The structure of an EIA process is dictated primarily by the need to accommodate the key issues. From a technical point of view, EIA can be considered as a data management process having three specific components (i) identification and collation of appropriate information necessary for a particular decision (ii) determination of changes in select environmental parameters resulting from implementation of proposed project and their comparison with situation likely to accrue without the proposal and (iii) finally recording and analysing changes and their significance. For the ecological assessment of linear expansion projects such as CCKT Pipeline Project, preparation of adequate database from the ecological and biological perspective is a foremost step to quantify the impacts on important floral and faunal species. The species, whether animal or plant would generally be regarded `important' (i) if it is commercially or recreationally valuable (ii) if it is rare or endangered or (iii) if it affects the well being of some important species within criteria (i) or (ii) above or (iv) if it is critical to the nature and functions of the ecological systems (USAEC, 1973).

The impacts of pipeline project on natural ecosystem that are likely to be of more general nature include related changes in the community types and their geographical distribution. Specific impacts may include changes in life cycle of rare and endangered species.

This section of the report is devoted to identification of the steps that would allow collection and collation of relevant information for determining impacts of CCKT Pipeline Project on wildlife species and their habitats. The following are the specific steps that have been identified to address the specific objectives of the study outlined in the preceding section of this report and to also accomplish the tasks specified in the scope of this EIA study.

i. Comprehensive overview of both, the proposed projects and its potential impacts.

ii. Consideration of proposed activities in all phases of the project and identification of critical environmental concerns

iii. Identification of primary category of habitats.

iv. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of impacts wherever possible.

v. Provide project evaluation, incorporating environmental safeguards and mitigatory strategies.

The following have been the specific sources of information and database needed for the assessment of impacts of CCKT Pipeline Project.

2.1 DOCUMENTED INFORMATION
The project descriptions, design and detailed, route maps and toposheets provided by the authorities of BPCL, enhanced the basic understanding of the project environment and the activities associated with construction and operational phases of the project. Extensive literature survey was made to collect relevant information on floral and faunal values of the area. Other secondary sources of information included scientific and technical reports, records of forest working plans and reports of wildlife surveys from local and state agencies. Discussions with wildlife experts and ecologists of Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Peechi and Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore helped a great deal in the compilation of the ecological information of the entire area en route the pipeline, prior to initiation of extensive field studies in select areas.

2.2 RECONNAISSANCE
Once the route selection procedures were completed by BPCL to provide the final route for the proposed pipeline, reconnaissance in the proposed project area was useful means to identify sites and parameters required to be studied in greater detail subsequently during the course of extensive field investigations. The reconnaissance of the entire area, between the take off point at Cochin and the receiving point at Tiruchchirappalli (Plate 2.1) was carried out in the months of November and December. Prior to this, 1:50,000 scale Survey of India toposheets were used for identification of areas of conservation interest all along the pipeline route. For the purpose of reconnaissance in the project area, ecological assessments were confined within one kilometre wide pipeline corridor. The width of the corridor has been primarily decided on the basis of limits of physical disturbances associated with the activities proposed under the project implementation and has also been ascertained based on the past experiences of earlier assessments of pipeline projects.

Survey points were located to cover all the representative habitat categories within the pipeline corridor. In all, seventeen points were surveyed during the reconnaissance phase. Target notes were prepared in brief for each survey point. These notes provided a broad assessments of the ecological significance of aquatic and terrestrial habitats en route the pipeline.

As is evident from the route of the pipeline, a total of 159 km length of pipeline traverses through paddy fields and plantations (banana, coconut and rubber) (refer Table 1.1). Another 153 km of the pipeline passes through cultivated areas (Plate 2.2). The area of pipeline corridor supporting the above landuse categories are not being considered for extensive field investigations as these do not fall within the scope of work outlined for this study. The area under the aquatic and terrestrial wildlife habitats include areas under rivers, reservoirs, marshes (Plate 2.3) and Reserved Forests (Plate 2.4). The results of the rapid assessment survey (reconnaissance) are presented in the Table 2.1. Based on the Table 2.1, the following wildlife habitats were considered for the intensive studies for the assessment of impacts of the CCKT Pipeline Project.

Aquatic habitats

The wetlands identified for detailed investigations within the proposed pipeline corridor fall into the following three categories:

(i) Rivers: Seven major rivers en route the pipeline have been identified for evaluation of impacts on aquatic wildlife values. These rivers include Kaniyampuzha, South Periyar, North Periyar, Chalakudi, Kurumali, Bharatapuzha and Amaravati.

(ii) Reservoirs: Reservoir of Walayar irrigation dam is the only major reservoir within the pipeline corridor.

(iii) Marshes: The marshland area on the southern side of the BPCL complex at Irumbanam is an important wetland.

Table 2.1 Points surveyed along the CCKT Pipeline route.

Terrestrial habitats
These include Reserved Forest patches near Karuvankadu, Kundankadu, Ambalapadu, and Ottupara (Attur Reserve Forests) of Pattikad and Machad ranges of Trichur Forest Division and would be subsequently referred to as RF I, RF II, RF III and RF IV respectively in the text. The total length of proposed pipeline route through the Reserved Forest areas is 1.5 km. All of the above mentioned Reserved Forest patches are in the state of Kerala.

2.3 INTENSIVE STUDIES
The areas of ecological importance identified during reconnaissance survey were revisited for collecting detailed information on natural environment through select biotic and abiotic parameters. Information on vegetation structure, animal evidences, existing level of biotic pressures and other important habitat variables were collected using appropriate techniques (Hays et. al, 1981; Sale and Berkmuller, 1988) (Plate 2.5). Information on occurrence of wildlife species was elicited from local people and was relied upon after thorough validation.

The secondary information and database thus generated on ecological and biological attributes of the project environment, provided the key information on pre-project baseline scenario.