Belinda Wright interview in The Statesman

[Guest guest]

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http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=4 & theme= & usrsess=1 & id=186586*

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*'India must wake up to tiger crisis' *

 

Known as one of India's leading wildlife conservationists, Belinda Wright

has been the public face of tiger protection in the country. Born in

Kolkata in 1953, Ms Wright has spent her entire life in India working on a

gamut of wildlife issues. She was brought up in a house full of unusual

animals, including a tiger cub and a leopard, which possibly set the stage

for her life-long passion for nature and wildlife ~ particularly for wild

tigers.

In 1994, Ms Wright founded the Wildlife Protection Society of India

(WPSI) with the avowed objective to " bring a new focus to the daunting task

of tackling India's growing wildlife crisis " by providing support and

information to government authorities, including state forest and police

officials, to combat poaching and the escalating illegal trade in wildlife.

Ms Wright is the executive director of WPSI. One of the country's respected

and effective wildlife conservation voluntary organisations, the WPSI has

now broadened its ambit to deal with human-animal conflicts.

Assisted by a team of committed environmentalists, Ms Wright has been

responsible for hundreds of seizures and raids on poaching gangs dealing in

body parts of tigers and other endangered wildlife animals. She travels the

length and breadth of India to support conservation efforts and help enforce

the law, often going undercover, in the battle against wildlife crime.

As part of her endeavour, she has even literally stared down the barrel of a

gun in order to help curb the trade in tiger skin and bones.

Before founding the WPSI, Ms Wright was an award-winning filmmaker and

photographer. In 1985, she won two Emmy Awards and 14 other major

international awards for her National Geographic film Land of the Tiger. To

shoot this film, she spent more than two years pursuing the secret lives of

wild tigers in Kanha and Ranthambore tiger reserves.

She has co-authored five books, including Through the Tiger's Eyes: A

Chronicle of India's Wildlife. Her photographs and writings have appeared in

books, exhibitions, magazines and scientific journals throughout the world.

In a freewheeling interview with MAUSAM SHARMA, Ms Wright highlights the

grave tiger crisis gripping India ~ which was exemplified by the vanishing

of all tigers from the Sariska tiger reserve a couple of years ago. Striking

a grim note, Ms Wright warns that it might be too late if India still does

not wake up to the tiger and wildlife crises engulfing it, stressing that

the country must put its act together to avert such a disaster.

 

Excerpts:

 

How do you assess the decline in animal population in the wild?

Well, I think it is more a question of an alarming habitat decline. Since

India's Independence the country's forest cover has drastically fallen and

obviously you can't have wildlife if you don't have the habitat. Another

problem is that much of the habitat known as forest land is heavily

degraded, mostly from human activity, including grazing, wood collection,

etc., other than minor forest produce collection.

Encroachment and poor quality of habitat are leading to diminishing prey

species. And without habitat and prey species, you of course cannot have

animals like the tigers. The tiger really is a symbol of our forests but a

tiger is not a difficult animal to save or protect. It needs ample space to

live in, water and good prey species as food. But even these three elements

are scarce now. The degraded and diminished habitat affects all wildlife.

Not only big animals, but small ones too. And then ultimately this affects

the quality of our life. Because, if you don't have insects or bats or

pollenisation, life cycle is disturbed. With forests being cut down, the

source of our water is also getting affected and that would also become a

critical issue.

 

What is your analysis of challenges facing the tiger habitats?

With escalating population and scarce land, people, particularly our

political masters, now look around for unused land and tiger habitat is

always eyed. Historically, the best lands, including the flat lands and

fertile valleys, were turned over to agriculture. The more difficult

landscape, with gorges and hills and impenetrable forest, were set aside as

sanctuaries and national parks, many of which became tiger reserves. These

have obviously been blessed with natural resources. That opens the door to a

variety of human intervention, the biggest of which would be mining,

construction of dams; but also if a highway, electricity are to be put

through, the first thing would be them.

So, the tiger habitat is constantly being encroached upon. Even though there

is law to curb that, people find a way round it. The lesson that is never

learnt is that these are not just useless land and are too precious a

natural resource to be frittered away. A combination of influential people,

including politicians and bureaucrats, is bent on doing it. Not every time

is it for personal gains as often it becomes just a question of convenience.

If you put a dam where there is a town, you may have to deal with the

opposition of a lot of people, but if you have to put a dam in a tiger

habitat, then tigers don't talk, they don't have a vote, they don't have

bags of money, so they are very easy to deal with.

 

How effective have various government policies, laws and schemes been in

tiger conservation? Where did they fail and how can the loopholes be

plugged?

India has fantastic forest laws and conservation policies, including the

Wildlife Protection Act. As pieces of legislation, for the most part they

are excellent. The problem is they are not effectively implemented. And yes

the government has amended them so may times. They don't have loopholes, but

sometimes it's lack of knowledge on the part of officials as well as the

judiciary, of the people entrusted with the job of implementing them. On

paper, however, no problem exists. They have not proved effective because

their attempts have been half-hearted.

Now the tribal forest rights law is coming into force. Nobody really knows

how huge its impact would be on India's wildlife. But as a conservationist,

I can only presume that its effect would be bigger and deeper than any other

legislation in India since it gives land rights to people saying that would

be good for wildlife.

I think 20 years ago, yes, it might have been, but in this age when people

want to move forward they don't want to be stuck in the jungle, lands they

cannot till… it is not appropriate. Most conservationists in India are

extremely concerned about its fall-out that has to be seen. This has been

debated and discussed right up to the prime ministerial level in great

detail, but ultimately it's a matter of votes, and tiger and other wildlife

have to take a back seats.

The onus is really on people who created the Act and felt it was not

necessary to exclude India's national park and wildlife sanctuaries.

If you ask the ministry, loopholes can be plugged by another amendment. But

I believe that good training and knowledge of the law would make them

sufficient, provided the wildlife legislation is not overruled by people's

legislation.

 

How does India measure with the rest of the world on the conservation front?

 

Fortunately, India has a long history of conservation and this goes back to

the Mauryan empire when forest guards were appointed to protect these areas.

So, thanks to this great history of forest conservation, India has a fair

amount of wildlife left. We have almost 60 per cent of the wild tiger

population in the world. But I believe that we don't really value our

amazing natural, national heritage, which is distressing.

India's wild tiger population is certainly the most important in the world.

There are tigers in 13 other countries, with small populations. In China

there are hardly any tigers left. Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh have important

tiger populations but nothing as compared to India. The rest of the world is

extremely concerned about India's tigers, but, broadly, there is silence in

India. The media has done an amazing job covering tiger stories but the

public at large and political leaders are lacking in their initiatives.

 

How do you evaluate the performance of the Tiger Task Force?

The Tiger Task Force was set up by the Prime Minister to look into all these

things, it does not exist any more as it was a time-bound exercise. But it

produced a report on the issue of tiger conservation in India. Where, I

think, it let the tigers down was that, for the first time, it brought up an

argument that had not been expressed before ~ tigers versus people.

In India, people for centuries have spent their lives with the tigers, not

always on very good terms, but for better or worse, it was a way of life.

The Task Force created this new dragon that people must come first and this

was like people versus tiger. Its report says that tigers need a lot of

space, habitats, but then there is a big gap… which is, what about the

people who must come first.

I think there is a place for people and for tigers. And it's our

responsibility to make sure that the tiger has an empire, place and space in

the future of India. That is where we have all failed.

Basically tigers and humans can't live in harmony, they can live in respect.

People need space and tigers also need space. The problem is the country's

ever burgeoning population. And even if we cut every tree, remove every park

and national wildlife sanctuary in India to let people move in, it still

wouldn't be enough. Now, our important wildlife areas, including critical

tiger habitats, should be like temples or mosques. They should be so sacred

that we do not harm them. Because they are something we have to leave for

our children and future generations and that is where we have failed.

 

What is your prescription to save tigers?

Saving the tigers is no big deal. The problems and solutions are

well-documented. Tigers are also prolific breeders providing they get space,

food and water. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.

But, unfortunately, we have not been able to work out a way where these

basic needs are provided for this magnificent animal. It includes a will,

better resources, training and facilities for forest guards; it requires

trained professionals working with local communities so that they benefit

from the protection of these areas.

After all these years, the National Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been

set up to protect the tiger and curb the trade in its body parts. But, I

think it is only on paper yet. It does not have police officers, its phone

number doesn't ring. I am a very optimistic person, but I am afraid, I am

not so about such an ineffective bureau or, for that matter, the question of

saving the tigers. Which means that people like me have also failed. All

these years what we have managed to achieve is that tigers no longer die in

pain. At least people know what the problem is. Why they are being killed?

But we can't stop the problem.

 

How can people at large be involved in conserving wildlife?

People in India, because of its culture and history, have a sort of national

interest in nature. But in this age of Indian development, this is being

crushed so that it hasn't flowered. Because if we had a very public response

to the wildlife problems, then we would have found the way through. India is

developing quite fast and people barely have time for any other activity

now. So even though there might be seriousness of interest, that seed has

never been allowed to germinate. And we, the conservationists, have also

failed there and I don't know why. Some of my colleagues say there is a new

way forward we have to look at… people benefiting from the habitats left.

I think the children of India are very interested in this subject but in ten

years time when they are in a position to make the real difference, it will

be too late.

 

(The interviewer is a Staff Reporter with The Statesman, New Delhi.)