught on with local grass root efforts is the “Save the Hill” pro-ject in Kodaikanal.

CHANgE IS THE LAW OF NATURE.We have to understand that and adapt accord-ingly. Ways and means have to be developed to check the run off and also to store water. Climate changeis inevitable. It is impossible to expect that the rainfall pattern will change again and the soils will get enough water to bear good crops. Local arrangements will have to be made to counter the water scarcity, loss of arable land due to erosion and the researchers will have to develop varieties of crops which require less water then only the future generation can survive and thrive in such terrains. Adaption according to the change in natures processes is the key for survivals. Plant and animal history is replete with examples where those who adapted survived and those who couldn’t had to perish. Therefore, nature’s warning should not be left unheeded.

It would tempting to imagine - as countless doomsayers must doubtlessly be shaking their heads and asserting - that Earth, after centuries of relentless abuse by humankind, is finally hitting back with a vengeance. So, lets just stay firm on the fact that, GREEN is indeed beautiful ! Because now we know, we have two options, either we

Adapt or we Perish!


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Himanshu Tomar was born in Dehradun in 1987 and holds a Bachelors degree in Economics. He is extremely passionate about photography and aims to become as proficient at it as his role model, Hari Mennon. Even though he is an expert photo-shop user, he believes that such software should be used only to enhance photographs, not alter them.

FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DEHRADUN56 ExpressionS MARCH 2012 57ExpressionS MARCH 2012


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DOONUNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

CAMEL’S BACK ROAD, MUSSOORIE

MAGGI POINT, MIDWAY BETWEEN DEHRADUN & MUSSOORIE



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LANDOUR, MUSSOORIERISHIKESH

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DOON SCHOOL, DEHRADUN

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ON THE WAY TO GEORGE EVEREST74 ExpressionS MARCH 2012 75ExpressionS MARCH 2012


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Mrs. Surbhi Arora a UGC NET qualified faculty member, with around fourteen years of experience in industry and academics. She is a graduate in Commerce and Law. Presently she is pursuing PhD from UPES in the area of Oil & Gas Management. She believes that our thoughts lead to actions and actions to results. According to her, hard work and consistency have to be the two pillars supporting one’s achievement.

environmental pollution inindia

The environmental problems in India are growing rapidly. Economic devel-opment and growing population that has taken the country from 300 mil-lion people in 1947 to more than one billion people today and this is putting a strain on the environment, infrastruc-ture, and the country’s natural resourc-es. We all are aware that industrial pol-lution, soil erosion, deforestation, rapid industrialization, urbanization, and land degradation are all making things worse day by day. Overexploitation of our country’s resources both land and water and the industrialization process has resulted in the degradation of our environment.

Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing human-ity today. In February 2012, according to French researchers from the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center the high levels of main pollutants such as

carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and soot particles adversely affect the heart. We would not know the differ-ence in the air we are inhaling if each of the main pollutants is increased by 10 micrograms per cubic metre. But this heavily polluted air increases our chances of having a heart attack by 1 to 3 percent. It affects the expansion and contraction of the blood vessel as a result affecting blood pressure.

India’s per capita carbon dioxide emissions were roughly 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) in 2007, according to the study. That’s small compared to China and the U.S., with 10,500 pounds (4,763 kilograms) and 42,500 pounds (19,278 kilograms) respectively that year. The study said that the European Union and Russia also have more emis-sions than India.

India has been ranked as seventh most

environmentally hazardous country in the world by a new ranking released recently. The study is based on evaluation of “absolute” environment impact of 179 countries, whose data was avail-able and has been done by researchers in Har-vard, Princeton, Adelaide University and Univer-sity of Singapore on January 12, 2011. Brazil was found to be worst on environmental indicators whereas Singapore was the best. United States was rated second worst and China was ranked third.

According to a study released by the World Economic Forum in Davos, India has the worst air pollution in the entire world, beating China, Pa-kistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Of 132 countries whose environments were surveyed, India ranks dead last in the ‘Air (effects on human health)’ ranking. The annual study, the Environmental Performance Index, is conducted and written by environmental research centers at Yale and Co-lumbia Universities with assistance from dozens of outside scientists. The study uses satellite data to measure air pollution concentrations.

The World Health Organization estimates that about two million people die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, while many more suffer from breathing ailments, heart disease, lung infections and even cancer. Fine particles or microscopic dust from coal or wood fires and un-filtered diesel engines are rated as one of the most lethal forms or air pollution caused by industry, transport, household heating, cooking and age-ing coal or oil-fired power stations.

There are mainly four reasons of air pollution - emissions from vehicles, thermal power plants, industries and refineries. The problem of indoor air pollution in rural areas and urban slums has also increased. India has around 100,000 brick kilns which are noxious sources of pollution, particularly soot, and working with them means a life which is often short. The exhaust from the kilns mixes with diesel emissions and other fumes to form vast brown smog, known as an atmospheric brown cloud, which is up to 3 kilo-metres thick and thousands of kilometres long. Two of its main ingredients, the small carbon particles which the soot is composed of, and ozone, a triatomic form of oxygen, are important

contributors to the greenhouse effect, and thus to climate change. This cloud is thought to be accelerating the retreat of Himalayan glaciers, which are found at a similar altitude.

70% of the country’s air pollution is a result of Vehicle emissions. The major problem with government efforts to safeguard the environ-ment has been enforcement at the local level, not with the lack of laws. Air pollution from vehicle exhaust and industry is a worsening problem for India. Exhaust from vehicles has increased eight-fold over levels of twenty years ago. Industrial pollution has risen four times over the same period. The economy has grown two and a half times over the past two decades but pollution control and civil services have not kept pace. Air quality is worst in big cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, etc. Accord-ing to the Society of Indian Automobile Manu-facturers, India’s auto production has doubled from 7 million units in fiscal year 2004 to over 14 million units in year 2010 largely on the back of a buoyant domestic market.

The effects of air pollution are that the rice crop yields in southern India have been falling as brown clouds block out more and more sunlight. The brilliant white of the famous Taj Mahal is slowly fading to a sickly yellow. Supreme Court took a bold step to save the Taj Mahal from be-ing polluted by fumes and thus, more than 200 factories were closed down. Birds and species also get affected. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) based in Solan town of Himachal Pradesh has recorded a drastic fall in butterfly numbers in the western Himalayas, famous for their biodi-versity.

The official air quality index shows several loca-tions in Delhi are reeling under concoction of pollutants like nitrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). Patients complaining of chest and throat infections have shot up and experts blame high pollution levels in the capital for this. Delhi’s air is choking with pollutant PM 2.5 that is only 2.5 microns in diameter and is very very small particle. Being so small, it escapes emission apparatus prescribed by Euro II and III. Any kind of combustion, especially of vehicular origin, contains this particle. If PM 2.5 is not regulated


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it will pose major health hazards. The number of Asthma patients will rise and in future there may huge rise of lung cancer cases too. The toxic value of PM 2.5 is such that metals like lead present in the PM 2.5 get inhaled deeper into lungs which deposits there. The children are most affected by depositing lead due to inhaling the poisonous air. The increasing amount of PM 2.5 is like a poison in the air we breathe. A survey by the Central Pol-lution Control Board and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences survey showed that a majority of people living in Delhi suffered from eye irritation, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath and poor lung functioning. One in 10 people have asthma in Delhi. If this is the state of India’s capital then what we can expect in other places?

All inhabitants of our planet have an equal right to the atmosphere, but the industrialized countries have greatly exceeded their fair, per-capita share of the planet’s atmospheric resources and have induced climate change. The most developed coun-tries possess the capital, technological and human resources required for successful adaptation, while in the developing countries, a large proportion of the population is engaged in traditional farming, which is particularly vulnerable to the changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events associated with climate change. According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, the most industrialized coun-tries are mainly responsible for causing climate change. Thus, equity requires that they should sharply reduce their emissions in order to arrest further climate change and allow other countries access to their fair share of atmospheric resources in order to develop themselves.

Mahatma Gandhi had said that nature has enough to satisfy everyone’s need but has not enough to satisfy man’s greed. Sadly our ever-expanding greed has put us in such precarious situation. Will we realize it? The policy of industrialization had helped rich to become richer and poor become poorer. The disparity has widened. It is the demo-cratic system followed in the country which has forced our policy-makers to think of growth for all. All these have a direct bearing on environmental pollution leading to climatic change. We are all wit-ness to the deleterious effects of climate change. We are now anxious to repair the damage.


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inthenewsMudumalai Tiger Reserve may be closedD. RADHAKRISHNAN, THE HINDUUDHAGAMANDLAM, March 2, 2012

THE HINDU A primate and a pachyderm looking for food in a dry part of the Mudumalai Tiger Re-serve. Photo: M. Sathyamoorthy

Dry conditions cause concern

With dry conditions becoming a source of con-cern at the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) near Udhagamandlam, a proposal has been sent to the government to close it. Deputy Director, MTR,

Ameer Haja, told the The Hinduon Wednesday that a detailed report with inputs from Range Officers had been submitted to the Field Director, MTR Raghuram Singh. It had been sent by the

Field Director to the Chief Wildlife Warden along with a recommendation to close the reserve.

If approved, the MTR would be closed around the first week of March and would remain closed till the situation improved.

Tourists would not be allowed and elephant and van safaris would be suspended. During the period of closure, maintenance works would be stepped up.

Pointing out that this season had so far seen one major bush fire and a couple of minor fires inside the reserve, he said that lantena, grass etc. had become extremely dry due to the frost and lack of rain. A considerable part of the total area of 321

square kilometres had become highly vulnerable to fire. Precautionary measures were being put in place. Though the flow in the Moyar river was sufficient, other water sources were drying up. Consequently animals, particularly elephants have become a common sight on roads cutting through the reserve.

In view of the situation, the Disaster Management Centre in Theppakadu had been placed in a state of alert. Forest officials, particularly fire watchers and anti-poaching staff, would be on their toes round the clock at various points, including Mor-gan Betta,Upper Kargudi,Chikhallah. Inter-State coordination would be improved and highway patrolling conducted.

Japan tsunami debris spreading across PacificAP, February 29, 2012

AP In this March 13, 2011 photo, provided by the U.S. Navy, shows a Japanese home adrift in the Pacific Ocean, days after a massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit the country’s east coast.


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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration estimated the first bits of tsunami debris will make landfall soon on small atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Other pieces were expected to reach the coasts of Oregon, Wash-ington State, Alaska and Canada between March 2013 and March 2014.

NOAA’s tsunami marine debris coordinator, Ruth Yender, told an online news conference on Tuesday that agency workers were boarding Coast Guard flights that patrol the Hawaiian ar-chipelago. NOAA also asked scientists stationed at Midway and other atolls to look for the debris.

Debris initially collected in a thick mass in the ocean after tsunamis dragged homes, boats, cars and other parts of daily life from coastal towns out to sea. Most likely sank not far from Japan’s eastern coast.

In September, a Russian training ship spotted a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances west of Hawaii. By now, the debris has likely drifted so far apart that only one object can be seen at a time, said Nikolai Maximenko, a Uni-versity of Hawaii researcher and ocean currents expert.

One to 2 million tonnes of debris remain in the ocean, but only 1 to 5 per cent of that could reach Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington State and Canada’s British Columbia, Mr. Maximenko said. The tsunamis generated a total of 20 million to 25 million tonnes of debris, including what was left on land.

Ms. Yender said that so far, no debris confirmed to be from the tsunamis has landed on U.S, shores, including large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms found in Alaska last year. The buoys would have had to travel faster than currents to get to Alaska at that time if they

were set loose by the March 11 tsunamis.

Ms. Yender said there is little chance of any de-bris being contaminated by radiation. The debris came from a large swath of Japan’s northeast-ern coast, not only near the tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Further, it was dragged out to sea with the tsunamis, not while the Fukushima plant experienced multiple meltdowns.

Nicholas Mallos, a conservation biologist and marine debris specialist for the Ocean Conserv-ancy, said many of the objects in the debris were expected to be from Japan’s fishing industry. That could pose a risk for wildlife, such as endangered Hawaiian monk seals, if fishing gear washes up on coral reefs or beaches.

“The major question is how much of that mate-rial has sank since last year, and how much of that remains afloat or still in the water column,” Mr. Mallos said.

Mr. Maximenko said the dispersion of the debris makes it more difficult to track but no less haz-ardous.

“In many cases it’s not density that matters, it’s total amount,” he said. “For example, if there’s a current flowing around Midway island, that island would collect debris like a trawl moving across the ocean. It will collect all the debris on its way.”

Ultimately, Mr. Maximenko said, tsunami de-bris will join garbage floating in a gyre between Hawaii and California produced by swirling Pa-cific currents. Much of that trash in a wide area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is bits of plastic, which slowly breaks down into smaller pieces but doesn’t completely disappear.

Mass nesting of olive ridleys apace onRushikulya coastPURUNABANDHA (ODISHA), March 2, 2012SIB KUMAR DAS, THE HINDU

The HinduDepositing Eggs in Safety: Endangered olive ridleys prefer the sandbar on the Rushikulya rookery coast for mass nesting, without fear of predators. Photo: Lingaraj Panda

55,000 turtles came to rookery in two days

Mass nesting of olive ridleys is in full swing on the Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district of south Odisha. But the process has yet to start

at Gahirmatha and Devi river mouth, the other major nesting sites of these endangered marine turtles.


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According to Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Ajay Kumar Jena, around 55,000 turtles nested on the coast near the Rushikulya rookery — 15,000 on Tuesday night and 40,000 on Wednesday night. Mass nesting will continue for a few more days.Last year, around 2,51,000 olive ridleys laid eggs during the mass nesting season on this coast.

This year olive ridleys preferred to nest in large numbers on a recently formed, two-km-long sandbar near the rookery. Forest officials monitor-ing the process have assessed that 70 per cent of the nesting has taken place on this sandbar. Earlier there were apprehensions that this sandbar might have a negative impact on nesting on this coast. For, in the past olive ridleys did not prefer to nest on deltas formed near the river mouth.

The sandbar is located more than 200 metres inside the sea near this coast. Natural shifting of the river mouth has completely eroded the long sandy beach where most of the olive ridleys laid eggs last year. So one was not sure whether turtles would prefer to lay eggs on this sandbar, says Mr Jena.

As the sandbar is detached from the mainland, the eggs will be safe from predators such as foxes, jack-

als and stray dogs as well as human interference. But there are chances of overcrowding as turtles reaching the sandbar later may dig up old nests and lay eggs in them. However, no such thing has hap-pened till now, says Mr. Jena.

The Forest Department has divided the whole stretch of the coastline near the Ruhsikulya rook-ery into 22 segments to serve as sampling points for recording data on nesting and monitoring the security of the eggs buried in sand. About 50 forest officials have been deployed for the purpose.

Local villagers, serving as volunteers, are playing a major role in the protection of turtles. The Rushi-kulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee, formed at Purunabandha village, is taking the lead in this effort.

Olive ridleys dig up pits in sand with their hind flippers to lay eggs, which they cover with sand and return to the sea. The eggs incubate in the natural heat of the sand and hatch after 45 days. On their own, the hatchlings move into the sea.


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We at icare-india, will facilitate our readers to ask opinions from our Law Experts regarding the social and legal issues of the country.

In our ‘Ask the Experts’ column we have Mr. Vaibhav gangiwale, Associate, from Khaitan and Co., Mumbai and Mrs. Namrata Walia, Human Resource, Kocchar and Kocchar to offer insights and suggestions on various current issues.

Mr. Vaibhav graduated from Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad in 2011. He has been actively involved with various research projects at Indian Institute of Technol-ogy Kanpur, Indira gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, Indian Institute of Forest Management and M.P Human Rights Commission.

While, Mrs. Namrata Walia is a regular columnist for ‘expressions’. She has a passion and flair for writing on societal issues of the country. She is pursuing her PHD from Mumbai in Psychology and currently working in Kocchar and Kochhar, New Delhi.

Each month few questions will be selected and FREE legal advice will be provided. So feel free to ask ques-tions regarding any legal or social problems and we would be happy to bring their views to you in regular column.

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pert Expressions has a readership of approximately 15,000 people from

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