India’s Unique Biodiversity — How Can We Save It?
India is one of the world’s megadiverse countries in terms of biodiversity. However, due to unregulated exploitation of natural resources, they’re facing endangerment and extinction. To promote conservation of biodiversity, the Indian government has signed many international conventions and taken domestic policy measures also, for example, the CITES (Convention on International Trade of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the Convention of Biological Diversity.Some of the specific projects that the government has undertaken are: Project Tiger, Crocodile Conservation, Project Elephant, and Olive Ridley Turtles. We will look at the Project Tiger in detail.
The Project Tiger was launched in 1973 to protect the unique Indian Bengal tiger. Using techniques such as using tiger reserves as breeding grounds, setting up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers, and creating safe zones free from human encroachment for tigers. The objective of the project is to mitigate factors that cause tiger habitats to deplete. It cherishes the economic, ecological as well as aesthetic value of wildlife. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has divided the country into different zones: Shivalik-Terai conservation unit, North-East Conservation Unit, Sunderbans Conservation Unit, Western Ghats Conservation Unit, Eastern Ghats Conservation Unit, Central India Conservation Unit, Sariska Conservation Unit, and Kaziranga Conservation Unit. In all these areas, Core Areas and Buffer Areas have been created. Human activity is completely banned in the Core Areas whereas there can be limited human activity in the Buffer Areas.
The key steps to be taken during the Project are: increasing surveillance so as to get an accurate count of the population, relocation of people so as to give more uninterrupted zones for the tigers, training frontier personnel, declaring new tiger reserves, spreading awareness about the need for tiger protection, and promoting research on the best strategies. The idea of habitat management, which seeks to restore the damage done to an ecosystem so that its flora and fauna can flourish again, was incorporated into the action plan for the project. Legally, the punishment for encroaching on core areas was made stronger so as to deter people from infringing on that area.
One of the biggest obstacles to the success of the project was poaching and abuse by the local authorities. Another cause for controversy was the Forest Rights Act, which gave land-rights to forest communities, raising controversies as to whether it was fair to recognize their right to the land in the context of tiger preservation.
In general, to ensure well-rounded conservation of India’s unique biodiversity, we need to learn from the experiences of the Project Tiger and design future conservation plans keeping them in mind.
