By Ashraf Padanna
PAYYANUR, Kerala: As Kerala’s Malabar region prepares itself for making it big in world’s tourism map, its biggest water body is facing threat of destruction by insensitive construction activities.
The Kavvayi Kayal, the backwaters spread over 31.92sq km making it the third largest in Kerala after Vembanadu and Ashtamudi, wants to get protection like its southern cousins under the Ramsar Convention, the international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands of international importance.
Separated by a sandbar, the Kavvayi Kayal which lies parallel to the seacoast for a distance of 21km is home to 42 species of mangrove plants, 60 varieties of birds and 39 fish and shell-fish species.
“Ashtamudi, Vembanad and Shasthamkotta lakes were declared Ramasar sites in 2002. By then, the tourism boom had its toll on their fragile ecosystem. We want the government to take measures to see to it that it’s not happening here,” said G D Nair, chairperson of the Payyanur Municipality, who is spearheading the campaign.
Once declared a Ramsar site, there cannot be progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific and recreational values.
The inspiring stretch of water body is already being promoted by the Kerala Tourism as the “most fascinating destination among the backwaters in Kerala that could easily make you fall in love with it”.
The Kavvayi backwaters is the result of the six rivers, river Kavvayi and its tributary streams of Kankol, Vannathichal, Kuppithodu and Kuniyan, Neeleshwaram, Tejaswini, Erppe, Perumba and Ramapuram-all flowing from the east into its lap before joining the Arabian Sea.
“We have already given a representation to the federal tourism ministry to adopt measures to protect the unique ecosystem and to prevent large scale construction activities,” Nair said.
“We are also planning to conduct an awareness campaign among the local community. The municipal Corp, the local self-government, will ensure that standards of the state government’s responsible tourism are strictly adhered to while developing tourist resorts here”.
At Ezhimala on the banks of the Kavvayi backwaters, Indian Navy is building its largest facility to train cadets, which is billed as the largest in Asia too, resorts developers have already purchased most of the small islands, realising the potential of the region where Kerala’s fourth international airport is coming up.
“In some areas, the width of the sandbar is just 50m. So it’s a fragile area to be protected by preserving mangroves,” said environment activist Surendran.
“Names of the small islands in the backwaters are affixed with kadu (forest) that shows abundance of mangrove forest in the past. The characteristic shape of these islands is indicative of the past fluvial patterns”.
Kavvayi, the small island near Payyannur town, used to be the headquarters for an area of a 313sq km district that housed a large port and the magistrate court during the British East India Company rule, mentioned by travellers like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Abdul Fida.
“There are more than two species of birds found associated with this brackish water and migratory birds arrive here every year. Most of them are winter visitors from Siberia,” Surendran said..
According to Prof M Jayarajan of Science and Environmental Studies Kerala (SEEK), who conducted extensive studies on the socio-cultural and ecological environment of the region, there are 68 sacred kavus (groves) in the midland of Kavvayi river basin and some of them are large and conspicuous.
“There are 246 species of macro flora from 83 families, 117 species of butterflies eight species of spiders, 11 species of amphibians, 23 species of reptiles, 178 species of birds and 24 species of mammals,”.
“The major problem is the concentration of development activities in the low-land region. The process of urbanization here is rapid,” he says. |
