Time is surely running out for wildlife in India. The Government must prioritise wildlife preservation and ensure that the designated corridors which enable wildlife to safely migrate are given protected status
Anthropogenic activities are gradually taking a steady toll on biodiversity and the pace of destruction has picked up over the past few decades. Extreme weather conditions, triggered by climate change, are now challenging the once strong wildlife ecosystem. Our planet needs a variety of plant and animal life in order to ensure that the environment and the nature have a sustainable lifecycle.
However, this very biodiversity is now severely threatened. A new study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has revealed that global wildlife populations have fallen by 60 per cent in the past four decades due to accelerating pollution, deforestation, climate change and other human-made factors. The 2018 Living Planet report prepared by the WWF, highlighted that more than 4,000 mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian species declined between 1970 and 2014. The report observed that various anthropogenic factors are to be blamed for the decline in animal populations.
The African elephants in Tanzania declined by 60 per cent in just five years between 2009 and 2014 due to ivory poaching; whereas deforestation in Borneo, to create timber and palm oil plantations, led to the loss of 100,000 orangutans between 1999 and 2015. Similarly, the number of polar bears is also expected to decline by 30 per cent by 2050 as Arctic ice continues to melt.
The bad news keeps getting worse. The WWF further revealed that eight million tonnes of plastics is entering the oceans, annually. This toxic plastic is finding its way to the stomachs of seabirds. According to WWF estimates, nearly 90 per cent of seabirds have plastics in their stomachs, compared to five per cent in 1960. Given the concerning situation, the WWF has called for the drafting of an international treaty, on the lines of the 2015 Paris Agreement, to protect global wildlife. The WWF has urged the 196-member nations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to consider a range of targets at the CBD’s upcoming meeting in Egypt in late November. The WWF has also called for a deal to be struck at the 75th United Nations General Assembly in 2020. But is it already too late? Only time will tell.
But time is surely running out for wildlife in India. Recent deaths of seven elephants in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district due to electrocution have once again brought to fore the fact that India can no longer neglect its wildlife. The tragic incident displays human apathy and scant disregard towards these beautiful animals and the precious biodiversity in India.
The ‘man first’ attitude has spelt doom for wildlife elsewhere in the world and more so in India. Nothing else can explain why India does not have a solution to rising instances of man-animal conflict. The recent Odisha elephant deaths are also an example of how India has collectively failed to protect its wildlife diversity.
Had the authorities in Odisha taken adequate measures, the State would not have lost 179 elephants to electrocution since 2009. This colossal wildlife loss has surprisingly not been registered on any quarter within the successive Government establishments. Elephants have to make do without healthy corridors to pass through and, therefore, have to traverse through human-occupied lands in the process raiding crops and getting mobbed or even electrocuted.
Corridors are crucial to wildlife survivability as they are essentially habitat patches or links that connect two source or sink habitats. Source habitats are those that provide good food and shelter for a viable population to thrive. Sink habitats are sub-optimal habitats that allow for small populations to thrive. Since there is often movement of animals across sink and source habitats, corridors connecting them are crucial, and that is what is largely missing in the forest reserves across India. The major reason why wildlife corridors are essential is because they allow the flow of healthy genes to take place, thereby ensuring a flourishing biodiversity.
Without forest corridors, our small protected areas will only end up being islands of conservation with unviable populations that will be highly prone to extinction. It is also worth remembering that any tiger corridor that is active today might become inactive if the source forests of such tigers suffer or decline. Those that have been inactive for years may reactivate if the health of the source forests improves.
The key is to protect the habitat of such forest corridors to maintain their sanctity and existence. And that is where India is failing. The rapid development of linear projects such as road, railways and canals, and forest fires usually caused by humans for Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP), fragmentation due to illegal timber and firewood collection, diversion of forests for mining and a growing human population putting pressure on pinch points in corridors, are some of the main threats faced by tiger corridors in India.
India needs wildlife and associated environmental biodiversity to thrive as this alone can counter the rising pollution levels and deteriorating ecology. The Government must accord priority to wildlife and ensure that the designated corridors that enable wildlife to safely migrate are given a Government protected status. This will keep these corridors from disappearing. Yet another initiative the Government must undertake is to stop developmental activities that are not backed by a planning and biodiversity impact report. A healthy environmental biodiversity is incomplete without a robust wildlife ecosystem. Hence, the same must be protected and preserved.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
