SC accepts writ petition to protect wildlife outside designated areas

Wgile the government has been focusing on the protection of wildlife inside Protected Areas PAs many threatened wildlife species of wildlife also reside outside these spots This often makes their conservation a challenging task and in cases of livestock and crop damage also leads to losses for local farmersConserving wildlife outside designated protected areas has become a tough askOn March 18 wildlife conservationists filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court asking state road and rail authorities about the steps they have taken to mitigate the conflict areas and requesting for a policy to deal with wildlife outside PAs The primary objective of the petition is to ensure adequate thought to the conservation of threatened species like the great Indian bustard Asian elephant snow leopard among others taking into account the welfare of people who share space with these animalsThe Supreme Court had taken cognisance of the writ petition a few weeks backExpertspeakOne of the petitioners biologist and leopard expert Dr Vidya Athreya from the Wildlife Conservation Society said ldquoIndia has a unique cultural ethos of humans and wild animals sharing space but in recent times due to various reasons losses are increasing on both sides Also many states have done good work in wildlife conservation but since this is a state subject the good experiences remain confined to that state We are hoping that this petition will draw the attention of the government at various levels so that we can move forward while making lives of people safer as well as conserving wild animals using the latest management and research knowledge available Several species use areas outside protected areas At present all the management is focused on PAs which is smallrdquoDr Vidya Athreya says lives of people can be made safer along with wildlife conservation using the latest management and research knowledge availableldquoWe want the government to go through the case studies of wildlife outside PAs and prepare a holistic policy that will be better for the people and wildliferdquo added AthreyaAvoidable roadkillThe petition also highlights the issue of animals that die in road accidents Roads are improving and the speed of vehicles travelling by them has also gone up taking a greater toll on wild animals inhabiting the hinterlands Unlike other countries not enough underpasses or wildlife crossings have been constructed in India ergo many wild animals have been losing their lives The lsquoMumbaikars for SGNP Sanjay Gandhi National Parkrsquo report released in 2012 says that an average of two leopards die every year due to road accidents The numbers shot up in the years 2002 and 2007 with seven and six deaths recorded respectively On the MumbaiAhmedabad highway leopards are most vulnerable on the stretch between Delhi Darbar Inn and Kolli Chowki along with spots around ChenaThe report also revealed that 40 leopards have died in road accidents along the periphery of SGNP between 19942011The other important point mentioned in the writ petition is that there is an absence of any comprehensive coherent government policy or programme to ensure the survival of critically endangered species in India that will probably become extinct in the wild in the next few yearsThe petition points to ldquothe absence of any effective programme to save the following species from extinction in the lifetime of the present generation of Indians namely the Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps the Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis the Indian Wolf Canis lupus the Himalayan Brown Bear Ursus arctos isabellanus and the Snow Leopard Panthera uncia The natural range of most of these critically endangered species extends beyond Protected Areas and hence the urgent necessity for suitable directions to prevent extinctionrdquoThe appeal also states that at times approvals and clearances for development projects are given without proper mitigative measures these approvals often ignore the irreversible impact on local wildlife despite evidence of their presence