Ecological Integrity and Environmental Protection for Vijayawada Region Â
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International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment (2015) 4, 109–116 HOSTED BY Gulf Organisation for Research and Development International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com Original Article/Research Ecological integrity and environmental protection for Vijayawada region – Scattered Eastern Ghats Srikonda Ramesh a,⇑,1, K. Kaplana b a School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, India b Department of Sociology and Social Work, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India Received 8 July 2014; accepted 10 March 2015 Abstract The ecological integrity is widely discussed as a new concept by several ecologists and environmentalists. A consensus in this regard is yet to be derived for its definition. Human intervention for its developmental activities results in several environmental changes that enhance some species, ecosystem and ecological processes while at the same time brings irrecoverable damage to the Planet Earth. It is essential and crucial to focus research and scientific analysis and establish awareness and education to provide a means of distinguish- ing responses between improvements in quality of ecosystem and those of damages. The focus of this paper is to emphasize the organized urban planning at a macro level and the architectural design interventions at the micro level in Vijayawada where eco – sensitivity exists with due consideration to ecological integrity and environmental protection. The ecological dynamics of continuity indicated that hil- locks of Vijayawada region are a part of Eastern Ghats. The study is to elaborate that the landscape, eco-patches and its connectivity establishes a unique corridor to strengthen ecological system and as a green corridor to Vijayawada city to fulfill the demands of the city and also to create the ecological patch connectivity to scattered Eastern Ghats especially in the Krishna-Guntur region which connects the Nallamala hills through Kondapalli hill toward Sothern side and to the Papikondalu at the northern side of Eastern Ghats. These corridors may even support environmental conservation and provides rural edge in urban context and functions as lung spaces to ease the heat island effect of urban settlement. So the explicit development controls have been derived to guide and organize at micro level so as to achieve the macro level considerations of ecological integrity. Ó 2015 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Development; Landscape; Patches; Modules; Connectivity 1. Introduction strong connectivity in terms of flora and fauna. They are eroded and disconnected by the four major rivers, known The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of moun- as the Godavari. Krishna, Kaveri and Mahanadi. But it tains unlike the Western Ghats. The scattered ranges have can be observed in Fig. 1 that the patch connectivity at Vijayawada region is further weakening, due to human interventions to cope with urbanization and industrializa- ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Ramesh). tion. Dissection of a natural landscape begins with the 1 Former Chief Architect, MCD, Delhi. building of a road or other linear feature and developmen- Peer review under responsibility of The Gulf Organisation for Research tal activities. Due to the developmental activities of human and Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsbe.2015.03.003 2212-6090/Ó 2015 The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 110 S. Ramesh, K. Kaplana / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 109–116 Buckingham Canal was used for navigation earlier but presently it is being utilized for the purpose of irrigation only. This canal originates from the southern side of the reservoir and leads to Chennai. Vijayawada falls under the ‘Hot and Humid’ zone of India and experiences hot summers and moderate winters. It was noted from the meteorological data that the peak temperature reaches 47 °C from May to June, while the winter temperature is 20–27 °C but recently is experiencing 15 °C also. The aver- age humidity is 78% and the average annual precipitation may go up to 103 cm. Vijayawada region get terrestrial rains from both the southwest and the northeast monsoons. Vijayawada is surrounded by the Krishna River on the east and the west and the Budameru River on the north. As per the figure it can be observed that the northern, northwestern, and southwestern parts of the city are cov- ered by a low range of hills, while the central, southwestern and northwestern parts are covered by moderately rich and fertile agriculture lands with three major irrigation canals. The topography of Vijayawada is more or less flat; with a few small and medium-sized hills working as lung spaces. Fig. 1. Spread of Eastern Ghats in southern part of India. The reservoir of Krishna River is at the western side as a southern boundary of the city. These hills are a part of the Eastern Ghats, cut through settlements the perforation of the landscape occurs when by the Krishna River with a weak link to Papikondalu and some of the natural habitats are converted into industries Nallamala hills at the northeastern stretch. They have a or other modified land uses. It further leads to fragmenta- very low elevation compared to the average elevation of tion and it influences when more and more of the landscape the Ghats and also Vegetation Diversity and Endemism is converted so that the modified lands join together and in Eastern Ghats, as indicated by Reddy et al. (2002). the natural habitat patches are isolated from one another; They have a very low elevation compared to the average and leads to attrition. The attrition occurs when more of elevation of the Ghats. Interestingly, three canals originat- the natural patches are converted, becoming smaller and ing from the north side of the Krishna River reservoir and farther apart. This attrition has been observed in Eastern carry Krishna water for irrigation to Eluru, Bandar and Ghats especially in the Vijayawada region. The risk of Ryves, running through the city. The spread of scattered plant extinctions has been assessed by considering the Eastern Ghats is shown in Fig. 1 and also the location of probability of dispersal or pollinator failure, reproductive Vijayawada at the eastern part of these Ghats and 70 km dependence on the mutualism and demographic away from Bay of Bengal. dependence on seeds as emphasized by Bond (1994). The About the western outskirts of Vijayawada and south- ecological risks and its related changes during the construc- ern side of Eastern Ghats, lies the Kondapalli reserve for- tion activity have been indicated by Burkhard (2006), est, spread over 121.5 sqkm. The forest though a deserted Burkhard et al. (2008). So it is felt necessary to study cover of vegetation, provides supporting ecology to human interventions so as to emphasize the ways and Vijayawada as a “Green Lung”. This Kondapalli hill is means to conserve ecological integrity and environmental home to leopards, wild dogs, jackals, wild boar, wolves, quality. The vulnerability of tree species to climate change etc. and it produces a soft wood which is used in the man- is potentially highest as per survey conducted by Grossman ufacture of Kondapalli toys. It connects Nallamala hills in et al. (1994). the south and Papikondalu in the northern side but with weak linkage, however small hillocks of Vijayawada 2. Vijayawada and its region region can integrate as a patch connectivity to the entire landscape. Vijayawada is the commercial city of Andhra Pradesh and There are several patches of parks and green spaces the third largest after Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam, with available in Vijayawada city, and six of the main parks an area of 261.88 SqKms. As per the Census of 2011 the city given below exist along with hillocks and are getting municipal limits, has a population of 10,48,240 and the connected in a scattered manner with the landscape to population of the metropolitan area including natural growth Kondapalli hill and to those of Papikondalu and and migrations is in the order of 14,91,202. Nallamala hills: S. Ramesh, K. Kaplana / International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment 4 (2015) 109–116 111 Rajiv Gandhi Park Indrikeeladhri hill Gandhi hill K.L. Rao Park Gunadala hill Mugalrajpuram hill Red circle hill Dr. B.R. Ambedkar & Raghavaiah Park – either side of the Bandar canal Mahatma Gandhi Park G.V.S. Sastry Park Bhavani Islands 3. Landmark The available studies indicate that most of the organ- isms can recognize “landmarks” which may be with the identity parameters such as visual, olfactory, auditory, chemosensory, magnetic, or tactile, demonstrating that they distinguish that the world is heterogeneous and can Fig. 2. Spread of Eastern Ghats – Major hills and settlements. identify landscape structure. In this way they become ori- ented and consequently know where they have existed. But in addition to the landmarks, most other organisms the attachments of the tribes to the native land, special, also have an inborn “positional awareness.” In addition socioeconomic conditions and cultural significance. It is to the inborn positional identity, it also creates territorial found that a few tribes such as Savara, Jatapu, Konda attachment. The territorial configuration depends on the Dora, Gadaba, Khond, Manne Dora and Mukha Dora behavioral phenomena. have their habitat in these Ghats at Nallamala hills, The region has created a disconnect or weak connectiv- Papikondalu and Kondapalli as shown in Fig. 2. These ity among hill ranges of Eastern Ghats, so even small hills indigenous people have their own unique cultural heritage in and around Vijayawada have to be strengthened to attached to the Ghats. These people follow the age old cus- establish an appropriate connectivity to have cohesive con- toms and traditions.