A diverse view to conservation

Manu Moudgil

The current debate in the country on rights of forest dwellers has put conservationists in direct confrontation with tribal rights activists. At the root of this conflict is our acceptance of the western delineation of forest and village and constant fight back from the homegrown practice of flexible living with the wildlife. 

The book highlights these divides and calls for recognition of varied human experiences as a rosetta stone to living in peace with nature. It brings together 12 scholars who cast a wide net to embrace diverse environmental histories and immediate presents of the world as a counter to the mainstream Euro-centric approach, which is not only limiting but also unjust. This shifting of the gaze also brings to focus glaring mistakes in proposed solutions to environmental crisis. The romantic idea of a pristine past bereft of humans that inspires many conservation programmes is just one of them.

From war zones of Vietnam to bloating cities of Israel, from coastal frontiers to Himalayas, the book rings a constant reminder against cultivating definite notions about nature, which is ever evolving and deeply contextual. How can we understand moorings of cattle trade in Mozambique or movements of wildlife in Bengaluru without their cultural underpinnings? 

India being one of the world’s biologically mega-diverse countries with a large human population mostly living in close proximity to wildlife, almost two-thirds of the book features stories from India. But within India too, the authors capture diverse experiences ranging from those living in ‘tolerance habitat’ with nature to flashlight-wielding gawkers who passionately guard their spaces. 

An essay on Central Himalayas — the region that expands from Tibet to Terai through western Nepal, Uttarakhand and Himachal — retraces the long history of social upheavals and innovations to illustrate several modifications the supposedly pristine landscape and unchanging mountain villages went through.

The writings insist on humans as part of the continuum instead of outside it. Michael Adams invokes stories of wild children, Mowgli and his Russian counterpart Ivan Mishukov, to bring a spiritual flavour to intra-species relationships. He calls for attentiveness, instead of fear, in our encounters with strange individuals, cultures and species to realise our potential wild children. Lessons from traditions of Australian aboriginals and tribes in India help define fluidity of these inter-species relationships. 

Sandra Swart retraces the shifting relationship of Whites towards Bushmen in South Africa, starting from ridicule and genocidal campaigns against them to being romanticised as ‘pure humans’ and their later use as a counter against blacks in debates on racism and colonialism. The fallacious short-term view of Africa as a land of nature waiting to be discovered by outsiders is evident in romanticised notions about Bushmen still living in the wild and dressed in skins even though most of them have church services and like to watch television.

The unpredictability of nature and conservation science is brought forth in the example from Lakshwadeep where well meaning steps to conserve green turtles impacted fish and fishers. Environmentalist Ravi Agarwal presents the fault lines in river management designs imported from Europe that can’t accommodate buoyancy of tropical rivers. Flagging the case study of Yamuna, he argues that cities in India need to develop differently than their Western counterparts if we want to tackle water pollution. 

Recognising divergent stories on nature is a necessary change needed in environmentalism. May be we can extend this flexibility to other spheres of life as well.