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Chat on "Sustainable Development: The Right Approach" dated December 23, 2013

Susan Sharma: Hi Amlan, welcome.
Susan Sharma: Since we could not have the chat at 7.30, permit me to ask you a few questions and we look frward to your interaction.
Susan Sharma: What is the nature of the responsibilities in the current position you are holding?
Amlan Dutta: Hi Susan :)
Susan Sharma: Given your expertise in wildlife biology, are you able to use your expertise in the job?
Susan Sharma: This is a question many have been asking me in various interactions. The general belief is that wildlife biologists get openings in NGOs only.
Amlan Dutta: Yes, Susan. A very interesting but pertinent question.
Amlan Dutta: My job requires managing the environment mandate of Dhamra Port, while I had no MBA degree when I joined this job. But it required an understanding of Wildlife too
Amlan Dutta: Needless to say, I learnt on the job.
Susan Sharma: Can you explain what is the environment mandate of dhamra port?
Amlan Dutta: My expertise was also of much use here. As there were serious contentions of the port being the cause for olive ridley turtle deaths in this part of India
Susan Sharma: Yes, it was very much in the news and I think the port had to be shifted from the original location. Am I right?
Shashi Kant Sharma: Hi Amlan That is interesting.....The Port Developer employing a biologist for taking care of the environment..........of course, that would be much needed. What is remarkable is that this developer is employing a specialist full time
Amlan Dutta: The reason why we see few wildlife experts in corporate avatars, is because there is a serious disconnect between the conservation lobby & the NGO lobby. Both Basic & Applied Sciences taught in the universities dont reach the stakeholders
Shashi Kant Sharma: What will be the job profile of a biologist in this case
Susan Sharma: Yes, Amlan we are entering a controversial topic-but unless we talk, the deadlock will continue and there will be neither dev nor sustainability
Amlan Dutta: Does that answer your question?
Susan Sharma: Well, to some extent. Please explain why you are saying " Both basic .....stakeholders"?
Shashi Kant Sharma: Actually you could be leading a Movement for developing best practices suitable for our environment for sustainable development practices - what and how do we handle the issues relating to People, Flora and other Fauna and strike a balance between the Project and the need to ensure our practices do not harm the environment such that it cant renew/regernerate itself
Amlan Dutta: As a wildlife biologist, I could bring in my expertise in the first ever collaboration between IUCN & an Indian Corporate Entity in developing new standards both during the construction as well as the operational phase
Susan Sharma: What stage is the project now?
Amlan Dutta: Susan, are you there?
Susan Sharma: Yes, of course.
Susan Sharma: what is the collaboration betn IUCN and Dhamra about? This sounds innovative and interesting
Shashi Kant Sharma: Like are IUCN and Dharma documenting best practices or standards that developers need to adhere to for staying within a given framework for using natural resources, even things like water, sand, gravel on the one side and taking care of water bodies, green cover etc.?
Susan Sharma: Looking forward to hear your comments
Amlan Dutta: The Collaboration between IUCN & Dhamra Port was to help us identify which are the areas which need to be addressed so that the turtle populations & thier habitats dont get affected
Amlan Dutta: IUCN identified Lighting & Dredging as two key areas which needed to be addressed
Susan Sharma: Ok
Susan Sharma: Please go on
Amlan Dutta: We got to know that there are numerous ports elsewhere in the world which are in proximity to turtle habitats, like in the Florida Bay, in Mexico, in Australia, in the Middle East.
Amlan Dutta: And practices being followed there were adapted here too. Lighting was so designed that all light fixtures have no light spillage towards the sky
Susan Sharma: How are they saving the turtles?
Susan Sharma: I mean in the foreign countries.
Susan Sharma: I see.
Susan Sharma: What about dredging?
Amlan Dutta: Only light fixtures which were approved during field tests conducted in the presence of IUCN Project Manager (for the Dhamra Project) are being used in outdoor lighting of the port
Amlan Dutta: A lot of material is available here >> http://www.iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/asia/asia_where_work/india_programme_office/india_programmes_and_initiatives/dhamra_port/
Shashi Kant Sharma: At one stage the naturalists had also talked about noise levels, lubricant spills in water, disturbance to nesting areas etc because of dredging and sane mining
Amlan Dutta: Regarding Dredging, we found that the US Army Corps of Engineers & the NOAA monitor all riverine dredging projects in the state. Even while their Dredgers have a different design than the Belgian Dredgers of our Belgian Dredging Contractor, we adapted the physical modifications required in the dredgers for safe dredging
Susan Sharma: Is IUCN involved in other Indian projects too?
Amlan Dutta: a 24 hour observer protocol was followed and is being followed in all instances where Hopper Dredgers are used. Scientists from the Marine Turtle Specialist Group (IUCN) who are with NOAA & USACE have determined in their studies & over a period of 20+ years of monitoring dredging projects that only hopper dredgers can harm turtles..
Susan Sharma: Are you monitoring the Olive Ridley populations as the project is getting constructed for any fluctuations?
Amlan Dutta: Dear Shashi, we have a zero discharge policy, as in there is no discharge or spillage to the sea. We recycle our water.
Shashi Kant Sharma: That is something. I am saying that if there are 4-5 Projects under implementation in India and they have working with various think tanks arrived at some best practices, can something be done abour documenting these and sending them on to Govt. departments
Amlan Dutta: Yes Shashi, that is correct, there were concerns over the noise & beach erosion. Fact is IUCN scientists who have been working on similar projects ruled out the port site and its vicinity as to be the habitat of turtles. The beach profile down south of the Dhamra river is also physically very different and is sandy all the way down to Tamil Nadu, while towards the North of River Dhamra its muddy.
Amlan Dutta: We however chose to ask the National Insititute of Goa to conduct studies on Beach Erosion and any possible effect of dredging on the beach profile in Gahirmatha
Shashi Kant Sharma: That is great
Susan Sharma: How do you sum up your experience at Dhamra in comparison to your earlier work experiences?
Amlan Dutta: You are right Shashi, interestingly, Gopalpur port has been asked to follow our guidelines on lighting by Dr. B.C. Choudhury (Wildlife Institute of India)
Amlan Dutta: No Susan,, currently no, IUCN is however in talks with Tata Steel for a similar collaboration
Amlan Dutta: There could have been a Hard Core EHS Professional doing my job, but there surely would have been a difference in understanding the holistic impact positive changes in environment management can bring to the company
Shashi Kant Sharma: Sure Companies, project developers proactively documenting and making public what they will do/not do at site in the interest of sustainability, will surely help deal with cutting delays
Shashi Kant Sharma: EHS has by definition remained focussed on the area within the factory and limited to work force
Amlan Dutta: No Susan, the port was not shifted from its original location. That could never be done physically, as moving up north, we would not have a viable navigational channel & south is Gahirmatha. The Port location was identified by IIT, Chennai well before the port was planned by the State Govt of Odisha.
Amlan Dutta: The Port is operational now, the only Public - Private Partnership (PPP) Project which completed on schedule in Odisha
Susan Sharma: After the port became operational, what is the position of Olive Ridley Turtles?
Amlan Dutta: To summarize, its been an absolutely fascinating work over here at Dhamra. From a wildlife biologist & litigation specialist (yes, I was that at WTI) it has been a transformation to a environment manager, managing the environment health of the company. I am responsible for environment compliances to the MoEF, The State Pollution Board, the State CZMA.
Amlan Dutta: While my initiail expertise has helped in my current job, but that itself would not have been enough. I also needed to learn to manage contracts, payments & other administrative tasks.
Susan Sharma: I do want an answer about the turtles too, then we can call it a day.
Susan Sharma: May be we will leave the turtles for another day,s chat
Susan Sharma: Thank you Amlan, for giving a new perspective to development. The discussion has only begun
Susan Sharma: Hope to hear more from you another day. Good night