Pointing out an urgent need to refine the Indian standards
on safe limits of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) exposure, an advisory issued
by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) urges the department
of Telecommunications to stop allowing new cell phone towers in a one kilometer
radius of existing ones, to avoid any negative effects of EMR exposure on the wild
life, especially birds and bees.
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| Cell Phone towers near Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan |
It also directs state and local authorities to conduct Environment
Impact Assessment before installing new towers near protected areas. “Before according
permission for construction of towers, ecological impact assessment and review of
installation sites will be essential in wild life or ecologically important
areas. The forest department should be consulted before installation of cell
phone towers in and around protected areas”, says the advisory.
It also directs state and local level administrative bodies
to take out regular monitoring around protected areas and ecologically
sensitive areas to spot any problematic towers.
The advisory also urges the telecom department to make location
and the EMR emission data of all cell phone towers available in the public domain.
Location wise GIS mapping of cell phone towers will help future population monitoring
of birds and insects around the towers and protected areas, it says.
Cell phone Towers and Birds
New towers, if at all necessary, should be built in such a
way not to increase the combined radiation level in the area or to block the flying
paths of birds, says the advisory.
It also suggests that the security lighting in the vicinity of
the towers should be minimal and directed downwards to avoid bird hits. It also
directs local bodies to promote the use of visual daytime markers if the towers
are located in areas where there is a high waterfowl movement or raptor movement
in night.
Expert Group Report
Earlier, an Expert
Group to study the possible impacts of communication towers on Wildlife
including Birds and Bees constituted by MoEF has found that “the Electromagnetic Radiations (EMRs) are interfering with the biological systems in more
ways than one”, based on a review of existing literature.
There was wide speculation from all quarters that increasing
presence of cell phone towers are sweeping away birds like sparrows and bee
populations in India due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, the Expert
Group found that there is a lack of research from India about the effect of EMR
from cell phone towers on birds and bees to trigger CCD.
The advisory has been formulated based on the report of the
expert group, said MoEF sources.
