Greening Expeditions.. Roaring and Twittering Our Way Into Nature
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and Jim Corbett National Park -
I was extremely privileged to be a part of these two wildlife excursions and I don’t think I would be exaggerating if I said they were two of the highlights of my current academic year, literally a package of Edu-tainment - education sprinkled with lots of fun!
We did not just go to visit the park or spot the tiger but actually learnt about the nuances of a national park and studied the eco-system of that place. We had sessions with the Forest Directors of the respective National Parks which provided us with a completely fresh insight and gave us a first-hand account of what goes into managing a national park- the threats and challenges grappling the conservation efforts.
Preserving nature in all its diversity with minimum disturbance by human activities and protecting endangered species is a daunting task. Illegal trade in wildlife is the second biggest threat to species survival after habitat destruction. A lot of effort goes into protecting unique landscapes like Corbett than most people think.
Eco-Tourism
The overwhelming popularity of these National Parks is also becoming a big hazard. Ecotourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry, growing annually by 10-15% worldwide. “It is the practice of low-impact, educational, ecologically and culturally sensitive travel that benefits local communities and host countries"(Honey, 1999). However, many of the ecotourism projects are not meeting these standards completely.
Ecotourism channels resources away from other projects that could contribute more sustainable and realistic solutions to pressing social and environmental problems. The money tourism generates ties parks and managements to eco-tourism but there is a tension in this relationship because eco-tourism often causes conflict and changes in land-use rights, fails to deliver promises of community-level benefits, damages environments, and has plenty of other social impacts. If these issues are not tackled properly the adverse impacts may outweigh the medium-term economic benefits.
Therefore it becomes imperative for each one of us to act as responsible tourists during such wildlife excursions. We should be cautious when visiting such places- not make too much noise, litter the place or indulge in boisterous merry-making, etc, and realize our responsibility in contributing to a healthy tourism.
Local people- important stakeholders
The task of aligning interests of the local people with that of the Forest Department is one of the most challenging tasks. The locals view the park as having snatched away their livelihoods. They oppose these protected areas as this has meant a loss of their traditional economic and subsistence opportunities. Many were forced to give up their lands and were prevented from hunting and collecting firewood from the area. However, without the basic roti, kapda, and makaan, we cannot possibly expect these people to cooperate in these conservation efforts. Despite many provisions undertaken over the years to drive away such disaffection among the locals, inclusive development still remains a far cry.
In both the parks that we visited, we observed a disconnect between the local people and the Forest Department.
In Uttarakhand, 65% area is forested and 44% area is under forest cover. The local population wants employment and development, however considering the vast protected afforested tracts of land in this region this is not really possible. The government needs to realize this and provide them with appropriate compensation in return in some form or the other. The conservation efforts here essentially require the assistance and participation of these locals, they should not alienate them. They are important stakeholders in the process. We need to come up with models that are based on the complementarity between conservation efforts and livelihood generation.
These are not just far-fetched ideas. Such models do exist. Van Panchayats in India’s hilly state of Uttarakhand present a perfect example of government and citizens coming together for the management of natural resources. These autonomous local institutions have helped in preventing forest fires, illegal felling of trees and poaching, without compromising on the community's needs for timber and fodder.
The Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) constituted with an aim to involve local villagers for protection and management of forest play an important role in enriching the forests by preventing encroachment, forest fires, illicit cutting, smuggling of forest produce, poaching of wild animals and regulating grazing. Village micro-plans are prepared and JFMCs are entrusted the work of protection, management and development of jointly managed forests. The importance of JFMC programme can be gauged from the fact that these committees have raised plantations in about 1.58 million hectares in the country. Committee members have been able to meet their requirements for fodder, fuel-wood, small timber and minor forest products.
So such efforts are indeed practical and possible, they are not out of hand!
Forests- not just trees
Forests are a result of not just trees but also the different organisms that live in it and slowly form a symbiotic relationship with the flora. The major compartments for the storage of organic matter and nutrients within forest ecosystems are the living vegetation, forest floor, and soil. A large number of the decomposers and predators - mostly belonging to invertebrates, fungi, algae and bacteria - are present there. The forest floor is one of the richest components of the ecosystem from the standpoint of biodiversity.
So when we look at it this way, we realize that cutting down trees in one place and planting trees in some other place thus, compensating for the for the loss is an actually extremely juvenile way of dealing with the massive issue of deforestation. This is what most companies offer to do today and even call themselves eco-friendly and we happily accept it. The forest floor, a result of the symbiotic relationship of the flora and fauna, takes years to develop. It is this which serves as a bridge between the above-ground living vegetation and the soil, making it a crucial component in nutrient transfer.
Importance of Each Creature
Vultures form a vital part in the food chain. As scavengers they do the ‘cleaning up of society’, an important social work indeed!
We learnt that in late 1990’s, vulture population vanished due to the use of Diclofenac as a painkiller for cattle. The vulture population in the Indian subcontinent saw a 95% decline in 2003 and 99.9% decline as of 2008. Birds eating drug-infused carcasses suffered from kidney damage, increased serum uric acid concentrations.
There are huge ecological consequences of vulture declines. These include changes in community composition of scavengers at carcasses like increased populations of feral dogs and an increased potential for disease transmission between mammalian scavengers at carcasses; vultures' digestive systems are known to safely destroy many species of such pathogens. The resulting multiplication of feral dogs in India has also caused a multiplication of leopards feeding on those dogs and invading urban areas looking for dogs to prey on, resulting in occasional attacks on human children. There have been cultural and economic costs of vulture declines as well, particularly in Asia like on the Indian Zoroastrian Parsi who traditionally use vultures to dispose of human corpses in Towers of Silence, but are now compelled to seek alternate methods of disposal.
Each creature and organism is of utmost importance in our bio-diversity. Too much interference from our side, and we’ll only be expediting our own doom.
Surprisingly vultures whose number has dwindled in other parts of the country, had actually seen a rise in this particular area of Uttarakhand near Jim Corbett Park. It was a breathtaking sight to see the White-rumped vultures all around in the area with their nests propped up in every other tree.
An Experience worth remembering!
Sitting way past sunset in the national park in darkness waiting to catch a glimpse of the jackals, having the ‘ahaa’ moment of spotting extremely well-camouflaged birds (obviously due to the presence of experienced birders with us), breaking all records and getting up before the sunrise (!) for walks and safaris and having postponed our rendezvous with the king of the jungle.. we followed the exciting bloody trail left by the tiger due to his brunch of an elephant - we indeed had an incredible time. Safari, trekking, bird-watching, interacting with villagers and appreciating wildlife - I think I wouldn’t be incorrect if I said, we simply did it all!
Yamini Singh
B.A. (H) Economics, 2nd Year
I was extremely privileged to be a part of these two wildlife excursions and I don’t think I would be exaggerating if I said they were two of the highlights of my current academic year, literally a package of Edu-tainment - education sprinkled with lots of fun!
We did not just go to visit the park or spot the tiger but actually learnt about the nuances of a national park and studied the eco-system of that place. We had sessions with the Forest Directors of the respective National Parks which provided us with a completely fresh insight and gave us a first-hand account of what goes into managing a national park- the threats and challenges grappling the conservation efforts.
Preserving nature in all its diversity with minimum disturbance by human activities and protecting endangered species is a daunting task. Illegal trade in wildlife is the second biggest threat to species survival after habitat destruction. A lot of effort goes into protecting unique landscapes like Corbett than most people think.
Eco-Tourism
The overwhelming popularity of these National Parks is also becoming a big hazard. Ecotourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry, growing annually by 10-15% worldwide. “It is the practice of low-impact, educational, ecologically and culturally sensitive travel that benefits local communities and host countries"(Honey, 1999). However, many of the ecotourism projects are not meeting these standards completely.
Ecotourism channels resources away from other projects that could contribute more sustainable and realistic solutions to pressing social and environmental problems. The money tourism generates ties parks and managements to eco-tourism but there is a tension in this relationship because eco-tourism often causes conflict and changes in land-use rights, fails to deliver promises of community-level benefits, damages environments, and has plenty of other social impacts. If these issues are not tackled properly the adverse impacts may outweigh the medium-term economic benefits.
Therefore it becomes imperative for each one of us to act as responsible tourists during such wildlife excursions. We should be cautious when visiting such places- not make too much noise, litter the place or indulge in boisterous merry-making, etc, and realize our responsibility in contributing to a healthy tourism.
Local people- important stakeholders
The task of aligning interests of the local people with that of the Forest Department is one of the most challenging tasks. The locals view the park as having snatched away their livelihoods. They oppose these protected areas as this has meant a loss of their traditional economic and subsistence opportunities. Many were forced to give up their lands and were prevented from hunting and collecting firewood from the area. However, without the basic roti, kapda, and makaan, we cannot possibly expect these people to cooperate in these conservation efforts. Despite many provisions undertaken over the years to drive away such disaffection among the locals, inclusive development still remains a far cry.
In both the parks that we visited, we observed a disconnect between the local people and the Forest Department.
In Uttarakhand, 65% area is forested and 44% area is under forest cover. The local population wants employment and development, however considering the vast protected afforested tracts of land in this region this is not really possible. The government needs to realize this and provide them with appropriate compensation in return in some form or the other. The conservation efforts here essentially require the assistance and participation of these locals, they should not alienate them. They are important stakeholders in the process. We need to come up with models that are based on the complementarity between conservation efforts and livelihood generation.
These are not just far-fetched ideas. Such models do exist. Van Panchayats in India’s hilly state of Uttarakhand present a perfect example of government and citizens coming together for the management of natural resources. These autonomous local institutions have helped in preventing forest fires, illegal felling of trees and poaching, without compromising on the community's needs for timber and fodder.
The Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) constituted with an aim to involve local villagers for protection and management of forest play an important role in enriching the forests by preventing encroachment, forest fires, illicit cutting, smuggling of forest produce, poaching of wild animals and regulating grazing. Village micro-plans are prepared and JFMCs are entrusted the work of protection, management and development of jointly managed forests. The importance of JFMC programme can be gauged from the fact that these committees have raised plantations in about 1.58 million hectares in the country. Committee members have been able to meet their requirements for fodder, fuel-wood, small timber and minor forest products.
So such efforts are indeed practical and possible, they are not out of hand!
Forests- not just trees
Forests are a result of not just trees but also the different organisms that live in it and slowly form a symbiotic relationship with the flora. The major compartments for the storage of organic matter and nutrients within forest ecosystems are the living vegetation, forest floor, and soil. A large number of the decomposers and predators - mostly belonging to invertebrates, fungi, algae and bacteria - are present there. The forest floor is one of the richest components of the ecosystem from the standpoint of biodiversity.
So when we look at it this way, we realize that cutting down trees in one place and planting trees in some other place thus, compensating for the for the loss is an actually extremely juvenile way of dealing with the massive issue of deforestation. This is what most companies offer to do today and even call themselves eco-friendly and we happily accept it. The forest floor, a result of the symbiotic relationship of the flora and fauna, takes years to develop. It is this which serves as a bridge between the above-ground living vegetation and the soil, making it a crucial component in nutrient transfer.
Importance of Each Creature
Vultures form a vital part in the food chain. As scavengers they do the ‘cleaning up of society’, an important social work indeed!
We learnt that in late 1990’s, vulture population vanished due to the use of Diclofenac as a painkiller for cattle. The vulture population in the Indian subcontinent saw a 95% decline in 2003 and 99.9% decline as of 2008. Birds eating drug-infused carcasses suffered from kidney damage, increased serum uric acid concentrations.
There are huge ecological consequences of vulture declines. These include changes in community composition of scavengers at carcasses like increased populations of feral dogs and an increased potential for disease transmission between mammalian scavengers at carcasses; vultures' digestive systems are known to safely destroy many species of such pathogens. The resulting multiplication of feral dogs in India has also caused a multiplication of leopards feeding on those dogs and invading urban areas looking for dogs to prey on, resulting in occasional attacks on human children. There have been cultural and economic costs of vulture declines as well, particularly in Asia like on the Indian Zoroastrian Parsi who traditionally use vultures to dispose of human corpses in Towers of Silence, but are now compelled to seek alternate methods of disposal.
Each creature and organism is of utmost importance in our bio-diversity. Too much interference from our side, and we’ll only be expediting our own doom.
Surprisingly vultures whose number has dwindled in other parts of the country, had actually seen a rise in this particular area of Uttarakhand near Jim Corbett Park. It was a breathtaking sight to see the White-rumped vultures all around in the area with their nests propped up in every other tree.
An Experience worth remembering!
Sitting way past sunset in the national park in darkness waiting to catch a glimpse of the jackals, having the ‘ahaa’ moment of spotting extremely well-camouflaged birds (obviously due to the presence of experienced birders with us), breaking all records and getting up before the sunrise (!) for walks and safaris and having postponed our rendezvous with the king of the jungle.. we followed the exciting bloody trail left by the tiger due to his brunch of an elephant - we indeed had an incredible time. Safari, trekking, bird-watching, interacting with villagers and appreciating wildlife - I think I wouldn’t be incorrect if I said, we simply did it all!
Yamini Singh
B.A. (H) Economics, 2nd Year