The National Green Tribunal has sought a response from the Bengaluru regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding the increasing rate of elephant deaths in Kerala forests.
The NGT was hearing a matter where it had taken suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report about the alleged deaths of around 845 elephants from 2015 to 2023 in the state forests.
In a recent order, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava took note of the report on around 40% of the elephants under 10 years dying because of Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus-Haemorrhagic Disease, and that as per forest officials, the disease could be combated by restoring natural habitats and preventing fragmentation of jumbo herds.
"The news item highlights current threats to elephants including habitat shrinkage, fragmentation, climate change, and competition from invasive plant species exacerbating their vulnerability," the bench also comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel said.
"These factors contribute to declining population sizes, increased sensitivity to high temperatures, and heightened disease susceptibility," it said.
It noted that the report mentioned a study recommending adopting a protocol similar to Tamil Nadu's Elephant Death Audit Framework to systematically investigate the deaths, which would help in identifying patterns, assessing threats, and implementing targeted conservation measures.
"The news item raises a substantial issue relating to compliance of the environmental norms, especially compliance with the Environment Protection Act of 1986 and the Biological Diversity Act, of 2002," the green panel said.
It impleaded as parties or respondents the MoEFCCs regional office, Kerala's Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden.
The tribunal said that the counsels for both officers sought four weeks to file a reply.
"Let notice be issued to Respondent No. 1 (regional office MoEFCC) for filing the response before the appropriate bench of the tribunal ( southern bench) at least one week before the next date of hearing (September 30)," the tribunal said.
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