CARRYING CAPACITY OF NETRAVATHI RIVER BASIN BASED ON THE ECOLOGICAL SENSITIVENESS

HIGHLIGHTS

Ecosystem carrying capacity is defined as ‘the maximum number of a species that can be supported indefinitely by a particular habitat, allowing for seasonal and random changes, without degradation of the environment and without diminishing carrying capacity in the future.
Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of activities (biological, developmental, agricultural, and industrial, population) that can be supported over a period of time in the habitat without damaging the existing quality of life, balance of resources, ecology and productivity of the ecosystem.
The ecological sensitivity of ecosystems refers to their ability to cope with various kinds of environmental disturbances that have the potential of adversely changing the character of the natural landscapes.
Identification of Ecologically Sensitive Regions (ESRs) considering spatially both ecological and social dimensions of environmental variables helps in ecological and conservation planning as per Biodiversity Act, 2002, Government of India.
Ecological Sensitive Regions (ESR/ESA) include not only distinctive ecological factors such as mountain, natural conservation area, but also includes human settlements surrounding ecological sensitive areas by forming a complete spatial and social entity.
ESRs demarcated through adoption of a landscape perspective (spatial composition, pattern, and position) as it provides a common framework to evaluate social, economic, and cultural dynamics and their relationship to sustain ecological goods and services
ESRs are the interconnected fragile regions of interactive landscape elements, vital to the long-term maintenance of biological diversity, soil, water or other natural resources which could be threatened by unplanned development.
ESRs delineation through the integration of geology, topography, hydrology and environment is the rigorous framework of sustainable land use planning. This would include ecologically critical areas, cultural critical areas, natural resource critical areas and natural hazard critical areas and necessitates coordination from local, state, and federal efforts to achieve protection objectives.
Development and implantation ESR framework requires harmonization between demarcation of priority biodiversity features with the active involvement of different stakeholders and agencies (conservation agencies & resource managers) in effective implementation. Stakeholder participation in decision making of ESR regions aid in understanding the complex and dynamic nature of environmental problems and lends a flexible and transparent decision making through a diversity of knowledge and values.
GoI prohibits or restricts the location of industries and carry out certain operations on the basis of considerations like the ecological sensitivity under section 5 of EPA 1986 (Environment Protection Act, 1986, GoI).
The current research attempts to integrate ecological and environmental considerations into administration, and prioritizes regions at Panchayat levels (local administrative unit) in Netravati River basin, Central Western Ghats, Karnataka state considering attributes (biological, Geo climatic, Social, etc.) as ESR (1-4) through weightage score metrics.
ESR 1 represents zone of highest conservation, no further degradation allowed. ESR 1 can be treated as a highly sensitive region and more conservation is to be imposed by regulatory authorities as well as VFCs (Village forest committees).
ESR 2 represents a zone of higher conservation and forms a transition for highest conservation and moderate conservation regions.
ESR 3 represents moderate conservation region and only regulated development is allowed in these areas.
ESR 4 represents least diversity areas and the developments are allowed as per the requirement with the strict vigilance from regulatory authorities. It is recommended that these regions are also has a lot of scope for further enrichment of environment by stakeholders and forest department intervention. In ESR 2 & ESR 3 further developments are allowed through only critical review of regulatory and extensive consultations with stakeholders.
The ESRs have been delineated at the village levels. There are 433 villages in the Netravathi river basin. Identification of ESRs in Netravathi region would aid in sustainable planning towards the sound ecological regional development.
28 grids represent ESR 1, 12 grids represent ESR 2, 14 grids represent ESR 3 and the rest 20 grids represent ESR 4. The 38% of the area of grids represents ESR 1, 16% of the area shows ESR 2, 19 % of the area shows ESR 3 and only 27 % area covers ESR 4.
Village wise ESR analysis reveals that there are 111 villages in ESR-1, 69 villages in ESR-2 119 villages in ESR-3 and 134 villages in ESR 4. ESR 1 and ESR 2 are to be strictly no-go area with respect to developments and ESR 4 is referred as a least possible eco-sensitive region. The Community-based Conservation (CBC) approaches in ESR 2 and 3 would help in the conservation of biological diversity (or wildlife).
Persistence of the endemic (rare, threatened, etc.) species in ESR 1 and 2 calls for serious attention from conservationists and decision makers to initiate programs immediately for conservation.
Forests with innumerable streams (i.e. water course forests) in the Western Ghats, offer tremendous potential for carbon stocking per unit area while also bettering the hydrology of these mountains, which form the main watershed for the entire Indian peninsula. These water course forests are not only rich with biodiversity but are also with high biomass, which highlights the greater carbon sequestration potential and their prime role towards mitigation of impacts of global warming. This emphasizes the need for the review of existing forest policies to ensure sustenance of ecological services through the sustainable forest management strategies.
Rivers / streams in the ecologically sensitive regions should not be diverted or manipulated as it would affect the water retention capability of the catchment and ground recharge potential. This would affect the sustenance of water in the streams (as streams become seasonal). This would also affect the downstream users’ right for adequate freshwater. Studies have revealed of salinity ingressions in freshwater resources with diversions depriving the downstream dwellers of fresh water and livelihood.
Millions of subsistence farmers and other forest dwellers of Western Ghats can not only be partners in micro-level planning for prudent water use but also stand to gain in a big way from carbon credits for their new role as promoters and guardians of watershed vegetation. Rendering such service for mitigating global climatic change can also, same time, serve well the cause of eco-sensitive regions in an otherwise much impacted biodiversity hotspot. The premium should be on conservation of the remaining ecologically sensitive regions, which are vital for the water security (perenniality of streams), mitigation of global carbon and food security (sustenance of biodiversity). There still exists a chance to restore the lost natural evergreen to semi-evergreen forests in the Western Ghats region through appropriate conservation and management practices. The management of biodiversity hotspot regions should focus on the conservation as well as socio-economic developmental aspects.
These ESRs or eco-clusters approach aids in the conservation of ecology, biodiversity, water resources, culture and traditions while paving way for location specific economic development, primarily aimed at elevating levels of livelihood security. ESRs are seen in the context of sustainability and environmental friendly behavior as means for a socio-ecological transition in the long run.
The eco-clusters at decentralized levels aid as driver for conservation of ecologically sensitive regions and implementation of an appropriate regional economic policies with the necessary incentive structures to foster eco-innovation as well as growth and employment at local levels (with the region specific industries such as agro processing, etc.). This envisage the foundation of an on-going process to integrate ecological and environmental considerations into administration in the ecologically fragile and biodiversity rich districts of Western Ghats. The integrated database on biodiversity and socio processes furnish analyzed data, advice and management prescriptions to beneficiaries at every level from the village communities to the Government. Eco-clusters are crucial for a sustainable development and thus need political commitment and incentives for the development of eco-industry sector (based on the local renewable natural resources). Thus, ESRs will aid as catalysts in a well-ordered decisionmaking process through stake holder’s active participation with the priorities for sustainable livelihood.