High incidence of Hepatitis A in two grama panchayats

A study conducted by the district unit of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project into the reported high incidence of Hepatitis A infection in Thrikovilvattam and Mayyanad grama panchayats on the outskirts of Kollam city found that the disease spread from a common source-contaminated pipeline water supplied by the Kerala Water Authority. Ninety-two persons of Thrikovilvattam and 27 of Mayyanad were diagnosed with the disease last week.

Environmentalists have welcomed the intervention of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in protecting the Sasthamcotta freshwater lake in Kollam district.

Mr. Chandy will chair a high-level meeting in this regard on May 8. Terming it a step in the right direction, eco-activist V.K. Madhusudhanan, who had been taking up the cause for over a decade now, said conservation efforts should be supported by genuine, eco-friendly solutions. The lake was listed as a Ramsar site in 2002. Livelihood activities and biodiversity protection was also important. Serious concerns were raised only when the water level dropped alarmingly.

Syzygium travncoricum, a tree endemic to Kerala, is no longer ‘critically endangered’ as classified on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Field studies conducted by the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) in the wake of the IUCN classification suggest that the tree can now move to the ‘endangered’ list.

Known locally as kulavetti or vadhamkolli, the tree entered the IUCN’s ‘critically endangered’ list on the basis of a Conservation Assessment Management Plan (CAMP) workshop conducted under the Biodiversity Conservation Prioritisation Project India in 1998. The IUCN had then suggested periodic updating of the classification based on information provided by authoritative agencies.

Most translocation efforts by Forest Department have been successful

The Forest Department has embarked upon a challenging task of mitigating animal-human conflicts in the periphery of forest areas by capture and translocation of wildlife responsible for such conflicts. Translocation is the transport and release of wild animals from one location of a forest area to another with emphasis on nuisance- and conflict-control.

A large area of the freshwater lake has turned grassland threatening the Ramsar site

The State’s largest freshwater lake and one of the 26 Ramsar sites in the country, Sasthamcotta Lake in the district is fast becoming a grassland.
While there are frequent government announcements of substantial fund allocations for conservation measures, nothing seems to be done for the lake which has been drying up fast since the last one decade

A standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with the emergency arising due to the straying of tigers in human-dominated areas has been issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), s

Dumping to invite prosecution; all plastic waste to be cleared

The Forest Department is initiating strong measures to get rid of plastic waste left behind by visitors to forest areas. The measures include prosecuting those found dumping plastic and other waste in forests and wildlife sanctuaries. Chief of the Forest Force R. Raja Raja Varma told The Hindu that dumping of plastic waste in certain forest areas with a heavy flow of visitors had assumed ominous proportions.

Practice found to encourage poaching, illegal trade

In April 2008 a government enforcement agency in Kerala seized two live barn owls and a sand boa from a gang and released the animals later at undisclosed locations. The officials told mediapersons that one owl would fetch Rs. 2 lakh in some neighbouring countries where they are killed for black magic rituals.

Clinical labs, dental clinics main sources of infection

There has been a considerable increase in the number of hepatitis-B cases reported in the district, according to a study. A report on the six-month study conducted by Rakesh P.S., an epidemiologist attached to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) in Kollam, has been submitted to the District Medical Officer here.

Ashtamudi Lake was declared a wetland of global import 10 years ago

On August 19, 2012, it will be 10 years since the brackish water Ashtamudi Lake with eight creeks was declared a Ramsar site by designating it as a wetland of international importance. The lake was recommended by the Ramsar Convention’s partner organisations as a wetland of 61.4 sq km. And the lake entered the Ramsar list as site number 1,204.