Illegal sand-mining rampant at Kadalundy estuary

MALAPPURAM: Sand from the Kadalundi estuary is being mined recklessly and illegally, posing a threat to the bird sanctuary of Kadalundi.

Ornithologists and environmental experts have been warning that disappearance of mudflats in the estuary would lead to destruction of the sanctuary.

Although the Kadalundi panchayat permits mining of sand in a limited way from quite a distance from the Kadalundi bridges, large-scale illegal mining is taking place in the estuary.

The mudflats in the estuary are being destroyed by those engaged in sand-mining.

With the disappearance of mudflats, thousands of migrant birds which visit Kadalundi every year for feeding will have to look elsewhere.

Local people admit that the number of boats engaged in sand-mining in the Kadalundipuzha has increased in recent years.

Sand-mining in Kadalundi climaxes during the migration season of birds. Huge quantity of sand is being mined from the estuary every year using boats and pickups.

Ornithologists warn that disappearance of the mudflats will drive the migrant birds away as they would not find a place to feed and rest.

The mudflats of Kadalundi provide an abundance of microorganisms, including various kinds of crabs and worms, and are the biggest attraction for migrant birds which travel thousands of miles during winter.

A wide variety of migrant birds have been using Kadalundi estuary for a stopover during their transcontinental flights every year. They feed and rest on the mudflats for weeks before resuming their flight. M. Nasser, lecturer at Department of Zoology, Calicut University, warned that the mudflats would disappear if sand mining was not controlled.

He said the decrease in the number of birds visiting Kadalundi in recent years was a partly because of the unchecked sand mining.

Birds such as masked booby, frigate bird, Eurasian spoonbill, gray heron, brown skua, pomerine jaeger, spotted redshank, and various terns and gulls are found in Kadalundi.

Source: The Hindu, 28-12-2010

Sand-mining hits aquatic life in Achencoil: study

PATHANAMTHITTA: A study conducted on the benthic fauna (animals living on the bottom of a water body) of the Achencoil river shows that sand-mining over the past few decades has caused notable changes in the eco-biology of benthic communities in the river, D. Padmalal, a senior scientist attached to the Centre for Earth Science Studies, has said.

Dr. Padmalal was making a presentation at the consultative workshop on ‘Biodiversity of River Pampa' at Environmental Resource Centre of the Pampa Parirakshana Samiti at Poovathoor near Aranmula on Sunday.

The workshop was jointly organised by Kerala State Bio-Diversity Board and the Post-Graduate and Research Department of Zoology at NSS Hindu College, Changanacherry.

Dr. Padmalal said the impact was not restricted to the aquatic environment alone but may extend even to the terrestrial environment. Insects like May fly, Dragon fly, Chironomids, Caddis fly and other insects of the order Diptera were declining fast due to indiscriminate mining of sand from river basins and related aquatic environments.

According to him, it is a fact that the initial life history of these organisms begins in aquatic environments. Scooping of sand, along with the larval forms of aquatic animals, could adversely affect the population of beneficial fauna in the system that formed food to higher order animals like fish and amphibians, he added.

Riparian vegetation was an integral environmental component of river ecosystems as it played an important role in maintaining the river health, stabilising riverbanks, providing habitat for wild life, storing carbon and thereby regulating the level of green house gases in the atmosphere, he added.

Inaugurating the workshop, Kuriakose Mar Cleemis, Metropolitan of Thumpamon diocese of Malankara Orthodox Church, said a people's participatory conservation strategy was needed for the effective conservation of Pampa.

K.V. Sambadevan, retired Divisional Forest Officer, N. Unnikrishnan of Kottayam Nature Society, C.P. Robert, programme coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Thelliyoor, K.N.P. Kurup, programme coordinator of People's Biodiversiry, P.S. Gopakumar of post-graduate and research department of Zoology at NSS Hindu College, Changanacherry and N.K. Sukumaran Nair, PPS general secretary, also addressed the workshop.

Source:The Hindu,20-9-2010

Rain fails to rejuvenate Sasthamcotta Lake

KOLLAM: Heavy rain that lashed the district for several days in June and July has virtually had no impact on the water level in the Sasthamcotta fresh water lake.

The lake, listed as a Ramsar site, remains shrunken.

This backs the theory expressed by environmental activists and the findings of a recent study sponsored by the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) that it is not rain but underground springs fed by aquifer links from the Kallada river that are the main source of water for the lake.

The eco activists and the CESS study had pointed out that indiscriminate sand-mining in the Kallada river and mining of sand and clay around the lake in areas coming under the West Kallada panchayat have had an adverse effect on the aquifer links between the lake and the river and this was causing the lake to shrink.

With the lake beginning to shrink at an alarming rate earlier this year, environmental activists staged an indefinite agitation calling for measures to stop the authorised sand-mining around the lake and effective measures to protect the lake.

A high-level meeting, presided over by Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran and attended by Forest Minister Benoy Viswom, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran and Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, was held on May 12 to address the issue.

The meeting decided to implement various measures, including a complete ban on sand-mining in the West Kallada panchayat area, by July 15 to protect the lake. The police kept vigil in the area round the clock and this brought the mining activity to a stop. However, the police vigil was later withdrawn and this saw a spurt in the mining activity.

Environmental activist Odanavattam Vijayaprakash alleged that the police vigil was withdrawn under political pressure. The police, however, said the vigil was withdrawn owing to shortage of personnel.

In the interim as part of the high-level meeting's decision to implement measures to protect the lake, the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) issued a notification on June 9 banning nine activities that pollute the lake. The ban orders were issued with immediate effect.The activities banned include bathing and washing of clothes and vehicles in the lake, discharge of waste water from hotels and other establishments through drains that lead to the lake, discharge of sewage into it, mining of sand, laterite and clay within 500 metres of the lake and agricultural activity within 100 metres.

Mr. Vijayaprakash alleged that despite the PCB ban, these activities were on in full swing. He said that block number 11 of the West Kallada panchayat, which is close to the lake and where heavy sand-mining takes place, had not been covered by the ban. The demand for constituting a statutory authority for the lake's protection continued to be ignored, he said.

Source:The Hindu, 2-8-2010