Man vs nature: a no win situation

This is old news, but it is damned serious. I am referring to the depleting forest wealth of India. The ravaging of forest areas by humans for their own needs like agriculture and development has impacted heavily on flora and fauna all over the world. And in this conflict the biosphere has take a beating. Hundreds of species of plants and animals are being wiped out daily or are on their path to oblivion. Take the case of India. Before the 20th century the number of tigers in India numbered 40,000* and in 2003 whittled down to 1576* in a census taken through 27 reserve forests. This drastic downfall can be only explained by man made causes like poaching and loss of environment. Since the tiger is at the top of the food chain, the population of tigers indicate the health of the eco system. And judging by these numbers, we are in real trouble simply because no matter how developed we become we are also a part of the environment. In two tiger reserves in north India –Sariska and Ranthambore the tiger population has almost been wiped out due to wide poaching, prompting a CBI inquiry. In fact in Sariska there have been no sightings since Jan 2005.**.The situation is not exactly rosy in other reserves.
A second example is the man –elephant conflict. People have encroached into elephant corridors and forests causing loss of habitat. Hence elephants destroy standing crops causing enormous economic loss.Hunderds of people have lost their lives .Elephants are also slaughtered for ivory which has a large market oveseas.One name comes to mind –Verappan.This notorious poacher ,now dead had killed thousands of elephants for ivory and had cut down tons of sandalwood trees. But the scourge is not eliminated Other poachers, mostly in cahoots with some crooked forest officials are still in business.

Regarding other species, the story is pretty much the same.Leopards, bears, deer, turtles and thousand others are struggling for their existence. Even birds are not spared. But in this overall picture of gloom, there are some silver linings. One example is the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, the only refuge of one horned Indian rhino. A hundred years ago, the population of rhinos barely ran into double digits. A century of dedicated conservation efforts battling obstacles like flood and poachers, who kill rhinos for the highly valued horn have resulted in their rise to 1600***.If this process can be replicated for other species also we stand a chance of reversing the tide. All of us owe to our future generations to leave behind our priceless natural heritage intact

*Project Tiger

**Indian Express

***Kaziranga