From giving protection to elephant corridors to curbing tourism in core areas, the Centre is going all-out to save the wildlife. But in conservationist and author BittuSahgal's words, it's not enough, as long as the policymakers think protecting wildlife is a luxury. From the Sunderbans, which according to him is a sinking ship in an era of climate change, to the road ahead for tiger conservation in India, Sahgal shares his views in a candid conversation with KrishnenduMukherjee.
Q. Halfway into the year, and already 54 tiger deaths have been reported in India with 25 poaching cases. Where exactly is tiger conservation heading?
At this moment, tiger is sinking like a stone in water. Some habitats are doing well, but the ones outside the protected areas are shrinking. The greatest threat for tigers now is the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). In its desire to prove its economic success, the policymakers are destroying tiger habitats which supply water, the lifeline, to us.
Q Habitat destruction and poaching, tigers are facing a double-barrelled attack. Your take.
At $20-30 billion, trading in tiger and other wild animals' body parts is the fourth largest illegal trade in the world. And the home ministry is sleeping. Saving tiger is a luxury for them. Budget for wildlife protection is being slashed. The decision makers are starving the protection agencies of funds. Instead of protecting the infrastructure of survival, these are being converted into infrastructure of short-term commerce.
Q. Your views on impact of climate change and man-animal conflict in the Sunderbans, where population density is at an alarming 1474 persons per square kilometre?
Rising sea, salinity and cyclones have wreaked havoc on the mangroves. Man-animal conflict will only rise in the days ahead. It's time, we should start organized migration away from the Sunderbans. With a 3-mm rise in sea level annually, there's less land available every year in the Sunderbans. So, people will be forced to move. The administration should assess the risk now and focus on organized migration from the mangroves. Sunderbans destines to be the arena of the largest outward migration of humans in the history.
Q. How will a coal-fired power plant near Bangladesh Sunderbans, barely 60km from the Indo-Bangla border, hit the biodiversity here?
There's nothing called India or Bangladesh Sunderbans. The tiger, birds or crocodiles don't recognize it. The power plant, for which the coal will be supplied from here, is in the interest of Bangladesh and India to unite. May be, the policymakers of both the nations are hoping for the best, but they should prepare for the worst.
Q. Amid talks of GDP and growth rate, do you think bio-diversity and nature can co-exist ever?
All economies are sitting on a bedrock of ecology. You shake the ecology and the economy will collapse. The climate change is only a symptom. The disease is, we have raged a war against nature. India should understand this fast.
