The Devil is Green

An edited version of the piece below finds place in SAEVUS; May 2014. 

Thanks are due to Saevus, Sree and Sudarshana.

Indebted to Dampa Tiger Reserve, Pu Tlana, Jhony, Joseph and Zakhuma besides many others in the landscape who shared time, awareness and tea.

Marauding oil-palms

Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram is arguably one of the older and yet lesser-known Tiger Reserves in the region. As you read this, it faces a threat like few others. Is it one of the usual suspects: Hunting? Shifting-cultivation? Dams? No. This time the offender is deceptively green - or should I say - oil that appears green. This comes at a time when camera-trapping exercises have revealed the splendour of its wildlife wealth to be not only intact but also on the rise and the field-director has titled his endearingly drafted piece – Dampa: Out of the Woods?

The highly diverse forests in the villages that constitute the Dampa Tiger Reserve and are a crucial habitat for all the denizens of the landscape are forced to make way for the monoculture in oil-palm. This invasion is taking place in the 488 sq kms that have been notified as buffer and abut the 500 sq kms of core area (the Dampa Wildlife Sanctuary). The government has been promoting oil-palm with zeal. Fund allocation for 2013-2014 alone is Rs. 3,011.46 lacs. Mamit, the district which houses Dampa, is one of the better performers and also has an Oil Palm Zonal Committee under the Mizoram Oil Palm (Regulation of Production and Processing) Act, 2004. Jay Mazoomdar in his article ‘Reading the palm right’ states ‘For all its economic advantage, oil-palm is one of the most controversial crops. Indonesia and Malaysia account for 87 % of the globally traded palm oil; its plantation responsible for a third of their combined loss of forest in the past decade.’

Given the uncharacteristically enthusiastic state-drive and a buy-back contract with the invited companies (Godrej Oil Palm Ltd in this case) majority cultivators seem to favour the palm. Besides, oil-palm takes way lesser time than its nearest competitors – areca-nut and rubber to mature and generate revenues! People I chatted with earlier this year, have planted between 50 and 500 oil-palms on their plots and in one case the villagers have come together to plant approximately 9,000 oil-palms on a single hill.

Not all, however, are sure. Some of whom I interacted with mentioned that oil-palm requires large area and regular supply of water which may be difficult and also that while the palms are young they are favoured by barking-deers, wild-pigs and even tree-shrews! Some also shared that the weather and altitude in Mizoram do not favour quick growth of oil-palm. I asked them where they would get rice from till they begin selling the oil-palm few years down the line. Most of them did not have a clear answer and one of them was frank enough to share that they were lost! As I chatted with them I wondered where they would get their supply of fire-wood and bamboo from if they plant oil-palm extensively in their lands. That some of these villages face shortage of both fire-wood and bamboo even today does not help.

Dampa, like many other landscapes in the region, harbours as much biodiversity wealth outside the Protected Areas (PA) as inside them and actions such as these will sound a death-knell for these forests outside the PA. Where will the amazingly beautiful lesser-cats and small-carnivores, who occupy a place of pride in Dampa’s  repertoire go if we snatch away their space? Will I see their pugmarks as I meander in these forests few years down the line? Dampa is well-know for the assemblages of forest birds it harbours. What will happen to the birds whom I happily hear as I walk the village forests and in many cases fail to spot unless (as it seems) they want to see me! Will Dampa too (unfortunately!) become an island? Have we lost yet another opportunity to partner locals in sustainable conservation of the landscape?  

The scenario was not very different few years ago when I was based at Baghmara (South Garo Hills, Meghalaya). Baghmara like Dampa is a biodiversity rich landscape that borders Bangladesh. Culprit there being rubber.

We unfortunately have not learnt from George Santayana who stated "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." On the other hand; perhaps it is not too late and the extensive paraphernalia that we have in place for conserving our national animal could be put to test!

Related reading : 

Shankar's article in THE HINDU.

Mridula's article in SCROLL.