Vast swathes of mangrove vegetation are fast disappearing in Kerala as a proposal for declaring some of the rare and threatened vegetations in two districts as Ecologically Fragile Land have been lost in wilderness.
The proposal was to notify vegetation on private holdings in Kollam and Thrissur by invoking the provisions of the Kerala Forests (Vesting and management of ecologically fragile lands) Act. The ecologically fragile land vested in the government will also be deemed as reserved forests constituted under the Kerala Forest Act.
Incidentally, the Maharashtra government has notified 15,087.6 hectares of mangrove vegetation on government holdings as reserved forest. It has also proposed to transfer the land to the State Forest Department for its protection and conservation.
A legislative committee on environment, headed by Palode Ravi, had prioritised the holdings after inspecting the sites and recommended that the holdings shall be notified invoking Sec 4 of the Act.
Though a subcommittee formed by the State Forest Department, as instructed by the legislative committee, had recommended to notify 100 hectares rare and threatened mangrove vegetation in two districts one year ago, the proposal has not materialised, thus exposing the vulnerable vegetation to anthropogenic pressures.
In Kerala, the proposal was to acquire the tracts in the two districts and attach them to the existing nearly 2,500-hectare ecologically fragile land, and thus ensure its protection and conservation.
A panel headed by P. Sujanapal, a scientist of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Thrissur, had identified the vegetation in Munro Island, Vincent and adjacent Islands in the Neendakara region, Aayiramthengu and Aalumpadi-Pottasseri stretches in Kollam district to be acquired.
In Thrissur, the panel recommended that the stretches near Thachappilly bridge area, Pullut, Chettuva, Gurusree-Kodungalloor road-Pullut and Kodunglloor shall be acquired immediately and conservation measures initiated.
The locations were identified after considering the ecological importance of the species and the anthropogenic pressures faced by them, Dr. Sujanapal said.
Many parts of Kollam were experiencing drastic degradation and conversion of mangrove habitats. The large-scale anthropogenic interferences have resulted in fragmentation of most of the mangrove areas and it has become difficult to demarcate a patch of pure mangrove vegetation, he said.
T.P. Narayanan Kutty, the custodian of Ecologically Fragile Land of the Kerala Forest Department, said the recommendations to notify any EFL will have to be considered by a 12-memner committee of senior forest officials and two legislators. The department has written to the Sate government to nominate two legislators as the term of the earlier members expired, he said.
