In the recent times, there have been many challenges in managing the wildlife. A fresh innovative approach is required to manage the life on the planet

India supports a great variety of wildlife though it has only 2.2 per cent of the world’s geographic area. It has more than 7% of the world’s mammal population and around 12.5 per cent of the Bird population. We have around 92,000 species of faunal biodiversity of which insects are alone more than 61,000 species. There are still huge numbers of faunas yet to be discovered and listed. Indian forests are thus unmatched in the variety of wildlife and the recent introduction of the Cheetah (which went extinct in the early fifties due to indiscriminate hunting) from Africa last year completes the uniqueness of our variety in wildlife as no country has the same amount of rich variety both in terms of flora and fauna.

India have the majestic lions, tigers, leopards and elephants, gaurs, and rhinoceros as the gigantic wild sheep of the Himalayas, the swamp deer, the spotted deer,  the four-horned antelope, the Indian antelope or black-buck. we have crocodiles and gharials and dolphins. In the desert area, we have the great Indian bustard and snow leopard in cold desert areas to mention the richness of our wildlife. 

This variety of richness in our wildlife is primarily due to the diverse landscapes and rich natural forests found in different agro-climatic conditions and the role played by the strength of our civilization, religious beliefs and culture which recognizes the right of life for all animals and plants so much so that majority of Gods in Hindu religions are associated with animals in one form or the other. The protection and conservation of wildlife was given due importance despite the rising population leading to the stabilization of the life support systems in ecosystems in the wild.

For protection and conservation, we have the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Indian Forest Act 1927, Forest Conservation Act 1980 and the Environment Protection Act 1986. India has a network of 998 Protected Areas including 106 National Parks, 567 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 105 Conservation Reserves and 220 Community Reserves covering a total of 1,736 million ha of the geographical area of the country constituting approximately 5.28% of the geographic area. Notwithstanding this positive framework of success and management, there have been increasing conflicts and serious management challenges reported which need to be tackled for better future management and stability of life-sustaining resources. 

However, no organizations or systems can live on their laurels and the Indian Forests and wildlife conservation is also at a cross road now amid threat from climate change, smugglers and poachers, unregulated tourism, site-specific deforestation, population pressure and demand for land for developmental purposes, particularly for mining as the forest and mineral map of India overlap. 

Classical forest management does not stand manipulation. However the habitat management has replaced it which lays more stress on micro and macro habitat management for all kinds of flora and fauna in a given piece of forest land.

In the past, all good foresters and wildlife managers were the best territorial habitat managers who evolved the management environment for each animal like Tigers or Elephants or all kinds of predatory or prey animals.

 As time passed forester’s jobs increased and there was a need for more specialization and diversification of activities. Now foresters need to shift focus from big cats and elephants to other wild forms like beetles, butterflies etc to conserve and use theses genetic resources for our health and other benefits.

Since now there is more diversification in the forest department’s job profile, we need to do justice to the different wings we have created. It needs money along with the will to do so. But with little planning forest have enough that can be used for its own sustainability. For example, Europe and other Western nations like the USA have been selling their landscape beauty efficiently to garner jobs as well as revenue through tourism activities. In India, though we have diverse landscape and unmatched beauty, we are yet to achieve anything substantial to market our landscape beauty and the variety of wildlife though there are a few good examples of Eco-tourism sites like Jungle and Lodges Corporation in Karnataka and a few wildlife spots like Kanha, Corbett etc. but a lot is desired to be done.

Then there is a need to promote agro-forestry in a big way so that we not only meet the national target of achieving forest and tree cover over 33 per cent of our landmass and also meet the international commitments of mitigation of Climate change in bringing more areas under tree cover. Similarly, ecotourism and medicinal plants have a vast potential for rural income generation especially for enhancing the income of farmers.

The forest administration controls over 23 % of our geographic area and we need to meet the targets of environmental conservation along with generating income for the local forest-dependent rural people/ tribal as well as for the government. There is a need to review the functioning of the forest and wildlife sector with an open mind and take bold steps for reforms. The Indian Forest Service (IFS) should be revamped and the forest officers should be trusted and given full responsibility at the policy levels to man the forestry sector activities.

At the government of India level, the Forest and Wildlife Secretary should be an IFS officer by designating DG Forests as Secretary. This is a long pending decision buried in the files and the Prime Minister needs to take initiative for this. There should be six wings at the Centre as well as in the States i.e. Forest, Wildlife, Tribal interface, Agro-forestry, Ecotourism and Non-Timber Forest Products to focus on each segment to generate wealth and strengthen ecosystems.

These suggestion may look radical but it is the need of the time. If implemented with perseverance, decisive thrust at the top level and in a planned manner the results will be great.

In bureaucracy, indecisiveness prevails which hampers the innovative approach.

A classic example is the failure of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) to meet the objectives for which it was created with great fanfare by Mr TN Seshan a visionary Secretary. It is yet to be converted as a department on the pattern of ICAR and CSIR as envisaged in the Cabinet approval in 1991.  

(The writer is the former Director-General of ICFRE, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change)