A
crisis of survival of wild species was caused by
India's partition in 1947 and the resultant population
exchange. Large areas of forests were cleared to
accommodate a burgeoning population. By the
sixties, warning signals had gone up that natural
India was under stress. The tiger population in India
hit its lowest level of around 1700. Remedial measures
taken in the early seventies under the leadership of
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, made impressive gains
which are relevant even today.
As
the century comes to a close, a renewed crisis is upon
us, and this time around, there are no easy solutions.
The
threat to wild species from habitat degradation is set
to accelerate in the new millennium. The prime
mover is, of course, population growth which will
touch the billion mark at the turn of the century or
soon thereafter, with no slackening of birth rate. The
bulk of the population growth is in the segment of
population at the lowest levels of education and
income. These are the very people dependent upon
bounties of nature, often at subsistence level, and
sadly, the people who are most affected by degradation
of natural resources.
The
great majority of Indians cook their food on firewood,
using something like 300 million tonnes of it
annually, of which less than one third is extracted
sustainably. This in itself is a time bomb. Extraction
of fuelwood, fodder and other non-timber forest
produce including medicinal plants are already
documented at unsustainable levels. As there are
really no alternatives available to the people
dependent upon these resources, any regulation of use
can only bring social discord, often militancy in many
regions which is eroding the authority of the State.
The
tolerance level of local people for wildlife
depredation is taking a beating. Resource scarcity is
only one of the reasons. The other is a rise in
expectations, fuelled by exposure to the consumer
culture of the West and richer Asian countries. These
trends give a handle to commercial and industrial
interests, aided by government planners to cut up
protected areas reserved for wildlife. These are
officially stated to be three per cent of India's land
mass. In reality, perhaps less than half of that is in
pristine condition.
The
population of livestock was last recorded at half that
of the human population. The five hundred million
mouths grazing the biomass place an unacceptable
pressure on shrinking commons, forests, sanctuaries
and national parks. When village commons become too
sparse for cattle grazing, goats and sheep can still
survive. The close cropping by them prevents
regeneration and this is followed by desertification.
Nomadic herders who had traditionally moved long
distances with large herds of livestock find
increasing resistance from local people to the influx.
In times of drought, millions of cattle are forced
into wildlife lands. Livestock is clearly the most
intractable problem of all, because in rural India
livestock represents wealth, and a monetary return for
very little input. A ten year old boy or girl can tend
a large herd. The input, of course is degradation of
common resources.
India
is blessed with one of the highest water resources of
any country. Profligate use in agriculture, increase
in both the human and livestock population has already
exerted tremendous pressure on water resources in
large parts of the country. By the year 2020, the
demand for water will match its availability. Regional
water shortages are already evident in many parts of
the country. Water disputes are set to intensify. The
role of natural forests as water catchments and
regulators of lean season flow is not understood by
many government planners.
The
threat to bio-diversity from unregulated trade is
often placed at a level lower than habitat
destruction. This is so in most instances. What
is overlooked is that habitat loss is a slow process,
imperceptible over a short period, whereas poaching
and trade causes rapid decline of many target species.
International trade in tiger parts is a prime example
in India. In numerous forest areas outside tiger
reserves, populations are declining rapidly in
deteriorating but adequate habitats. The 1993 Tiger
Census had documented that over half of India's tiger
population was located outside the protected areas
network.