Letters

Farcical forestry

In spite of many positive dimensions to the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme, certain disturbing trends in it cannot be ignored.

The JFM concept emanated wifuthe success of the forest protection committees in the southwestern districts of West Bengal. Though the committees in collaboration with the forest department were able to raise large patches of forests, one should not forget that these areas were originally tribal lands and the tribals were trying to retrieve them by various means. Once JFM was introduced, tribal assertions were significantly diverted and diluted.

In other states too, the JFM has many lacunae. In Maharashtra, for instance, the government's JFM policy provides scope to the forest department to infiltrate non-forest lands. In the Dangs district of Gujarat, where thetribals have no permanent title deed over lands, Jorest protection committees have been formed to check illega) felling, but have little say! Jver the way forest labour cooperatives and vested interests behave. Incidentally the Kisan Hak Sanrakshak Samity in Dangs is waging a concerted battle against goons of the committees and the forest department.

What is worse is thlltmany NGOs have been co-opted by the government Into JFM and are indirectly subscribing to the colonial Indian Forest Act of 1927, which guides JFM.

...

Challenging task

I read the article in Down To Earth (November 15, 1992) on temples and traditonal water-harvesting methods. Very interesting! Burton Stein, who is mentioned in the article, is a historian of South India. I think this combination of ecology and history is challenging.

...

Air purifier needed

I am aware that there is constant monitor ing of air quality at the ITO intersection in Delhi and that at peak hours, vehicle exhausts emit excessive carbon monoxide.

I wonder if someone can devise air purifiers that could be installed at such 2 places to convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide gas, which is less harmful to health. This conversion may be done through interacting carbon monoxide with a monitored and measured quantity of ozone, produced from an ozone generator. I have seen a demonstration in which cigarette smoke was blown into a glass bottle and placed in front of an ozone generator, The black smoke containing carbon and carbon monoxide disappeared.

Can anyone of your enlightened readers throw more light on this?

...

Report condemned

We welcome the decision of the Union ministry of forests and environment (MEF) to send scientists to assess the impact of the prawn project of Tata Aquatic Farms on the ecosystem of Orissa's Chilika lake, However, we would request MEF minister Kamal Nath to treat the interim environments impact assessment studies prepared by the Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd (W APCOS) as so much garbage because WAPCOS is neither competent nor reliable to under-take studies of such magnitude, Woulds a blacksmith be asked to fashion jewellery?

For several years now, the Coastal Poor Development Action Network (COPDANET) has been involved with a save-the- Chilika-lake campaign, sponsored by the Centre for Action Research and Documentation (CARD), based in Bhubaneshwar. CARD has brought out an excellent study on the lake, showing that the Chilika lake system supports a population of more than 120,000, of whom 55 per cent are fisherfolk. The lake area, now about 1,200 sq shrinks to 800 sq km in the summer.

The construction of eight shallow ponds near the Gola-Panaspada area, bound to have an impact on the lake' It ecosystem. The Tata's claim that their farm is not part of the lake is humbug The area is part of the lake during the rainy season, when the water spread area of the lake expands to 122 sq km.

While we welcome the MEF proposal for a reappraisal of the Tata project's environmental imp-act, we that representatives of at least five voluntary groups concerned with the lake a be inducted into the assessment team.

...

Statutory warning

While the concern for depletion by CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) of the ozone layer If (November 30 and December 15, 1992) growing the world over and phase periods are being voluntarily squeezed refrigerator manufacturers in India blatantly advertise CFC-emitting PUF insulation as a virtue-

We suggest all advertisements an printed material concerning PUF refrigerators must contain a statutory warning that CFC in PUF is an environmental hard.

An alternative to CFC-containing exists in fibrious insulation. The efforts to find CFC-free foaming agents should continue and, meanwhile, fibrous insulation material can be used in refrigerators.

...

Letters Letters