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A tale of two Biosphere reserves
-Ruturaj Gowaikar @RuturajGowaikar
The first line of the book, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, …”
These lines are apt to describe two global developments in the area of Biosphere reserves. The two reserves being in question, The Great Nicobar Bioreserve and The Galapagos Marine Bioreserve. The former in waters of the Eastern Indian ocean while the latter in the Eastern Pacific ocean under the jurisdiction of Ecuador. India and Ecuador made the right noises at the UN’s conference on Biodiversity COP15. Both countries also showed support for the 30 by 30 initiative, under which countries pledged to reserve 30% of the world's land and ocean area by the year 2030. But the contrasting developments near bioreserves of these two countries is shocking. While Galapagos marine reserve is being expanded by 45% of its current area; the commissioning of an Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) indicates the 1st step for massive developmental works on Nicobar Islands. This includes a new greenfield city amongst other things hardly a few kilometers from The Great Nicobar bioreserve!
Biosphere reserves are a holistic approach towards conservation. They are different from sanctuaries or national parks in the sense the aim is to conserve biodiversity including the landscape and indigenous people and their cultures within the reserve. Though Biosphere reserves are created and governed by national governments, they are internationally recognized. They are designated under the intergovernmental MAB Programme by the Director-General of UNESCO following the decisions of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB ICC). The Galapagos archipelago has been a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site since 1978, while the reserve was created in 1998. The island of Nicobar has had two national parks (Campbell Bay National Park and Galathea National Park) since 1992, and the area was declared a reserve in 2013 under the UN’s MAB program.
The distant good news
Galapagos is one of the world's earliest marine biosphere reserves and the largest at 133,000 sq. km. It is known for its mangroves, reptiles like marine iguanas, turtles, several endemic bird species and over 3000 marine species including white tipped sharks, whale sharks, manta rays etc. The new expansion in the north will increase its area by 60,000 sq. km. This expanded portion, called the "Hermandad" (Brotherhood) marine reserve, includes the Cocos ridge towards Costa Rica. In the near future Panama's Coiba islands and Colombia's Malpelo will become part of this reserve to provide an undisturbed migratory ocean pathway for many marine species. By certain estimates this might help protect 40% of world's marine species. These actions are in line with the 30 by 30 initiative.
Older limits of Galapagos reserve.
Source: https://www.parks-and-tribes.com/national-parks/galapagos-islands-ecuador/galapagos-marine-biological-reserve.htm
Future expansions of the reserve into Cocos, Coiba, and Malpeto to create a shipping-free, marine migratory corridor.
Source: An illustration of the protected corridor between Galápagos and Costa Rica, where shark-finning fleets were once active. (MigraMar, Alex Hearn/Zenger)
The bad news closer to home
Niti Aayog had come up with a vision document for Nicobar in early 2021 called “Holistic Development of the Greater Nicobar Island” under which there are proposals for a container port, a greenfield international airport, a power plant, and a township complex that can be only built on mainly pristine coastal systems and tropical forests.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) started the first step towards this. The MoEFCC’s Environment Appraisal Committee (EAC) gave “terms of reference (TOR)” to start an EIA to a private firm.
There have been allegations of this firm being involved right from the detailed project report (DPR) stage and many omissions in its EIA report in sections related to biodiversity. But what is more worrying is denotification of the entire Galathea sanctuary by making changes to the wildlife protection act. This clears the way for a container port in Galathea bay.
The island of Nicobar has 650 species of trees and 1800 species of animals, and 245 species of corals. Rare tree species include ferns and orchids. 54 animal species are endemic to this island. Out of these the well-known like Crab-eating Macaque, Nicobar Tree Shrew, Dugong, Nicobar Megapode, Serpent Eagle, saltwater crocodile, marine turtles, giant robber crabs, and Reticulated Python.
Nicobar also has indigenous people- the Shompen. There are only a hundred of them left. While the total inhabitants of Nicobar are 8000, the new township is estimated to house 6.5 lakh people. The strain on the island resources, especially fresh water will be tremendous. The port that is proposed in the natural Galathea bay is the breeding site of the largest marine turtle, the Giant Leatherback along with other animals. The port is also surrounded by mangroves and marine crocodiles.
The dredging of the ocean floor to create a harbor, constructing breakwaters, and increased shipping activity once a container port is built will also destroy corals, disturb various fishes and dugongs around the island. The total pristine area of the Bioreserve that will have to be cleared is 130 sq. km
Developmental plan for the Great Nicobar Island.
All these activities are sure to disturb the entire ecosystem of Nicobar and the waters around it. The project document uses terms like sustainable and holistic development of Andaman and Nicobar, but any development in an already declared Bioreserve can’t be sustainable from any angle. These islands occupy a strategic importance to safeguard India’s shipping, as they are located near the Malacca straits. In the tussle between strategic importance and conservation, the former seems to have taken precedence in the case of the Great Nicobar Biosphere reserve.
Value of Dying
-Harshit Kukreja @harshitk43
Last month, the Lancet Commission on Value of Dying came out with its report. It talks about how we have "over medicalised" death. The report points out that we have made dying and death, a healthcare centred from a social-cultural event.
Talking about death and dying have slowly become a taboo and we no longer consider dying as part of the natural process of living. In my personal capacity, I want to die trying and get every possible intervention that keeps death at bay. But, I also respect people who want to die peacefully and don't want to elongate their suffering. We as policy nerds and society as a whole have to ponder upon this.
Who is Dying about?
Is dying about the person who is dying or his family? The report wants death to be shifted back into communities so that among many reasons it becomes easier for near and dear ones of the person to grieve. Shouldn't death be mostly focused on the needs and wants of the person who is dying?
If we have clear regulations about dying we can make it easier for the person to be made comfortable. Palliative care(Care aimed at reducing the suffering of the chronically ill/dying) becomes much easier.
EoL=end of life. HCPs=health-care providers. PC=primary care. QoL=quality of life. R=reinforcing loop. B=balancing loop
Euthanasia and Assisted Dying
India's laws about euthanasia are quite narrow in their scope and only allow people who are in a permanent vegetative state or on life support to take this option. We don't allow people suffering from permanent debilitating illnesses or terminal patients to exercise this right of dying with dignity.
If the state expands the scope and allows a lot of other people to take this option, multiple questions arise. For instance, who decides what is the acceptable quality of life? I can be living with disease A and want to live and the other person living with a medically less severe disease B is unwilling to continue her life. How will and should the state decide who can die willingly? Do we allow people who are depressed to take euthanasia? Legally speaking, If we don't allow people with a "sound mind" to enter into legal contracts and take decisions for themselves, how can we allow people with depression to decide on ending their life early?
Do we allow people who undergo euthanasia to donate their organs? In India, This will certainly lead to the killing of people so that the rich and powerful can get their organs for themselves.
Advanced Care Directives
In India, getting an advanced care directive executed is quite an arduous task. The process goes all through the hospital red tape with the forming of hospital committees and going to courts. It is quite difficult to exercise this option.
Quoting American rapper Kanye West, "Nothing in life is promised except death", I want to re-emphasise the point that unless science progresses and humans become immortal, we have to have conversations about death and dying, because everybody deserves a good death. Maybe someday, the immortals may also become tired of living and will have the same conversations.
Further Readings
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/legacy-of-aruna-shanbaug-explained-debate-on-right-to-die-accountability-for-life-lost/
COVID-19 messing up with your abilitiy to taste and smell? Researches may have a clue!
-Priyal Lyncia D’Almeida @LynciaPriyal
For a lot of people, deprivation in smell (anosmia) or taste (ageusia) is among the first signs that they have been infected with the COVID-19 virus. Scientists have now identified certain genetic variations in patients that may increase the risk of coronavirus robbing them of their senses.
A paper published in Nature Genetics on January, 17th has shown that people with particular genetic alterations on chromosome 4 were 11% more likely to lose their ability to taste or smell anything than people without the mutations. The group, led by Dr. Adam Auton, gathered data from 69,841 people who had COVID-19 related loss of taste or smell, via online surveys. They conducted a “multi-ancestry genome wide association study” and discovered a substantial genome-wide region around UTG2A1 and UTG2A2 genes. Both these genes are found in the olfactory epithelium and are involved in metabolism of odorants. These results bring forth a genetic connection to the molecular processes causing COVID-19 related olfactory or gustatory impairment.
According to studies, infections in scent-supporting cells, named the sustentacular cells cause loss of smell, which is a defining sign of COVID-19. As per Dr. Janie F Shelton, one of the researchers of this team, genetic variations around UTG2A1 and UTG2A2 may influence how these two genes are switched on or switched off, causing problems with olfaction or scent during an infection.
Because the researchers combined the loss of taste and smell in one survey question, the researchers were unable to determine whether genetic polymorphisms have a role to play in the loss of one sense over the other. Generally, when a person loses the sense of smell, their sense of taste also gets severely impaired. However, deprivation of taste can happen without causing loss in olfaction.
Even after people recover from the COVID-19 infection, they have sustained the loss of smell. Researchers may be able to restore the olfactory abilities in such people if they figure out how the virus disables it.