Research Article - (2012) Volume 2, Issue 1
1Department of Geo-Engineering, College of Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhaptnam, AP, India
2Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, AP, India
3Department of Environmental Studies, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, AP, India
Environmental studies of any project are prime to protect the environment at the best possible. New venture to do important for the development of mankind while taking proper precautions to protect the natural ecosystem. The study has tried to estimate the loss in respect of biological resources in the submergence areas of the Polavaram project. The estimate is based on several and relevant criteria’s, norms, approaches adopted by various agencies. And also the study suggests alternate ways and means and strategies for the improvement of the biotic environment in and around submergence area of the Polavaram project.
Faunal resources, biotic environment and Polavaram area
India has the second highest population density among the Asian countries. It has about 16% of the total world’s population concentrated in slightly more than 2% of the world’s land area, a population which is growing annually at a rate of 2.3% [1]. About a third of this population subsists below the poverty line. Traditional and substantial dependence on the biodiversity resources for fodder, fuel wood, timber and minor forest produce has been an accepted way of life of the rural population that accounts for nearly 74% of India’s population. With the radical demographic changes, the land to man ratio and forest to man ratio has rapidly declined. From about 20 ha in 1951, the per capita forest area had been reduced to 0.11 ha in 1981 [2] with further trends of reductions in subsequent years. Apart from the primary loss of biodiversity due to development, there are numerous other problems contributing to the loss and endangered status of several floral and faunal species. These include habitat losses and fragmentation leading to the formation of isolated scattered populations becoming increasingly vulnerable to inbreeding depressions, high infant mortality, susceptibility to environmental stochasticity and in the long run, possible extinction. According to the Red list of Threatened Plants [3], 19 species are already extinct and 1236 species are threatened. Of these, threatened 41 taxa are possibly extinct in the wild, 152 are endangered, 102 are vulnerable, 251 are rare, and 690 are indeterminate.
The present study is limited to submergence area of the Polavaram project extends along the river Godavari on both sides in West Godavari, East Godavari and Khammam districts in Andhra Pradesh, India shown in Figure – 1 .The study area has mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and aquatic fauna. The river Godavari, Papikonda hills and flood plains along the river provide rich habitat for various animal communities. A few of them were rare and vulnerable as per the norms of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources) and protected under Schedule category of India wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The study also identified rare categories of the mammals in the study area of wild life significance are presented with their zoological names, common names, habitat types and status in Table -1 shows that 20 species of mammals occur in the submergence area.
Figure 1: Location map of the study area [4]
Table-1: Distribution of Habitat and Status of the Mammals in the submergence area of Polavaram area
Mammals
The study has identified two categories of mammals – domestic (cow, buffalo, goat and sheep etc.) and wild life as shown in Table -1. The farm animals grown in the back yards and at cultivated lands for obtained substantial income and also to assist in the cultivation operations. The study also identified rare categories of the mammals in the study area of wild life significance are presented with their zoological names, common names, habitat types and status in. Table-1 shows that 20 species of mammals occur in the submergence area, 6 of them (30%) - bonnet macaque, common langur, striped palm squirrel, Indian mongoose, Indian pangolin and jackal are found in open habitats of forest fellings or clearings, nearer to forest edges, cultivated areas and human habitations, where as 5 (25%) species - jungle cat, hyena, Indian tiger, Sambhar deer and Indian bison are found in dense forest areas with thick canopy cover at high altitudes and undisturbed forest areas with flat terrain and lesser human activity[5].
Three (15%) species - Rufoustailed hare, Indian fox and Indian Fruit bat inhabit degraded forest zones and forest edges nearer to cultivated lands and human habitations. Two species (10%) - Indian giant squirrel and nilgai are found in dense forest areas with thick canopy cover at higher altitudes and two species (10%) - leopard and barking deer are observed in hilly terrain of rocky slopes and deep valleys of dense forest with thick canopy cover of undisturbed areas of flat terrain and lesser human activity. Apart from the above faunal species the other categories such as bandicoot rat, Indian porcupine, sloth bear and wild boar are also found in the above mentioned habitats.
Regarding the status of wild life fauna, maximum number of mammals, 9 species (45%), bonnet macaque, common langur, Indian fox, jackal, jungle cat, Sambhar deer, barking deer, nilgai and Indian bison are vulnerable and will be easily affected by submergence. Five species (25%), rufoustailed hare, Indian porcupine, striped palm squirrel, Indian mongoose and Indian pangolin are of common occurrence and 4 species (20%), Indian giant squirrel, sloth bear, Indian tiger and leopard are in endangered / threatened status.
Birds
The vegetation of terrestrial and aquatic origin, scrub forest of foot hills and on hilly terrain of Papikonda ranges and sand banks of river Godavari provide favourable habitat for a rich diversity of birds in the submergence area. The study recorded 70 species of birds in the study area (Table -2).
Table-2: Distribution of Birds as per species-wise in the submergence of Polavaram area
The birds belonging to 14 Orders and 38 families / Sub-families. The maximum number of birds about 19 (27.14%) are found in Passeriformes Order, followed by 13 species (18.57%) in Jacanidae Order, 7 species (10.00%) in Podiciptiformes Order, 6 species (8.57%) in Ciconiiformes and 5 species (7.14%) in respectively. Further, about 13 species (18.57%) such as common sand piper, black tailed God-wit, green shank, Red shank, curlew, Indian whiskered tern, little stint, black winged stilt, ayocet, gad wall, pin tail, common teal and Common quail are winter visitors and 9 species (12.85%) such as painted stork, open billed stork, chestnut bittern, river tern, the coot, brahminy kite, koel, blue-jay (roller) and hoopy are resident category and locally migrating birds. The Migratory category belonging to the order Ansenformes of family Anatidae represented by 4 species utilize the rivers waters and sand bars for their feeding and nesting.
Herptile Species
Herptio fauna includes amphibians and reptiles. Of the 650 species of herptiles are reported from India, about 60 species have been reported from the Easternghats existing from Similipal of Orissa state to Nilagiri of Tamilnadu state along the Eastcoast of India. About 8 species of amphibians and 40 species of reptiles were recorded in Easternghats areas of Andhra Pradesh. The present study has listed out 22 species of herptiles found in and around the submergence area (Papihills and river Godavari). The details are presented in Table-3.
Table- 3: Distribution, Habitat, Status and Abundance of Herpetile species of the Polavaram area.
Table-3 shows the 22 herptile species found in the study area. All these species belong to12 families in the order Anura of the class Amphibia; Maximum number (14 species) prefer to stay on land, 7 species are aquatic, 3 species are lotic (running water), 6 species are boreal, 3 are arborial and 2 species live on bushes.
In respect of status, 8 species (36.36%) such as Rana hexadactyla, Bufo- melanostictus, Homidactylus prashadii, H. brooki, Calotes versicolor, Sitana ponticeriana and Natrix piscater are very frequent; 13 (39.39%) - R. trigrina, Lissemys punctata granosa, Kachuga tectum tentorica, Geochelone elegana, Chamaeleon zeylanicus, Varanus bengalensis, Python molurus, Eryx johni johni, Dryophis pulverulentus, Enhydris enhydris, Bungarus caereleus, Naja naja and Vipera russelli are threatened species. Nineteen species (86.36%) are of common occurrence and 2 species are occasionally found and one species comes under rare category.
Fishery resources
The river Godavari has abundant fish resources which is the source of livelihood for a large population on the banks around the submergence area. The predominant species were common Carps – Cirrhinun mrigala, Labeo calabasu, Catla catla, and cat-fishes – Mytos Seenghala, Mytus aor, Silonia childreni, Wallago attu, Pangasius pangasius, Bangarius bangarius, Chipeids – Hilsa clisha; Prawns – Macrobrachium malcolhsoni.
It is evident from the above analysis that a considerable extent of land resources including cropped areas and builtup areas floral and faunal resources including rare and endangered species particularly in flood plains and foot hills will face submergence owing to Polavaram Project. Hence, the present thesis makes an attempt to assess the consequences and effects due to submergence by Polavaram reservoir on various aspects including environmental and socioeconomic scenario. The details are presented in the following chapters.
Loss of Biotic Resources
Fauna
Table-4 exhibits about 13 species of mammals belonging to the vulnerable, endangered and threatened categories will be affected due to the disturbance of habitat conditions in the submergence study area.
Table-4: Loss of Mammals as per status in the submergence area of the Polavaram area.
Regarding birds it may be observed from Table-5 that there are about 9 category of residential and locally migrants and 13 species of winter visitor birds. These are effected due to loss of habitat conditions in the submergence area of the project. It may be observed from Table-6 that about 13 species of herpertiles comes under threatened category and will be affected due to disturbances and damages of habitat conditions in submergence area of the project.
Table 5: Losses of migrated Bird species in the submergence area of Polavaram area
Table 6: Loss of Herpetile species of the submergence area of Polavaram area
Ecosystem
The studies of [6-9], have analyzed the impact of development projects of Irrigation and hydropower projects on ecosystems particularly with reference to floral resources. Further, these studies analyzed the impacts such as clearance of vegetation cover and forest in physical in various zones in and around projects. The studies have also suggested various (alternative) ways to minimise the damages and comprhensive losses in ecosystems in and around the project region in varied empirical situations.
Faunal resources
The investigations of [10-13] deal with analysis of the distribution, habitat, status of the faunal resources such as mammals, reptiles, fisheries and wild life resources existing in and around various lakes associated with the command area of the project. They also suggested prevention, protection and conservation measures for the mitigation of undesirables impacts of the project and other development works in the region. Similarly, the present thesis also has tried to recommend suitable and location-specific steps to mitigate the impact of the Polavaram project on floral and faunal resources in the submergence area.
Keeping the above aspects in view, the present study analyses the terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. Similarly the study analyzed the distribution of faunal resources particularly domestic and farm animals, wild life and, aquatic fauna .The data used in the study were taxonomy reports and zoological survey reports and records of Forest Department and Wildlife Organizations [14,15].
The study was suggested to develop bird, wild life sanctuaries for the mammal species which come under vulnerable endangered, threatened and rare species categories in the submergence area of Polavaram area and was suggested development of suitable habitat zones for the herpatile population which come under threatened categories. All the facilities including funds should be provided for the habitat zones. In other hand the present study also investigated that the fish resource in the submergence area of Polavaram is very rich and provides livelihood for a large number of the population in and around project region. Hence, the study suggested chalking out a plan for the development of fisheries both in the reservoir and their canals. Further, the study suggested creation of habitats for endangered and rare species of fishes in separate zones. The fisheries department is to be involved in these programmes for effective implementation of the development programmes.
Acknowledgments
First author is very grateful to Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Programme for financial support and thanks to Andhra University for utilizing facilities.
