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Bindi Sue Irwin is an Australian television personality, conservationist, zookeeper, and actress. She is the elder of the two children of the late conservationist and television personality Steve Irwin and his conservationist wife, Terri Irwin, who is currently the owner of Australia Zoo. And no wonder with such background she can dream about the future full of wildlife for her next generation but unless we all join hands for the cause & right way, this dream will be just a dream for sure! Yet there are people like Bindi & that’s why the hope for the future of the wildlife is still alive in the minds of wild lifers like myself! In one such initiative which is join effort of Jungle Belles (Aarti karve & hemangi vartak venture) for creating awareness about wildlife in urban women, Vinod bartakke, an IT professional who has dedicated now his life for wildlife & Anuj Khare of Nature Walk joined hands to make a wonderful film about wildlife around Pune, Maharashtra. The film was financially supported (very important aspect) by Mr Satish Magar of Magarpatta city dev & none other than Hon Sharad Pawar, MP, Pune, announced the launching of the same on youtube! During the event we came across Mr Maninder Gill, IAS, who is at present working with World Bank on its Environment & Social wing & to our delight asked us about what more can be done for conservation for wildlife especially around urban cities like Pune!
Here is what we shared with him, though this is my version & inputs has been given by Vinod, Anuj, Hemangi & Aarti. The version which Jungle Belles has sent to Mr Gill is more refined & professional & that’s obvious considering the official position he holds! I myself happened to play some part in making of Wild Wild Pune as a script writer & adviser, so I am thinking of penning down my views about wildlife conservation proposals as why just the World Bank, anybody here can come forward & play his or her role in it, is what I feel, here we go!
Sustainable Wildlife Conservation:
We all speak about wildlife & mostly everybody agrees something has to be done, but what, how & who are the three questions where the trail ends, is what mostly happens! Here is a small effort to make people know that the right approach with a holistic thought process can answer all above three questions about wildlife conservation & Jungle Belles is happy to provide & work on the solution rather than succumbing to these questions! We suggest that the solutions which we will applying to two pilot locations, one is at Kadbanwadi, a grassland habitat near Pune, Maharashtra & another is Jununa Buffer gate of the famous Tadoba tiger reserve, Maharashtra as there has to be a scale to measure the outcome of our solutions & above two can be case study for the same as later we can make replicas of the same as well it will help us in understanding lacunas also in the solutions. We need to understand that wildlife conservation is not some engineering formula which can be cut pasted from google or worked in some R & D lab, it has to be studied at ground & needs to be tested with trial & error, though for that also on paper a system must be in place with proper study of the onsite situation!
We have identified three verticals of the wildlife conservation aspect; one is awareness & education. Second is, comfortable coexistence of man & wild animals i.e., avoiding conflicts by accident or by purpose. Third is strengthening the infrastructure for the protection. I don’t say this is a perfect plan but somewhere unless you don’t put the things on the paper you will be able to make a proper plan, was the thought behind this exercise!
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION THROUGH AWARENESS AND EDUCATION
The goal of this program is to raise awareness among the general public on the
importance of Nature and the threats it faces. It aims to create tangible
actions and solutions to face those threats that will inevitably impact all of
us.
There is no doubt that human activity is hugely responsible for damaging the
environment. The fact that concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased by
more than a third since the industrial revolution highlights our impact.
Therefore, it is our responsibility to improve our environmental awareness and
change our behaviour.
Environmental awareness is an incredibly important part of our lives. In order
to protect the sustainability of the planet, everyone needs to commit to
becoming more environmentally aware.
It is especially imperative to teach children about the importance of
environmental awareness, to ensure that the lives of future generations are
secure. As things stand, it's the future generations that will be most affected
by our actions. Therefore, we must equip our children with the tools necessary
to behave in a responsible and informed way towards the environment.
Activities proposed:
1) To build an interpretation centre
The centre will have the following facilities:
a) Exhibits of photos of local wildlife and related landscapes(habitats).
b) Material explaining the importance of these habitats for the preservation of wildlife
c) Not all photos can be printed and so remaining photos can be
displayed using a digital
Monitor.
d) We can make a dedicated film on the grasslands/shrublands of
Karbanwadi. It will appeal to the local when they see familiar places/people (interviews
of locals + forest staff) and animals
e) A small library of nature/wildlife/conservation related books
Through the screening of environmental films, we wish to promote awareness and
discuss with the audience on various themes that resonate with the local
context, ranging from deforestation to plastic pollution.
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MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT & MITIGATIONS TO BE UNDERTAKEN
Man-Animal conflict can be defined as any interaction that results in negative effects on social, economic or cultural life of Humans and on wildlife conservation or on the environment. Animals & Humans have shared planet for hundreds of years. The historic forms of conflict started with predation on ancestors of prehistoric man, followed by crop & livestock depredation. These interactions are however, becoming more frequent, serious, and widespread and thus pose a significant wildlife management challenge.
The rise in man-animal conflict has been attributed to several factors, such as the expansion of human activities into wildlife habitats, recovery, and expansion of a few wild animal populations, and large-scale environmental and land use changes. Human-wildlife conflicts are complex and defy easy analysis and solutions. Considering the nature of its complexity, Govt. has implemented multipronged, holistic and interdisciplinary strategies to reduce or minimize negative human-wildlife interactions. Maharashtra has the highest rate of ex-gratia payment in India for human-wildlife death/injury by wild animals, compensation of crop damage, cattle depredation and has implemented schemes like Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukharjee Jan Van Vikas Yojana. To reduce human-wildlife conflict.
We plan to propose the following projects in two of the areas which can be our pilot project.
Proposed Action 1: We have also set up Rapid Rescue Units which are providing very effective. It has been observed that most of the deaths of animals are caused because of the animal felling in the wells. These wells are unfortunately not closed and animals are on the run to chase an animal fall into this, gets injured, and exhausted and many times it leads to death. So, one of the focuses of our project will be to identify the wells around areas which has good wildlife. Construct raised parapets to wells, cover to siphon wells, livestock protection sheds to avoid conflict and accidental deaths of wild animals
Proposed Action 2: It has been also observed that during summer, temperature rises and natural water shrinks due to the high rate of evaporation. Animals move in search of water and unfortunately enter some of the villages located on the fringes of the wildlife areas. This is when the conflict began. The plan is to build artificial waterholes and supply water through water tankers / bore wells. This is mainly required during summers. But making available food inside the areas will definitely help this issue.
Proposed Action 3: Conduct wide publicity campaign & awareness creation on Animal-Human conflicts among local villages.
Scope of area:
A. Pune Wildlife Division is home to some of the best non-protected dryland habitats in the country. Kadbanwadi is one of the areas we suggest. The habitat is home to various key wildlife species such as Indian Grey Wolf, Four Horned Antelope, Striped Hyena, Rusty-spotted cat, Chinkara etc.; some of which are globally threatened. Apart from wildlife, this habitat is also a key component of human lives and livelihoods. Many pastoral communities like dhangars are directly dependent on these habitats for their livelihood. These areas also form watersheds that maintain ground water levels in these arid/semiarid landscapes. Thus, it is safe to say that these non-protected landscapes are not merely biodiversity wastelands, but important socio-economic landscapes that need nuanced management and protection. However, given the lack of legislative protection, these near-natural habitats are always one step away from losing out to short-sighted anthropogenic impacts.
B. Tadoba Tiger Reserve: India's leading Tiger Reserve is Tadoba. It’s located in Maharashtra in the district of Chandrapur. The park is spread over an area of 1725 Sq. Kms and has a great diversity of Flora & Fauna and a very high population of Tigers. It has 20 entry gates out of which 6 are core and 14 are for Buffer. Thousands of locals earn out of the tourism held in Tadoba. This area holds a great population. There are a good number of villages located on the fringes of this park, hence chances of man-animal conflict are very high in this region.
Why these 2 areas:-
1. Our team of Jungle Belles have been already working in the above 2 landscapes. We know local people there and we have a good understanding of that area.
2. We already are doing some work with Forest Department, so it will help to co-ordinate and execute the proposed Pilot Project
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Infrastructure to Wild Life's Protector's
Most important aspect which is missing in wildlife conservation is indeed ignorance about wildlife but that can't be considered as an excuse because can we apply the same logic to human accidental deaths or destruction? Answer is no, as when any human life is involved in the fatality or even an accident then the law doesn't accept that you were ignorant about traffic rules or any such & become reason for loss of some human life so you can be excused & exactly this is why people fear or respect khaki uniform of a Policeman but not that of a Forest Guard. Outcome is people don't consider the life of wild animals as important as humans! Agreed it will take time to change the law but till then we can strengthen the infrastructure provided to personnel which are involved in protecting the wildlife risking their own lives in doing so! In recent times many incidents have happened where forest guards which have to patrol the forests on foot as well the forest ground level staff also have become victims of wild animal's attack as well of poachers & they have nothing to protect themselves in doing so, making their morale, real down!
This is where we can help forest protecting units by giving them special suits to state of art kits which will have lifesaving equipment as well medicines. To illustrate what a small help can make a difference here is a small initiative we have done, in Kanha forest a few years back we provided safety light weight rubber shoes of knee high & it reduced snake bites by nearly 70% to the forest labours which are involved in post monsoon clearing works along the forest roads! Thinking of providing battery operated vehicles to making for them safe sleeping bags sustainable for all kind of weather, to medical kit lanced with antivenom of snake bite, so many things need to be looked at because to stay 365 days in the forest is not something even a diehard wildlife lover can do without any support from the outside world!
Friends, whether the World Bank will fund or help Jungle Belles venture is a different aspect yet each of us can come forward & can contribute any of the above aspects in wildlife conservation. It's an unfortunate fact that in a country with a population of 130 plus crores, when it comes to wildlife or nature conservation then very few hands come forward to assist & that’s actually the biggest hurdle in wildlife conservation! Only if even one tenth of the population of this country contributes to wildlife conservation, then the dream of Bindi can come true for every Indian, as this country is the richest with wildlife treasure which we only can preserve from getting vanish into the thin air, literally!
Plz, do watch “Wild Wild Pune” on the link below & do share, that will make you also a hero in conserving wildlife, for sure!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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www.punecorporation.org
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