I am busy building a new home for my family. 100% of the wood is being recycled from my old home which had to be dismantled due to weathering compounded by the devastating earthquake that struck Kashmir in 2005. All the bricks and most of the stone that will be used will also be sourced from the dismantled structure. This will significantly reduce the impact our new home would otherwise have had on the environment. No trees will be cut down, no fossil fuels burnt in kilns, and no rocks or earth will be excavated on our account. I will sleep a little better as a consequence.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case with the booming construction business in the valley. People are obsessively buying land and building colonies wherever they can. A little greasing of the right palms and you can build a condo even on a world heritage site. The greatest impact has been on our forests which are being mercilessly massacred with the active connivance, nay, partnership of the concerned official departments. Officially, wood imported all the way from South America is much cheaper to buy than local timber but a strong timber mafia with strong political connections is plundering our forests and selling the green trees almost for free. I have clicked the accompanying pictures from main roads enroute to popular tourist destinations. One can only imagine what must be the condition of forests in the interiors.

News Link:
A Tree For A Meal





As I was writing this post, Muddasir Ali of Greater Kashmir exposed the illegal felling of trees in Dachigam, which is a heavily guarded National Wildlife Sanctuary. It is home to the last viable population of the Hangul or Kashmir Stag. I wonder if the mafia responsible for illegal felling of trees are somehow connected to the dwindling numbers of Hangul. Anyway, if active poaching does not kill off the Hangul, loss of habitat certainly will. Is anybody listening?



News Link:
Dachigam Vandalized As Wildlife Deptt Sleeps

Images copyright Dr. Bakshi Jehangir

One of the most unforgettable sights of Kashmir are undoubtedly the magnificent Chinar trees. All is not well with these noble trees, unfortunately . Only 19,897 chinars were left in the Valley by 2005, from 42,000 in 1970, according to a census by the Chinar Development Authority of the Department of Floriculture. The most famous chinar grove in the valley, the famed Naseem Bagh created by the great Mughal emperors - who nourished these chinar trees with milk - is threatened by the stubborn insistence of the Kashmir University authorities to build a three-storey guest house at one particular spot only. Relocation of this guest house has been demanded by environmentalists, students have gone on hunger strikes in protest, and the official in charge of the welfare of chinars - the Chinar Development Officer - has officially warned the authorities against the construction, but they seem strangely unmoved.

A dozen previously healthy chinars are drying up in the newly-created park on the left bank of the Jehlum between the Zero and Abdullah bridges. There must be something terribly wrong in the methods adopted for the 'beautification' of the Jehlum banks. A remedy needs to be urgently sought before all the chinars in the ambit of the beautification drive meet the same fate. Chinars on either side of the TRC lane adjacent to the JK Bank Corporate HQ are also dying. It would be a sad day indeed if the timeless chinars, having existed in the valley for millenia, were to be wiped out by the greed of a few decades.

Strangely appropriate for the topsy-turvy world of Kashmir, the one chinar that really needs to be cut down is surviving in the face of all odds. This chinar is a deathtrap in the middle of the left lane of the national highway at Sonwar. Ever since I can remember, this particular chinar has been the cause of numerous accidents. A friend holds the dubious distinction of having crashed a bicyle, a motorcycle and a luxury car into this very tree on separate occassions and having lived to tell the tale(s). This tree has survived being cut in half, pollution from the non-stop traffic plying on the national highway and frequent and occasionally fatal crashes. It continues to be treated as a 'holy cow' and seems to be getting heathier with a fresh burst of efflorescence. If it cannot be cut down, maybe it needs to be studied for its unusual resilience as compared to the fragility of the earlier mentioned chinars.



News Links:
Booune - The Tree of Gardens & Parks
Chinar Tree, "Bouin" of Kashmir
CDA rejects revised plan for guesthouse in Naseem Bagh

Update:
I am glad to report that Greater Kashmir has picked up this story and the dying Chinars recieved a lot of airtime on Kashmir's most popular radio station Big 92.7 FM the next day. This blog may be 'a voice in the wilderness' but it seems to be connecting with people.

News Links:
7 Chinars fall to Jhelum beautification

Image copyright Dr. Bakshi Jehangir

In an earlier post, I had pointed out the similarities between Dachigam and Ranthambhore and recommended that eco-tourism be started in Dachigam. I must confess that I was surprised by the announcement that the government has, in its own words, already 'thrown open' the park to tourists and visitors. I hope that it is the Wildlife Department which is in charge of tourist activities inside the park rather than the Tourism department. I also hope that before allowing tourism a systematic study of the impact of tourism activity has been undertaken with measures already in place to counter the possible negative effects like pollution etc.

Many important questions need answers. Is there a cap on the number of tourists and vehicles allowed inside the park based on some scientific study? Are there going to be trained guides compulsarily accompanying every group inside the park? Have these guides been trained to identify wild animals and trees etc. for the benefit of the visitors? Have they been instructed to be firm enough not to allow any damage to the sensitive ecosystem of the park?

I sincerely hope it is not just a hasty decision on the part of the government for eco-tourism publicity. If properly planned and managed, eco-tourism has enormous potential in Dachigam and elsewhere in Kashmir. However, there is a real danger that allowing unplanned tourism activity just to make up the numbers may prove to be counter-productive in the long run.



News Links:
Dachigam thrown open
Dachigam Drive, boon or bane for Hangul?
Tourism shouldnt be allowed to destroy eco-system

Click here for a larger image.

Image copyright Dr. Bakshi Jehangir

The BBC reports that according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London, between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970. Ironically this is one international trend that Kashmir would seem be up-to-date with, if only we knew for sure what species existed before they were lost forever. There is no definitive list of the wildife of Kashmir. As far as birds are concerned, Bates & Lowther did a phenomenal job with their "Breeding Birds of Kashmir' but that opus is now somewhat dated. No similar work has been published with respect to wildlife in its entirety. As an individual effort, I have tried to compile and publish data gleaned from various sources on the Birds of Kashmir and Wildlife of Kashmir websites, but surely the official agencies of the government with their infinite resources can do a more thorough job. If only they could spare the time.



Meanwhile there is news of fresh trouble for wildlife:
Extended Amarnath yatra poses threat to wild animals
Wildlife populations 'plummeting'

This comment deserves its very own entry:

My dear friend,

We are eagerly waiting for the time when there will be only a couple of hanguls. We shall make make money on the "Emergency Preservation of Hangul", "Photo Exhibition of Hangul", "Museum Specimens of Hangul", "Hangul Extinction-A great Loss to Asia" etc. In any case, we will benefit. If a full fledged Department to wail the death of Hangul is created, won't it be excellent?. We must be happy.

As for the Hangul, to hell with it. We will be gratetful to any one that sends us 'FUNDS' for 'PRESERVATION' of animals, natural resources, culture-----any thing. Don't you see how much have we EARNED from Dal. We are thankful to God for the ever worsening condition of the Dal. Only one prayer is there; that it should not vanish completely at least till every one of us becomes a CROREPATI (millionaire).

Yasin Bhat (yasinbhatkashmir<at>gmail.com)

News Update:
Rare Kashmiri deer on verge of extinction - census report
Captive breeding to save Kashmir's rare red deer