The conservation movement has gathered such momentum that the very term conservation - meaning preservation (which can be applied to many things), - is now linked in the public mind with the protection of nature and the multitude of life-forms existing on earth. The strong tradition of the Indians of respecting all forms of life is well known. In the Sacred Groves, the trees are protected with religious fervour. An excellent example of such a Sacred Grove in the Pondicherry region is the one at Puttupet where an un-reserved forest thrives in the midst of fields and villages, thanks to the presence of a temple and a sacred puttu (ant-hill) inside the forest.

However, today scant respect is given to the denizens of the forests, both trees and animals. With the exploding population and increasing human need for more space for settlements, agriculture and industries, there has been a drastic reduction of areas under forest, grassland and marshes. It is estimated that 50 acres of natural and semi-natural habitats are destroyed every minute. Eleven million hectares of tropical moist forests are cleared every year. The dependence on wood as a fuel has also to be reckoned with. Almost 70 per cent of our rural population and 45 per cent of the urban population use firewood for cooking.

In the western countries the population growth has been stabilized, but not before causing irreparable damage to the natural resources. Most of their natural wealth was destroyed in the last few centuries. We in India still have a chance of recovering our natural assets.

Development had been a one-way process, ignoring the environment till very recently. But now it has been realised that development and conservation can go hand in hand. “Development without destruction” is the message put forward by organisations like the International Union For Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, once headed by the eminent Indian scientist, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.

The World Conservation Strategy, which was launched by several countries, including India, in March 1980, provides the guidelines for the conservation of our planet’s natural resources. Its three main principles are: m

m Preservation of ecosystems;
m Maintenance of genetic diversity;
m Sustainable use of natural resources.

It is important to note that conservation does not mean the sort of protection which prevents utilization of natural resources on a sustained yield basis.

The discipline associated with conservation is ecology. If any individual animal or plant is to be saved we must save the entire complex of life around it as well as the habitat around it. This is known as the Ecosystem, and the principal concern of conservationists and ecologists is to identify the various ecosystems of the country and to ensure that they are protected against damage of any kind. That any form of life cannot be protected in isolation was well proved in the case of the tiger. If the tiger had to be saved from extinction, animals like the deer and wild boar on which the tigers prey also had to be protected. There had to be adequate grass for the survival of the deer. Therefore, the entire forest ecosystem had to be protected to increase the number of tigers.

Plants produce their own food using water, minerals, carbon dioxide and sunlight. Animals live on the food produced by plants. Thus plants are autotrophs or primary producers while animals are heterotrophs or consumers, or secondary producers. Bacteria and fungi decompose the dead material, using these as their food. In the process, they break down the complex organic compounds into minerals and return these to the soil. They are decomposers. There is a relationship between the numbers, biomass and energy contents of the primary producers and consumers of the first, second and third orders in any ecosystem. These relationships are represented in diagrammatic ways and are referred to as Ecological Pyramids. The process of eating and being eaten forms a food chain - the food chain which can always be traced back to the producers.

The food chain in an ecosystem is very delicately balanced and disturbance at any one stage upsets this balance. If birds of prey like kites, hawks and eagles are reduced in numbers, then snakes would multiply and their population would increase in the absence of their natural enemies to control them. The population of frogs would in turn decrease and insect pests would increase, damaging the crops. If snakes are destroyed in large numbers for their skin, then mice and rats would proliferate. The export of frogs’ legs has resulted in increasing population of insects and reduction in crop yield.

The disappearance of one species could bring about the extinction of six to seven species. A well-known example is that of the Dodo, a bird which was endemic to the Mauritius Island. Its flesh was in great demand as a delicacy by the European settlers in Mauritius in the 16th - 17th century. So, the Dodo’s fate was sealed. The last living bird was reported in 1681, leaving behind the proverb “dead as a Dodo”. This however, is not the end of the story. A beautiful tree called Calvaria got involved in a fatal link with the Dodo. The thick-hulled seeds of the Calvaria tree would germinate only after being crushed in the gizzards of the Dodo. The disappearance of the bird resulted in a drastic decline of the tree population and today only thirteen plants survive in Mauritius.

Every species has a particular role to play in the ecosystem and ecologists are trying to understand their importance. The crocodile living in the waters of the Ganga - the Gangetic Ghariyal - with its ferocious look was mistakenly thought to be competing with the fishermen. Only after its number was drastically reduced was it realised that the gharial played a beneficial role in destroying both the predator fishes and in consuming the dead organisms and thereby maintaining the purity of the water.

Dr. P.H. Raven of Missouri Botanical Garden has expressed the opinion that one out of five of the world’s organisms may become extinct during the next thirty to forty years. According to Prof. Madhav Gadgil some 40% of the estimated 5 to 10 million species of living organisms are now believed to live in tropical forests, and with this habitat undergoing destruction at a rate of 75,000 sq.km. a year, it is feared that we may lose anywhere between half to one and half million species by the year 2000 A.D. 90% of all species of living organisms that lived on the surface of the earth since life originated 3.6 billion years ago are believed to have become extinct. The rate of extinction did not exceed one species per year, so that the total number of species existing at any time has been either steady or gradually on the increase. The current rate of species extinction therefore represents a totally new global phenomenon that will result in a loss of many options for mankind.

About 5 to 8 per cent of the known species of animals and flowering plants occur in India with a land surface of only 2.2 per cent of the world. It is certain that there would be many further additions when the little studied invertebrates and lower plants are better investigated.

As soon as research reveals a new use for a particular species, sometimes the industry heavily exploits that species, bringing about its near disappearance. The common periwinkle (Vinca rosea), once abundant on the coastal sands of the Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry tract and in Coimbatore, vanished as soon as the medicinal properties of its root - alkaloids - were discovered. Soon after, another herb belonging to the ginger family, Costus specious, growing in the groundcover of the deciduous forests came under focus for its steroids. Padmashri Sundarlal Bahuguna reports the recent case of the hornbeam trees. Research revealed that the hornbeam wood was suitable for making shuttles. The result was that a shuttle factory wanted these trees growing in the remote hills of Tehri Garhwal. However, the local inhabitants knew well the value of the hornbeam trees which were preventing landslides and providing fodder for the cattle during the scarcity seasons, for which purpose they had been protected.

It would be a wise and far-sighted policy to conserve the living natural resources around us. Each species is potentially important as it enriches the biological materials and genetic diversity available to us for our material betterment. There are numerous instances of obscure species becoming immensely important. Two examples may be cited. One is the diesel - like substance yielding Euphorbiaceaus tree - Copaeifera langsdorfii - of tropical America and the other is the Caribbean sponge (Tethys erupta) which yields a compound, reported to be extremely beneficial in the treatment of viral diseases, particularly encephalitis, and is also known to be an inhibitor of cancer.

Plants have been one of the most useful resources available to man from the earliest time to nourish him, to clothe him, to shelter him, to cure him from diseases etc. More and more uses are revealed every day . The search is on for a plant that may prove a substitute for petroleum. A humble thicket near Pondicherry harbours a leguminous climber elumboti - Ormocarpum sennoides - which is extremely efficacious in mending bone fractures, but at present its use is known only to a handful of villagers. The medical world is still unaware of this wonder plant. This thicket which was about to be cleared for raising plantations of eucalyptus, cashewnut and tapioca was protected through the kind intervention of the Chief Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu. Progressive disappearance of forests and thickets would eventually deprive us of plant resources.

Strict conservation vs. Villagers’ rights

Vigorous protection does not necessarily mean progression towards an extremely dense forest structure. Ainurmarigudi Reserved Forest (R.F.) within the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary, some 60 km. to the south-west of Mysore, was declared a Project Tiger Reserve since 1983. However, the density of trees in it is not increasing but declining because of the damage caused by the elephants and periodic fires, which may be incidental or accidental (Gaulier et al. 1995). The nearby Mudumalai National Park (Sukumar et al., 1992) also noted a decline in the population of woody species in a 50 hectare plot by as much as 14% in two years: 9.1% from 1989 to 1990 and 5.5% in the subsequent year.

Kydia calycina showed a marked decline by 42% and Helicteres isora by 27%, largely because of the damage caused by the elephants and also because of fire. Pests contributed to a rapid decline in Shorea roxburghii ; adult trees were severely affected by a stem borer. As against 307 dead stumps, only 75 living individuals were counted. In Pterocarpus marsupium the mortality rate was 50% (23 dead, 22 surviving), and in Bridelia retusa the corresponding figures were 17 and 40.

Yet another neighbouring protected area, Nagarhole, witnessed violent scenes in recent years because of the conflict between forest preservers and forest dwellers.

By way of contrast, the case of Ainurmarigudi R.F. is compared with that of the Marakkanam R.F. located on the Coromandal coast, some 70 km. south of Madras and 40 kms North of Pondicherry wherein the neighbouring villagers enjoy certain rights. The branches are cut to serve as fuelwood, cattle are grazed inside the forest and medicinal herbs and other plants of economic value are collected. In spite of this, the forest continues to survive in its scrub woodland or scrub-jungle physiognomy and has not disappeared altogether because of the restraint exercised by the villagers in exploiting the Marakkanam R.F.

Alternative energy plantations, with fast growing species around the villages, would give a chance to the thickets and scrub-jungles to evolve further and eventually attain a forest physiognomy (Meher-Homji, 1995).

A good example of land development is available at Auroville, a township near Marakkanam and Pondicherry. It was almost a barren, sub-desertic area with ferrallitic soils with poor yields of millets. It is a “green” area today, thanks to the afforestation programmes launched by the earlier settlers in Auroville. Plantations of fast-growing hardy exotics like Acacia auriculaeformis, A. mangium, A. holosericea and eucalyptus (hybrid) were undertaken coupled with soil conservation measures, which made conditions favourable for the growth of the indigenous species. Mulching controlled the high soil temperature of summer season and promoted the tree species of even humid zones like the Western Ghats. Acacia auriculaeformis which was once used as fuelwood is today in demand for making furniture. There being a ban on felling of forest trees, it fetches as much as Rs.350 per cubic feet.

It would be worth considering planting of these species in the Marakkanam region and its vicinity to help the fuelwood shortage, to relieve the pressure on the scrub-woodland / thicket for the supply of firewood and to generate some additional income for the villagers.

Tribal welfare

Conservation-oriented development projects are sometimes not well planned and come into conflict with the forest dwellers, who are made to feel that the tiger is given preference to the villagers or that the monkey is more important than man. With proper planning, keeping the forest-dwellers’ interest at the centre of conservation schemes, the conflict should disappear. Under the Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97), eco-development is planned around National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Tiger Projects and Sacred Groves to avoid the kind of disturbances observed in some parts of the country. Proper medical and schooling facilities should be provided for villagers living in and around the protected areas. There should be schemes to augment the income of Adivasis who eke out a miserable living, growing inferior millets or selling minor forest products under constant exploitation by outside influences.

Programmes should be undertaken for plantation of perennial economic crop species like lemon grass and vetiver, fruit trees like sapota and passion-flower, and fast-growing fuelwood trees. Small-scale remunerative cottage industries and cooperative societies could be started for extraction of lemon-grass (Citronella) oil, vetiver essence and neem oil; canning industries for fruits and plants for bottling sapota juice and passion-flower fruit juice (which have become very popular in Sri Lanka). The profits should be ploughed back for the uplift of the Adivasis.

India imports cloves from Zanzibar or Penang, spending precious foreign exchange. The clove tree needs a very humid climate which is not available over a major part of India but experiments could be conducted in grafting branches of the clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum) on the indigenous hardy jamun jambol tree (Syzygium cumini). The success of the experiments could pave the way for augmenting the income of the rural poor because jamun is a robust tree, common around villages. After all, the best varieties of mangoes are obtained through grafts! Incidentally, the clove tree is indigenous neither to Zanzibar nor Penang. It was introduced in these parts, where it has since thrived. These places have now become principal centres of trade in cloves.

The role of the Sacred Groves

The Sacred Groves are repositories of biological resources. The species of the southern portion of the Western Ghats have disappeared almost altogether over the Sahyadris i.e. the northern portion of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra which experiences a very long dry season of 7 to 8 months and is under considerable anthropic pressure. In this tract however, the real biodiversity is sheltered in the Sacred Groves rather than in the reserved forests which are depleted. Though small in size, they harbour species like Mesua ferrea, Carallia brachiata and others that have vanished from the reserved forests of the Sahyadris without leaving any trace.

An ecological study of these small pockets of Sacred Groves in districts of Maharashtra like Pune, Kolhapur would be in order. Do viable populations of these species occur in the scattered pockets? What is their regeneration pattern? Does it make sense protecting these pint-sized pockets? Or can we just forget them? These are some of the questions that are to be looked into.

Conservation in the wake of climate changes

Though the compact forest areas should get preference over the fragmented ones for biodiversity conservation, the latter cannot be ignored as they have to play an important role as stepping stones for the birds that would be migrating in the wake of the impending climate change. Global warming and the attendant change in rainfall pattern linked to deforestation or planetary phenomena would bring about migration of species. Therefore corridors with pockets of even fragmentary vegetation have to be left to facilitate the migration of species from the cooler climates to warmer or from wetter to drier.

Dr. V.N. Meher - Homji
Courtesy “The Ecological Traditions of Tamilnadu”,
C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre, Chennai, 1997.