World Wildlife Day, A Day Not Just For Commemoration But To Listen The Voice From The Woods
By D N Singh
“The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Those were a few words which have been proved like a gospel truth and this is also a fact, almost, which has already been late.
Scheduling our thoughts and actions to a day in the calendar is more symbolic and it really does not flip the shocking reality that, there are 22,000 endangered and critically endangered species found in the IUCN’s Red list.
The wildlife has suffered a loss and damage that no humanity can ever reconstruct and once it is gone, it is gone for ever. That is the situation the eco-diversity has come to and perhaps, it is so late for any quick recovery.
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” – Frank Lloyd Wright had penned the emotional lines way back. But we have somehow failed the nature.
Glaciers have started melting, oceans keep swelling up under the pressure of heat, and there is no calculus to measure how many million acres of forest cover have just disappeared.
A state like Odisha which was one of the safest home for the flora and fauna once, in 2010, had a 1.85 M Hectares of natural forest, extending over 12% of its area and in 2020 the state lost 8.59 lakh hectares of natural forest, which according to science of environment pollution, equivalent to 3.75 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions.
Global trade in illegal wildlife is a growing illicit economy hence protecting wildlife against illegal hunting, poaching and trafficking should be kept an eye upon as it poses a major threat to many species on the brink of extinction.
On an average , the states wildlife habitats lose a significant number of wildlife population consisting of signature species like wild elephants, tigers and myriad along with others which are critically endangered.
Time and the pace of urban life has muted these species. Like Martin Buber scribbled in his notes that, “an animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” But we have perhaps failed to read their eyes in the middle of the blinding pursuits behind urbanisation.
In India, there had been numerous efforts at Conservation yet the accompanying or the surrounding environments have never been conducive for a long time.
In 1972, the Project Tiger was initiated aiming at not only conservation of the tiger but the entire eco-system there in. About 53 tiger reserves are situated in more than 17 regions including Corbett National Park and Ranthambore National Park which conduct several assessments of a number of tigers, their habitat, hunting habits under the supervision of the Tiger Task Force.
Subsequent efforts made cannot be denied the credit like the government of India initiated Project Elephant in 1992 for conserving elephants and their habitat. They also focused to develop migratory routes with the help of scientific and planned management measures. This project also highlights the welfare of the domestic elephants and considers the issues like mitigation of human-elephant conflict.
But it has not been a success as yet amid the uncontrolled industrialisation engulfing the forest cover not only in states like Odisha but elsewhere in India.
What lacks, is the right prescription coupled with the continuations of the efforts supported by a practical and holistic balance between the both, the development and eco-diversity which has grown to be a stupendous task with time passing.
