The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) decided to proclaim March 3, the day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, as “World Wildlife Day”. This year, the day’s theme is “Sustaining all life on earth."
Wildlife plays an important role in balancing the environment. It provides stability to different natural processes of nature. The importance of wildlife can be categorized as ecological importance, economic importance, investigatory importance and conservation of biological diversities etc.
Many nations have established their tourism sector around their natural wildlife. South Africa has, for example, many opportunities for tourists to see the country's wildlife in its national parks, such as the Kruger Park. In South India, the Periar Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary are situated in and around forests. India is home to many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries showing the diversity of its wildlife and much of its unique fauna. There are 89 national parks, 13 bio reserves and more than 400 wildlife sanctuaries across India which are the best places to go to see Bengal tigers, Asiatic lions, Indian elephants, Indian rhinoceroses, birds, and other wildlife which reflect the importance that the country places on nature and wildlife conservation.
India is home to a large number and variety of animals. It is a hot spot for biodiversity with its various ecosystems ranging from the Himalayas in the north to the evergreen rain-forest of the south, the desert sands of the west to the marshy mangroves of the east.
India, lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, is home to about 7.6 per cent of all mammalian, 14.7 per cent of all amphibian, 6 per cent of avian (bird), 6.2 per cent of reptilian, and 6.0 percent of flowering plant species. The exploitation of land and forest resources by humans along with capturing and trapping for food and sport has led to the extinction of many species in India in recent times. These species include mammals such as the Asiatic cheetah, wild zebu, Indian Javan rhinoceros, and Northern Sumatran rhinoceros.
Some species of birds have gone extinct in recent times. The Indian Government has established eighteen biosphere reserves of India which protect larger areas of natural habitat and often include one or more national parks and/or reserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses.
Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. Need of the hour is sustainable wildlife management.
Sustainable wildlife management refers to the sound management of wildlife species to sustain their populations and habitat over time, considering the socio-economic needs of human populations.
(Dr Senapati is Dean Science, BPUT, Professor and Head Dept of Chemistry, Trident Academy of Technology, Bhubaneswar)