https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2018%2F11%2F13&entity=Ar01012&sk=FBE1D417&mode=text
They say you only realize what you had when it’s gone. But the crushing tragedy of our information-saturated 21stcentury is much worse. We know exactly the value of what we have, but still throw it away heedlessly and forever. Could things possibly turn out different for the newly accounted treasure-houses that have been discovered under the surfaces of Goa’s rivers? Two consecutive surveys by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in the giant Zuari and the relatively diminutive Tiracol have revealed an extraordinary biodiversity bonanza of global significance is still hanging on in the state’s inland waters, despite all odds. We know it is there. What happens next is yet to be determined. India’s smallest state is marvelously riparian, its identity and image born from swift-moving waters and rich khazan lands. Nine rivers flow from the magnificent Western Ghats to the Arabian Sea: the Mandovi/Mhadei, Zuari, Tiracol, Colvale, Sal, Talpona, Saleri, Canacona and Galgibaga (these have at least 40 tributaries). But in an interesting twist, all of the rivers are both tidal and rain-fed. They rise from the great monsoon-replenished watershed in the mountains, then gather strength from the immense rainfall that blesses Goa each year. But the ocean also exerts powerful influence, with its ebb and flow reaching far inland. This endlessly fluctuating, beautifully balanced estuarine landscape is an ecological marvel. Every time it is studied, new wonders emerge. ICAR announced last month that its year-long study of Tiracol river found 130 different species of fish, and another 30 species of shellfish. This follows the Old Goa-based body’s survey of the Zuari, where an even more astounding 255 fish and 65 shellfish species were recorded. When that report came out in February this year, terms like “marine gold mine” and “fish biodiversity hotspot” were used to describe the Zuari bay. E B Chakurkar, the director of ICAR, urged protection, “all the fish we get in the sea needs a different habitat for their breeding and colonization. Zuari bay is very important.” But the state has another agenda, as “major investors” are circling these same waters according the now-notorious Goa Investment Promotion Board. The immense folly of squandering yet another crown jewel of Goa’s environmental heritage comes into sharp focus with the shocking, deeply depressing findings in World Wildlife Fund for Nature’s 2018 Living Planet Report. The global body recently reported that global wildlife populations have plummeted by over 60% in four decades, a “devastating trend of biodiversity loss” that is “the scientific evidence to what nature has been telling us repeatedly: unsustainable human activity is pushing the planet’s natural systems that support life on Earth to the edge.” By far the worst scenario has played out underwater in the world’s rivers. Freshwater fish and shellfish have the highest extinction rate of all species on the planet, catastrophically slumping 83% since 1974. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports in Goa tend to farce. According to the government, the wild, ecologically rich Barazan plateau slated to become Mopa airport is currently home to “domestic dogs and cats, cattle, and common house mice and rats.” But even by those disgraceful standards, the denials of Zuari bay’s environmental wealth beggars belief. When Bharti Shipyard pressured the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority to grant permission for its shipyard in fragile Chicalim, part of its case was that the protected Windowpane Oyster didn’t exist at all, despite the village being virtually synonymous with that iconic species. Nearby, the Mormugao Port Trust’s most recent EIA conspicuously omitted almost everything that will be disturbed by its proposed expansion, from orcas to whale sharks. WWF had a message and a moral that underlies its distressing Living Planet Report. It’s simple, with great importance for places like Goa, where all is definitely not lost when it comes to the environment, but certainly will be unless better decisions are made. “We are the first generation that has a clear picture of the value of nature and the enormous impact we have on it. We may also be the last that can act to reverse this trend. Together, we can be the generation that changes our relationship to the planet, for the better.”