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

Environmental wardens and Wildlife wardens
have been appointed in each of the inhabited
islands. They have been given scuba diving
training. Their duty is to see that no coral shingle
collection takes place and the islanders do not fish
endangered marine animals. In 1999 one chief
conservator of forests has been allotted a post in
the Administration of Lakshadweep to develop a
management plan for the coral reefs of
Lakshadweep.
Tourism. With regard to tourism the following
statement has been made "the negative impact of
tourism, generation of sewage, waste, increased
consumption of water and change in landscape
etc. An extremely low volume, high value added
very specialized tourism therefore would be
appropriate to make tourism environmentally
sustainable." A regular system to educate tourists
of prohibitions under CZMP and environmental
laws regarding corals may be introduced
(Srivastava, et al. 1997).
VIII. Future Prospects
Clearly the Lakshadweep Administration is very
concerned with environmental protection. More
laws and recommendations have been passed in
Lakshadweep than almost anywhere else and it
would seem as if they have all the pollution
causing threats under control.
The reality is something quite different. Every kind
of reef and fish collection goes on despite the ban
and notification. The Islanders appear to be sick
and tired of bans. They feel alienated from the
very resources that they have used Jrom time
immemorial. They are quick to seize any
opportunity to disregard the bans since
implementation is non-existent and at the best
very weak. There is one environment warden for
each. island who is in charge of issuing license to
allow a limited .quantity of shingle collection. He
has the additional powers to issue notices and fine
offenders. Field observations show that it is
impossible for this single environment warden to
work effectively and hence they turn a blind eye to
the collections or report them as old collections.
As a result no one is convinced about the value of
the bans and tend to ignore them.
The local people are n'lt taken into confidence
and their consensus has not been sought before
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Lakshadweep Islands
issuing the bans. Attitude of the people is that
since it is the government who is issues the ban;
let them protect the reef and all the species
included in the ban. At the same time some
Islanders state that the local administration is not
serious about implementing the bans. In the case
of shingle, boulder and sand the notifications have
lead to increased collection and hoarding by
certain individuals.
Complete quantitative and qualitative information
on local, ecological, social, economic and political
context are lacking from the site. Such
information is essential to prepare a plan that
integrates conservation and local economic
development. This information is also essential to
logically convince the local people about the
gravity of the situation.
Islanders are literate and hence can be educated
on the importance of coral reefs. They are already
aware that they owe their existence to reef
building corals. Through integrated conservation
and management approaches the livelihood
security of resident populations could be greatly
enhanced. In order for timely detection of
anomalies and threats, information can be
collected by monitoring resources and pollution.
Two things are urgently needed:
The first step towards protecting this site would be
to undertake a study on the dependence of the
local communities on the services and resources
provided by the site. With such basic information
available from grassroots, a people friendly,
conservation, monitoring and development plan
could be achieved with the participation of the
Island Administration and the Islanders.
Consensus building: through continuous public
meetings and awareness campaigns involving all
professions, age, and gender groups. We must take
a island stakeholders participatory approach for:
a) assessing resources, b) fixing levels of
exploitation; c) imposing size regulatiou, d)
periodic closure during breeding season of
sensitive species to permit recovery and e)
establishing Zoning - demarcation of areas for
different uses including one undisturbed core area
near every island. The role of the environment
warden could be changed from policeman to
consensus builder and provider of information.