India's mixed green bag

The wrath of Kosi, Kolkata's pollution, death of Baba Amte... Sunil Kumar M reviews the year gone by, and hopes 2009 will be cleaner and greener.

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The fate of smaller organisms were no better. The Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats have become prime hunting grounds for smugglers of rare Indian butterflies and beetles. The insects are in great demand internationally for private collections, butterfly parks, traditional medicine, and also to be encased into jewellery. This came to light when Czech duo Emil Kucera and Petr Svacha were caught possessing rare and endangered insects by forest officials in north Bengal's protected Singhalila National Park in June.

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Insect appeal

Sandeep Unnithan
October 10, 2008

Call it a beauty pageant with a difference. A small gathering of tribal youths queue up outside a nondescript hotel in a small town in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh holding plastic bags and ventilated clear plastic jars.

What they're selling are huge, velvet-coated palm-sized tarantula spiders, stunningly beautiful, but with a bite that can kill a human.

The youths tell a shaky hand-held camera exactly what they are doing there: trying to sell the spiders to a German tourist camping in the hotel. Each spider will fetch them between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000. A tidy sum for an eight-legged creature that remains relegated to the obscure in India.

Wildlife officials aren't surprised by this footage, shot by a local television reporter last December. For years, foreign nationals have been descending on Indian forests and spiriting away insects.

Two months ago, two Czech nationals were arrested for stealing insects near Darjeeling's Singalila National Park. The duo-Prague-based entomologist Petr Svecha and insect trader Emil Kucera-was recently convicted by a local court.

India is one of the world's 12 megadiverse countries as it harbours a significant chunk of the earth's species. This includes 45,000 plant species, 89,000 animal species, and a staggering four lakh insect species, with several still waiting to be discovered. "Insects are the unknown frontier," shrugs Traffic India Chief Samir Sinha.

Raiding this frontier, like the latter day Indiana Joneses, are dozens of eco-pirates from countries as diverse as Japan, Germany, Russia and the Czech Republic. They come armed with intricate knowledge of local species and know exactly how and where to find them. Many of them feed a thriving global illegal trade in wildlife, third after narcotics and arms.

India is a biodiversity hotspot with 45,000 plant and 89,000 animal species

"The total trade in wildlife products is worth about $10 billion (approximately Rs 47,000 crore) and if insects make up even a fraction of this, you have a substantial sum," says Tito Joseph of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).

The hunting grounds are the Himalayan foothills, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats-three regions with the most biodiversity in India.

A single palm-sized specimen of the poisonous Indian tarantula, found only in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, can fetch more than $1,000 (Rs 47,000) in the international market. Locals say the German 'tourist' was willing to pay upwards of Rs 1 lakh for a still rarer variety of the blue tarantula.

A single specimen of the exquisite Kaiser-e-Hind butterfly costs over $1,500. Other Indian ornamental spiders retail for $35 and $150, depending on their size. Kucera ran a website coleoptera-kucera.com which offered the arachnids for sale but it was shut down after his arrest.

"I am not coming to India to collect spiders, I merely want to study them," says the tourist, waving a German book on the ornamental spiders of the Eastern Ghats. But the statements of the tribals reveal a different tale.

Research has been the common pretext used by most such people including Svecha, who is associated with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Kucera. They now have an international lobby of scientists and researchers seeking their release.

French students came to India well prepared. They would light ultraviolet lamps in the jungle and pick up the moths

A furious round of Internet petitions from foreign researchers, sent straight to the Prime Minister's Office, built pressure on the Indian Government urging it to stop "victimising" the duo.

The fact is that the National Biodiversity Act which came into force in 2002 explicitly prevents the collection of flora and fauna from India and lays down the procedures for collecting specimens. Yet, most scientist poachers continue to skirt the law, often bringing along the tools of the trade.

A group of French students arrested in July last year were caught with ultraviolet lamps and bedsheets. They would light their lamps in the jungle, wait for the moths to come and simply pick them off the bedsheet before inserting them in plastic sample sheets and packing them in suitcases. These poachers feed the appetite of hobbyists, collectors and butterfly museums across the world.

The trade could contribute to the extinction of certain insect species that are already reeling under the loss of habitat. Indian tarantulas, some of which have tiger and leopard-like coat hair and are called 'tiger spiders', live inside dead trees which are frequently chopped down for firewood. They now face a fate similar to that of their doomed namesake of the cat family.

"Indian 'tiger spiders' are being increasingly sought out by celebrities in the West as 'dangerous pets'. Various species of Indian tarantulas are being smuggled out in large numbers to feed the fad abroad," sighs K. Thulsi Rao of the Biodiversity Research Centre, Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh.

South Africa was once the hub of illegal spider trade but its tarantula was added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1996. ''Since then, the smugglers have shifted their focus to India,'' says Rao.

The WPSI says 25 cases of insect poaching have been registered in India since 1995. But for each poacher caught, there are nine who slip away.

This is because smuggling insects from Indian forests is a seemingly innocuous and risk-free occupation that operates under the smokescreen of ignorance and allurement.

"We are seen as easy targets," says Sinha. One police official asked a wildlife warden why were they fussing with foreigners walking away with minor keeda-makoda (insects)?

The pirates know that customs and airline authorities, who scan baggage at ports of exit, simply wave through bags stuffed with insects and butterflies.

What needs to be done? Wildlife activists say the legislation is in place. The Wildlife Act and the National Biodiversity Act of 2002 covers wildlife protection. Yet, cases of individuals being convicted are extremely rare. Since 1972, the government has managed to get only eight convictions under the Wildlife Act.

Seven of these convictions ranged between four and five years and one for six years, but no violator has been given the maximum prescribed seven-year sentence.

Wildlife activists hail the conviction in June of two Czech nationals found guilty of violating the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 in smuggling out rare insects from West Bengal as historic. Svecha was fined Rs 20,000 while Kucera was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the court.

The main task, say biodiversity board members, is to sensitise the judiciary and the law enforcement authorities. The board had last month proposed forming a multi-disciplinary team comprising members from the executive, forest, wildlife and fisheries departments for increased and coordinated policing but these proposals are yet to be implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Czech entomologist Petr Svecha and insect trader Emil Kucera were convicted for stealing insects from the Singalila National Park

The members are also pushing to motivate gram panchayats in three environmental regions and provide knowledge to workers at the grassroots level.

Could legitimising the trade where tribals get an equal source of income, be the answer? "Unless we have a benefit sharing mechanism in place we will lose our bio-resources either through legalised looting or through bio-piracy," says V.B. Ramana Murthy, member secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board.

The jury is still out on this one. "Right now, insect farming should not even be thought of as it could lead to a lot of unforeseen complications regarding our biodiversity," says S.S. Negi, director of the Forest Research Institute of India. Clearly, in the absence of government measures the poachers have the upper hand.

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Illegal Trade Decimating Wildlife

By Malini Shankar*

The endangered Blue Tiger butterfly is the target of poachers in India. Credit:Malini Shankar/IPS

BANGALORE, Oct 13 (IPS) - A great variety of endangered wildlife species end up feeding the illegal market for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) thanks to poor enforcement in stopping the trade, say experts and activists.

"The Chinese market is like a 'black hole' sucking in wildlife products from neighbouring countries," said Peter Pueschel, head of global Wildlife Trade Programme at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in an e-mail interview with IPS.

India, China's neighbour to the south, is most at risk with its vast biodiversity and poorly enforced laws.

According to the wildlife crime database maintained by the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 846 tigers, 3,140 leopards and 585 freshwater otter (skins) were poached between 1994 and Aug. 31, 2008 and another 320 elephants were poached between 2000 and 2008 in India.

"Although many species used in TCM are now protected by national and international laws, illegal trade and poaching have increased to crisis levels as TCM's popularity has expanded over the last two decades," says Samir Sinha of the Indian chapter of the TRAFFIC, the Britain-based wildlife trade monitoring network.

"The problem is widespread, and mostly boils down to lack of political support," says Belinda Wright of the WPSI.

Elephants, tigers, leopards, mongoose, black bears, rhinos, snakes, butterflies, gorillas, otters, musk deer, antelopes, reptiles and products such as caterpillar fungus and porcupine quills form the bulk of the raw material for the TCM industry that, according to Interpol, is worth 20 billion dollars per year.

"We believe there is organised wildlife trade but it is difficult to identify," said Xu Hongfa, director of TRAFFIC – China in e-mail responses to queries from IPS.

According to most wildlife experts the illegal trade is helped along by the fact that Chinese authorities do little to curb the TCM industry because it is regarded as a part of East Asian culture. But Beijing can and does vigorously protect certain species such as the Giant Panda which has iconic status.

"Poaching the Giant Panda will result in severe punishment. According to Chinese law, anyone found poaching one Giant Panda will get at least a ten-year term of imprisonment,'' Xu said. ‘'Chinese government has taken action to improve the TCM market management but it is not very successful,'' he admitted.

"During a five-day period in June 2008, EIA (Environment Investigation Agency) investigators observed five traders who have been documented selling Asian big cat skins in previous years,'' said Debbie Banks of the London-based EIA, adding that Chinese authorities failed to act on information passed on to them.

"We pass sufficient information to enforcement authorities so that they take appropriate action. It is apparent that the authorities have failed in effective enforcement against persistent offenders,'' Banks said. ''It would not be appropriate for us to publish their details,'' she added.

Pueschel referred to a stock of 110 tonnes of ivory that disappeared from Chinese government custody in July 2008. "The main point here is that these incidents have not been taken seriously. It remains totally unclear where this ivory has gone. Nevertheless China has been designated an ivory importing country ("trading partner") supported by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) secretariat."

In May 2006 a consignment of 3,900 kg of ivory tusks was found concealed in a container of timber logs seized by customs officials in Hong Kong, revealing the ingenious methods used by wildlife racketeers. "The 'standard sizes' of cut ivory pieces make it easier to hide them inside any kind of packaging material," says Pablo Tachil a wildlife investigator based in Bangalore.

According to Tachil, Burma has emerged as a major staging point for the wildlife trade because of its location close to India and Burma and the major markets of South-east Asia. ''Burma is also an ideal hideout for poachers and traders, because of weak policing," he said.

What troubles activists is the continued demand for wildlife products around the world.

The popularity of ivory objects, for example, has grown in spite of the clear danger it poses to elephant populations and this, says Pueschel, is partly due to commercial sites on the Internet like eBay facilitating rampant trade. ''We continue to campaign for their banning all wildlife trade.''

An IFAW report in 2007 revealed that at least 90 percent of all investigated ivory listings on eBay were legally suspect. While eBay claims that its site allows 'shoppers to see the positive social and environmental impact' of each purchase, including whether it 'supports animal species preservation', activists say nothing is done by way of monitoring.

The animal most at risk of ending up as raw material for TCM is the tiger because it has long been revered in China as a symbol of power and strength and the belief that its products have potent medicinal properties. Only a century ago there were eight kinds of tigers, with over 100,000 wild tigers in the world. Today only five tiger subspecies exist, with fewer than 5,000 wild tigers in the world.

For India, the good news is that such events as the complete decimation of the tiger population in the Sariska reserve of Rajasthan state between 2002 and 2005 has caught the imagination of the public and helped authorities to ensure that traffickers are caught and brought to book.

Also in India several high-profile individuals have been caught in recent years and booked for poaching resulting in pro-wildlife wide publicity. These include the well-known film actors, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan and India's former cricket captain, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

In June 2008, two Czech nationals were convicted for trying to smuggle out 'Delias sanaca', an endangered butterfly species listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act in the Singalila National Park near Darjeeling. And by September one of them was handed down a fine of Rs 60,000 (1,300 US dollars) and three years of simple imprisonment.

Such exemplary cases go a long way in helping authorities to prevent wildlife crime,'' Utpal Kumar Nag, forest officer in Darjeeling, told IPS.

(*Malini Shankar is a well-known wildlife photojournalist and documentary film maker).

Project Tiger (http://www.projecttiger.nic.in/sariska.htm)

(END/2008)

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Wildlife thieves planned to sell haul on Internet

22 Jul, 2008, 1652 hrs IST, AFP

KOLKATA: Two Czech scientists arrested in India for stealing rare butterfly and insect species were planning to sell them on the Internet, an official said on Tuesday.

Emil Kucera, 52, and Petr Svacha, 51, were arrested last month at a hotel in Darjeeling in eastern India where officials say they were caught with more than 50 species of butterflies and rare insects, captured from a national park.

The pair appeared in court on Monday and were denied bail, assistant divisional forest officer Utpal Nag said, adding that their next court appearance was set for July 23.

"We have received copies of material downloaded by them from the Internet that reveal their intention," he said, adding that Svacha had posted a note online offering to sell the butterflies for a specified price.

"They are not as ignorant as they claim. A pen drive seized from the two Czech nationals contains the map of the Singalllia National Park where they were collecting insects and butterflies," Nag said.

The pair, who deny the charges, have received support from the international scientific community and a petition with more than 500 signatures demanding their release has been presented to the Indian prime minister.

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Czech 'insect thieves' granted 'interim' bail

Submitted by editor on Mon, 07/28/2008 - 20:16

Crime Reporter
The two Czech nationals arrested for wildlife offence near Darjeeling on June 22, have been granted 'interim' bail till August 12 by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, UK Nandi. However, as requested by the prosecution, the court has set several conditions to prevent them from leaving India.

The two foreigners, Petr Svacha and Emil Kucera were arrested for illegally collecting rare insects in Singhalila National Park, violating Indian wildlife laws. About 500 live and preserved insects were seized from their hotel room in Shrikhola near Darjeeling. Among their collection, which was sent to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) for identification, the forest officials in Darjeeling had identified Delias sanaca, a butterfly listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act.

The prosecution had, during earlier hearings, requested denial of their bail on grounds that the accused could possibly jump it to avoid the proceedings against them.

Saurabh Sharma, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) advocate, who is assisting the prosecution, said, "We were hoping that they would not be granted bail. Alternatively, if granted, we had pleaded for a 'conditional' bail to prevent them from escaping. On several occasions, foreigners who have committed crimes in India have managed to escape conviction by jumping bail."

Addressing the concerns of the prosecution, the court set several conditions on the bail to restrict their movement. According to the court, the accused will have to deposit their passports with the Inquiry Officer and will have to take prior permission from the court for leaving Darjeeling Sub-division. They will also have to report to the Police Inspector In-charge of Darjeeling Sadar, twice-a-week. Additionally, the accused will have to submit two surety bonds of Rs 1500 and a personal bond of Rs 3000 each. They have also been warned not to interfere in the investigations against them.

The accused had, during the time of their arrest, pleaded that they were collecting the insects for research purposes and that they were unaware of the Indian laws. However, post-arrest investigation had revealed that Kucera, a forester, was involved in the trade of insects. They were also found to have violated other administrative procedures, as required by the local laws.

Utpal Kumar Nag, ADFO, Wildlife Division-1, who had led the arrest a month ago, said, "This is just an interim bail and they have been confined to Darjeeling. So, it is not likely to be able to hurt the case."

"The ZSI has given a preliminary report; the insects have not yet been classified to the species level. However, the authorities in ZSI suspect that the collection has certain species listed under Schedule I and Schedule II Part II," Nag added.

Ashok Kumar, vice-chairman, WTI, said, "An interim bail is different from a normal bail, in that, it can be withdrawn easily without any hearing, if they are found to have tried anything against the conditions set by the court. A full bail, on the other hand, has to undergo a lengthy process for cancellation."

"The case has been quite highly publicised because of the profiles of the accused. This was a good thing, because if this had not happened, they could have easily camouflaged themselves among other foreign tourists and escaped to Nepal through the porous borders. But, because of the publicity, escape attempts may prove to be more difficult as they are easily identifiable now," he added.

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Fragile Loot

SURYA PRAKASH
Lepidopterist and conservationist

OF THE 17,000 species of butterflies on the planet, India is home to around 1,500. They are found practically all over the country; regions of higher concentration include the Northeast, the Himalayas, the Nilgiri Hills and the Western Ghats. Delhi alone has around 80 species of butterflies, as opposed to 56 in the whole of the United Kingdom.

But of late, the numbers of these Lepidopteron — or insects with four wings — have dwindled drastically. Around a hundred species of the butterfly are on the verge of extinction in India. The decline has been so rapid, especially in the Third World, that if allowed to go unchecked, it will be irreversible.

Butterflies are almost always treated as non-target species in wildlife conservation and management programmes. The “Protected Area Network” set up by the government is directed towards “iconic” fauna like the tiger, the Asiatic lion, the elephant and the rhinoceros. While no one has an agenda against butterflies, these small, beautiful — and agriculturally important — creatures are often ignored.

Butterflies are an indicator of environmental health. Few are aware of the crucial role the butterfly plays in pollination of a large portion of economically important crops and flowering plants, which is second only to the honeybee. The millennia-old silk industry is also dependent on the butterfly. Should the butterfly diversity decline, it will directly affect the country’s agriculture.

India must learn from the US experience, where many butterflies are endangered — as are their host plants — because of depletion in forest cover. The US is now importing live butterflies to rehabilitate them. Apart from nectar of flowers, butterflies feed on decaying fruits and dead animals. Pretty flowering plants in landscaped gardens are not necessarily butterflies’ host plants. To ensure diversity of butterfly species, natural forests are vital.

Poachers are increasingly posing a big menace to butterflies in India. Large-scale poaching and international smuggling is the biggest threat to many species of Himalayan butterflies; the Apollo and the Swallowtail are the most threatened species. The poachers’ aim is to make money and they have no qualms about how they do it. Recently, three foreign nationals came to Sikkim on student visas and began collecting butterflies and moths along with other insects. Vigilant environmental activists spotted them and they were nabbed by the police. They were released after being fined just Rs 25,000 each.

These Lepidopteron are killed, dried and used in greeting cards and for other ornamental and decorative purposes. Smugglers engage locals, especially children, in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rohtang Pass and the Western Ghats, paying them Rs 30-50 for every butterfly they catch. The price some of them can fetch in the international market can be as high as USD 2,500-3,500. China and South East Asia, especially Thailand, are the main destinations of smuggled butterflies. Often they carry the butterflies in envelopes and matchboxes. They discard the ones whose wings are damaged; at times this number can go up to a thousand.

Lack of expertise in the identification of butterflies helps poachers get away easily. There have been many incidents where international smugglers were released from police custody because no one knew whether the butterfly came under threatened species or not. Such lacuna in the system needs to be urgently redressed.

But the single most important threat to butterflies is the destruction of forest cover. The need of the hour is to periodically review the state and health of species-specific host plants, increased vigilance against butterfly poaching where they are found in abundance, and education of school children from the primary level about butterflies and the vital role they play in different aspects of human life.

THE GOVERNMENT should encourage those who are already engaged in butterfly conservation programmes and are working as field guides in their area. Farmers should be educated about the butterfly’s importance as a pollinator in agriculture; a national data bank should be set up and academic institutions should discourage students from submitting annual projects on butterfly collection. Excess pesticide use and overgrazing should be discouraged as they kill butterfly eggs and larvae. For the butterfly, crop rotation farming is better any day over monoculture. A study conducted in the tea estates of Assam shows that butterfly density was low in tea gardens because of monoculture as compared to forests.

In the south and the northeast where a good number of people are involved in butterfly study and conservation as compared to other parts of the country, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has provided financial assistance for captive butterfly breeding programmes. Such government initiatives are encouraging but they require consistency and greater spread across the country.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 3, Dated Jan 26 , 2008

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Kaiser-i-Hind (Teinopalpus imperialis) in Thailand

Home to spectacular springs and rare species of wildlife, Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park makes a great cool season getaway.

The forested mountain terrain, which actually connects to Burma, is full of life. Here one can find not only hill tribes, but also wildlife such as barking deer and black bears.

"One of the rarest creatures you can find here is the Kaiser," said Jongrak Saelou, a local off-road driver and also our guide. The Kaiser, or Kaiser-i-Hind (Teinopalpus imperialis), is a rare species of swallowtail butterfly native to India. The common name literally means 'Emperor of India' and it is much sought-after by butterfly collectors for its beauty and rarity.

"The value of the butterfly is as high as the price of a motorcycle," said a ranger, noting that the high price had led to several hill tribe people taking great risks to capture them.

"Five or six years ago, a Mussur man was blown-up on the mountain while searching for the butterfly. It was because he accidently stepped on a hidden bomb planted by the troops of Khun Sa [the late Shan opium warlord]," he said, noting that the mountain was once a battlefield for those troops and Thai soldiers. Nowadays, there are no large trees left on the mountain top, only tall weeds and large bunkers.

"It is also our duty to protect the butterfly," he noted, adding that the tragedy of the Mussur man wasn't enough to prevent other hill tribe people from trying to catch this protected species.

The palm-sized butterfly calls the top of Doi Pha Hom Phok home, and we encountered a few examples of the beautiful creatures while trekking across the peak.

The Kaiser is quite fast and never stays still. It is a strong flyer that can cruise at tree-top height and even through rain. It can grow from 3.5 to five inches and samples are available to study at the information centre.

Apart from the butterfly, visitors can also enjoy bird watching. It is estimated that there are around 270 bird species to be found in the park, including the Purple Cochoa (Cochoa purpurea), which can be found only in Thailand's northern forests.

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Butterflies becoming extinct due to poaching for trade

New Delhi, Jun 6: While the death of a tiger or a lion attracts worldwide attention, small winged beauties like butterflies, which are an indespensable pollinator for vital agricultural crops, are becoming extinct unnoticed.

Illegal trade in these small species is as much thriving as in tiger parts and ivory. One butterfly fetches Rs 500 to the poacher.

Thailand is the hub of the international trade in butterflies, which are killed and dried to be used in greeting cards, books and other decorative purposes.

'Once There Was a Purple Butterfly'--a film produced under the United Kingdom Environment Film Fellowship--focusses attention to the threat to survival of these species.

The film made by Sonia Kapur was screened here yesterday on the occasion of the World Environment Day.

Sonia's trail of the butterflies led her first to interiors of Kerala and then to north east, regions which have a large number of people making their living out of killing butterflies.

''I was led on their trail after reading an article about them.

The interior parts of Kerala and areas in the North east were once home to a large variety of butterflies but now out of the 1500 species, about 400 have already become extinct due to large scale poaching for commercial purposes,'' she told UNI.

The trade in butterflies is absolutely illegal both in India and Thailand but it goes on unchecked, which was a great pity, said Sonia.

''During our research, we found that besides poaching, one more cause of threat to their survival was the use of pesticide on plants, she said.

Sonia feels it was high time that the authorities and the civil society in general recognised the importance of the existence of butterflies, without which no foodgrain production was possible as they were the prime pollinators for agricultural crops.

''One should take lesson from the case of America which had to import live butterflies to release them in their environment for acting as pollinators,'' she said.

She said the main aim of her documentary, which she shot within a month, was to shake the government into action to save the species from extinction.

Sonia took the help of various NGOs like the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) and experts in the fieldlike Dr Chandrashekhar of Bangalore in her research for the film.

The film on butterflies is the first wildlife work of Sonia. She has earlier made films on the problem of terrorism in the Nortn east and women undertrials in the Tihar Jail.

Besides Sonia's films, other works produced under the UK Environment fellowship and screened yesterday were ' The Last dance' by Ashima Narain, the Hunted by Jay Mazoomdar, 'Turtle ia Soup' by Kalpna Subramaniam, 'The Silenced Witness' by P Balan and Radha R, 'Diminishing Resources' by Himanshu Malhotra and Sabina Kidwai and 'Leopards in the Lurch' by Gurmeet Sapal.

--- IANS

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