On World Environment Day 2018 Lakshmy Raman and Bittu Sahgal ask that politicians, planners, activists and scientists join hands with long-suffering citizens to tackle the conjoined problems of biodiversity loss, climate change and the falling quality of human life on the subcontinent. With over 90 per cent of the accessible water available to over a billion humans being sourced from, fi ltered through, or fed by sources originating in natural ecosystems including wetlands and forests, the authors have chosen to focus on the most immediate threat to natural India by way of the poorly-drafted, irresponsibly-posited Draft National Forest Policy 2018 for India.
India will be the global host for World Environment Day, June 5, 2018. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said: “Indian philosophy and lifestyle has long been rooted in the concept of co-existence with nature. We are committed to making Planet Earth a cleaner and greener place.”
It’s true. Indians are truly rooted in an ethos of living in harmony with their land. There was a time when the Indian subcontinent was carpeted in green… watered by glacial rivers, blessed by rolling hills and productive grasslands, lush rainforests and wave-kissed mangroves. All creatures, great and small, found niches here and thrived. Varied cultures were spawned and people in awe of nature lived by its rules.
This happy situation has changed. The wondrous green has long-disappeared – plundered and looted first by invaders and colonists and then by those who took freedom as license to outdo the colonisers in the plunder of natural India. Today what little remains is being systematically eroded by a population caught in the crossroads of a development paradigm borrowed from the industrial North that systematically devastated colonies for centuries.
It is to feed this consumerist nirvana that illogical developmental plans such as the recently-announced Draft National Forest Policy was born.
India’s natural wealth feeds, clothes and sustains our people in the most democratic way imaginable. Today our government wishes to centralise control of resources including forests, rivers, lakes, wetlands, grasslands and coasts for short-term gains. Already marginalised segments of our population are about to be pauperised by cronies of those in power to the point where the very viability of the subcontinent is at risk.
GOING, GOING, GONE
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2018 من Sanctuary Asia.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2018 من Sanctuary Asia.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Why Children Are Needed To Help Save The World
On my very first day in India, I encountered many marvelous new customs not practiced in the United States, my home country. But the most curious by far involved trees. Here and there, alongside the roaring streets of Mumbai were rings of marigold wreathed around twisting banyan trunks like dried rays of afternoon sunlight…
Who's Who?
Fact: all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads! Let’s unpack this...
The Sea Raptor
The White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster is one of the most common raptors along the Indian coastline. Nevertheless, the sight of this soaring, broad-winged, white and black bird of prey is nothing less than majestic
Bringing Up Bob Hoots.
While we were visiting a friend’s farm in the village of Yelachetty, near Bandipur Tiger Reserve, we found Spotted Owlets nesting on the tiled roof… and one of the chicks on the kitchen floor!
Yala, Land Of The Leopard
Yala is not only Sri Lanka’s second-largest, but also the most-visited national park in the island nation.
The Wizards Of Oz!
Australia is not only a country, but also a continent. The land down under, cut-off from the rest of the world has an abundance of unique species of native animals, birds, reptiles, insects and plants.
Scales & Tails
I was really excited and looking forward to the workshop on reptiles and amphibians at Nature’s Nest in Mollem, Goa, between June 24 and 26, 2017. It was my opportunity to meet renowned herpetologist Varad Giri.
Big, Brilliant And Endangered
When one thinks of elephants, the first word that probably comes to mind is BIG! But elephants, while they may be the largest creatures on land, are not just big and powerful, they’re wise and sensitive as well. Recent scientific studies have established that they are among the most intelligent animals in the world.
Earth Manners
Everyday habits matter! Let’s be kind to the planet, animals and ourselves!
World Scan
CHINA’S IVORY TOWNAn explosive investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency has revealed how criminal gangs originating from an obscure town in southern China have come to dominate the smuggling of ivory tusks poached from African elephants.
