Celebrating Wildlife Week

Dr Monika Koul
Mans attitudes towards wildlife and animals have always been ambivalent. Since prehistoric times man knew that wild animals are not only a source of food and fur but are objects of reverence.  Ancient cave paintings, drawings and sculptures of ancient civilizations depict that man always shared an interesting relationship of interdependence with wild animals. However, as the time progressed so did the human-animal relationship. From a symbiotic relationship of cooperation it changed into negative relationship termed these days as human-animal conflict. This is where we stand today, the divide has widened and the wild life is dwindling at a fast pace than anticipated earlier.
As these conflicts started increasing man’s antipathy towards wild life rose proportionally. Besides, wildlife species have seriously declined due to human actions ranging from rampant development and unwise resource extraction. Pollution, natural disasters such as forest fires, floods, volcanic eruptions and earth quakes are responsible for putting wild life at risk and force some important species to extinction. However, it has been realized all over the world that some of the wild faunal species are flagship and keystone species in many important ecosystems. This implies that even if the species has low numerical strength in an ecosystem, it plays important role in carrying out the ecological processes. Ecological processes such as flow of energy, nutrients and maintenance of biogeochemical processes. Last few decades witnessed extinction of many such species and lot many are there listed in IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red Data list.
Therefore, to prevent extinction of wild species, the Government of India established an Indian Board of Wild Life (IBWL) in 1952 with a perspective of protecting and conserving wild life and their habitats. It has been clearly emphasized that each species has a right to exist. So, if a species exists, then it has a fundamental right to continue to exist without being driven to extinction by human activities. The inherent value of a species cannot be measured merely by the extent to which human beings can get along without it.
In order to involve people all across in the endeavour of wild life protection and arouse a general awakening and empathy towards wild animals it was envisaged to celebrate the wild life week. Henceforth, since the inception of IBWL October 2-8, has been celebrated as wild life week. Every year around this time (October 2 to 8) governments, environmentalists, activists, educators and non-government institutions organize different activities to accelerate the awareness of wildlife conservation among people. The active groups pledge to work with the government and help them form policies and design strategies favouring solutions that address wildlife conservation issues in today’s changing circumstances. As this week is celebrated for last five decades the question that needs to be addressed is, “What are the achievements?”
Many people are of the general opinion that this week is a celebration and party time for some, free travel time for officials and a jamboree where public money is spent and few lectures delivered with the same content and data every year. But there is a school of thought who believes that some significant advances have been made in wild life protection and conservation where local communities are involved and students have come forward towards a cause. The aim is to sensitize young and create awareness for peaceful co-existence and if we succeed in that…the celebrations should be cheered. Besides, this will help in creating a comprehensive pragmatic and pluralistic ethical framework that involves native communities. By this we will lay some positive steps towards wild life conservation.
(The author is Assistant Professor Department of Botany Hans Raj College, University of Delhi)

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