06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

Lakshadweep Islands
increases the water retention capacity by 10
fold.
5. Biological control of pests and diseases of
coconut and intercrops to be intensified.
6. Plant Quarantine Act to be promulgated.
7. Rodent control in coconut garden combined
with traditional rat hunt campaign to be
revived to make it a peoples programme.
8. Proper grading, packing and storage facilities
for copra and mas to be encouraged. A
consortium approach for marketing of these
products to be ensured.
9. Nutrition gardening1homestead gardening to be
encouraged.
10.0rnamental gardening for healthy
beautification of homesteads to be encouraged
through dweep panchayat.
l1.Processing facilities for papaya and breadfruit
to be opened to help farmers with post harvest
production.
12.0nly 25-30%of the coconut husk is now utilized
for coir production and the rest goes waste.
Project oriented approach to be implemented
for the full utilization of coconut husk.
13.Household small-scale industrial units to be setup
for utilization of coconut shells, coconut
fiber, cowries and shells aimed at women
welfare.
VI. Threats To The Bio-resource
The threats to the bio-resources comes from both
natural and anthropogenic forces. Natural ca)lses
are due to global warming, sea level rise and
storm damage. These are unavoidable. The recent
problems seen in Lakshadweep are coral mortality
due to an epidemic of the crown of thorns starfish,
which destroyed vast areas of coral growth in the
mid 1990's followedby the coral bleaching event in
1998. C. Raghukumar: 1997 also notes a disease
killing corals in Kavaratti termed black band
disease.
The main threat due to anthropogenic forces is the
increase in population. The population of
Lakshadweep at the time of independence was less
than 20,000 of Lakshadweep. In 2001 the
population had gone up to 65,000. This means the
population has tripled since independence.
Lakshadweep has the 4th highest density of
population in India.
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This growth in population coupled with
modernization of the society and popularity of the
nuclear family has put great pressure on the
limited land and fresh water resources. There is
now a fresh water shortage on every Island and in
several places the water needs to be desalinized.
There is a growth garbage, sewage, defecation on
shore leading to eutrification and unhygienic
conditions.
More people means more house construction,
increased human activities. Table 4 lists the
anthropogenic threats to the Lakshadweep
resources and the action taken by the government
to mitigate the threats.
VII. Conservation And Management Efforts
The need for conservational management of coral
reefs and their associated organisms is urgent and
is recognized by the IUCN as a global priority.
Global concern has led to the formation of the
Global Coral reef Monitoring f"etwork (GCRMN)
and Coral reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean
(CORDIa). The GCRMN has encouraged the
formation of the Indian Coral Reef Monitoring
Network (ICRMN) and The Lakshadweep Coral
Reef Monitoring Network (LCRMN)
i. Applicable protection Acts and Current
legal status
The 1972 Wild life Protection Act was first to
include corals as a protected species. This act has
been amended in 1974, 1986 and 2001 to include
more species from coral reefs under schedule A,
for protection.
The Lakshadweep Administration has modified
this ruling to permit collect shingles for house
construction on a permit basis and has banned the
collection of coral boulders. (Notification number
17/2/98-ST&E). Environment wardens have the
duty of punishing offenders. Despite this illicit
collection of boulder coral continues and one could
see evidence of this while doing transects or
merely walking around the island.
In 1996 a notification was passed that people
could collect shingles by obtaining a permit from
the environment wardens. Non-permit holders
would be regarded as offenders. The notifications
are not taken seriously for example in the Island
of Agatti 22 permits were issued in 1996 to collect
a total of 4325 bags of Shingle. In 1997 45 permits
were issued to collect 11400 bags. The applicants
had applied for double that quantity. A man who