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SHOULD
WE BE CONCERNED?
With 2 percent of the world's land and 16 percent of its people,
India is fast losing its wildlife habitat.
With about 100 million people living off forests, which are also
home to more than 3,000 species of birds and animals, India's wildlife
conservation program has the monumental goal of balancing the interests
of man and animals. Next to tigers, one-horned rhino, leopard and
Asiatic elephant are endangered species. The Indian cheetah was
declared extinct in 1948.
A $25 billion a year worldwide illegal trade
in wildlife lures poachers to resort to any means to procure animals
and birds live or dead. Tigers, leopards and rhino in particular,
face continuing threat posed by 'traditional' Oriental medicine
practiced in China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. There is however
no scientific evidence so far for the efficacy of such remedies.
India's first wildlife park, Jim Corbett National Park, was formed
in 1936. Today India has 80 national parks and 441 wildlife sanctuaries.
The preserves are committed to maintaining the delicate ecosystems
necessary to ensure the survival of both flora and fauna. Below
are the formal projects initiated by Indian government for wildlife
protection:
1970 - Project Hangul - Kashmir stags declined from 3000
in 1940 to 150 in 1970
1972 - All-India Wildlife Protection Act
1972 - Project Lion Gir Forest, Gujarat. 1974 population
increase from 180 to 284 in 1993.
1973
- Project Tiger - 21 reserves are spread over 30,000 sq kms across
the country. In 1973 there were 2000 tigers which doubled to 4000
in the mid-80's. Since then it has declined to 3750.
1975 - Project Crocodile - 11 sanctuaries set apart for
crocodile protection.
1991 - Project Elephant - improved elephant population
in the north east. The current population of elephants is 25,000
(about 50% of the Asiatic wild elephants in the world and 10%
of the wild African elephant population).
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Traders
Cash in on weak wildlife laws
The Wildlife Protection act of 1972 (amended until 1992) is due to be
amended by the Ministry of Environment and forests to ban the sale of
licensed animal parts. The changes were drafted after nearly two decades
of discussions, but the government is yet to introduce it in Parliament.
"No person , after the commencement of the Act will be allowed to acquire,
except by way of inheritance, or transport parts of any animals coming
under the purview of the amended act." Says additional inspector general
of forests MK Sharma.
However, independent conservationists
believe more than amendments would be required to stop the illegal trade
especially since the multiple wildlife enforcement agencies in India are
embarrassingly lax and no threat to smugglers.
A major percentage of the global wildlife trade, estimated to be 25 billion
dollars annually, originates in India, the WWF-India has estimated in
a report.
Law enforcers insist that they are ill equipped to nail and prosecute
the offenders, and say efforts by police are hampered by insufficient
knowledge of the law. Equally serious is the lack of co-ordination among
the various arms of the law, which include Indian customs, police and
the intelligent services.
As a result, wildlife trade has grown through the nineties, and Traffic-
India estimates a 95% decline in tiger numbers in this century, thanks
to the attempt by traders to meet the demand for tiger parts including
whiskers, brain and claws in South-east Asia.
Tiger skins are coveted despite an international
ban on their sale, and sell upwards of $200 in India while fetching up
to $20,000 abroad, Traffic-India estimates.
Ashok Kumar, Vice President of the Wildlife Protection Society of India,
points out that the law has also failed to deter well- known Indian wildlife
traders, like Sansar Chand who has the largest number of smuggling cases
against him ad yet roams free.
After spending close to 18 years in prison for wildlife offences he was
acquitted in all but eight cases which are still pending. "Besides strict
prosecution machinery we need faster court trials if we are to curb wildlife
trade." Asserts Kumar.
Unfortunately most cases of wildlife crime end in acquittal either because
the procedures are not followed meticulously or the documents are riddled
with loopholes that are exploited by the defense counsel.
The notorious smuggler Veerappan is still at large in the forests of
Karnataka living on sambhar meat - The photos given below were taken by
two wildlife photographers who were abducted by Veerappan in Oct 1997
from Bandipur National Park. They were released after eight days.
 This
is the reason why the trade continues to flourish. Says Mahindra Vyas
of the Action for wildlife and environment (LAW-E) which recommends the
formation of a legal cell under the environment ministry to assist state
and wildlife departments.
A still older demand is for the law to make a distinction
between poachers and traders, which unfortunately was not included in
the proposed amendment, Kumar says.
Both face similar punishments under the law. The traders
are the real culprits and make all the money, while the poachers are often
desperately poor villagers living on the outskirts of the protected forests.
Much of the wildlife trade takes place through India's
porous borders, and the products generally include endangered species
like the tiger, rhino, musk deer, bear, elephant and falcons and commonly
found parakeets and other bird.
The Indian Wildlife Protection Act prohibits the killing,
selling, buying or keeping wild animals in captivity, but the spurt in
smuggling has pushed several new species to the brink of extinction.
Wildlife species of mammals such as black buck, the
slow loris, the giant squirrel and several species of primates are widely
sought after for private collections, zoos and in circuses. Biomedical
research demands the use of the rhesus monkeys.
The environment ministry says more species like the
Green munia or the yellow weaver, a globally threatened bird traded as
a pet, have been added to the long list of endangered wildlife.
And to protect the bio-diversity,
protected forest areas earlier divided into sanctuaries and natural parks
have been increased by the formation of a third category of community
reserves and conservation reserves. But the amendments are silent about
the several millions of people who either live in the protected forest
area or are dependent on it for cattle rearing.
"The government is creating more categories of protected
areas but the issue of resettlement of the people living in the protected
areas remains unapprised." Observes environment lawyer Sanjay Upadhyay.
Source: IPS , Extracts
from article by Naunidhi Kaur. Veerappan's
photo-'The Week' Nov 16 1997.
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Last
call for the Tiger
It all boils down to money. There are around 1.5 billion people, mostly
Chinese, many seriously wealthy, prepared to pay wholesale rates of around
Rs 2 lakh per tiger- tooth, bones, fat and hide inclusive. The poachers
are happy at a rate of Rs 500 per animal slaughtered. That leaves plenty
of margin for the middleman.
 The
economics ensure that 1-2 tigers die daily. In traps, from poison, gunned
down by AK- 47s. Their bones and fat are rendered into traditional Chinese
medicinal balms and wines, their hides are cured and hung upon
walls.
Animal body parts fill a U.S. Fish and
Wildlife property room in Los Angeles. ( Photo: National Geographic Vol.
192 No6 December 1997.)
According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a
London based NGO, it's not as though the facts are not on record. The
EIA itself has investigated and documented the free availability of tiger
based products in India and South East Asia. It has also visited 16 out
of 23 core Project Tiger areas. Local NGOs have made a fuss, experts have
submitted reports. They have been duly filed and forgotten.
The ground
reality is pathetic. Forest department elephants starve for lack of fodder
allowances. Officials are underpaid and outgunned by poachers and terrorists.
Poachers and animal-product traders are arrested, released on bail, and
carry on business with anything up to 40 cases pending. Vast quantities
of designated areas are released for commercial exploitation and development.
Ground staff are transferred arbitrarily, live in appalling conditions
and appear completely demoralized.
This is made public in a detailed 37 page report
entitled ' The Political Wilderness- India's Tiger
Crisis' released by EIA activists Dave
Currey and Ben Rogers.
There are unbelievable problems facing conservation efforts. Ten out
of 16 Project tiger reserves investigated don't receive budgets on time.
The entire annual budget for Kaziranga approximately equals the price
of three poached tigers. Project Tiger reserves have top managerial positions
lying vacant.
De-notification of designated protected areas has occurred time and again
for mining, dams, felling projects, thermal stations, cement plants etc.
Over 90% of river and hydro schemes violate their environmental conditionality
clearances. They could, in theory be prosecuted under the Environmental
Protection Act, but in practice this has rarely been invoked.
Nexus with Drug peddlers and terrorist organizations
The 'Sanctuary' magazine published a story
which detailed the nexus between the outlawed Jammu Kashmir Liberation
Front (JKLF) as well as the People's War Group (PWG) with wildlife and
drug trades. These trades are an important source of funding for them.
Since the trade in wildlife products is closely linked to arms smuggling
and drug trafficking, BNHS
and other environment organizations have written to Indian Home Minister
about the need to set up a Directorate of Enforcement for wildlife crimes.
The demand has specifically made that the Directorate should be under
the Union Home Ministry and not the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The reason is obvious. The Border Security
Force and Indo Tibetan Border Police and all other paramilitary forces
come under the Home Ministry and the need of the hour is to co-ordinate
the efforts of all these agencies under one roof.
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Reports
on environmental agitation
Wildlife conservation and people's
rights
A group of about 20 social activists, wildlife
conservationists, researchers, lawyers, and media persons met from 10
to 12 April, 1997, at Bhikampura- Kishori in Alwar District, adjacent
to the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan (western India). The meeting,
called by the Indian Institute of Public Administration and Kalpavriksh,
and hosted by Tarun Bharat Sangh, was an attempt to initiate a dialogue
between those advocating the cause of wildlife protection and those struggling
to uphold the human rights of rural communities living in and around wildlife
habitats. Over the last few years, conflicts have erupted in many of India's
national parks, sanctuaries, and other natural habitats, between officials
and NGOs involved in wildlife conservation on the one hand, and local
communities and social activists on the
other hand. Clashes between the Forest Department and local people are
increasingly common. A top-down, centralized model
of conservation, which has ignored the dependence of local communities
on the resources of natural habitats, as also their traditions of conservation,
is one root of this conflict; other factors include the increasing
politicization and commercialization of rural areas, breakdown of traditions,
and the demands made by growing populations of people and livestock, all
of which clash with conservation goals. Simultaneously, wildlife and wildlife
habitats continue to be destroyed by the dominant industrial-commercial
economy, and the rampant consumerism of the rich minority. The same governments
which declared protected areas (national parks and sanctuaries) are today
eager to open them up for mining, dams, industries, tourism, roads, and
other so-called development projects, to the extent of being willing to
even de-notify them. Activists, conservationists, and community members
have increasingly felt the need to respond to these conflicts, and to
explore ways of working together to conserve wildlife, ensure local people's
livelihoods, and challenge destructive industrial-commercial forces. Yet
dialogue among us has been limited and sporadic. This meeting was an effort
to initiate a more systematic process of dialogue and mutual understanding.
The meeting agreed on a number of principles, strategies and joint actions.
For further information on these, you can either request it from us or
contact directly Ashish Kothari, I.P. Estate, New Delhi 110002, Tel: 91-11-3317309;
Fax: 91-11-3319954; Email: akothari@kv.unv.ernet.in
The final paragraph of the meeting's statement clearly establishes its
approach to conservation:
"We resolve to work together towards ensuring the conservation of species
and habitats, and the traditional rights of access to resources of local
communities, for which our main struggle will be against the destructive
industrial-commercial economy."
Source: Ashish Kothari, Indian Institute of Public Administration,
WRM News bulletin (World Rainforest Movement)
Aug 1997--ASIA
Save the Gulf of Mannar
The Rs 1200 crore Sethu Samudram Ship Canal Project on the coast of Tamil
Nadu entails the dredging of a canal across the Gulf of Mannar to facilitate
sea travel between the East and West coasts of India without ships having
to go around the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
The Gulf of Mannar is one of India's most biologically diverse coastal
regions. Over 3600 species of plants and animals exist in this area. The
sea grass beds along the coast are among the largest remaining feeding
grounds for the globally endangered dugong. Additionally five species
of marine turtles , innumerable fish, mollusks and crustaceans also feed
there.
More than 50,000 people
in 138 villages and towns spread over five districts rely directly on
the fishery resources of the waters of the Gulf of Mannar.
Despite international recognition of the bio diversity potential of Gulf
of Mannar, the shipping canal project seems posed for taking off. Bombay
Natural History society (BNHS) is mobilizing public opinion and funds
to campaign for the Sethu Samudram Project being dropped permanently.
The government has since approved a feasibility study and environment
impact assessment at a project cost of Rs. 4.8 crore.
Is it time that we considered the creation of 'Marine Reserves'?
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Pollution
effects on wildlife in India
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Pollution, loss of habitat have hit 40 bird species
in Mumbai
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Report in TOI dated Nov.12 1999.
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Where ecology turns turtle ?
The olive back loggerhead turtle is an endangered species'. But conservation
efforts receive -a setback every year when hundreds of these reptiles
get caught in the nets of fishing trawlers and die before they are thrown
back into the sea. The dead turtles wash upon the beaches of Digha, Shankerpur
and Juneput in Midnapore district of West Bengal. This year the
toll has been exceptionally high - 400. According to the postmortem report
by the Forest Department, these creatures, which come to Indian shores
around this time of the year to lay eggs, died of suffocation, most probably
in the fishing trawlers.
Source: 'Opinion' Business Line dated 23 Feb2000
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Endangered
species
Hill Mynah and Wild Buffaloes
BNHS Newsletter dated April 19,1999 reported that the Central Indian
race of the grackle or Hill or Talking mynah is under tremendous pressure
from the pet trade and is likely to disappear unless stringent action
is taken.
Bastar is an area which has been systematically despoiled over the years.
The Bastar wild buffaloes are the only pure strain left of the species.
BNHS estimates a little over 100 of these are left in the wild.
Chiru -the Tibetan Antelope
 WWF-India
launched a campaign against Shahtoosh shawls in October 1999. Shahtoosh
shawls are made from the fine hair of the Chiru, the endangered Tibetan
antelope. Unveiling the campaign, Manoj Misra, director of Traffic India
( WWF-India's trade monitoring arm), emphasized that there is documented
evidence that the Chiru is killed for procuring its fine hair.
After being smuggled from Tibet into Kashmir, the raw wool is intricately
spun and woven by Kashmiri craftsmen into the delicate shahtoosh shawls.
These shawls are unparalleled in lightness and warmth and cost anything
between $1000 to $5000. Two-three chirus are killed to provide raw wool
for a single shawl. According to the sources of China's State Forestry
administration, 20,000 Chirus, out of a population of less than 75,000
Chirus today, are estimated to be killed every year.
Offenders risk punishment ranging from a minimum imprisonment of one
year to a maximum of six years. The state of J&K is an exception though.
Under Schedule II, the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1978,
allows the trade after obtaining a license from the competent authority.
But no such licenses have been issued by the State government, thereby
making the trade irregular in the state as well. Nevertheless, the trade
continue to flourish from the Valley.
Menaka Gandhi called upon people to build pressure on the J&K government
to ban the Shahtoosh industry outright. Other speakers also called for
a people's movement against Shahtoosh. Fashion Designer J.J.Valaya promised
to persuade his fraternity and people at large to stay off shahtoosh because
of its 'gruesome origin'. Even if they don't do so by choice today, they
may have to do it by compulsion tomorrow. As of now, the Chiru may not
live long.
Source: Financial express Oct 24, 1999.
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Some
judgments under the 'Environment act'
The supreme court in a landmark judgment on
writ petition No. 214 of 1991, filed by the Vellore Citizens welfare Forum
stated that " the right of a person to pollution free environment is a
part of the basic jurisprudence of the land. " Also, '' The Polluter Pays
principle has been held to be a sound principle by this court........
....It is therefore necessary for this Court to take immediate action
under the provisions of the Environment Act."
The case concerned the extensive poisoning of land by the 900 tanneries
that operated in the state of Tamil Nadu. The discharge of their untreated
effluents, into agricultural fields, roadsides, waterways and open lands,
made 35000 ha of agricultural land in the tanneries belt partially or
totally unfit for cultivation. And in two panchayats made water in 350
wells, out of a total of 467 wells in 13 villages, unfit for drinking
and irrigation purposes. The effluents let out into rivulets and rivers
spread out, during the rains and floods, and the pollutants covered other
lands.
(Source: BNHS Hornbill Oct-Dec. '99)
If
club members can lay their hands on more reports from reliable sources,
please send to Home@indianwildlifeclub.com
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