PALNI HILLS CONSERVATION COUNCIL 13th ANNUAL REPORT 1997 - 98 The PHCC formed in 1985 has just completed 13 years of service, in its efforts to conserve and improve the environment of the Palni Hills. The Executive Committee with the following members, is happy to present the Annual Report of the Council for the year 1997 - 98. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS LIST 1. Mr. C. Jeyakaran President 2. Fr. K.M. Mathew Vice President 3. Mr. Navroz Mody Vice President 4. Mrs. Girija Viraraghavan Secretary 5. Mr. Nevil Moncher Joint Secretary 6. Mr. R. Kannan Treasurer 7. Mr. M.S. Viraraghavan Executive Committee Member 8. Mr. J. Nath Executive Committee Member 9. Mrs. Tara Murali Executive Committee Member 10. Mr. S. Ramachandran Executive Committee Member 11. Mrs. Rebecca Chacko Executive Committee Member 12. Mr. Ajit Mathai Coopted Member 13. Mr. Jean Pouyet Coopted Member 14. Mr. Theodore Bhaskaran Coopted Member MEMBERSHIP The total number of members of the Council as on 31st March '98 is as follows: Life members - 151 Annual members - 30 Institutional members - 2 Total - 183 Introduction The good health and sound management of the Palni Hills is the main objective of our council; this is of importance for the following reasons. a) This is one of the highest elevations with one of the highest rainfalls from where the Vaigai and Amaravathi (Cauvery) rivers originate. What happens on the Palnis directly affects the irrigation and drinking water needs of not only people in the hills, but also millions of people living in the arid plains of this part of peninsular India. b) The urgency to preserve the rare flora and fauna indigenous to these hills. c) Kodaikanal is still one of India's least damaged hill stations, and hence is worth taking efforts to maintain the beauty of this place. The PHCC is working in 36 villages/field stations taking steps to popularise the planting of trees, watershed management, bee-keeping, research & surveys on wildlife, lake and stream water quality monitoring, community people's organisation, networking, and lobbying with the government on policy matters. One of our proud achievements is creating a good cadre of environment activists in the form of our experienced staff and volunteers, who have worked with enthusiasm and sincerity in taking the message to the grassroot level. The Executive Committee which met 14 times during the last one year submits it's report on the various projects that were carried out at the different field centres of the council. Kodaikanal a) Nursery The aim of the tree nursery at our Kodai Office premises is mainly to restore and maintain the greenery and vegetation around Kodai Township. The emphasis is on raising high elevation native shola trees, along with other flowering and fruit trees. Pioneering work has been done over the years in collecting 20 varieties of shola tree seeds and propogating them for planting in Kodai. This year 4910 seedlings were raised and distributed. b) Water quality monitoring at the Kodai lake. The council has been monitoring the water quality of the Kodai Lake for the past 5 years, From our analysis using physical and chemical testing it is evident that the Dissolved Oxygen level of the lake waters is good for life only during times of copious rains, i.e. during October-November. When the rains stop the DO level deteriorates. At one of the six reference testing points it has receded to 4.0 mg per litre on many occasions. This also leads to a lot of fish kills. The macro vegetation is also spreading relentlessly. Nutrient enrichment of the lake waters is the cause for the eutrophication of the lake. The council also maintains a year long survey of Biological indicators in the lake and of the vegetation at the lake's periphery. This year we have found cyclops, which is an intermediate host for the Dracunculasis worm that causes filariasis. This indicates severe contamination with sewage. The microbiological examination showed high count of coliform bacteria that further confirms the contamination of the water with sewage. A comparative study was also undertaken with the lake water from the Berijam lake, which is free from anthropogenic activities. This showed many biological indicators that were thriving and that fish were healthy. The clarity was much better compared with the algae infested water of the Kodaikanal lake. The council has prepared maps of the Kodai lake watershed on a scale of 1:2000 indicating water quality biological activity, sources of permanent and temporary pollution to the lake etc., in each of the lake's micro watersheds. The water project under the Sustainable Development Programme has also been conducting awareness programmes for students of Kodaikanal. In the past year 10 schools have sent their students to learn lake ecology and also test the water for physical parameters. For the coming year we plan to involve the youth of Kodaikanal to actively participate. Several meetings of the Lake Protection Council were attented by our members. The government intends to spend several crores on cleaning the lake. A copy of the government's proposal for this expenditure has not been made available to the public. c) Stream Study A study was conducted by our team of researchers through the length of the Silver Cascade stream, that provides the drinking water for the temple town of Palani. The extent of pollution was so high that we were unable to get a clear reading, since the readings were out of range of our testing equipment. There was also complete absence of good quality biological indicators. Our council has prepared for circulation a list of its findings and suggestions to save the lake. d) Urban waste disposal problems A study was undertaken to address the problem of waste disposal at Kodaikanal and suggest means of remedy. It revealed that the problem was with the plastic that is non-biodegradable being mixed up with the solid and liquid wastes. Seperation of this waste at the source is the best solution available to the problem. A pamphlet in Tamil was prepared highlighting the dangers of such mixing and distributed to shopkeepers around the lake to bring the problem to their notice and to urge the Township to take some action on this matter as has been done in several towns across the country. Around the lake a lot of plastic waste has been accumulating. The council organised plastic waste collection on many occasions and gathered about 25 sacks of plastic. The waste dump of the municipality at Shenbaganur is a serious health hazard. The liquid that oozes out of the waste is mixing into the ground water and flowing down the streams and contaminating someone's drinking water down stream and this could lead to leptospirosis at some of the villages in the plains. The spread of plastic from the dump all over the surrounding area is another nuisance caused by the present disposal system. Some solutions suggested a) Co-ordinate NGOs working in this field along with the Municipal corporation to separate organic and inorganic wastes at source with people's cooperation. b) A more thorough system of picking up waste gathered at street corners and hotels. c) Reorganise the garbage dump at Shembaganur by making good quality compost for sale, seperation of metals, glass, plastics and sold to recycling units, thus creating an income. e) Legal matters Following the judgement of the Madras High Court in the Pleasant Stay case, the council will have to rivert to the court to ensure that the demolition ordered takes place. The court had further ordered the government to take action against other violations. In issuing demolition notices on a number of small violations while permitting large commercial violations to continue demonstrates lack of will on the part of the government to deal with this issue. PHCC is networking with a number of NGO's in other hill stations to ensure that the uniform national policy is evolved in preserving the authority of a planned development process in sensitive hilly areas. The council has joined a number of other local citizens groups to bring a sense of urgency and culpability to the administrations lack of concern for the problems of water supply, sewage and garbage disposal, and an unsustainable strain on the towns resources caused primarily by the connivance of the authorities with illegal constructors. Watershed management in the palnis: The council's strategy for the preservation of the watersheds and forests of the Palnis has been to introduce sustainable land use practices in the hills and surrounding plains which make the optimum use of land, water and labour resources as the principle activity to eliminate poverty from the villages, and preserve the neighbouring forests. Since our first tree planting initiative at Odukkam near Dindigul, our council has been getting better and more experienced in the work of helping farmers to improve their landuse with water conservation, shelterbelt planting and conservation of drylands through fuel, forest, fodder plantations. Several field stations have been set up at strategic locations in the Palni hills through the years, and an experienced cadre of PHCC field staff are raising tree seedlings and motivating farmers to plant them in their fields. Our council has a good reputation for having a wide range of rare tree seedlings of good quality. Some nurseries sell seedlings to farmers at subsidized prices. In spite of the tremendous need and potential for planting trees, funding for this important activity is sadly decreasing. Soil conservation work and planting in farmers fields was undertaken in the Palni Hills watershed management programme in Gundupatti, Kudhiraiyar and Viruveedu. This year we have raised calamus rotang (slender chair bottom cane) at our Athoor nursury. The following is a list of our tree nurseries, with the number of seedlings raised and distributed for planting this year. Hill nurseries Seedlings Foothill nurseries Seedlings raised raised 1. Kodaikanal 4910 10. Genguvarpatti 33504 2. Vilpatti 3459 11. Vathalagundu 5815 3. Pallangi 7537 12. Viruveedu 81269 4. Siruvattukadukombai 14200 13. Athoor 32323 5. Kollangaraiyar 10050 14. Odukkam (Dindigul) 37898 6. Palkadai 5100 15. Kuthiraiyar 57619 7. Melpallam 6000 8. Semmadioothu 5000 Total Seedlings 3,13,334 9. Gundupatti 8650 Odukkam Tree Seed Centre: This is our oldest tree nursery and is situated at Dindigul. The nursery distributed about 37898 plants comprising of 50 species of trees. This year 1600 kgs of 90 species of various seeds were distributed amongst NGO's, Forest department and individuals. This centre was initially funded to create some infrastructure. We are pleased to note that presently the centre is financially independent. The Dindigul Municipality has been requested to renew the lease for another five year term. Our sincere thanks to the Dindigul Municipality for their cooperation extended so far. The Kadavakurichi Project The Kadavakurichi hillock is a small degraded scrub forest located near Vathalagundu surrounded by 19 villages. The first PHCC tree nursery was started in one of these villages in 1988 itself. Over the years this has been a show piece effort of the council to start co operation in watershed management and forest protection involving several villages. The results of the detailed survey done a few years ago, along with Participatory Rural Appraisal surveys in all the 19 villages, has given the direction for the PHCC's project activities here. The need to organise people in the villages to actively participate in their development process was identified as one of the priorities. The low literacy level among the population, and the need to help the children in the villages with non-formal education facilities was also one of the thurst areas. Community centres run by our council is functioning in all the 19 villages and serves as an entry point where we interact with people at the grassroots level. Evening study classes and games are organised for 1350 children, many of whom are school dropouts. Forming people's organisations like youth groups, women's sangams and village planning committees are part of the activities of this project. The approach has been to empower people, and involve them actively in the development process in their village and watershed. Land development works and tree planting work have have been carried out in about 100 ha.of farmers private land and 30 ha.in community land, and around 39000 tree seedlings have been planted out last year during the monsoon. Improvement and construction of small percolation ponds has also been done by 5 village planning committees. Several training programmes and field visits have been organised for the people to motivate them in this work. The recruitment and training of 19 community workers for the project was a big activity in itself. Further two of our lady project staff went to Sweden for a month to learn about nature games for children from the MUlle (nature) schools in Sweden. The "Friends of the Palani Hills" in Sweden sponsored this program. Though a lot has to be done before the Kadavakurichi RF becomes an evergreen forest again, still the building of a strong rural base to actively participate in ecorestoration has been achieved to an extent. The experience gained from this project will enable us to implement such mass mobilisation initiatives in other areas of the Palnis. Bee keeping projects. Popularising bee keeping among farmers has been one of our council's initiatives during the past 7 years. The incidence of Thai Sac Brood virus has decimated the bee population over the years both in the apiaries and in the wild. Consistent research work has been done in studying the Thai Sac Brood virus problem, designing new hives, and in building up a trained cadre of bee keeping extension workers. With sufficient experience built up in this field over the years and decline in the TSB virus problem the council embarked on an ambitious programme of training people in the villages about bee keeping. A newly funded training program on bee keeping was implemented this year. Under this programme 4 new training centres, at Viruveedu, Kudhiraiyar, Palkadai and Patlankadu have been started. A building of approximately 400 sq.ft in each of these places has been built to serve as the training centre. The training programme is meant for farmers and rural folk who wish to take up bee keeping as a part of their mixed farming activities. Colony multiplication, making of hives with locally available material to ensure that the participants can make their own hives is part of the training program. Around 45 men and 42 women are currently attending this program. The council maintains around 147 hives in it's 8 apiaries, and it is hoped that beekeeping in the countryside can be revived by these people. The following gives a list of the PHCC's apiaries. _____________________________________________________________________________ S.No Centers No.of hives Trainees Buildings Men Women _____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Viruveedu 21 12 10 530 sft 2. Athoor 25 3. Kudhiraiyar 15 15 10 460 sft 4. S.V. Kombai 7 5. Palkadai 22 5 10 360 sft 6 Melpallam 15 7. Semmadaioothu 10 8. Patlankadu 22 13 12 400 sft 9. Oothu 10 Total 147 45 42 Genguvarpatti Environment Centre This centre is located at the south eastern foothills on the Kodai Ghat road, where the PHCC owns 20 acres of land. The tree nursery here which we are running since 1992, raised 33,504 seedling of 50 varieties this year. There has been a strong interest from coffee planters for Gmelina arborea trees, and this centre has raised several thousand seedlings of this variety. 1500 seedlings of fruit and multipurpose trees have been planted in our Reuben Arboretum, where there are already 126 varieties of trees planted over the years. This arboretum will serve as a good seed bank for the future. As a way of fulfilling the aims of this centre several training programs in ecological agriculture and land development have been held for around 300 farmers. It is envisaged to put more emphasis towards training and eco awareness workshops in the future from this centre. To facilitate this activity the council has started construction of a 175 sqm. building at this site. The building funded by SNF is being constructed using eco friendly techniques, with assistance from Auroville. Viruveedu Centre This centre is located south of Vathalagundu in 10 acres of land owned by the Council. Under the Watershed Development programme soil & moisture conservation works were carried out in land belonging to small farmers. A fine tree nursery consisting of 81, 269 tree seedlings was raised and distributed to farmers. Under the Bee keeping Training Program a new training centre has been constructed at this site with a plinth area of 500 sqft. The training program has established apiaries in the nearby dry agriculture belt where morringa pterigosperma (drumstick) is grown and provides nectar for about 8 months of the year. This centre also serves as a project office coordinating the work going on in several centres. The Palni Hills Sanctuary Around 72% of the land mass extending over 1450 sq kms. in the Palni Hills is Reserve Forest. An expert committee formally appointed by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994 has recommended that around 1040 sq.kms. of the Palni Hills Reserve Forest be declared a wildlife sanctuary. This will be a natural extension of the Anamalai Indira Gandhi National Park, and will improve the conditions of the forests and wildlife by better systems of management. The legal formal process is still not complete, and it will need political will to make it happen. It is hoped that the government will take an enlightened decision to preserve the last few high elevation forests in this state. Around 190 sq kms of the Palni Hills forests in Udumalpet Taluk in the North West Palnis is already part of the Anamalais National Park. The Mannavanur and Kukkal village clusters are bordering the existing National Park, and special socio economic programs should be initiated here. Tribal Survey In order to protect the interests and rights of the Paliyar Tribals in these hills in the eventuality of a sanctuary being declared, the PHCC has done a survey of the Paliyar tribal population in the Palni Hills. It is estimated that there are 48 Paliyar settlements here, and 20 of these were surveyed by our researchers. The survey shows the poor conditions under which these people are living, and their dependence on forest produce for their survival. These traditional rights have to be protected, and the council is determined to work on these issues. The minimum needs of these communities for housing, education, health, drinking water, ration cards needs to be addressed. Special evening non-formal schools are being organised by the council at 3 places in Siruvattukadu Kombai, Kudhiraiyar and Kollanagariyar; but much more needs to be done if the real issues have to be tackled. Wildlife Survey Our council has over the years been gathering more knowledge of the wildlife of these hills by doing wildlife surveys. Studies on the elephant movement in the Palnis, Gaur population around Berijam, the Grizzled Giant Squirrel in Siruvattukadu Kombai have been done. During this year a rapid survey of the Nilgiri Tahr population in the Palnis was conducted. In two areas around Berijam, Mariyan shola, and above Kudhiraiyar Dam in Ellai Gundu areas a team of researchers and wildlife enthusiasts conducted a rapid Tahr census. In the Berijam/Mariyan Shola survey around 33 People from different walks of life took part enthusiastically for 4 days. The results of the survey have been given to the Government, and a set of recommendations for better management of the Tahr habitat has been proposed. The PHCC staff have also for the third year in succession been invited to participate in the Tiger Census at the Periyar National Park in Thekkady, Kerala. A small mammal distribution study by a researcher for 3 months has been sponsored by the PHCC. Mapping The PHCC has 2 cartographers who have been preparing land use, and watershed maps for a few years now. The PHCC is interested in developing remote sensing techniques to get a better picture of the land use and forest cover in the Palnis. The government of Tamil Nadu has appointed Honorary Wildlife Wardens in all the Districts, and our President Mr. C. Jeyakaran has been appointed the Honorary Wildlife Warden for Dindigul District. Sustainable Agriculture Chemicals and poison free agriculture needs to be popularised among farmers to protect our soils and groundwater from toxic agrochemicals. Chemically grown food has proved to produce disastrous health hazards globally. The need to have trained instructors on Sustainable Agriculture to spread the message and techniques to farmers is imperative. Hence 2 programs of 3 week duration each on Biodynamic Agriculture was organised by the council at the Sacred Heart College in Shembaganur during this year. Around 50 trainees have attended these 2 courses, and Mr. Peter Proctor from the New Zealand Biodynamic Farming Association has been the inspiration and the course instructor as well. Six of our PHCC staff have attended these courses and this has helped us to organise programs on Bio-dynamic agriculture for many farmers in Tamil during this year. There is a tremendous need to tell farmers on the evils of chemical agriculture, and to show ways and techniques to do practical sustainable agriculture. An international 3 week course on Bio-dynamic agriculture is planned in September this year, and the Palni Hills will be one of the main places from where Bio-dynamic agriculture concepts will be spread far and wide. Networking Our council as part of it's strategy is linked up with National & International NGO's working with environment issues. Having E. Mail and internet facilities in the near future will put us in touch with the world Environment scene on the website. Our council has also actively participated in constructive dialogue with forest and revenue departments. Conclusion The PHCC has just completed 13 years of consistent action towards the preservation of the Palni hills. Our council has a better understanding of the issues threatening the ecological balance in these hills. We have also built up a committed and experienced team of local youngsters at different levels. The main development anticipated in the near future will be the declaration of the proposed Palni hills sanctuary. We are preparing ourselves to play a constructive role in making the sanctuary reality. This will mean working with the people living on the fringes of the sanctuary: helping fulfill the minimum needs of the villages, finding ways to resolve man-animal conflict, improving agriculture land use to make people self sufficient, protecting the interests of the Paliyar Tribals, and the like. The basic thrust is to organize and motivate people to actively take part in the protection of the environment. In conclusion we wish to emaphasize the need for a regular flow of funds and the involvement of more volunteers in this work. We wish to thank the following organizations who helped us with the various projects: 1. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation - Sustainable Development Project 2. SIDA - Kadavakurichi Watershed Management Project 3. CAPART/DANIDA - Palni Hills Watershed Management Project 4. GTZ - Odukkam Tree seed centre 5. Danish Bee Keeping Federation - Bee Project 6. The New Zealand/Australia Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association - Biodynamic Agricultural Project The council has enjoyed good cooperation from the Forest and Revenue Departments of Dindigul and Theni Districts. Our thanks to them for helping in planting trees, and protecting the flora & fauna in the Palni hills. Finally our thanks to our auditors M/s. Madhavan & Elango who have efficiently audited the accounts for the year. Kodaikanal C.JEYAKARAN July'98 President.