Centre for Science & Environment , Delhi : An E-Bulletin from CSE on May 3, 2007

CSE's Fortnightly News Bulletin [May 03, 2007]

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An e-bulletin from CSE, India, to our network of friends and
professionals interested in environmental issues. Scroll to the bottom
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INSIDE:

- Publication: Anil Agarwal Reader series
- Editorial: What China is doing to Goa
- Cover Story: Making India's mining sector socially and environmentally
viable
- News: Grim reality of India's poverty dip
- News: Ladakh's nomads could lose lifeline to wildlife sanctuary
- News: US Supreme Court asks EPA to control GHGs
- Feature: No let up in human-animal conflict in Bhitarakanika National Park
- Science: Battered women prone to asthma
- Gobar Times: Down India's roads


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Publication: Anil Agarwal Reader series

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The Anil Agarwal Reader, available in three volumes, puts together the
weekly essays/opinion pieces that eminent environmentalist and
journalist Anil Agarwal wrote between 1991 and 2001. The essays are a
riveting commentary on the environment-development problem that unfolded
in India and the world during this period. The readers delve on issues
like the structural adjustment programme, natural resource management
and ecological globalisation, and have a common theme: the poor are the
country's real resource managers.

For more information go to >>
http://csestore.cse.org.in/store1.asp?sec_id=1&subsec_id=25
Contact: <vikas@cseindia.org>


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Editorial: What China is doing to Goa

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By Sunita Narain

I wrote last fortnight about how mining in Goa for iron ore was ripping
its forests and devastating its people. I wrote of the violence and
protests I saw in its villages, where miners were pitted against people
angry at the loss of their cultivable lands and their water bodies. I
had asked then: what are we doing? I ask this again.

The fact is that Chinese demand for iron ore has increased its price
from US $14 per tonne to US $60. This has spurred a black gold
rush-mining companies are bidding for areas that were either closed or
not opened because they were unprofitable or unviable. In many cases,
these mines had not been worked because they were close to villages and
companies knew that people would probably protest. Now none of this
matters. The industry says this is boom time-the Chinese are willing to
buy low-grade ore, which Goa has aplenty. The Chinese want this ore, as
they will blend it with better quality ore. And their appetite is massive.

Goan industrialists are not asking questions. They are desperate for
windfall profits. In January 2007, China imported roughly 36 million
tonnes of iron ore, of which India supplied nearly 7 million tonnes. But
more importantly, India's exports to China were up 18 per cent-with Goa
at the head of the supply line. In the past six years, Goa's mineral
exports have increased 35 per cent to 23 million tonnes last year.

But what is clear is that this Chinese connection is costing Goa big
time. While mining companies are making record profits, as evident from
their stock prices or balance sheets, the villagers in whose backyards
the mines are being dug are devastated. According to official estimates,
roughly 430 leases for mines have been granted in the state. History is
important as most of these were concessions granted by the Portuguese
and were converted into leases by independent India. But importantly, in
1998, only 99 leases were being worked. Now with the black rush, the
leases, which were dormant, furiously opened and worked.

It is important to understand what this means for villages. If all the
leases are worked, then over 8.5 per cent of Goa's land area would be
under mines. Surely, industry argues, that is a small price to pay. But
this is an erroneous calculation. The fact is that mining is
concentrated in some villages-their entire land will be swallowed up by
mines. An application filed under the Right to Information Act reveals
that in these villages large areas have been listed as leases-in Colomba
village, for instance, almost 1,500 ha of land may be mined, out of the
village's 1,900 odd ha. This is the case in village after village,
where, as I wrote last fortnight, I saw land and livelihoods being
destroyed. And I saw angry people and tense miners.

The boom has other costs as well. These minerals are moved across the
state in barges and in trucks, over village roads and rivers. Here also
people lose, and the environment suffers. In Rivona village I visited,
people had blocked miner's trucks. They were furious because the truck
moved through their village road, leading to pollution and congestion.
The children could not cross the local road anymore, villagers said. The
red dust the vehicles threw up covered their fields, they added. Roughly
33 million tonnes of minerals transited through the state last year-as
Karnataka also sends its minerals through this state. That would mean
that 3.3 million trips were made-over 7,000 trucks each day travelled on
the roads meant for people. Just imagine what this will do to people's
daily lives.

But why are we cribbing, you may ask? Surely, the regulatory
processes-environment impact assessments (EIAs) and the mandatory forest
clearances should take care of these concerns. The problem is that while
public hearings-to listen to local people-are mandatory under EIA rules,
actually heeding what people say is not. Therefore, even when people
have rejected mines in public hearings, the Union ministry of
environment and forests in Delhi has cleared them.

Then, in Goa, large areas of forests are not classified in government
records. These are private forests or community lands, so forest
clearance is not necessary to cut them down. So what if local watersheds
disappear, taking with them the sources of water for villagers?

Industry has its own ways of 'persuading' local people. Everywhere I
went, I heard tales of corruption and nepotism. The best tool seemed to
be for local leaders-often panchayat heads-to first take people's
concern to the miners and then use this opposition to get lucrative
contracts. The best going deal is in transportation. In all this, the
local politician has been reduced to nothing more than a middleman-a
pimp for the miners to milk.

It is clear that the stakes are high. Today, even if we assume prices of
iron ore at US $50 per tonne, mining companies in Goa would have made a
neat US $1.15 billion last year-roughly Rs 5,175 crore. All the miners
pay to the state is royalty, calculated on each tonne mined. Even if we
assume the highest rate of royalty, the state government would have
earned US $5 million-Rs 24 crore or just peanuts if we compare to the
loot that private companies are raking in. Clearly, there is no public
benefit in this business. Only costs.

But this cannot go on. This development is piggy-backing the poor and
their environment. People will not take it. I believe Goa will have to
decide. It can sell itself cheap on the Chinese market. Or it can
restrain its mining to certain areas, make profits and share the
benefits with its people. This is a make or break situation. Let us be
clear about it.

To comment, write to >>
editor@downtoearth.org.in

Read the editorial online >>
www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=2


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Cover Story: Making India's mining sector socially and environmentally
viable

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Orissa's Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts are the country's most
resource-rich areas. Ironically, they are also its poorest. While narrow
pathways pass off as 'roads' and small shacks as 'homes', residents
living in these areas face constant threat from untreated or partially
treated wastewater from mines. Clean water is hard to come by in these
dusty areas, where people often suffer from blisters, nasal bleeding, TB
and malaria. In the absence of stringent laws, mining remains one of the
most unregulated activities in India. Unrest and conflict have been the
natural fallouts of India's poor record of land acquisition,
displacement and rehabilitation. Despite this, a government committee
has recommended ushering in private investment into mining, with little
regard for environmental clearance procedures. Clearly, investment
cannot come at the cost of the people. The government has to evolve ways
in which mineral wealth can be converted into sustainable development
benefits for local communities.

Read online >>
www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=1


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More in Down To Earth magazine

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News: Grim reality of India's poverty dip

The Planning Commission's new poverty estimate, based on the National
Sample Survey Organisation's 61st round of survey on consumption
expenditure, shows that even though poverty is reducing, it is becoming
more chronic in states with a history of poverty: the poorest cannot
move out of the poverty trap. Down To Earth presents a comprehensive
coverage of the various issues involved.

Read complete article >>
www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=3

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News: Ladakh's nomads could lose lifeline to wildlife sanctuary

The decision by Jammu and Kashmir's Leh district to declare the
Changthang region a high-altitude wildlife sanctuary has put the area's
Changpa nomads in a fix. The nomads, who have for centuries been living
in harmony with the ecosystem, say the move will destroy their
livelihood. They allege that tourism and military activities are
destroying the ecosystem of the area, and that the sanctuary will
benefit those in the tourism business. The plan has other shortcomings
as well. Wildlife activists say that instead of pointing towards focus
areas, all of Changthang has been outlined for the sanctuary. In the
meantime, the Changpas live with the hope that some day the
administration will listen to their concerns.

Read online >>
www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=4

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News: US Supreme Court asks EPA to control GHGs

Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court asked the country's Environment
Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and other
greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act, 1963. The judgement has
given an impetus to US efforts to deal with global warming. It has also
removed legal hurdles that kept California and other states from
checking carbon emissions in new vehicles starting 2009.

Read online >>
www.downtoearth.org.in/cover_nl.asp?mode=5

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Feature: No let up in human-animal conflict in Bhitarakanika National Park

The Bhitarakanika National Park in Orissa's Kendrapara district is home
to the largest concentration of saltwater crocodiles in the country.
These days, the reserve is rife with conflict between crocodiles and
humans, most of whom live in about 50 villages around the park. The
people say that numerous lives have been lost due to attacks by
crocodiles in the past 10 years. Cattle too has fallen prey. Moreover,
compensation in case of death by crocodile attack is never received.
However, park officials insist that the death toll quoted by locals is
exaggerated and that crocodiles attack people only when their habitat is
disturbed. Is there a way out of the confusion?

Read online >>
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070430&filename=news&se
c_id=50&sid=28

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Science: Battered women prone to asthma

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical
School have found that in India, women who get beaten up at home are
more vulnerable to asthma than those not subjected to domestic violence.
The findings have been corroborated by social scientists working on
domestic violence in India.

Read online >>
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/full6.asp?foldername=20070430&filename=sci&sec
_id=12&sid=1


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Gobar Times: Environment for beginners

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Down India's roads
India's road network is the second largest in the world. It plays a
vital role in trade and also gives a boost to industrial growth. For
long, the state of a country's roads has been reflective of its
development. However, roads have some negative impacts as well.
Construction of highways can lead to deforestation and erosion of
mountain slopes. This, in turn, can trigger landslides, even change the
course of rivers and streams. Gobar Times presents a reality check.

Read online >>
http://www.gobartimes.org/


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