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Environmental
Articles Archive: Biodiversity |
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Today's
Weather: Barisal |
Borga
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Jessure
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Narayanganj |
Rangpur I
Sylhet
I Tangail
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Asian
Waterfowl Census 2004
Most
of the members of that crew were nature enthusiasts and hardcore birdwatchers,
and in their midst, all I could possibly expect to boast was enthusiasm. So
it was fitting, that when photographer Enam Talukder shrieked in excitement at
the sight of the rarely seen Purple Heron at a newly accreted char under Doulat
Khan Thana in Bhola, I almost fell out of the boat in fear of what predatory
beast it was that had made his scream so. The
first day was spent completely confined to the trawler and all we really saw was
river erosion by the mighty Meghna. All day the crew members located bird
habitats using binoculars and spotting scopes and counted them. They counted
Pacific Golden Plovers, Eurasian Wigeon, Ruddy Shelduck, Bar-tailed Godwit,
Egrets, and I had no idea what any of them looked like. The presence of these
species — tiny dots in the horizon — seemed to greatly encourage the
birdwatchers and they twittered incomprehensibly among themselves all day, with
occasional exclamations of “aaaah” and “wow” before finally deciding
that this was good encouragement to start heading towards the bay. The
downstream adventures were more awarding. The narrow and extensive estuaries,
often fringed by mangroves offered magnificent sightings of heronries and nests.
The species, which prefer mudflats or sandy banks, trawled the shorelines with
their beaks undisturbed, and by the thousands. As some of the chars have become
suitable for cultivation, people from different erosion affected areas and in
some places the locally influential businessmen had invaded the land and built
temporary huts and agricultural land. Moulvir
Char under Hatiya in Noakhali, is such a char, which is being now used as
pasture grounds for buffalo. The local people call it Bathan. Both the
environmental change and widespread human activities have destroyed habitats of
many local and migratory birds. In this area we had splendid sightings of about
300 Mongolian Plovers, 50 Eurasian Curlews and a gamut of other waders. The
most interesting and encouraging incident occurred in Jahajmara in Hatiya. We
sighted a flock of about 1,000 Indian Skimmers which are endangered and thus
protected, the world over. The presence of this large flock in our coastal
areas, would greatly contribute to Bangladesh’s reputation as a bird-watching
destination. According
to Ronald Halder, the team leader, the flock of Skimmers that we sighted was
perhaps the largest flock in the world. “This region is relatively undisturbed
for its remoteness and the plenitude of food resources attract a lot of
waders,” he added. Another
interesting event happened at this char. Ronald Halder discovered algae growing
wild in the waters, which he said was a good indicator for attracting the Common
Shelduck or Chakha as it is called locally. Taking out his GPS and getting the
coordinates, he said that this finding would help the birdwatchers to locate
large flocks of Shellduck easily in the next years. He
also expressed his anxiety seeing the whole region unprotected from invasion by
illegal occupants. “The numbers of waders are decreasing over the years. It
may happen for the environmental change of their habitat. But the whole region
is unprotected,” Halder continued. The
last point downstream to the Bay - Char Shahjalal is far away from the mainland.
While fishermen come here occasionally, it is mostly uninhabited. And it was at
Char Shahjalal that we caught a sighting of a flock of about 10,000 Common
Shellduck. The char also abounded with Plovers, Curlews, Egrets, and geese. M.
A. Mohit, one of the crew members rescued a juvenile Great Egret, which had been
wounded by a hunter’s bullets. The
local people generally call thee birds Atithi Pakhi and all the fishermen we met
in the rivers and the Bay, showed a great deal of awareness regarding the
hunting and trapping of the birds. They
also claimed that most hunters come from Dhaka and carry power generators and
refrigerators with them, during weeklong hunting trips. When
sailing through upstream rivers, we caught sightings of Eurasian Wigeons, Ruddy
Shelduck, Gadwalls, Black-tailed Godwits, Cattle Egrets, and others. We saw some
of the largest flocks at Tegrar Char, on the western banks of Borhanuddin in
Bhola. Some fifty thousand Eurasian Wigeons, 30,000 Northern Pintails and some
50,000 sundry waders were sighted at that char on the river Tetulia. The
coast is unimaginably vast. The confluence of the Meghna’s tributaries is an
ideal habitat for inland and offshore water birds as the largest water source in
the world. The newly accreted chars also make the region very rich in bird life
and the large mudflats, supra-tidal marshes and sandy chars attract the
migratory birds. According
to Enam Talukder, although we do not have any research on the migratory birds in
Bangladesh, we could say for certain that they were using this region as their
passage route to the southern countries. “For example, we can see large flocks
of Grey Lag Goose in early December in these areas but by early January we
cannot see them anymore,” Talukder explained. One
of the noted resident birds, the Painted Stork, has not been sighted over the
last five years, Talukder added. “The characteristics of many chars as well as
the habitats are suitable but there is no bird.” One
of the greatest developments that has favoured conservation efforts in recent
years has been the arms cleanup during the Operation Clean Heart across the
country last year, which has resulted in drastically reducing the practise of
hunting. Resultantly last year’s census saw huge numbers of water birds in
this region. They saw flocks of Ruddy Shelduck, Common Shelduck, egrets, Ibis,
spoonbills, herons and a plethora of other birds all through the inland water
bodies and offshore chars. According
to census crew, this year the populations of ibis have comparatively increased.
But the population of Purple Heron and Grey Heron is threatened. “We did not
see a single Spoonbill this year. We think that its population is also
decreasing. As we can see Pond Heron across the country, their presence in the
coastal region is good,” said Talukder. Over
the week that I spent on the coastal trip my lesson came full circle. With
biodiversity in the country in a considerable degree of peril, it is still
largely upto the government to take note and protect species that are critically
endangered globally. And to protect these species, it is necessary to protect
their habitats, because, as I realised on this trip, with breaks in the cycle of
bio-diversity, rural livelihoods and human existence will also be in peril. Source: New Age, January 21, 2004 |
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The
lesser apes A green silence impregnated with music. Neither birds nor insects. It is the apes in song in the thick, impenetrable forests of the northeast. This region harbours India’s only species of apes - the hoolock gibbon.
The
male initiates a long solo with an elaborate introduction and a short
interlude. The female soon joins in for a duet, and the crescendo is
reached with the great call. He simultaneously swings hand-over-hand, from
tree to tree, over distances of more than ten metres - spectacular
gymnastics for an animal without a tail and splendid stereo-surround! Once
the female reciprocates, she dominates the rest of the concert. The
gibbons transmit, through song, information about species, sex and
parental territory. This communication helps the pair bond for life.
Hoolock gibbons are perhaps the only ‘strictly monogamous’ apes, a
distinction not earned by chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans or even
humans! Hoolock
gibbons also use their songs and whistles to mark and establish
territories. They prefer tropical evergreen rainforests, semi-evergreen
forests, tropical mixed deciduous-dominated forests, as well as humid
broadleaf hill forests. Their range extends from the Brahmaputra river in
Assam to the southeast of Dibong in Arunachal and southward to the
Chindwan river in Myanmar. Smaller numbers find refuge in Bangladesh and
China. Their population density is concentrated in Myanmar, and in the
northeastestern Indian states, including Assam, Arunachal, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura. But
the gibbon is now under serious threat from extensive deforestation and
hunting. Agriculture, jhoom (slash and burn) cultivation and tea
plantations have also had an impact. According to the Zoological Survey of
India, only about 5,000 hoolock gibbons survive in India. The Hoolock
gibbon’s rigid habits of a strict arboreal life, a fruit-based diet,
unconditional territoriality, and monogamy, might compromise the
animal’s survival in the face of challenges that humans pose. Hoolock
gibbons mainly feed on sweet, ripe, fleshy fruits, leaves and flowers;
perhaps insects and a few eggs or small vertebrates as a treat. Figs are
their all-time favourites. Though arboreal, hoolock gibbons may need to
move on the ground in areas where forests are cleared for timber and
plantations, and it is here that they become easy targets for hunters.
Gibbon meat and bones are believed to have mythical medicinal properties,
placing the animal at greater risk. In October 2000, there came the
shocking news of a hoolock gibbon being shot by a policeman in Arunachal!
Capturing young gibbons for the pet trade is also common. Because
of their small size, hoolock gibbons are referred to as lesser apes. Adult
males are black in colour with marked white eyebrows, causing them to be
popularly known as white-browed gibbons. Young females also have black
coats that gradually turn golden brown as they mature. A family typically
consists of two to five individuals. Females give birth to a single child,
every two years or so. The child stays with its parents till it is 6-8
years old. Loss of habitat can also affect the formation of new groups,
when young adolescents leave their families. Gibbons require an average
area of about 35 hectares with adequate resources to live and perpetuate
themselves. But
in miniscule pockets such as the 5 sq. km. Borajan Reserve Forest in the
Tinsukia district of Assam, hoolock gibbons live cloistered lives, as if
waiting in a cellar to be pushed aboard the express train to extinction. Measures
for protection require urgent detailed assessment of gibbon behaviour and
their ecological needs. Though the hoolock gibbon is protected by the
Indian law, what is required is strict enforcement of the legislation
against hunting, combined with protection against deforestation. As the
calls of the hoolock gibbon fade into a dead silence, will voices of
reason be heard or are we, Great Apes, still talking gibbonish? www.nationageographic.co.in
Source: New Age, January 21, 2004 |
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The
Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock) is also in danger of extinction from
the few pockets of tropical evergreen forests that survive in the Sylhet
and Chittagong regions. The
biggest threat to their survival has, in the last decades, been the
dwindling of forest habitats, and poaching for the purpose of their sale
as pets. A
couple of families that conservationists have observed during visits to
Lawachharra Forest in Srimongol over the last decade continue to thrive,
giving birth to young periodically. But with the pressures of
clear-felling by the Forest Department rapidly diminishing their habitats,
they are slowly being cornered into small enclaves with each successive
year that passes. For
the forests of Sylhet and Chittagong, the Gibbon has come to represent
what the tiger is for the Sundarbans. Their final extinction will be
accepted as the final loss of any hope of redeeming the natural
eco-systems that have been successively destroyed by tea-plantations in
the early nineteen hundreds and the lack of environmental sensitivity of
the forest department of independent Bangladesh. Sadly,
even now, as sign-boards announcing Lawachharra as a Gibbon habitat are
put up at the entrance of the forest and there is talk of conservation
efforts, very little effort is visible at the spot. Sand extraction and
logging continues under the indulgent gaze of the Forest Department, while
here in Dhaka, new projects and research consultations galore are
commissioned with donor funds. When
you encounter a gibbon, its first response is to find cover, but not too
far away. The gibbon hides behind foliage only to observe what you are and
what you are doing in its territory. Point a lens at the alpha-male and he
will lean down by his oversized furry arms to get a better look at the
round black object that you have attached to your eye. Stay long enough
and you can be sure one of them will invariably take a pot-shot at you
with its droppings. This boisterous ape, that bears an uncanny resemblance
to man and his behaviour, is symbolic of our failure to conserve our
well-endowed natural wealth. To lose it, would be to give up. —
Mahtab Haider Source: New Age, January 21, 2004 |
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Dying
sea: Corals in peril Within
the past decade, whole species of marine life have been depleted to the
edge of extinction. Pollutants from oil to plutonium foul the deep blue
seas. Many of the billion or so people whose life depends on the bounty of
the sea face severe privation. This human assault upon the sea,
devastating though it may be, goes largely unnoticed. With the exception
of the occasional oil-covered shore bird or plastic debris at the tide
line, the injuries lie hidden. "You can see a forest fire, but you
can't see a damaged reef," says Rilli Hawari Diohani, an Indonesian
marine biologist who is assistant director of the U.S. based Nature
Conservancy. Visible or not, the damage is there, it is increasing, and in
many cases it may be beyond control or recovery. Noticeably, as much as 10
percent of the world's coral reefs have been wiped out, largely by
pollution and destructive fishing methods. At the present rate of
devastation, another 60 percent will be destroyed in 20 to 40 years. Of
the world's 15 major ocean fisheries, 13 are being exploited at a rate
that challenges their ability to sustain fish populations. World food
experts predict steadily declining catches in the coming years. "Dead
zones" cause similar havoc. Reports have it that huge chunks of reef
in western New Guinea and off Zambales in the Philippines have been blown
apart by dynamite charges used to kill targeted fish (along with young
fingerlings, plankton, larva, eggs and the reef itself). Traditional
fishermen say the practice has brought an eerie stillness to waters that
once teemed with sea life. "In the past, flying fish jumped over the
prow of fishing boats heading out to sea," say Jun Filoteo, a
deep-sea fisherman from Zambales. "Now there is no longer such a
spectacle. Aside from the motion of the waves, the sea appears so calm
that it is almost scary." Scary
too is the collapse of fisheries around the world. Even in areas where
nothing illegal goes on, fishing technology has become so sophisticated
that it is nearly as devastating as dynamite. In 1950 the worldwide fish
catch was 20 million tons, most of it from small boats using technology
unchanged since the age of sail. By the end of the 1980s, the catch had
peaked at more than 85 million tons, much of it swept up by factory ships
trailing nets the size of Manhattan. Fisheries experts estimate that
another 27 million tons of unwanted fish, called the "by-catch,"
is thrown back dead into the ocean. "There are too many people going
after too few fish," says Rolland Schmitten, assistant administrator
of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Natural
calamities are blamed for much recent harm to marine ecosystems. Sudden
warming of waters off the south western U.S. coast in 1993, a result of
upwelling "El Nino" currents from South America, brought up
swarms of marauding mackerel that are depleting sea resources. But worse
by far than natural accidents are the insidious man-made disasters of
ocean pollution. More than half of the world's people live within 100 km
of a seashore, and nine of the 10 largest cities sit upon a sea coast.
Sewage, sediments, chemicals and fertilizers flow from that mass of
humanity and spill into the sea. Waste poisons kill off fish, fowl and
marine plants, and waste nutrients give sustenance to mammoth blooms of
oxygen-hungry algae that choke other sea life. Little
do we know that the sea shapes the character of this planet, governs
weather and climates, stabilises temperature, yields to the atmosphere the
moisture that falls back on the land, replenishing Earth's fresh water to
rivers, lakes, streams -- and us. Every breath we take is possible because
of the life-filled, life-giving sea; oxygen is generated there, carbon
dioxide absorbed. Both in terms of the sheer mass of living things and
genetic diversity, that's where the action is. Rain forests and other
terrestrial systems are important too, of course, but without the living
ocean, there would be no life on land. Most
of Earth's living space, the biosphere is ocean -- about 97 percent. And
not so coincidentally, 97 percent of Earth's water is ocean. The sea, as
such is Earth's life-support system. The services provided are so
fundamental that most of us who live here tend to take them for granted.
In the past century, without much thought about the consequences, we have
removed billions of tons of living creatures from the sea and added to it
billions of tons of toxic substances. These days fish, whales, shrimp,
clams and other living things are regarded as commodities not as vital
component of the living system upon which we are utterly dependent. By
far the most precious resources of the sea are its coral reefs lying deep
underneath the sea. Shockingly, across the globe, from the Gulf of Mexico
to the South China sea, people are killing reefs. Fishing with cyanide,
harbour dredging, deforestation, coastal development, agricultural run
off, shipwrecks and careless divers are putting so much pressure on these
ecosystems that they may not survive beyond the next century. Scientists
around the world are alarmed at the way reef killing is going on. Already,
some experts estimate, 10 percent of the earth's reefs have been mortally
wounded. About 30 percent are in critical shape and may die within the
next 10 to 20 years. And an additional 30 percent are coming under such
sustained attack that they may perish by the year 2050. Coral
reefs are more than beautiful structures admired by divers. Their stony
ramparts serve as storm barriers that protect shorelines and provide ships
with safe harbour. Their nooks and crannies accommodate fish and shellfish
that are important sources of food and livelihood for millions of people.
And like the tropical forests to which they are frequently compared, reefs
are vast biological repositories -- as yet untapped -- for medicinal and
industrial uses. Nowhere
in the world have they been subjected to more abuse than in the
Philippines, says University of the Philippine marine scientist Edgardo
Gomez. According to environmentalists, a staggering 90 percent of the
archipelago's 34,000 sq km of reef is dead or deteriorating. Among other
things, Philippine reefs are being buried by tons of soil that washes from
deforested tracts of land. They are also being damaged by pollution that
seeps from factories, farm fields and sewers. But above all they are being
destroyed by too much fishing. The
destructive cycle began when villagers started stripping nearshore reefs
of giant clams, groupers and other fish. Then the fishermen upped their
productivity by blasting the reefs with dynamite and scooping up the dead
fish. Now they have adopted what may be the most insidious fishing method
of all. Philippine divers are hunting down big reef fish, stunning them
with cyanide and hauling them to the surface alive. The practice allows
traders to supply Chinese restaurants with the live fish, their affluent
customers covet. Meanwhile, the 150,000 kg of cyanide the divers dump onto
living corals each year is poisoning the reefs. Unhappily
for reefs, humans upset the balance between corals and their competitors
in many ways. Consider the erosion that follows deforestation and
agriculture. No longer held back by tree roots, soil laden with nitrogen
and phosphate washes into rivers and then sweeps into the sea, forming a
muddy plume that may be hundreds of kilometers long. As this nutrient-rich
water flows over a reef, it spurs the growth of algae-including the
microscopic diatoms and dinoflagellates that nourish reef animals like the
crown-of-thorns starfish. In recent years hordes of these coral-devouring
starfish have infested Australia's 2,000 km-long Great Barrier Reef, and
soil-borne nutrients are at least partly to blame. The
stress that caused recent bleachings, scientists say, was a seasonal spike
in sea temperatures. But other sources of stress, such as overfishing and
nutrient overload, may have made the corals and their symbiotic friends
unusually sensitive to heat. Scientists are alarmed at the trend of swings
of temperature caused by global warming. That possibility alarms marine
scientists, because bleaching -- the coral equivalent of running a fever
-- can be fatal. In 1983 bleaching killed 95 percent of the corals off the
Galapagos Islands. Warming may also trigger more intense hurricanes,
scientists fear. And while healthy reefs would no doubt recuperate from
the pummeling, sick reefs might not. In the next five decades, the number
of people on earth may nearly double, to more than 10 billion, and the
pressure that will place on reefs is almost too enormous to contemplate. Md
Asadullah Khan, formerly a teacher of physics, is Controller of
Examinations, BUET. Source: The Daily Star, January 23, 2004 |
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Deadliest
outbreaks on record
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| Bangkok,
Thailand : A Thai doctor checks roaster for bird flu at a pet
market in Bangkok Tuesday. — AFP Photo |
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) has said bird flu had the potential to be
more devastating than Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which
killed around 800 and infected some 8,000 people worldwide last year.
SOUTH
KOREA: The first country in the current outbreak to report bird flu, South
Korea culled 1.8 million chickens and ducks after bird flu was discovered
in the nation''s poultry heartland southeast of Seoul on December 15.
All
fowl from farms within a three-kilometre (1.8 mile) radius of quarantined
farms were ordered culled in a containment programme that appeared to work
until a further outbreak emerged mid-January.
VIETNAM:
On January 6, it emerged that 40,000 chickens had died of a mystery virus
in the southern Tien Giang and Long An states of Vietnam, setting off a
chain of discoveries that established the Southeast Asian nation as the
worst affected by the flu''s re-emergence.
Six people have since died of the human form of the disease, the World
Health Organisation estimates.
THAILAND:
Thailand has been accused of doing too little too late to contain the flu
within its borders after denying for weeks that H5N1 had been killing
thousands of chickens since late last month.
Now
the disease has spread to humans, confirmed as the cause of death in one
child and suspected in the deaths of a further five people.
INDONESIA:
Accusations of a cover-up were thrown at Jakarta after the government
admitted Sunday bird flu was in Indonesia and had been there possibly
since November.
It says a combination of the so-called Newcastle disease, a type-A avian
flu - of which H5N1 is one - are present.
TAIWAN:
On January 15, Taiwan confirmed two farms in the island''s south had
detected a different strain of bird flu - the less virulent H5N2 variant -
and ordered culls of 55,000 chickens.
No
detections have been made since and no human infections were reported.
JAPAN: Agriculture authorities banned the trade of poultry from farms
within a 30-kilometre (18-mile) radius of one found to have bird flu in
early January.
CAMBODIA:
Added to the list Friday, when H5N1 was confirmed in chickens from a farm
outside Phnom Penh.
The
UN''s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns this could be the tip
of the iceberg as ambodia lacks the means to tackle the disease and the
outbreak could soon explode across the country.
LAOS:
A United Nations official said Monday Laos was infected, despite
government claims that a disease claiming livestock was bird cholera.
Samples
from infected chickens, which an official said had been "dying by the
thousands" in Vientiane province, had been sent to Vietnam for
testing for the H5N1 strain.
PAKISTAN:
The government says thousands of chickens have died from a weaker strain
of bird flu (H-7 and H-9) since November around the port of Karachi,
although some 3.5 million chickens in total have died.
CHINA:
Officials said Tuesday the ministry of agriculture had ordered an
investigation into reports that a suspected outbreak led to a massive duck
cull in southern Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam.
Source: The Financial Express, January 28, 2004
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The ‘amazingly green’ country Bangladesh has been losing its natural woodland alarmingly. That the rest six percent forestland is on the way of being denuded by next ten to fifteen years is a cause for concern. Philip Gain, Executive Director of Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) has written about the present situation of the natural forests in the book titled of The Last Forests of Bangladesh.
After
travelling for a long time in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Sal Forests,
the denuded mangroves of Chokoria and other patches of natural forests of
the country and observing the gradual destruction of the their vegetations
in detail, Gain has written on the miserable situation of the maintenance
of ecological stability as well as the factors behind the disappearance of
the flora and fauna of those areas.
After
discussing the vanishing natural forests, the writer has delved into the
causes of the deforestation in the name of plantations. The miseries of
the forest inhabitants and the lifestyle of the indigenous people have
also been highlighted in the book.
Gain
has also criticized the involvement of international financial
institutions, particularly, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,
in the forestry sub-sector, which is implemented by the Forest Department.
He has also pointed out that the large amounts of loans provided by those
supranational agencies are being used against the peoples’ interests.
The funds are being used to produce merely commercially valuable plants
which replace the indigenous species, resulting in dire consequences in
ecological system.
Though
there are some tiny patches of natural forests, we find more of hardwood,
fuel-wood and pulpwood in their place. ‘Plantations are monoculture and
are not to be considered as forest for obvious reasons. This is a
miserable situation if the importance of forests for ecological stability
is considered’— the writer has mentioned in his preface.
The
writer has also discussed the process of jhum cultivation in the CHT and
tried explaining that this traditional method of cultivation has few
negative impacts on the destruction of greenery. On the other hand he is
also concerned about the expansion of the reserve forests, especially in
the hilly regions. ‘The local communities consider the expansion of the
reserve forests as an immoral act,’ he writes. He has also given the
comments of the ethnic people, who are affected by the expansion of the
reserve forests.
Gain
has also criticized the government initiatives to set up eco-parks in a
small section titled ‘Eco-parks satire’. He thinks that ‘the
government is making an effort to build a good image around the eco-parks
perhaps to hide the misdeed and mistaken plantations, using the donor
money, that have taken places on the public forestland.’ He did not
write on any positive aspect of this sort of parks or on the necessity of
them in the country.
Most
chapters of the book have discussed the sal forests of the Madhupur
region. He has emphasised on the troubled life of the Garo tribe in that
region. Gain has also described the flaws of the Forestry Master Plan and
New Forestry Policy, and has written about individual and non-government
initiatives in aforestation.
Source: New Age, January 28, 2004
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World
appeal to contain bird flu
Poultry
farm owners fear Tk 1000cr loss: China confirms outbreak
International
health and food safety agencies have appealed to donors for funds and
technical assistance to help stop the spread of bird flu in Asia, reports
BBC.
The
agencies warned that the disease could become an influenza pandemic. “We
have a brief window of opportunity before us to eliminate that threat,”
said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
The
appeal comes a day before Thailand hosts an international conference on
ways of containing the disease.
The
European Union and nearly a dozen governments, including China and the
United States, are due to attend.
There
are so far eight confirmed human deaths from bird flu: two in Thailand,
and six in Vietnam.
The outbreak has also affected Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Taiwan,
Indonesia, Pakistan and Laos.
China
confirms an outbreak of the virus among its duck population. A
six-year-old boy Thai boy dies from the disease.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) urges Indonesia to begin culling poultry
affected by the virus.
Hong
Kong imposes a ban on poultry imports from China, Indonesia, Laos and
Pakistan. There are fears that theWorld appeal to
Col.
4
bird
flu virus could mutate, attaching itself to a human flu virus which could
spread between people.
“The
spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in several areas in Asia is a
threat to human health and a disaster for agricultural production,” the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for
Animal Health (OIE) and the WHO said in a joint statement.
First
jumped “species barrier” from bird to human in 1997. In humans,
symptoms include fever, sore throat, and cough. Types which threaten
humans are influenza A subtypes H5N1 and H9N2.
“Although
it has not happened yet, the so-called ‘bird flu’ presents a risk of
evolving into an efficient and dangerous human pathogen,” the three
agencies warned.
“This
is a serious global threat to human health,” said WHO Director General
Lee Jong-wook.
“This time, we face something we can possibly control before it reaches
global proportions if we work co-operatively and share needed resources.
We must begin this hard, costly work now.”
FAO
Director General Jacques Diouf said farmers in affected areas urgently
needed to kill infected and exposed animals and “require support to
compensate for such losses”.
“The
international community has a stake in the success of these efforts and
poorer nations will need help,” Dr Diouf said.
The
agencies did not specify how much money was needed, but the technical
assistance included diagnostic kits and protective gear for workers
involved in the culling. China’s silence about bird flu was broken on
Tuesday when the official Xinhua news agency reported the death of a flock
of ducks in the south-west of the country, bordering Vietnam.
Our
Staff Correspondent adds: Owners of more than one lakh large and small
poultry farms across the country have expressed their grave concern that
they might incur a loss of about 1,000 crore taka in the backdrop of the
bird flu that has already hit South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong
Kong, and Pakistan hard.
“The
country’s poultry industry might lose 1,000 crore taka as fears of such
flu have gripped Bangladeshi customers. The price of broiler chicken has
come down to only 35 to 40 taka per kg.
As
the panic has spread, international hotels such as Sonargaon and Sheraton
have stopped serving chicken.
“We
have stopped serving chicken since January 22,” said a catering official
at the Sheraton Hotel.
Having been developed during the last 15 years, the industry feeds
middle-income group and small entrepreneurs in Dhaka and across
Bangladesh.
“It
has turned into a five-thousand-crore taka industry,” said Morshed Alam,
general secretary of Animal Livestock Companies Association and vice
president of Bangladesh chapter of World Poultry Science.
He
also said, that 25 per cent of the country’s poultry production is
broiler. Currently, 50 per cent broiler has remained unsold, price of
which has been calculated at Tk 1,000 crore.
Although
there is no report of the highly contagious flu in Bangladesh, people have
now started avoiding eating chicken particularly that of broiler as they
are scared after the news that bird flu has claimed several human lives in
some Asian countries.
Meanwhile,
the World health Organization (WTO) has expressed fears that the bird flu
could be combined with human flu to create a dangerous mutant form.
Against
the backdrop of outbreak, the wholesale and retail prices of day-old
chicks and broilers have by now declined by more than 50 per cent in
different parts of the country. In Dhaka, broiler is now selling at 40
taka per kg in the retail market while in wholesale market, it is 35 taka.
But a week ago it was 65 taka.
Regarding
low price of broiler, Morshed said, a day-old chicken costs 18 taka and
after 45 days, it sells at 36 to 40 taka per kg. It is a huge loss for the
poultry industry, he added He also said, the bird flu is yet to affect the
country though a total of 20,000 broilers died in a farm named PVA in
Gazipur for wrong vaccination by the Livestock Directorate.
State
Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Ukil Abdul Sattar Bhuiyan told the
News Today that the Livestock Directorate did not make the final report on
recent broiler that died in Gazipur.
“I am expecting the report on Thursday,” he said. However, he denied that the vaccines had any problems. Most of parent stocks are imported from the European countries and a few number were imported from Thailand, he said. It may be mentioned here that a ‘white virus’ was imported from Thailand through shrimp fry in the 1990s that had spelt a disaster for Bangladesh’s shrimp farms
The
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries has sent a letter to the Home Ministry
asking them to seal off the borders with India as a pre-cautionary
measure. A meeting will be held in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries
today (Wednesday) to review the border situation and find out possible
remedies for any unwanted situation.
Meanwhile,
the government has put a ban on import of one-day-old poultry–parent
stocks from a number of countries of South and Southeast Asia until March
15 because of bird flu in those countries
More
than one lakh private and 37 government poultry farms are operating in the
country, with an yearly turnover of 5,000 crore taka. The farms owe the
banks a loan of 2,000 crore taka.
A total of 80 poultry farms are importing parent stocks from some foreign
countries. In 2003, about 3,44,676 layers and 22,74,902 broilers were
imported from abroad.
Source:
The News Today, January 28, 2004
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Dhaka
to stress bio-diversity conservation in COP
STAFF
CORRESPONDENT
Bangladesh
will underscore the issue of bio-diversity conservation in the country in
the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP), scheduled to be held in Kuala
Lumpur between February 9 and 20.
To
uphold Bangladesh’s position regarding access to, and benefit sharing
of, genetic resources, the government is currently preparing a position
paper which will be placed in the seventh COP.
The
COP is the highest decision-making body of the Convention on Bio-diversity
(CBD), of which Bangladesh is a signatory.
Top
officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the IUCN,
Bangladesh on Wednesday disclosed this at a consultation meeting with
journalists and experts.
“We
will explain our position in the context of globalisation to realise our
interests,” said Dr. Ainun Nishat, country representative of the IUCN.
Priority
issues of the seventh meeting of the COP include the biological diversity
of mountain eco-systems, the role of protected areas in the preservation
of biological diversity, the transfer of technology and technological
cooperation.
Also,
the conference will discuss the implementation process of its previous
projects planned in its sixth meeting, which are targeted to be
implemented by 2010. The sixth meeting’s main agendum was to reduce the
rate of loss of bio-diversity.
The
conference is also expected to follow up on the call for action issued at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development to negotiate an international
regime on access and benefit sharing within the framework of the
convention.
Deputy
secretary of the Ministry of Environment and forest, Mahfuzul Haque,
revealed the agenda of the upcoming conference and discussed the
activities of the government.
He
stated the county will deal with three basic elements of the CBD, which
include people’s access to genetic resources, benefit sharing with
bio-prospector countries and transfer of technologies across the world.
Mahfuzullah,
general secretary of the Centre for Sustainable Development, said
Bangladesh would have to be careful during the negotiation with its
co-members, as this is a tough time for the least developed countries
under the WTO regime.
Dr.
Asif Nazrul of the Department of Law of the Dhaka University discussed the
legal aspects of different provisions of the CBD.
Joint
secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, S. M. Lutfullah, and
the deputy chief conservator of forest, Munshi Anwarul Islam, also spoke
on the occasion.
Source: New Age, January 29, 2004
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Death
of poultry birds
Farm owners panicky, cause not
detected
GAZIPUR, Jan 28:–Large-scale
death of poultry birds in the district made the farm owners panicky as the
reason behind the death is yet to be detected, reports UNB.
According to local sources, poultry
birds started dying for the last few days after the farm owners vaccinated
their chicken with RDV vaccine. They brought the vaccine from the district
Livestock Office for ‘Ranikhet’ disease.
Veterinary Hospital under the
Livestock Department has already conducted postmortem of 12 poultry birds.
The postmortem report said septic infection of legs from vaccination might
be causing the fatalities.
Meanwhile, District Livestock
Officer asked the poultry owners not to inject those vaccines to the
poultry birds, which were earlier given.
He also requested the hatchery
owners not to import chicks from abroad and not to allow the poultry
disease experts, coming from bird flu affected countries, in their farms.
A three-member emergency team was
formed to monitor the disastrous situation. According to an estimate by
the Livestock Department, nearly 6,000 birds of 11 farms in the district
died till Monday.
But, the farm owners said the
extent of damage is three times more than the government estimate.
Government estimate showed the loss as Tk 15 lakh, but it could be nearly
Tk one crore, said an affected farm owner.
At present, it is learnt that there
are 10,600 poultry farms in the district.
Source: The Bangladesh Observer, January 29, 2004
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Bird
Flu
Country
not prepared
Star Report
Bangladesh
does not have any preparation to tackle the deadly bird flu virus that has
killed at least eight people and threatened to develop into an epidemic in
the Southeast and South Asia regions.
"It
is for the first time that the subcontinent has been put on high virus
alert. We don't have any expertise to tackle such a crisis," said a
top official of the Directorate of Livestock.
Experts
working with the public and private sectors expressed similar concerns
about the quick fire eruptions of the bug in 10 Asian nations from
Pakistan to Japan and said despite an investment of over Tk 2,000 crore in
Bangladesh, the industry does not have any preventive mechanism.
Experts
fear the H5N1 avian flu virus may mate with human influenza and unleash a
pandemic among people with no immunity to it.
The
government has put the borders on red alert to check the entry of poultry
and poultry products in Bangladesh through unofficial channels.
After
a request by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries on Tuesday, the
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border troops were asked to keep an eye on the
borders to stem the entry of any broiler or day-old bird in Bangladesh.
"We
may be in danger if bird flu spreads in neighbouring India or Myanmar. We
have taken all-out measures to check import of poultry or poultry products
from East Asian countries," said a top-ranking official of Bangladesh
Livestock Research Institute (BLRI).
"The
only facility we now have is that we can only identify bird-flu positive
or negative poultry. We don't have expertise to identify the virus or
tackle the problem. But we are trying to be well prepared on an urgent
basis," the official said.
The
BLRI has collected samples from poultry firms where several thousand
chickens died suddenly. A report will be submitted to the ministry within
three days, the BLRI sources said.
The
prices of poultry, including day-old birds, broilers and other chickens,
have slid in weeks.
"Our
sells have dived as people are less interested in chickens because of the
virulent virus," a retailer at Karwan Bazar told this correspondent
yesterday.
The
retail price has dropped to Tk 50 a kg from Tk 60 two weeks ago.
Broiler
now sells at Tk 35 a kg on the wholesale market, down from Tk 55 a kg two
weeks ago.
"Scared
small growers are unwilling to hold their stocks. They are now selling
their birds at prices below the production costs," said a farm
official.
Source: The Daily Star, January 29, 2004
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