The first indications from the new Government on environment are ominous. Industry and India Inc have been reassured that green clearances will not be a ‘hurdle', but there has been little credible assurance on environment
A new Government and a new Environment, Forests & Climate Change Minister in place has ushered in a new era, bringing with it, its own set of ideologies, values, priorities.
And yes…promise and hope. The initial rumblings for the environment, however, are ominous. Industry and India Inc has been reassured that green clearances will not be a ‘hurdle’, but there has been little assurance for conservation. Yes, we did hear that development and environment conservation will go together, but this is frankly unconvincing, with no roadmap or concrete steps to back the statement. Worryingly, a list of infrastructure projects for swift nods has been identified and these include thermal power and mining projects in dense and wildlife-rich forests of Chhattisgarh, and the very fragile zone of Andaman & Nicobar islands and the Konkan belt.
There have also been statements that defence projects will take priority over environment. Understandable, India’s security is paramount (though defence projects have rarely been rejected). Equally important is India’s water and ecological security, which will be lost if we destroy and pillage the Himalayas. It is Asia’s water towers which perform a vital ecosystem service, feeding the great rivers of the subcontinent which are the backbone of agriculture in the region. Any development here must scientifically evaluate and consider impacts and consequences not just on livelihood, but of the fragility of the planet’s youngest mountain range.
This columnist has said it often enough, but it merits repeating that there can be no growth without a strong ecological foundation — forests that nurture and nourish rivers and soils, replenish groundwater, influence monsoons, stabilise climate. We cannot have growth with an ailing population. Pollution is already crippling us with cancers afflicting high pesticide belts, air pollution killing no less than two million annually and water-borne diseases taking a heavy toll. China, which we look to emulate, has realised — largely due to public outage at the deteriorating environment — the grave consequences of blinkered growth, and has now drastically modified its law to make environment protection its basic policy, with a tough stance against industrial polluters and making bureaucracy accountable for green violations.
Though China emerged as a major industrial power, the environmental degradation it caused is catastrophic, causing a major long-term financial burden on the country, and its population bearing the burden of disease. To give an idea, according to their Ministry of Health, pollution has made cancer as China’s leading cause of death; only one per cent of its city dwellers breathe safe air and many species have been pushed to the brink including the much revered baiji, a river dolphin, exterminated largely due to the pollution and damming of China’s lifeline, the river Yangtze.
China’s biggest achievement has become its biggest problem. For China, some reckon, it’s almost too late, but we in India still have time on our side, but only just. We are increasingly embarking, nay hurtling, on the same path, disregarding protectionist green laws that safeguard the environment, thereby negating growth. Environmental damage costs our GDP 5.7 per cent annually.
We hope the new Government will give us growth that safeguards our environment and forests so that India and its future generations have a healthy future, clean air and water.
These are early days yet, and it’s perhaps too soon to judge which way the wind will blow. Besides mandatory environment and forest safeguards for the growth agenda, we are looking forward to the Government to take many proactive and positive measures. let’s start with the new nomenclature of the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change — it conveys that the Government will give climate change its due significance. More importantly, one hopes that the crucial link between forests and climate change will be once and for all established, accepted and taken action on. Forests sequester and store carbon — nearly 300 billion tonnes — that would otherwise contribute to climate change. When we cut, degrade and destroy forests this carbon is released into the atmosphere. Deforestation is a major cause for global warming, accounting for upwards of 18 per cent of global emissions. Conserving old forests and avoiding deforestation, concluded the Stern Review report on the Economics of Climate Change, is a highly cost-effective option to mitigate climate change.
The biggest contribution, therefore, toward protecting India from impacts of climate change is conserving forests, wetlands, mangroves, and rivers which will take the heat of global warming. Afforestation and ‘Green India’ programmes which divert and waste huge amounts from the public exchequer achieve nothing and must be scrapped. They are simply lucrative schemes that encourage mono-cultures with little or no biodiversity value and have less than 10 per cent success.
The one key step for wildlife conservation is to enable through adequate funding the fair and voluntary relocation of people from tiger reserves and other important wildlife habitats. It has been scientifically established that tigers and other wide ranging animals like elephants or even critically-endangered wildlife like the hanguls and the bustard need inviolate spaces to breed and maintain viable populations. Also, people living deep within remote forests and sanctuaries are desperate to move out. A few examples being Corbett, lansdowne (Uttarakhand), Anshi-Dandeli (Karnataka), Satkosia (Odisha), Nagzira-Bor (Maharashtra), Wayanad (Kerala), Kudremukh (Karnataka), Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu), Forest dwellers have petitioned Governments and even courts seeking speedy voluntary relocation. Relocation offers access to basic amenities and the opportunity of a better quality of life and livelihood to marginalised communities in remote forests and provides them relief from constant human-wildlife conflict that they bear the brunt of.
Another must-do for the Government is to prioritise conservation of the Asiatic elephant, revered as Ganesha, but currently very vulnerable with vanishing, fragmented habitats, severe conflict with humans and poachers. A first step will be to have an empowered National Elephant Conservation Authority along the lines of that for the tiger.
Another important task is to revitalise the recovery programme for critically endangered species such as Great Indian Bustard, floricans, hanguls. Unless we take urgent action these species will go extinct in the immediate future.
The Modi-led Government in Gujarat did an excellent job of cracking down on poaching of the Asiatic lion, so there are great expectations that it will take on board the scale and gravity of wildlife crime, which is globally second only to arms and drugs, finances, insurgency and terrorism. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau needs to be empowered along the lines of the Narcotics Control Bureau. On another front, we need to empower, enable and equip the frontline forest staffs who are our first line of defence to protect tigers and other endangered wildlife. They are our green army and India needs to back and support them in their task.
last but not the least, we need to build institutions. Why is it that with India being the top biodiversity country in the world, youths seek their education from foreign shoresIJ We have excellent but very few institutes for wildlife scientists and given the scope and increasing challenges in these fields, we need to establish not just more of these, but also institutions in varied disciplines concerning the conservation of our natural heritage. Equally, there are tremendous opportunities for jobs in the environment and conservation sector and at all levels. Consider the fact that we lack proper systems to assess and monitor environment and wildlife impacts of projects. Building skills in this sector is just one way not only to create jobs in this sector, but has the potential to ensure that impacts to environment are minimal in damaging development projects.
Avenues and opportunities exist, as India stands at a crossroads. We can either wear blinkers to carry on with business as usual, or have the vision of a healthy, safe India for future generations.
(The writer is trustee, ‘Bagh’, member, State Board for Wildlife, Uttarakhand, and a former member of the National Board for Wildlife)