India’s wildlife requires a new and energetic policy

The forest department must welcome others into decision making. Its officers must also work with the best outside

Managing our forests and wildlife is a state subject unless deemed otherwise either by declaring an area troubled or out of control. Since this has never happened and probably will never happen, my focus today is on the states and innovative ways in which they can function. The Centre must have an enabling role to encourage the states to be more independent. The states must be respected for their site-specific expertise and not undermined as they are today. Our Parliament has passed laws that govern our forests and wildlife. These have to be followed and we may have reached a point where they may need to be amended in order to facilitate a new thinking and with it an execution of innovative policy. It is time to change course. This new blueprint is required in order to protect our natural wealth and secure it for the future.

India has nearly 100 national parks and nearly 600 sanctuaries that include about 50 tiger reserves. A majority of these are in a state of neglect with degraded forests and depleted wildlife. National parks have very restrictive rules regarding any kind of use. Sanctuaries allow greater use. Our first effort must be to enable a process in which tourism is promoted all over our sanctuaries and temporary tented camps are permitted inside these areas. These camps can be seasonal and mobile so that they never leave their footprint behind.

At the edges of our national parks and sanctuaries are different categories of land. Reserved forest land, protected forests, grazing lands and revenue land mixed with private land. The state governments need to coin a new category of “wilderness area” from this mosaic of land parcels. I suggest “wildlife refuge” or conservancy as a terminology. This becomes a state wildlife area with no diktats from the central government. In fact the central government needs to enable this process. A key to encouraging this will be the ability to have tented camps inside sanctuaries. Restrictive and ignorant tourism policies for our wildlife areas have prevented this. The people who make policies have a lack of knowledge about wildlife. Our sanctuaries are neglected and many of them deal with massive encroachments that have already fragmented them. Well-managed tourism and seasonal camps inside is the only way to revive them. Revenue generated can help protect the area and aid local community initiatives. With that will come the revival of the buffers and the creation of a new category of state wildlife reserves. But we must start in the sanctuaries that are multiple-use areas.

For this to happen, protection of many of these degraded areas is essential in order to revive the natural growth and root stock in the area. The states must put up cattle-proof fencing to prevent further degradation. In some cases, wildlife will have to be restocked. All this will only happen from revenue that comes from tourism. Let us not forget that 400 sq km of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve generates Rs 35 crore from ticket entry and Rs 350 crore every year for the domestic economy.

Once you have seasonal tented camps in sanctuaries, a new category of state wildlife reserves, cattle-proof fencing and the ability to restock some our severely depleted areas with wildlife, then you need the very best human talent to manage them. This is where lateral entry into the forest service and a band of empowered consultants will create the essential good management of these areas. The mindset of the forest department must change. They cannot cling to their turf. They must welcome others into decision making. The best in the forest department must work with the best outside. This is the only way to keep our wildlife and forests secure for the future. It will create rich wildlife buffers that can be privately managed. The magic of the Indian wilderness desperately requires new and fresh policy and action.