Wildlife law architect warns India's protected areas are shrinking under development pressure
India's protected areas are shrinking even as pressure from development, mining and tourism continues to grow, wildlife conservationist M.K. Ranjitsinh Jhala has cautioned.
Dr. Ranjitsinh, the chief architect of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, was delivering the wildlife week message at the National Wildlife Week celebrations organised by the Coexistence Collective in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
He said conservation should focus not merely on iconic animals such as tigers, elephants and leopards, but on preserving their habitats and the ecological systems that sustain people. “Wildlife means all animate things found wild in nature,” he said.
India’s protected area network comprises national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves, which together form the legal backbone of the country’s conservation effort.
Kerala, Dr. Ranjitsinh noted, is located in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the Western Ghats, and its remaining evergreen forests constitute a natural national heritage that cannot be recreated once destroyed.
In a high-rainfall, densely populated State such as Kerala, he added, the protection of forests is important because forests and their catchments sustain perennial streams and provide wider ecological and economic security.
Citing his experience with the Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand, he said protection from fire, grazing and illicit felling had resulted in seasonal streams flowing for progressively longer periods, with some eventually becoming perennial.
The former bureaucrat also expressed concern over the reduction and de-notification of protected areas across the country, and questioned the rationale behind reducing them to accommodate mining and construction.
“You must save your forests. If you are not prepared to dig beneath the Ram Mandir temple or beneath the Ajanta and Ellora caves, or beneath the Taj Mahal, why should you disturb, destroy and mine beneath Kaziranga, Kanha and Periyar National Parks?” he asked.
Dr. Ranjitsinh also cautioned that tourism could contribute to increasing human-wildlife conflict when it is allowed to take precedence over conservation.
Inaugurating the programme, Rajesh Ravindran, Head of the Forest Force, called for a deeper understanding of wildlife and stressed that human survival is inseparably linked to coexistence with nature. He highlighted several challenges facing the world, including erratic weather patterns, fractured mountains, polluted rivers and choking air. The growing pressure of anthropogenic activities and the pursuit of material wealth, the senior official cautioned, have often come at the expense of other forms of life.
Former Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand, who delivered the keynote address, called for a people-centred approach to environmental conservation. He said sustainable development could be achieved through constructive dialogue with local communities and by integrating livelihood concerns into ecological protection.
He also held that environmental protection should not be presented as being opposed to development. Instead, conservation measures should be designed in ways that strengthen sustainable livelihoods and local economies.
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Prakrithi Srivastava, State Librarian P.K. Shobana and environmental activists N. Badusha, Veena Maruthoor and K.M. Sulaiman also spoke on the occasion.
