The Vanishing author Prerna Singh Bindra tries to turn the spotlight on the dwindling wildlife population during a conversation with Aakriti Narang
Wildlife activist Prerna Singh Bindra’s latest book The Vanishing doesn’t discuss the superpower of invisibility. Rather the book’s title is an indication of the current state of wildlife in India. She says that shockingly, one in five species faces extinction. Global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles have declined by an astounding 58 per cent in the four decades spanning 1970 to 2012 as per WWF’s living Planet report. Worldwide, it is believed that amphibians are at the greatest risk of extinction.
The Vanishing represents the work of a lifetime, according to Bindra. During the time it took her to write this book, she visited the remotest of forests from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand that lie in the red corridor, to those in the north-east like Manas Tiger Reserve and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in Assam. She has been to Dachigam National Park in Kashmir and the cold desert in ladakh. She has visited the Desert National Park in Rajasthan, and many forests along the Western Ghats, including Mhadei in Goa, Bhadra in Karnataka, Annamalais in Tamil Nadu, Periyar in Kerala and of course, the incredible Terai forests in Uttarakhand.
“If we look at the charismatic mega fauna, what immediately comes to mind are species like the Great Indian Bustard of which only about a 100 survive. These are to be found mainly in Rajasthan, with a few in Gujarat. Equally endangered is the hangul, a species of deer found only in Dachigam National Park in Kashmir. Wolf populations are falling rapidly too, as their habitat, grasslands, is being destroyed ruthlessly. Aquatic species like the crocodile and gharial are vulnerable as rivers are choked and sullied by filth. The Gangetic dolphin has dwindled to a mere 2,000,” the author tells us.
It’s not just about the numbers, though. The Olive Ridley turtles nest in thousands or even lakhs but their nesting sites are shrinking in number. Similarly, even though the flamingo population is not falling yet, their only nesting site in the Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary is threatened by road construction and excessive influx of water from canals which is damaging the delicate aquatic ecosystem these birds depend on.
The extinction of a species has a huge impact on our lives. Bindra says, “Humans are not dissociated from extinction.” There has been a catastrophic global decline in bee populations due to extensive use of pesticides and herbicides. “Bees were once a common sight in gardens but not anymore. The apple farmers of Himachal Pradesh rent out bees to pollinate their crops since the wild bees have vanished. And that which is killing the bees, namely pesticides, is slow poison for us as well.”
The second example she gives is that of vultures. The population of vultures is near extinction; the birds have crashed down by an astounding 97–99 per cent in a matter of years and this has caused a health crisis. Vultures are very efficient scavengers and their dramatic decline has created a vacuum because of which millions of carcasses are left rotting. “This increases the possibility of the spread of zoonotic diseases such as anthrax. Other scavengers such as rats and feral dogs have moved in but the vultures’ metabolism is a true ‘dead-end’ for pathogens. Dogs and rats become carriers of the pathogens and spread disease. The loss of vultures has coincided with an increase in the dog population and has partially led to the increase of rabies cases in India,” she explains.
Bindra says in the book that India has done a remarkable job in conservation. It has pioneered initiatives to protect tigers and other rare species. According to Bindra, “In India predators like tigers and leopards, and megafauna such as elephants and bears, continue to persist among
a human population of 1.3 billion, which is about 17 per cent of the world population, all contained in just over two per cent of the global land mass.” India is also the custodian of species that are extinct or found only in very low numbers elsewhere. Over 80 per cent of the global population of Gangetic
dolphins inhabit the Ganga –Meghna–Brahmaputra river basin. Bindra informs us that contrary to India, “Europe has lost most of its predators and megafuana, such as the wolf and the lynx that are now extinct in Britain. In the 19th century, India lost just one big mammal, the Asiatic cheetah, which went extinct in 1947, and birds like the pink-headed duck and the mountain quail.”
Nonetheless, she firmly believes that “India’s wildlife is in a crisis today. It is being poached ruthlessly to feed the illegal wildlife trade. More worryingly, there is a severe absence of political will to conserve wildlife.”
The underlying message that the book is trying to convey is of hope. Bindra says, “The idea of the book is to shake people up and to get a dialogue going. Despite its incredible wealth of wildlife, India’s current status is precarious.” There is a need to mainstream conservation. “Every educational institution must teach ecology and wildlife. This will make the crisis of wildlife extinction change from an unacknowledged crisis to an acknowledged one,” she concludes.
Bindra’s early years influenced her interest in wild life. A shy child, she usually had her nose buried in her books, preferably in the crook of a tree in the company of birds, squirrels or an occasional mongoose. “As I grew older, I explored the wetlands and woods in the neighbourhood, as well as Gir and Narayan Sarovar sanctuaries. I was also deeply influenced by books by James Herriot, who wrote on his patients who were dogs and cats and cattle alike, and Gerald Durrell to M Krishnan. Rachel Carson’s seminal work Silent Spring showed for the first time the perils of industrial agriculture and how they harm us.”