Andaman agony

Strewn like emeralds on the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have always been shrouded in mystery because of their inaccessibility. But for those who have been lucky enough to visit the islands, the white beaches, meandering coastlines, technicolour fishes, exotic flowers and the innumerable spectacles of undisturbed natural beauty have served as a reminder of the things we are losing to urbanisation in our much crowded cities and towns.

Ironically though, the picturesque islands, with a record 85 per cent of the land covered in forests, are facing a challenge not as much from the steadfast approach of modernisation as they are from the presence of wild herbivores like deers and elephants. These animals that are relatively new residents of the archipelago are munching away on much of the ancient forests. And in absence of predators, it means slow death of the wilderness the Andaman Islands have been known for since time immemorial.

The Andaman-Nicobar group of islands is considered to be a veritable storehouse of plant biodiversity. Geographically, the islands are part of the long Island Arch extending from the Arakan Yoma hill range of Myanmar to the Sumatran range of Indonesia.

The unique positioning of these islands between the two major biodiversity areas endows it with an unmatched distribution of plants with representatives of the Indian, Myanmarese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian floras.

But lack of foresight has presented a bizarre ecological as well as economic crisis. Rauf Ali, a researcher from the Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy and Learning (FERAL) in Puducherry and other scientists from FERAL and Juniata College, Pennsylvania, recently carried out a research at four locations on the Andaman-Interview Island, Little Andaman, Jarawa Reserve and MG Marine Park.

The scientists compared the vegetation of these sites over a fixed period of time and found through satellite images that while Little Andaman showed little degradation of vegetation, Interview Island that has a population of both deers and elephants has shown severe degradation of forests. The other two areas where there is only spotted deer population, the degradation is moderate.

The spotted deer or Chital was introduced to the Andaman Islands as a game animal in the 1930s by the British. Having no natural predators or competitors, and being natural swimmers, the Chital swiftly spread across all the islands of the Andaman, except Little Andaman.

Elephants, on the other hand, were introduced from mainland India in the 1880s. The natural wealth of Andaman Islands encouraged the British to reap timber for mainland use, bringing captive elephants into the island to assist in logging operations. Until a ban on timber extraction was imposed in 2001, harvest of timber and using elephants for this purpose continued even under the Indian government. Now this substantial population of elephants exists in captivity, owned and managed by the government as well as private owners. There are also feral elephants left to survive on their own by their previous owners.

“The herbivore species are causing the vegetation to decrease significantly,” says Rauf Ali. Andaman and Nicobar Islands boast of over 5,100 species of animals including 42 species of mammals of which 33 are endemic. There are also 76 species of reptiles, of which 24 are endemic and 254 species of birds, of which 96 are endemic. But most of these species are omnivores and have been a part of the ecosystem for centuries, a part of the self sustaining system.

The spotted deers and elephants though are the outsiders, or what is known in scientific terms as the invasive species or exotic species that accidentally become a part of an ecosystem where they were not found earlier. And because India still does not have any policy for invasive species, the degeneration of the Andaman habitat caused by the herbivores has begun to grow.

The elephants have severely damaged the green cover in recent years, causing the forest regeneration rate to increase abnormally. The damage can be clearly witnessed in the form of uprooted or knocked down trees, or in trees stripped of their bark. The chital, on the other hand, have adversely affected regeneration by grazing on seedlings.

What the island habitat needs at present are urgent policy changes that can stop or at least slow down the extent of damage caused by the introduced herbivore population. “If a policy change allowing hunting to take place is made, then the removals would actually generate revenue for the Andaman and Nicobar Administration,” the report suggests. It also adds that since culling of elephants is not possible due to their endangered status, “periodic translocation of the younger animals to areas in mainland India, or overseas appears to be a solution”.

The Andaman problem brings into the forefront many environmental issues that India needs to tackle. While a policy for invasive species is certainly a need of the hour, the deers and elephants cannot be purely regarded as exotic species because of their widespread presence in the rest of India. It is thus even more important to analyse habitats and ecosystems across the country as region specific entities and recognise the unique problems they face that need unique solutions.

Andaman and Nicobar have 2,500 species of flowering plants, of which 223 plant species are endemic. There are nine national parks and 96 sanctuaries comprising of small islands and one biosphere reserve. These areas constitute 19.6 per cent of the geographical area under protected area network.

Thus Andaman and Nicobar Island has a larger area under protected area network than the national average of 4.9 per cent. These statistics are proof enough that the 567 island archipelago in the Bay of Bengal is an ecological marvel that cannot be overlooked anymore. The grass may look greener from this side, but the menace of the grass-eaters may soon change the verdant green gems to barren patches of land.