Mist envelops the verdant forests of Corbett, swirling around the grasses and trees, and I huddle deeper in my layers of warmth, as the Gypsy trundles slowly up the dirt path on the Bijrani road. We are just a bare mile or two down the entry gate of the park — George Schaller and I — when we see a herd of cheetal run: A blur, a wave of brown and white... A lone langur perched high on the haldu tree has set the deer in motion — I can see, nay, sense — his vigilant eyes dart back and forth, ear twitching nervously as he barks, in alarm, to be joined — rather raucously — by the peacock.
Lingua franca of the forest: Be warned... here be tiger. We halt. We wait. Patiently. Impatiently. Expectantly.
A sound then, a faint rustle, a movement — dare I say ‘feel’ him — before we see, sense his presence in the air, in the forest, suddenly still and alert. And in walks the tiger. No, tigress... a flame of gold and ochre alighting from the forest of green... not unlike a star striding onto a stage-inviting awe.
She walks, glides toward us — velvet paws landing ever so softly on dirt roads. Halts. Looks up — her golden eye locks in mine — holding my gaze. Compelling, powerful, beautiful...
How does one describe this moment... make it last forever?
She steps forward, pauses, ponders — as if contemplating the wisdom of meeting the man who has devoted his life in saving her kind (there is no doubt in my mind that the tigress has stepped out to the ‘busy’ Bijrani road to meet Dr George Schaller), but not-too-happy at seeing other company — and vehicles gathered for her darshan, she turns back. Calling softly... aaanuungh, aaungh... in farewell.
For me — in whose life pioneering wildlife biologist and conservationist Dr George Schaller has been an inspiration, a guiding force — this is a defining moment.
We look at each other, overwhelmed — tears hover in my eyes. And George? He may have seen tigers many times before — after all, he is the one to whom we owe the first and the seminal study on tigers in Kanha in the 1960s in the form of the book, The Deer and The Tiger. “But each (time) is like the first. Extraordinarily moving, a blessing... India is fortunate,” muses George, “to have over half of the world’s remaining wild tigers and extensive forest tracts. It is the only country which still has all options open for saving the tigers and its habitat on which many thousands of other species, plants and animals and humans also depend for survival. But then,” he ponders, “you are not concerned about the tiger only because it’s biodiversity. You care because it’s beautiful and it stirs your emotions and it hits your heart.”
George believes that the future of the big cat rests with India, with a fairly stable population of about 1,700 tigers. “In almost every country, the tiger (population) is going downhill. It is gone from North Korea, and recently also from Cambodia. There are only remnants in Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. China has perhaps 15 to 20 tigers left in the wild (but 5,000-7,000 in captivity!).”
“India is the ray of hope...”
If you are involved with wildlife, your life has to be touched by Dr George Schaller, whose work encompasses species, continents and generations. Here it is suffice to say that wherever you go (in the world of conservation science), Dr Schaller has been there before — studying species, working to save them, urging Governments to establish reserves.
It is November 2011, and I have the good fortune to meet and travel with Dr Schaller (“call me George”) on his India trip. He is here to speak at the Global Buddhist Congregation, and also in his capacity as the vice-president of Panthera, a US-based organisation that supports wild cat conservation across the world. I accompany George to Corbett. His next stop — after winning the Lifetime Achievement Award from Sanctuary Asia in Mumbai — is Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR). In between, we talk. Go back in time.
“Why wildlife?” I ask George. Was this a conscious decision? No. “It was something I drifted into. I’ve always enjoyed wandering the forests, watching birds or keeping lizards and snakes — that sort of thing. In high school I was told that I was not university material and should become a mechanic! That had to be the last thing I wanted to do. Luckily, I joined the University of Alaska, on a cousin’s advice. It was a small university, basic, sitting in the forest, where students were pursuing a master’s in wildlife management. They went out into the countryside studying wolves or caribou and I thought hey, I can make a living out of my hobby! One day, my professor (at the University of Wisconsin, which he joined later) asked me if I wanted to go study gorillas and that’s where international work started.”
Since then, George has led seminal studies on, and helped protect, some of the planet’s most endangered and charismatic animals, ranging from the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, snow leopards in Mongolia, jaguars in Brazil, giant pandas in China, African lions in Tanzania and wild sheep and goats of the Himalayas. Most of his works have been translated into many scientific papers and over 16 books.
But he is not a scientist qua scientist... decoding animals down to statistics and DNA. Scientific knowledge is a means to conservation. “If you want to do conservation, the basis is knowledge of natural history. You can’t protect tigers if you know absolutely nothing about how far they move, their reproduction cycle, when sub-adults separate from their mother, what are the threats they face. But that’s part of it. I am convinced,” adds he, “that an appeal for conservation must reach the heart.” George has “an almost antiquated pleasure of patiently observing animals. I like to write biographies of different species. I also feel a very strong moral obligation to help protect what I study.”
That’s George Schaller for you: Fiercely committed, amazingly humble, tireless in his efforts, “I strive to protect something that will outlive me...”
He’s 78, but George’s years sit lightly on him. It has been a long trek through the forest, the NSTR, but he is as sprightly, or even more, than the rest of us. We halt as the staff is waiting, eager to receive visitors — unusual in a land that has seen over 15 years of insurgency, bullets, destruction and death. The park is on the road to recovery over the past five years. Testimony to this is Vellugodu Protection Camp, one of the 127 camps that dot the reserve and the adjoining GBM sanctuary, contiguous to NSTR, and in the process of being declared as an extended core of this tiger reserve. The Beat Officer produces a register and a simply drawn map of his beat, pointing out the vulnerable points, tiger paths, leopard areas, places which sloth bears frequent — simple, yet effective methods to monitor wildlife. The tiger tracker, a Chenchu (a local tribe) flexes his bow and arrow, his only defence and weapon against timber smugglers and poachers. He is proud of the work he does; it has given him a status. “People from my village are keen to join and become tiger trackers,” says he. George smiles, “Involving local communities and wining their support is critical to any conservation programme.”
NSTR, to him, presents a microcosm for the country’s effort to protect its tigers.
George admires India, which has conserved wildlife despite its booming population, growth aspirations and against tremendous odds. “Tigers will exist, provided there is a strong political will and strict enforcement of laws,” says he. “India showed its commitment 40 years back, when it started Project Tiger, and the credit must go to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It shows you that a leader can have a huge impact.”
“India has been working very hard to protect tigers. Tigers face continual threats — poaching for bones that is sold for medicinal purposes to South Asian markets, conflict, habitat loss, fragmentation.”
“A country has to decide what part of its natural heritage it wants to save, and has to be serious about it, and put in all efforts possible to protect it. I know it’s difficult, extraordinarily difficult. But,” he avers, “there are certain natural treasures in each country that should be treated as treasures. You can always argue that there are a lot of homeless, so let’s open up the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Taj and make apartments for the homeless. They are cultural treasures, but it’s the same when you are talking about pristine forests. And with all due respect, the Taj can conceivably be built again, but the tiger lost, is lost forever.”
“I find it very worrying that we don’t talk about nature anymore. We talk about natural resources as if everything had a price tag. You cannot buy spiritual values at a shopping mall. An old-growth forest, a clear river, the flight of a golden eagle, the howl of a wolf, the vitality of a tiger, space and quiet without motors, TVs, mobiles — these are intangibles. Those are the values that people need, that uplift our spirit.”
So, does he lose hope? “No,” but for an answer I borrow from his book, A Naturalist and Other Beasts. Writes he, “I learned long ago that conservation has no victories, that one must retain connections and remain involved with animals and places that have captured the heart, to prevent their destruction. I am sometimes asked why, given a world that is more wounded and scarred, I do not simply give up, burdened by pessimism. But conservation is my life, I must retain hope...”
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Page 3 Tiger
It was a programme devoted to Save the Tiger.
Hence, I found it a little difficult--and forgive me for also being perplexed, foxed --as i tried to place the significance of that beautiful, brassy blonde dressed (or is it the other way around?) in shimmering red silks gyrating to Kiss me..kiss me ..kiss me (i wonder, if she was entreating the tiger, and knew what she was letting herself in for)
No, i am not being a spoilt sport-I do not mind 'em item numbers, and shimmering silks), but not at the backdrop of the desperate, bitter battle to Save the Tiger.
I will not name the function-or the organisers (and not just because this is just one of the many similar 'valiant' attempts in saving the tiger). I am sure they meant well. And i know there were those present, whose heart beat, and bled for the tiger. Even as they cringed at the irony of it all--not quite comprehending, but perhaps accepting that this was the new way to do things.
It has been done before. It will be done again.
Saving tigers--and children-and the starving millions by the Champagne Circuit.
I know--I think--this is how the message was driven home--amongst the politicians, the corporates--people who 'matter', people with the money, and the power, but perhaps not the will to go down the lonely forest chowki in the heart of the remote forest, to confront reality, and to salute the man who protected the tiger--
without a steady wage, with no protection against poacher and beast..."
No offense meant here(not to People, and certainly not 'beast', but is food for thought. )
Hence, I found it a little difficult--and forgive me for also being perplexed, foxed --as i tried to place the significance of that beautiful, brassy blonde dressed (or is it the other way around?) in shimmering red silks gyrating to Kiss me..kiss me ..kiss me (i wonder, if she was entreating the tiger, and knew what she was letting herself in for)
No, i am not being a spoilt sport-I do not mind 'em item numbers, and shimmering silks), but not at the backdrop of the desperate, bitter battle to Save the Tiger.
I will not name the function-or the organisers (and not just because this is just one of the many similar 'valiant' attempts in saving the tiger). I am sure they meant well. And i know there were those present, whose heart beat, and bled for the tiger. Even as they cringed at the irony of it all--not quite comprehending, but perhaps accepting that this was the new way to do things.
It has been done before. It will be done again.
Saving tigers--and children-and the starving millions by the Champagne Circuit.
I know--I think--this is how the message was driven home--amongst the politicians, the corporates--people who 'matter', people with the money, and the power, but perhaps not the will to go down the lonely forest chowki in the heart of the remote forest, to confront reality, and to salute the man who protected the tiger--
without a steady wage, with no protection against poacher and beast..."
No offense meant here(not to People, and certainly not 'beast', but is food for thought. )
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Editorial, TigerLink, Nov-2011
This time I would like to concentrate on the lesser-known but very serious threats to the tiger. But before I draw attention to the policy changes that will hit the tiger hard, I must comment—with much anguish—about a horrifying episode in Chhattisgarh: A young tigress, beaten and bludgeoned for over six hours by a mob numbering over ten thousand... till agonisingly, mercifully, finally death ended her torment. But the horror doesn’t end here, the villagers then took out a victory procession —holding the bleeding, mangled body of our national animal aloft while dancing, shouting, singing in a joyous expression of triumph.
I can only hang my head in shame.
I can only imagine the sheer horror of the moment, the terror of the cornered tiger, as she sought, in vain, to flee her tormentors.
I can only wonder at the ‘beast’ in men.
It’s a national shame. Yet, the episode has fizzled out our conscience… if it made an impression at all. Though the shocking images were flashed on national television, and made their rounds on the internet, it barely created an uproar, let alone a sense of outrage. You can find out more about this incident inside, but I would like to emphasise on some pertinent points again: Why did we let this matter — the tigress was regularly killing cattle, creating animosity — reach this horrifying climax? Will anyone be held accountable? Will we put measures in place to ensure we do not see such a tragedy again?
Conflict, as I have stressed often enough, is one of our most worrying threats. Conflict occurs across tiger country, taking a terrible toll on both people, and tiger. Its impact goes beyond the immediate loss of life and livelihood. It leads to loss of support for the tiger and fuels poaching.
We must take on board the gravity of the issue. Isn’t a tiger's murder, being celebrated in a victory procession, a strong enough message? A body blow?
But beyond the obvious, there are other insidious threats to the tiger: weakening protectionist laws and policies. At a recent lecture, former MEF Jairam Ramesh highlighted five initiatives that were taken during his stint in the MoEF. Three among these are of particular note. The first is that state government-executed infrastructure works requiring less than five hectares each of forest land were exempted from the approval processes of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The FCA is the single most effective tool to conserve forests, especially outside protected areas. Most tiger corridors and sink habitats fall outside PAs, and taking these forests outside of the purview of the law will see rapid fragmentation and degradation of crucial links in tiger habitats. It is worth noting here that approximately about a third of the tiger population is likely found outside the tiger reserves.
The second move was an amendment that was approved in the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which ensures that local forest officials can lodge cases only after they obtain the written consent of the gram sabha, or local village level governing bodies. One need not really elaborate on the dire implications of this amendment, which will only encourage forest offences. By whom, and how, will an offence be registered if it entails written permissions?
Another initiative, launched with much fanfare in April 2011, is “freeing” bamboo, which has been redefined as non-timber forest produce. This basically means that bamboo can now be collected by the local people just like other forest products including tendu or sal leaves — freeing it from any control by the forest management. This can have disastrous impacts on the habitat, given that bamboo is good carnivore cover and much favoured by elephants. The disturbance caused by the influx for bamboo (and other Minor Forest Produce) collection, in our already fragmented habitats are another worry. Add to this the fact that there is a move by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs, to ‘amend that MFP be allowed to carry in appropriate means of transport, as against headloads and cycles as specified now. Some other means of transport can only imply trucks, tractors, etc. which needs roads. I need not say more.
No one will dispute the fact that we need community support to protect forests, but as Vivek Deshpande asked in an article titled “Giving up governance is no governance”, published in The Indian Express: “does that mean simply give away forests to forest-dwellers (including non-tribals) under the fond belief that they have the wherewithal to do it responsibly for all time to come, with no checks and balances needed? Is giving unregulated, unfettered forest control in the hands of village communities a step in the right direction?”
No, I am not denying the bad governance, corruption that plagues the forest department (covered extensively within this issue), indeed most departments. But is doing away with governance the answer? Can we do away with the police or defence forces because of human rights violations and corruption? No, we dare not due to its impact on our safety and security as a nation. Can we not grant the same importance to our eco-systems? Aren’t we romanticising, the gramsabha, the symbol of the pulsating village republic? Isn’t it as susceptible to vested interests, corruption, caste conflicts, etc., as has been seen often enough? The story of villagers managing their own forests simply isn’t practical, especially when our forests contain large mega-fauna, where fatal conflict is a real possibility, and which carry huge commercial value.
The repercussions of this laissez-faire forest economy do not bode well for the tiger — the need of the hour is to improve our protection system, and implementation of laws, not dilution of existing ones.
India has achieved the near-impossible task of saving tigers amidst a population of over one billion people and at the same time, preserving its growth aspirations. We are now embarking on intensive monitoring of tigers, an exercise which will indicate the health of our tiger population on an annual basis, and have also initiated, with much caution, the process to relocate villages in a fair and voluntary manner to create inviolate space for tigers. Such an effort is unmatched in other tiger range countries. Is it wise then, to derail the process by retrograde policies and weakening legal protection?
I can only hang my head in shame.
I can only imagine the sheer horror of the moment, the terror of the cornered tiger, as she sought, in vain, to flee her tormentors.
I can only wonder at the ‘beast’ in men.
It’s a national shame. Yet, the episode has fizzled out our conscience… if it made an impression at all. Though the shocking images were flashed on national television, and made their rounds on the internet, it barely created an uproar, let alone a sense of outrage. You can find out more about this incident inside, but I would like to emphasise on some pertinent points again: Why did we let this matter — the tigress was regularly killing cattle, creating animosity — reach this horrifying climax? Will anyone be held accountable? Will we put measures in place to ensure we do not see such a tragedy again?
Conflict, as I have stressed often enough, is one of our most worrying threats. Conflict occurs across tiger country, taking a terrible toll on both people, and tiger. Its impact goes beyond the immediate loss of life and livelihood. It leads to loss of support for the tiger and fuels poaching.
We must take on board the gravity of the issue. Isn’t a tiger's murder, being celebrated in a victory procession, a strong enough message? A body blow?
But beyond the obvious, there are other insidious threats to the tiger: weakening protectionist laws and policies. At a recent lecture, former MEF Jairam Ramesh highlighted five initiatives that were taken during his stint in the MoEF. Three among these are of particular note. The first is that state government-executed infrastructure works requiring less than five hectares each of forest land were exempted from the approval processes of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The FCA is the single most effective tool to conserve forests, especially outside protected areas. Most tiger corridors and sink habitats fall outside PAs, and taking these forests outside of the purview of the law will see rapid fragmentation and degradation of crucial links in tiger habitats. It is worth noting here that approximately about a third of the tiger population is likely found outside the tiger reserves.
The second move was an amendment that was approved in the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which ensures that local forest officials can lodge cases only after they obtain the written consent of the gram sabha, or local village level governing bodies. One need not really elaborate on the dire implications of this amendment, which will only encourage forest offences. By whom, and how, will an offence be registered if it entails written permissions?
Another initiative, launched with much fanfare in April 2011, is “freeing” bamboo, which has been redefined as non-timber forest produce. This basically means that bamboo can now be collected by the local people just like other forest products including tendu or sal leaves — freeing it from any control by the forest management. This can have disastrous impacts on the habitat, given that bamboo is good carnivore cover and much favoured by elephants. The disturbance caused by the influx for bamboo (and other Minor Forest Produce) collection, in our already fragmented habitats are another worry. Add to this the fact that there is a move by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs, to ‘amend that MFP be allowed to carry in appropriate means of transport, as against headloads and cycles as specified now. Some other means of transport can only imply trucks, tractors, etc. which needs roads. I need not say more.
No one will dispute the fact that we need community support to protect forests, but as Vivek Deshpande asked in an article titled “Giving up governance is no governance”, published in The Indian Express: “does that mean simply give away forests to forest-dwellers (including non-tribals) under the fond belief that they have the wherewithal to do it responsibly for all time to come, with no checks and balances needed? Is giving unregulated, unfettered forest control in the hands of village communities a step in the right direction?”
No, I am not denying the bad governance, corruption that plagues the forest department (covered extensively within this issue), indeed most departments. But is doing away with governance the answer? Can we do away with the police or defence forces because of human rights violations and corruption? No, we dare not due to its impact on our safety and security as a nation. Can we not grant the same importance to our eco-systems? Aren’t we romanticising, the gramsabha, the symbol of the pulsating village republic? Isn’t it as susceptible to vested interests, corruption, caste conflicts, etc., as has been seen often enough? The story of villagers managing their own forests simply isn’t practical, especially when our forests contain large mega-fauna, where fatal conflict is a real possibility, and which carry huge commercial value.
The repercussions of this laissez-faire forest economy do not bode well for the tiger — the need of the hour is to improve our protection system, and implementation of laws, not dilution of existing ones.
India has achieved the near-impossible task of saving tigers amidst a population of over one billion people and at the same time, preserving its growth aspirations. We are now embarking on intensive monitoring of tigers, an exercise which will indicate the health of our tiger population on an annual basis, and have also initiated, with much caution, the process to relocate villages in a fair and voluntary manner to create inviolate space for tigers. Such an effort is unmatched in other tiger range countries. Is it wise then, to derail the process by retrograde policies and weakening legal protection?
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Climate Change & MPs
Bittu Sahgal and I made a presentation to the Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change. Not one MP was a climate sceptic. Not one questioned the disastrous consequences of Climate change. All recognised we were facing the consequences now. All agreed that the loss of forests is a disaster. Noone underestimated the value of forests.
One asked how could small rivers-reduced to a filthy trickle could be restored to life. Another wanted the message of Tiger as the symbol of a healthy eco-system to be better decimated. An MP from Kerala (bless him!)questioned why was the forest department plating exotics which were of little value and depleting ground water. Why not indigenous trees? Another from Sikkim (bless him too) wants a working group of MPs from the Mountain States.
I rarely engage with the politicians –but coming so soon after the rather enthusiastic response from the MPs to a talk I gave on tigers, this gives me some hope.
But, will this interest, this knowledge translate into action?
Will our political representatives take hard decisions to protect wildlife? Environment?
Livelihoods?
We wait. We hope.
Will write a longer piece on this shortly.
One asked how could small rivers-reduced to a filthy trickle could be restored to life. Another wanted the message of Tiger as the symbol of a healthy eco-system to be better decimated. An MP from Kerala (bless him!)questioned why was the forest department plating exotics which were of little value and depleting ground water. Why not indigenous trees? Another from Sikkim (bless him too) wants a working group of MPs from the Mountain States.
I rarely engage with the politicians –but coming so soon after the rather enthusiastic response from the MPs to a talk I gave on tigers, this gives me some hope.
But, will this interest, this knowledge translate into action?
Will our political representatives take hard decisions to protect wildlife? Environment?
Livelihoods?
We wait. We hope.
Will write a longer piece on this shortly.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Check this out!
http://notestothedog.blogspot.com/2011/08/among-faithfuls.html
on my other blog..since it is not wildlife :-)
on my other blog..since it is not wildlife :-)
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Inroads into Tiger Country...
have in my inbox a delightful set of camera-trapped photographs, of creatures wild and rare: a leopard slinking past, prickly porcupines marching in a row, a sloth bear with a baby on its back, a tiny mouse deer tip-toeing past, and a tigress, in all her glory. The picture of the tigress with her two cubs frolicking near her is enough to lift the spirit, and for one blessed moment, the spectrum of threats that plague our wildlife fades away as one takes in the evidence of the next generation of tigers. Breeding tigers signify that the forest and prey is healthy, and that it's safe for a tigress to raise her cubs. It implies that all hope isn't lost in the tiger's world.
But good news comes with a rider: the sword of Damocles hangs over the futures of these animals. Not even two miles away from where the tigress and her cubs were captured on camera is the Mannanoor-Dornal road, where no less than 1,000 vehicles ply every day. To side step a little, the photographs are from the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, India's largest tiger reserve, which saw a remarkable comeback after over 15 years of insurgency. But that's another story. For the moment, the only issue I will concentrate on are the roads in prime tiger habitat, a grave concern all across India.
The Mannanoor-Dornal road leads to the Srisailam temple and to an expanding town with a population of about 25,000, along with buildings, bazaars and trash heaps — all in the heart of a tiger reserve. Though traffic is banned at night and there are speed breakers to slow down vehicles, irresponsible, rash driving persists, killing many wild animals. Pressure to remove the speed breakers to facilitate speedy VIP movement, and to ease the night traffic ban, is constantly increasing.
The real impact goes much beyond the road killings. The birth of a road implies the death of wilderness. When a road opens up an area, it serves as an ancillary to further development, as a result of which human footprint increases in the area. For example, a road circumventing and cutting through the Velavadar National Park (Gujarat) is proposed to be upgraded, essentially to cater to the special industrial and investment zones coming up in the vicinity. Roads fragment an already highly fragmented habitat. They break contiguity of habitat, which results in the impingement of forests and well-worn migratory paths of animals. They break tree cover, slice vegetation and causes stress to wildlife living along the roads, due to increasing disturbance. Roads give easy accessibility to timber smugglers and poachers. A recent case had poachers shoot at Gaur and Sambar from their vehicles inside sanctuaries in Karantaka!
The issue is critical: the much publicised expansion of the NH 7 through the Kanha-Pench corridor slashes across 60 km of crucial tiger habitat, isolating and dooming sections of India’s most viable source populations.
The issue is critical: the much publicised expansion of the NH 7 through the Kanha-Pench corridor slashes across 60km of crucial tiger habitat, isolating and dooming sections of India's most viable source populations. Less publicised but equally damaging is the "six-laning" of the NH-6. Stretches on this highway form part of crucial tiger corridor, which connects the Nagzira Sanctuary and the Navegaon National Park in Maharashtra. No one bothered about mandatory clearances till a PIL was filed. By then, the work was already completed and thousands of trees had been chopped.
There is consistent pressure for the expansion of NH 37, which circumvents Kaziranga, the park with the highest tiger density in the world. An upcoming highway connecting Vijayawada with Ranchi will fragment almost all of Orissa's tiger and elephant landscapes. A proposed road connecting North Bengal to Sikkim will cut through the pristine Neora Valley National Park and the Pangolakha sanctuary, a biodiversity hotspot, and home to no less than four big cats. With the target being to add 20 km of highway everyday, the scale is pretty nightmarish, as far as the impact on natural habitats is concerned.
The tragedy is that most roads that run through crucial wildlife habitats have viable alternatives, but do not figure in the planning of policymakers.
As for our cubs in Nagarjunasagar are concerned, will they live to see another day? Who knows? The cats are known to traverse the Mannanoor-Dornal road, and if the tigress is crushed, the cubs will die. If they survive into adulthood, they must hunt for new territory, but with a road bisecting their forest, and a town—and man—nearby, their future is precarious. India has promised the tiger a future. They survive in just about one per cent of India, and barely five percent of our land is protected as forest area. If we continue to make inroads in this space, it will be the end of wild India.
My column in The Sunday Guardian
But good news comes with a rider: the sword of Damocles hangs over the futures of these animals. Not even two miles away from where the tigress and her cubs were captured on camera is the Mannanoor-Dornal road, where no less than 1,000 vehicles ply every day. To side step a little, the photographs are from the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, India's largest tiger reserve, which saw a remarkable comeback after over 15 years of insurgency. But that's another story. For the moment, the only issue I will concentrate on are the roads in prime tiger habitat, a grave concern all across India.
The Mannanoor-Dornal road leads to the Srisailam temple and to an expanding town with a population of about 25,000, along with buildings, bazaars and trash heaps — all in the heart of a tiger reserve. Though traffic is banned at night and there are speed breakers to slow down vehicles, irresponsible, rash driving persists, killing many wild animals. Pressure to remove the speed breakers to facilitate speedy VIP movement, and to ease the night traffic ban, is constantly increasing.
The real impact goes much beyond the road killings. The birth of a road implies the death of wilderness. When a road opens up an area, it serves as an ancillary to further development, as a result of which human footprint increases in the area. For example, a road circumventing and cutting through the Velavadar National Park (Gujarat) is proposed to be upgraded, essentially to cater to the special industrial and investment zones coming up in the vicinity. Roads fragment an already highly fragmented habitat. They break contiguity of habitat, which results in the impingement of forests and well-worn migratory paths of animals. They break tree cover, slice vegetation and causes stress to wildlife living along the roads, due to increasing disturbance. Roads give easy accessibility to timber smugglers and poachers. A recent case had poachers shoot at Gaur and Sambar from their vehicles inside sanctuaries in Karantaka!
The issue is critical: the much publicised expansion of the NH 7 through the Kanha-Pench corridor slashes across 60 km of crucial tiger habitat, isolating and dooming sections of India’s most viable source populations.
The issue is critical: the much publicised expansion of the NH 7 through the Kanha-Pench corridor slashes across 60km of crucial tiger habitat, isolating and dooming sections of India's most viable source populations. Less publicised but equally damaging is the "six-laning" of the NH-6. Stretches on this highway form part of crucial tiger corridor, which connects the Nagzira Sanctuary and the Navegaon National Park in Maharashtra. No one bothered about mandatory clearances till a PIL was filed. By then, the work was already completed and thousands of trees had been chopped.
There is consistent pressure for the expansion of NH 37, which circumvents Kaziranga, the park with the highest tiger density in the world. An upcoming highway connecting Vijayawada with Ranchi will fragment almost all of Orissa's tiger and elephant landscapes. A proposed road connecting North Bengal to Sikkim will cut through the pristine Neora Valley National Park and the Pangolakha sanctuary, a biodiversity hotspot, and home to no less than four big cats. With the target being to add 20 km of highway everyday, the scale is pretty nightmarish, as far as the impact on natural habitats is concerned.
The tragedy is that most roads that run through crucial wildlife habitats have viable alternatives, but do not figure in the planning of policymakers.
As for our cubs in Nagarjunasagar are concerned, will they live to see another day? Who knows? The cats are known to traverse the Mannanoor-Dornal road, and if the tigress is crushed, the cubs will die. If they survive into adulthood, they must hunt for new territory, but with a road bisecting their forest, and a town—and man—nearby, their future is precarious. India has promised the tiger a future. They survive in just about one per cent of India, and barely five percent of our land is protected as forest area. If we continue to make inroads in this space, it will be the end of wild India.
My column in The Sunday Guardian
Monday, April 11, 2011
the leopard is dead, but the fire rages on...
On Wednesday, 23 March 2011, a leopard entered Dhamdhar village in Kalagarh Forest Division, Corbett Tiger Reserve. Sighting the furtive cat, a crowd gathered and began shouting, pelting stones, sticks, rocks..whatever they could lay their hands on. The leopard fled and took shelter in a cowshed and in the chaos, three people were injured—none too grievously. The forest department tranquilised and captured the leopard, but by then mob frenzy had peaked. They attacked the leopard—trapped, terrified and helpless in the cage—with iron rods, sickles and stones, before finally dousing it with kerosene and setting it ablaze.
This particular leopard had never killed man-nor injured a soul, except when cornered by an angry mob... yet, it paid a heavy price for the mere sin of being alive... and wild.
The picture of the leopard’s charred body made it to one or two spots on TV and a vague mention in print (with cricket,2G & wikileaks, there was little scope). I am unaware if it made ripples either in the corridors of power which define wildlife policy, or in the collective conscience of a society that calls itself humane and is proud of its ahimsik traditions. To me the charred visage, frozen in agony represents the face of the accelerating conflict in the country and the degeneration of our attitude towards the wilds. It defines India’s changing relationship with nature.
Revering nature is part of our heritage. Most ancient religions of India don’t differentiate between the soul of a human and an animal. We pray to the elephant god Ganesha, the monkey god Hanuman and the vulture god Jatayu. The tiger symbolises fertility and in some cultures newly-weds seek its blessings. We worship the sun god, and the river Ganga is sacred. It is this veneration and values that have stood wildlife in good stead. They have kept it alive, against the worst of odds.
Think about it: India has about a dozen large animals—carnivores like tigers, leopards, lions and wolves; elephants, sloth bears—all capable of harming humans, living amongst its teeming millions. We have leopards living in agriculture fields and on the fringes of expanding towns, wolves and hyenas in villages, tigers clinging to shrinking habitat on the fringe of the forest, and onto human ground. It must be added here that given the proximity, conflict is minimal.
It is truly amazing—and laudable—that an underdeveloped (then) India, with its booming population and many pressing concerns kept aside land and funds for Project Tiger, that revived this dying animal while most of Europe and the US persecuted their carnivores to extinction.
But… the tide is turning.
The problem is complex. At one level it is about our fraying relationship with nature, of a ‘distancing’ from the earth. At another, it is about development and growth, and its ‘face-off’ with environment and ecology. India’s expanding middle-class has a ferocious appetite to consume—and the direct impact is on our natural resources. Does this India, hurtling down the fast road to economic superstardom and with its growing aspirations have room on its land, and in its heart for nature?
As a nation, we are losing touch with our roots, with nature. A child growing up in a box—read apartment—has little concept of climbing trees and chasing butterflies, wild flowers or clear streams. Nature, at best is a manicured park, or Animal Planet.
The milieu has shifted even in rural India. While there is huge dependence on forest resources for sustenance and livelihood, better means of communication and the growing economy have raised aspiration levels here as well.
At the heart of this all is human-wildlife conflict. The mix of shrinking, fragmented natural habitats, pressed in by villages and towns is lethal. Conflict, especially when fatal, fuels further conflict. Tolerance has sustained wildlife in this overpopulated landscape, but for how long? The reverence is fading. This particular leopard had done no wrong, unless you count venturing into human habitat. It was fear, and intolerance of the ‘intruder’ that lit the fire. The leopard died... but the fire has not yet doused; its flame has engulfed many species, including the tiger, and the veneration that we once had for animals.
This is not the first time a leopard has been burnt to death, nor will it be the last... unless we take the gravity of the situation on board, unless we work with communities who bear the brunt of conflict; unless we work out strategies to tackle conflict and to manage wildlife in—and more importantly around protected areas, and our rural landscapes; unless we nurture and hold sacred the values of nature worship.
@prerna singh bindra
printed in The Sunday Guardian on April 3,2011
This particular leopard had never killed man-nor injured a soul, except when cornered by an angry mob... yet, it paid a heavy price for the mere sin of being alive... and wild.
The picture of the leopard’s charred body made it to one or two spots on TV and a vague mention in print (with cricket,2G & wikileaks, there was little scope). I am unaware if it made ripples either in the corridors of power which define wildlife policy, or in the collective conscience of a society that calls itself humane and is proud of its ahimsik traditions. To me the charred visage, frozen in agony represents the face of the accelerating conflict in the country and the degeneration of our attitude towards the wilds. It defines India’s changing relationship with nature.
Revering nature is part of our heritage. Most ancient religions of India don’t differentiate between the soul of a human and an animal. We pray to the elephant god Ganesha, the monkey god Hanuman and the vulture god Jatayu. The tiger symbolises fertility and in some cultures newly-weds seek its blessings. We worship the sun god, and the river Ganga is sacred. It is this veneration and values that have stood wildlife in good stead. They have kept it alive, against the worst of odds.
Think about it: India has about a dozen large animals—carnivores like tigers, leopards, lions and wolves; elephants, sloth bears—all capable of harming humans, living amongst its teeming millions. We have leopards living in agriculture fields and on the fringes of expanding towns, wolves and hyenas in villages, tigers clinging to shrinking habitat on the fringe of the forest, and onto human ground. It must be added here that given the proximity, conflict is minimal.
It is truly amazing—and laudable—that an underdeveloped (then) India, with its booming population and many pressing concerns kept aside land and funds for Project Tiger, that revived this dying animal while most of Europe and the US persecuted their carnivores to extinction.
But… the tide is turning.
The problem is complex. At one level it is about our fraying relationship with nature, of a ‘distancing’ from the earth. At another, it is about development and growth, and its ‘face-off’ with environment and ecology. India’s expanding middle-class has a ferocious appetite to consume—and the direct impact is on our natural resources. Does this India, hurtling down the fast road to economic superstardom and with its growing aspirations have room on its land, and in its heart for nature?
As a nation, we are losing touch with our roots, with nature. A child growing up in a box—read apartment—has little concept of climbing trees and chasing butterflies, wild flowers or clear streams. Nature, at best is a manicured park, or Animal Planet.
The milieu has shifted even in rural India. While there is huge dependence on forest resources for sustenance and livelihood, better means of communication and the growing economy have raised aspiration levels here as well.
At the heart of this all is human-wildlife conflict. The mix of shrinking, fragmented natural habitats, pressed in by villages and towns is lethal. Conflict, especially when fatal, fuels further conflict. Tolerance has sustained wildlife in this overpopulated landscape, but for how long? The reverence is fading. This particular leopard had done no wrong, unless you count venturing into human habitat. It was fear, and intolerance of the ‘intruder’ that lit the fire. The leopard died... but the fire has not yet doused; its flame has engulfed many species, including the tiger, and the veneration that we once had for animals.
This is not the first time a leopard has been burnt to death, nor will it be the last... unless we take the gravity of the situation on board, unless we work with communities who bear the brunt of conflict; unless we work out strategies to tackle conflict and to manage wildlife in—and more importantly around protected areas, and our rural landscapes; unless we nurture and hold sacred the values of nature worship.
@prerna singh bindra
printed in The Sunday Guardian on April 3,2011
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