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<h4>This story is part of the PARI <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/chronicling-climate-change-everyday-lives-extraordinary-stories/">series on climate change </a>that won the Ramnath Goenka Award for 2019 in the Environment Reporting category.</h4>

How and why does a full acre of jowar disappear from your fields at
short notice? “It was the first time in two years that I left my village for a
week during the season. In that time, they devoured all of it,” says Ananda
Salvi. ‘They’ is a herd of gaur (bos gaurus,
also sometimes called Indian bison) – the most massive bovine in existence in
the world. Males can stand well over 6 feet at the shoulder and weigh anywhere
between 500 and 1,000 kilograms.

Normally peaceful residents of the Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary in
Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, the giant bovids have been getting out on to
the highways and raiding the farms around them.

“There was no one guarding my field,” says Salvi sadly in Rakshi village.
“Luckily, I was able to save my one acre of sugarcane (about 80 tons of cane)].”
So how do you ‘save’ anything from a bunch of 1,000 kilo behemoths? With
firecrackers.

Two
years ago, Salvi started sleeping in the fields every night. “We come at 8 p.m.
daily and leave only at 4 a.m. after all the gava
(local term for the gaur) have left,” he explains. “And we burst crackers in
the fields at night.” That scares off the buffalo, he says, from entering his five
acre farm. Several of his neighbours do likewise. Rakshi village, in Panhala taluka, has lost crops to bison for at least
two years now.

02-IMG_20190508_115624-SJ-Buffaloed_by_the_climate_in_Kolhapur.jpg

“We
spend nearly Rs. 50 every day in season, buying those crackers,” says Salvi’s
wife Sunita. Which adds a whole new element to cultivation costs. “It’s still a
risk,” she says, “farmers sleeping in the fields at night.” There’s other
wildlife active in the fields in those hours. Snakes, for instance.

People
believe the buffalo will soon figure out that firecrackers won’t do them real
harm. So some farmers in Radhanagari taluka have
begun using electrified fences. “But even those, they’re getting used to,” says
Samrat Kerkar, co-founder of the  Bison
Nature Club, a Radhanagari-based wildlife NGO. “We have seen gaur placing their
hooves or legs slowly on the fence to check if it gives a shock. Earlier, they feared
humans, but now they don’t run away so easily on seeing us.”

“We
don’t blame the gava,” says Sunita.
“It’s the forest department’s mistake. If the forests aren’t maintained
properly, animals will come out.”

The
gaur buffalo have increasingly been coming out of the wildlife sanctuary – in
search of food and water. They’re seeking, amongst other things, karvi leaves (strobilanthes
callosa) which seem to be withering in the drying forests.  And also, other sources of water – with the
sanctuary’s ponds shrinking. Further, forest guards and field researchers say
they are also driven by the declining patches of grasslands within the
sanctuary.

Data
of the Central Ground Water Board show that Radhanagari taluka received 3,510
mm of rainfall in 2004, 3,684 in 2008 and 3,072 in 2012. But it got just
2,120 mm in 2018 – a steep fall. Indeed, rainfall across the entire
Kolhapur district has been increasingly erratic for a decade or more – like in
many other parts of Maharashtra too. 

Raju
Patil, a 50-year-old shepherd, first saw a group of 12 gaur on the Devgad-Nipani
state highway a decade ago. He had heard of the wildlife sanctuary, on the
outskirts of his village, Radhanagari. But he had never seen the gava.

“Only
in this last decade, I’ve seen them coming out of the forest,” he says. Since
then, for the people of Radhanagari village, the sight of the massive
herbivores crossing the roads has become commonplace. Villagers have shot
videos of the animals on their cellphones. The gaur have started entering farms
in Radhanagari, Shahuwadi, Karvir, and Panhala talukas in Kolhapur district to eat sugarcane, shalu (jowar
or sorghum), corn and rice.

And
to drink water – which has become increasingly scarce for them within the
forest.

In
Radhanagari taluka, villagers assert, the gava have made forays
outside the forest only during the past 10-15 years. In Panhala taluka, it’s a more recent occurrence. Yuvraj
Nirukhe, 42, from Rakshi village whose farm is near the forest says, “We’ve
seen the gava
only in the last two years. Earlier wild pigs used to attack our crops.”
Since January, a group of 12 bison have thrice raided his 0.75 acre plot. “I
lost at least 4 quintals of shalu  and now I’m afraid to cultivate rice in this
rainy season,” he says.

“The
weather cycle has changed completely,” says Prashant Tendulkar, forest range
officer for Radhanagari. “Earlier, it used to rain at least once in March and
April, which would recharge the ponds. If we are going against nature, who
should be blamed? Some 50-60 years ago there was the forest land, then grazing
grounds, farms and then the village. Now people have started settling on these
lands and are slowly reaching towards the jungle. The land between forest and
village is being encroached.” 

There’s
been ‘encroachment’ of a more destructive nature – bauxite mining. It’s been on
and off over some decades.  

“Open
cast bauxite mining devastated Radhanagari over many years,” says Bittu Sahgal,
founder editor of Sanctuary Asia. “There
was great resistance to it, but mining companies such as INDAL [later merged
with HINDALCO] had far greater clout in the corridors of power than the
protestors did. The companies were writing policy in government offices.
Grazing grounds, water sources, all these suffered grave damage from mining
activity.”  

Indeed,
since 1998, both the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court of India have come
down strongly on such activity, more than once. As late as October 2018, the
apex court had ordered the presence of the chief secretary of the Maharashtra
government over the ‘total lack of concern’ the state showed in the matter.

04-SJ-Buffaloed_by_the_climate_in_Kolhapur.jpg

A
2012 study by researchers from Shivaji University, Kolhapur, pointed to the
continuing long-term effects of mining. Their <a href="http://www.unishivaji.ac.in/uploads/journal/Journal_42/42.pdf">paper</a>,
Studies On The Impact Of Bauxite Mining
Activities On Environment In Kolhapur District, noted that “legal
and illegal mining activity has initiated serious environmental degradation in
the region. Though mining initially provided job opportunities for limited
inhabitants and generated revenue to Government, it would last only for a short
period. However, the damage caused to the local ecology as a result of the
changed land use is permanent.”

Just
24 kilometres away from Radhanagari is another wildlife sanctuary – Dajipur.  Both were a single unit till the mid-1980s
when they were split up. Together, they cover an area of 351.16 square
kilometres. A patch of laterite plateau in Dajipur, called Savrai Sada, also
holding a lake, remains one of the major sources of food and water for animals
and birds in the region. But much of the lake had shrunk or dried up by May
this year. 

Also,
“most of the deforestation here has happened in the past decade. This has
affected the [climate] cycles,” says Amit Sayyed, a wildlife researcher and
president of the Wildlife Protection and Research Society.

Savrai
Sada is one of the sites where the forest department has created artificial ‘salt
licks’ for animals. A salt or mineral lick is a place from where animals can consume
essential nutrients. Salt and konda (husk/bran) have been stored at some
sites in both Dajipur and Radhanagari.

There’s
another, less benign form of human intervention than salt licks: the spread of
sugarcane. Kolhapur district, with its rich rainfall in some talukas, was for decades hospitable to
sugarcane. It’s growth, though, is a bit alarming. Data from the state Sugar Commissionerate
and gazetteers show that cane was cultivated on 40,000 hectares in Kolhapur in
1971-72. Last year, 2018-19, it covered 155,000 hectares –  a 287 per cent increase. (Sugarcane
cultivation in Maharashtra takes between 18-20 million litres of water per acre).

05-SJ-Buffaloed_by_the_climate_in_Kolhapur.jpg

All
these processes have had an inevitable impact on land, water, forest, flora and
fauna, weather and climate in the region. The forest types in this sanctuary are
southern semi-evergreen, southern moist-mixed deciduous and southern evergreen
forest. While the impact of all the changes goes way beyond these sanctuaries,
they have had profound consequences for their denizens. Human activity is
growing, but the gaur herds are not.

Believed
to have had over 1,000 of these magnificent animals some decades ago,
Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary now has 500, according to the forest department
of Maharashtra. Forest range officer Prashant Tendulkar’s personal estimate is
700. In India, the gaur is classified under <a href="http://wiienvis.nic.in/Database/ScheduleSpeciesDatabase_7969.aspx">Schedule
1</a> of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which gives absolute protection to the listed species. Offences against these animals
invite the highest penalties. Gaur also figure in the ‘Red List’ of threatened
species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which classifies
them as ‘vulnerable.’ 

The
gaur are on the move, but: “they [the forest department] do not have data on
their migration record,” says Amit Sayyed. “Where are they going? What kind of
corridor are they using? What kind of groups? How many individuals in a group?
If they are monitoring the groups, then these kinds of things will not happen. Water
bodies should be set up in these corridors.”

India Meteorological Department data show that rainfall in June 2014 in Kolhapur
district was 64 per cent below the normal average for that month. In 2016,
minus 39 per cent. In 2018, it was plus one per cent above the average. In July
2014, it was 5 per cent above the average for that month. In July the next year
it was minus 76 per cent. This year, rainfall was above average by 21 per cent
for the period June 1 to July 10. But, as many here point out, this April and
May saw no real pre-monsoon showers. “The rainfall pattern has become erratic
over the past decade,” says Kerkar. That has sharpened the problem of fewer and
fewer perennial water sources in these forests.

Rohan Bhate

06-SJ-Buffaloed_by_the_climate_in_Kolhapur.jpg

In
April and May 2017, some ponds in the Radhanagari and Dajipur forests were for
the first time recharged artificially – with water from tankers. Around 20,000
litres of water in all were supplied this way at three spots in both forests by
Kerkar’s Bison Nature Club. In 2018, that rose to 24,000 litres. (There are
many other forest ponds maintained by the forest department itself).

However,
“this year, the forest department permitted us to only supply water at one pond
in the Radhanagari range for reasons unknown,” says Kerkar.  This year, the NGO supplied 54,000 litres. In
any case, “we stop supplying after the first two monsoon showers in June,” says
Kerkar. 

Deforestation,
mining, major changes in cropping patterns, drought, a general drying up, the
degradation of water quality, a sucking up of groundwater – all these processes
have had their impact on forest, farm, soil, weather and climate in Radhanagari
and the larger region it is located in. 

But
it’s not just natural climate that is deteriorating.  

The
incidence of gaur-human conflict is mounting. “The gava
ate all the elephant grass I cultivated on 20 guntha [roughly half an acre],” says a miserable Maruti
Nikam, 40, who owns six acres in Nikamwadi village of Panhala taluka. “They also wiped out the corn I had on
another 30 guntha between January and
April this year.

“In
the rainy season, there will be a lot of water in the forest, but if they don’t
find food, they will return to our fields.” 

Cover photo: Rohan Bhate. Special thanks to him for giving us permission to use his
images, and to Sanctuary Asia.

PARI’s nationwide
reporting project on climate change is part of a UNDP-supported initiative to
capture that phenomenon through the voices and lived experience of ordinary
people.

Want to
republish this article?  Please write to zahra@ruralindiaonline.org with
a cc to namita@ruralindiaonline.org

Buffaloed by the climate in Kolhapur

कोल्हापुर में जलवायु परिवर्तन से बढ़ल गौर भैंसन के डर

कोल्हापुर: बदलत मऊसम सेती गौर अऊ मइनखे मं आमना-सामना

వాతావరణ మార్పుల వలన కొల్హాపూర్ లో ‘గౌర్’ల మందలు

ਜਲਵਾਯੂ ਬਦਲਾਅ ਤੋਂ ਪਰੇਸ਼ਾਨ ਕੋਲ੍ਹਾਪੁਰ ਦੀਆਂ ਮੱਝਾਂ

കാലാവസ്ഥയെ ഭയന്ന് കൊൽഹാപ്പൂരിൽ

ಕೊಲ್ಹಾಪುರದ ಹವಾಗುಣದಿಂದ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೀಡಾದ ಕಾಡೆಮ್ಮೆಗಳು

கோல்ஹாப்பூரின் பருவநிலையால் ஏற்படும் எதிர் விளைவுகள்

জলবায়ু বিবর্তনের গুঁতোয় জেরবার কোলাপুরের বনগরু

জলবায়ুৰ প্ৰভাৱত কোলহাপুৰত নগুৰ-নাগতি

ماحولیاتی تبدیلی سے پریشان کولہاپور کی گور بھینسیں

ભેંશ ભાગોળે, વાતાવરણ છાગોળે, કોલ્હાપુરમાં ધમાધમ

कोल्हापुर : जलवायु परिवर्तन के चलते बढ़ रहा इंसानों और 'गौर भैंसों' का टकराव

କୋହ୍ଲାପୁରରେ ଜଳବାୟୁ ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତନ ଓ ମଇଁଷିମାନଙ୍କର ଉତ୍ପାତ

बदलत्या वातावरणामुळे कोल्हापुरात गव्यांशी गाठ

Radhanagri

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Buffaloed by the climate in Kolhapur

Human-wildlife conflict is escalating in Radhanagari, Kolhapur, where the gaur buffalo are raiding nearby farms. This is spurred by deforestation, cropping changes, drought and fluctuating weather patterns

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