Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India
The Importance of Forest and Wildlife Conservation
The destruction of forests and wildlife is not just a biological issue. The biological loss is strongly correlated with the loss of cultural diversity. Such losses have increasingly marginalized and impoverished many indigenous and other forest-dependent communities, who directly depend on various components of the forest and wildlife for food, drink, medicine, culture, spirituality, etc.
Within the poor, women are affected more than men. In many societies, women bear the major responsibility of collection of fuel, fodder, water, and other basic subsistence needs. As these resources are depleted, the drudgery of women increases, and sometimes they have to walk for more than 10 km to collect these resources. This causes serious health problems for women and negligence of home and children because of the increased hours of work, which often has serious social implications.
The indirect impact of degradation, such as severe drought or deforestation-induced floods, etc., also hits the poor the hardest. Poverty in these cases is a direct outcome of environmental destruction. Therefore, forest and wildlife are vital to the quality of life and environment in the subcontinent. It is imperative to adapt to sound forest and wildlife conservation strategies.
Why Conserve Forests and Wildlife?
Conservation in the background of the rapid decline in wildlife population and forestry has become essential. But why do we need to conserve our forests and wildlife?
- Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water, air, and soil.
- It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species and breeding. For example, in agriculture, we are still dependent on traditional crop varieties. Fisheries, too, are heavily dependent on maintaining aquatic biodiversity.
Wildlife Protection in India
In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection program. The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for protecting habitats. An all-India list of protected species was also published. The thrust of the program was towards protecting the remaining populations of certain endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and restricting trade in wildlife.
Subsequently, central and many state governments established national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals which were gravely threatened, including:
- The tiger
- The one-horned rhinoceros
- The Kashmir stag or hangul
- Three types of crocodiles – freshwater crocodile, saltwater crocodile, and the Gharial
- The Asiatic lion
Most recently, the Indian elephant, blackbuck (chinkara), the great Indian bustard (godawan), and the snow leopard, etc., have been given full or partial legal protection against hunting and trade throughout India.
Project Tiger
The tiger is one of the key wildlife species in the faunal web. In 1973, the authorities realized that the tiger population had dwindled to 1,827 from an estimated 55,000 at the turn of the century. The major threats to the tiger population are numerous, such as poaching for trade, shrinking habitat, depletion of prey base species, and a growing human population.
The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in traditional medicines, especially in Asian countries, left the tiger population on the verge of extinction. Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about two-thirds of the surviving tiger population in the world, these two nations became prime targets for poaching and illegal trading.
“Project Tiger,” one of the well-publicized wildlife campaigns in the world, was launched in 1973. Initially, it showed success as the tiger population went up to 4,002 in 1985 and 4,334 in 1989. But in 1993, the population of the tiger had dropped to 3,600. There were 39 tiger reserves in India, covering an area of 32,137.14 sq km.
Tiger conservation has been viewed not only as an effort to save an endangered species but, with equal importance, as a means of preserving biotypes of considerable magnitude.
Some of the tiger reserves of India include:
- Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand
- Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal
- Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh
- Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan
- Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam
- Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala
Expanding Conservation Efforts
Conservation projects are now focusing on biodiversity rather than on a few of its components. There is now a more intensive search for different conservation measures. Increasingly, even insects are beginning to find a place in conservation planning. In the notification under the Wildlife Act of 1980 and 1986, several hundred butterflies, moths, beetles, and one dragonfly have been added to the list of protected species. In 1991, for the first time, plants were also added to the list, starting with six species.