Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Ponmudi forests under serious threat

Roy Mathew

Human intervention and fires wreaking havoc on shola forests and grasslands of the region

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The forests of Ponmudi are facing continuous degradation owing to human intervention and resultant fires.

Forest Minister Benoy Viswom visited Ponmudi on Sunday after a fire devastated large areas of shola forests and grasslands. Though the Minister held discussions with officials and others, a tangible solution to the crisis at Ponmudi was yet to emerge.

Minister's visit

After visiting the area, the Minister told The Hindu over phone that fairly large areas had been burnt. This was the first time that fire claimed such a large area in Ponmudi.

The Minister said that the Forest Department was considering a permanent set-up for fire-fighting. It also proposed controlled early burning of grasses to prevent fires during summer.

However, environmental activists generally do not favour early burning as a proper solution. While early burning would help the Forest officials to avoid fire, it was likely to lead to gradual degradation of the forests.

As a temporary measure, they suggested posting of firewatchers and construction of fire lines in areas frequented by people.

The degradation of the forests at Ponmudi has a long history. Early tea plantations led to the clearing of large areas of shola forests there. Then the Forest Department undertook planting of eucalyptus, silver oak and other exotic species on the grasslands leading to further degradation of the soil.

Hill resort

The development of the hill resort there under the General Administration Department and arrival of tourists caused further degradation. Fires occurred in summer on account of careless visitors and poachers. Though the Forest Department often touts the possibility of natural fires occurring from friction, this was a remote possibility. Almost all the fires in this region occurred on account of human activity. These had caused the sholas to recede.

The shola grassland system is highly susceptible to environmental changes. The sholas at Ponmudi show little resilience possibly because they occur at lower altitudes compared to shola grasslands around Munnar. However, some good forests exist not far from the tourist and plantation areas. These might also degrade if the buffer area was seriously damaged.

Positive steps

The Government would have to take positive steps to encourage degradation of the forests. One suggestion was that it should acquire some of the abandoned tea plantations and allow forests to come up there. Assistance from agencies such as the United Nations Environment Project could be obtained for this, as the forests would serve as carbon sink.

Already, the Government was wasting large sums of money in the name of social forestry in forested areas as has been pointed out by the Estimates Committee of the Assembly.

These funds could be diverted for planting outside the existing forest areas, if needed. Currently, the social forestry operations in forest areas were causing degradation of the forest with the department clearing undergrowth to plant trees.

Though the Minister ordered an inquiry into it following newspaper reports, the Chief Conservator of Forests (Protection) submitted a report that claimed that the activities were being undertaken in accordance with accepted forest management practices.

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