Andhra Pradesh's u-turn: Lift ban on red sander trees felling

HYDERABAD: Forsaking an environmental cause for monetary gain, the Andhra Pradesh government wants the Centre to lift the ban on felling the endangered and precious red sander trees. The state government has written to the Union forests ministry for removing red sanders from the endangered list, a move that has attracted protests from environmentalists.

Even as the state government is under fire for the killing of 20 woodcutters in Seshachalam forests, it wants to sell the highly expensive wood in the international market to generate revenue for the cash-strapped state.

Confirming the move, Andhra Pradesh environment and forests minister Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy told TOI: "Yes, we are of the view that red sanders should not be in the endangered species list. Lifting the ban on felling the trees will curb its smuggling."

Red sanders was placed on the endangered list by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1995. The International Union for Conservation of Nature seconded CITES two years later. The AP government declared the wood endangered after the Centre's recommendation on the grounds that the species faced threat of extinction. As late as 2012, the state government had stuck to its earlier decision to keep red sanders in the endangered list.

But AP has now done a U-turn arguing that the tree is no more endangered. In its letter, AP has listed the five major criteria for a species of flora to be declared endangered. They are: There should be 50 per cent reduction of the species in the last three generations; the extent of occurrence should be in less that 5,000 sq km; at least 20 per cent of the plant should have been felled; only 250 mature trees should remain; and, in the next 100 years, the existence of the species should be projected to be reduced to 20 per cent.
The TDP government says red sanders trees do not meet any of these conditions. It stresses that the precious wood is available in the Seshachalam forests in an area of about 5,500 sq km and there are 1.4 crore red sanders trees.

Environmentalists are crying foul saying the move is aimed at generating revenue at the cost of endangering red sanders. "The state government cannot reduce the status of the wood to a commercial property," KS Gopal, director for Center for Environment Concerns (CES), told TOI. Environmentalists say that once the ban on international trade in red sanders is lifted, the prices, too, will fall steeply.

The AP government has estimated that the annual requirement of red sanders in the international market is about 3,000 tonnes. Having auctioned the top quality of the wood for Rs 1.5 crore per tonne recently, the government is aiming to turn red sanders into a money-spinner.

Another round of auction of 3,500 tonnes of logs is slated for May this year. For the auction, the state government has already secured an exemption from CITES, of which India is a signatory. The Centre will have to first ratify the state government's request for removing red sanders from the endangered list before the two international organizations put their seal on it.