Saving Wild India at TLFDelhi

Just as a country gets the politicians it deserves, it also gets the forests it deserves. No prizes for guessing where the topic was headed, as wildlife conservationists Valmik Thapar and Vivek Menon took dais with Vinita Rai, former IAS officer and first woman revenue secretary of India.
This wasn’t going to be a panel on the problems that beset Indian wildlife and forests, but the solutions that can save it.Like lateral induction. “Why can’t we have people from non-government sectors inducted into the management of forests and wildlife?” asked Thapar, pointing out that unless you opened up the system of decision-making to outsiders, you’re unlikely to change course. “I want to see someone outside government taking charge of a national park,” he said.
A tentative move has been made in this direction with the government of Maharashtra announcing guidelines for the establishment of conservancies on private lands outside sanctuaries, beginning with the buffer around the Tadoba Tiger Sanctuary, which could replicate Kenya’s Masai Mara. Rai agreed that bringing expert outsiders into executive positions within the bureaucracy could shake the system up, and bring new innovations and operations to sluggish administration.
Menon, founder of the Wildlife Trust of India, pointed out that the forest department – which manages about 20% of the landmass of the country – was most in need of an overhaul, and not just at the top. “About 200,000 forest guards are not looked after, how can we expect them to look after our wildlife?” Menon says, adding that they need to be adequately trained.
Thapar bitingly commented on the fact that forest guards are often deputed to look after the homes of bureaucrats. “And I know exactly where they’re sitting,” he stated. On the bright side, he referred to efforts by the Rajasthan government to change the status quo by inviting 100 interns, both Indian and international, to serve as park rangers with stipends.
It’s not just the national parks and sanctuaries that could improve with the PPP model, but zoos as well. “Can you imagine that only Rs 7 crores are budgeted for our zoos annually,” says Menon, who is also on the Central Zoo Authority of India. When a member of the audience asked the panel how the man-animal conflict could be resolved, Menon said simply, “Land. Give the animals more of it.”