While I was musing on the urban local body elections and the National Press Day,  a colleague suggested focus on the recent happenings in the sphere of wildlife in Uttarakhand. That made one realise that though the state’s media in general and politicians are focusing majorly on the elections, the forests and wildlife remain among the main assets of the state and nation which also influence seemingly distant things like urban local bodies and other much larger aspects of a society and state.

When it comes to urban local bodies in the state, to skeptics at present these appear to be a lost cause or quite inefficient entities at the most. Having covered the municipal corporation of Dehradun for more than a decade, one can state that the questions asked by journalists and the replies to them have changed little in more than 10 years. The public representatives and officials change, the beats of the reporters change but the issues remain the same and mostly unresolved or even worse especially when it comes to planned development, sanitation and other major issues. The solid waste management project approved under JNNURM in 2008 for Dehradun is yet to start functioning effectively nearly a decade later. This is just one example of the utter lack of efficiency and the missing will to effectively execute works that ails the establishment. Better to shift focus from such a scenario to what is acknowledged to be one of the major assets of the state-forest and wildlife. Despite Uttarakhand being unique in these aspects, the scenario may not seem that positive considering recent incidents. An elephant was shot dead in Haridwar and some days later, a leopard trapped in a metal wire snare in Indian Military Academy also died. The national heritage animal- elephant is facing problems in Uttarakhand with its traditional corridors being blocked in various places. The other incident- the leopard death in IMA should elicit no less outrage especially as metal wire snares have been found to be in use more than once in this premier institution reportedly to ‘protect’ the golf course/polo ground on campus from animals like boars even though such actions may be viewed as an attempt to poach. This was the third incident in the past few years when a leopard was found trapped in a metal wire snare on the academy campus, as has been reported widely in the media too. The din of local body elections and other issues seem to draw focus away from such issues but one doesn't need expert knowledge to realise the importance of the natural resources Uttarakhand has.

With the bulk of its geographical area under forest cover, Uttarakhand possesses unique biodiversity. Due to geographic and climatic diversity in different areas of the state, different forest types are found spanning from the Himalayas to the plains of the Terai. Can one think of any other Indian state where the tiger, elephant, king cobra, musk deer, snow leopard and Himalayan bear (among other wildlife) are found within the state boundaries as they are in Uttarakhand? The State has six national parks (including India’s first- Corbett national park), two tiger reserves, seven wildlife sanctuaries, four conservation and one biosphere reserves. Uttarakhand is also home to rare species of plants and animals, many of which are protected in sanctuaries and reserves. The Valley of Flowers national park and Nanda Devi national park in Chamoli District,  together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A number of plant species in the valley are internationally threatened. National parks cover 4915.44 square kilometres in the state.

According to scientific studies in the state 102 mammal, 600 bird, 19 amphibian, 70 reptiles and 124 fish species are found in Uttarakhand. These include globally endangered species like the tiger, Asian elephant, leopard, musk deer, snow leopard and Monal pheasant among others. With rising human pressure and works purportedly aimed at development, there has been an increase in the human-wildlife conflict in the state during recent years. The authorities have responded with fantastic measures like sterilisation of monkeys. Evidently, there is little to show for effective measures taken to address the human-wildlife conflict involving elephants, leopards and simians apart from short term solutions. Recently an authorised shooter killed a leopard in Bageshwar after deaths of two children attributed to the big cat.

The point which one intends to make here is that there is no alternative to assets like the forests and wildlife that the state possesses. Irrepairable damage to these aspects will make life harder and even detrimental to health. These assets are not mere statistics to be cited and discussed but the very basis of life and prosperity for people in Uttarakhand and beyond. Even though political parties have focused on slums and ignored environmental aspects in the local body elections, life in the cities is also directly affected by environmental assets. However, incidents like the killing of an elephant in Haridwar and the death of a leopard in Dehradun make it appear as if not enough has been done to address even the major wildlife components in the state. Whether the establishment and general public realise this or not, the problems will continue to escalate and people will suffer more if necessary measures are not taken to effectively protect and nurture the state’s major asset- environment.