Need for reimagining conservation policies to include human-wildlife coexistence model stressed

Tarsh Thekaekara advocates for reimagining conservation policies to include human communities and wildlife coexistence at Nilgiris Economic Dialogue.

There needs to be a reimagining of conservation policies that set aside protected areas only for wildlife and leave no room for wilderness to exist within human communities, said Tarsh Thekaekara, Director of The Real Elephant Collective, at the Nilgiris Economic Dialogue organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Udhagamandalam on Sunday.

Mr. Thekaekara was part of a panel discussion, titled “Growth for All : Strategies for Equitable Progress,” that included M. Vijayabaskar, Additional full-time member of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission; Areti Sianni, Chief of Mission for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in India, and Giridharan Ramasubramanian, CEO of Ramco.

Mr. Thekaekara, who is also a State wildlife board member, said the indigenous groups of the Nilgiris had largely become forgotten as original inhabitants of the landscape, and as a result, their largely sustainable existence as stewards of the forests had been disturbed by “problematic” conservation policies that set aside wildlife reserves exclusively for wildlife, while advocating for removing the human populations that have existed within these areas for many millennia. He said that such removal of indigenous communities from their forests had resulted in the transformation of the forests, resulting in the spread of invasive species.

He added there needed to be a rethink of traditional management practices that re-envisioned the world as a gradient of ‘wild to urban’ that included healthy, green living spaces for human communities in urban areas as well as for wildlife too, with coexistence being a keystone.

Ms. Areti Sianni, from the UNHCR, responding to the questions about the role refugees could play in economies, said the question of refugees was “very political and unpopular.” She said that while displacement had become a defining issue of the 21st century, that refugees not being allowed to work or access education denied them opportunities to contribute to the societies in which they found themselves.

Ms. Sianni said while there were good practices in the treatment of Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu and Tibetan refugees, these practices needed to be extended to other refugee groups across the country. She said the UNHCR was working with governments to have a predictable response to all refugee groups and is trying to shift the narrative around refugees as not just a humanitarian issue, but also an opportunity for innovation and participation in the labour market.

When asked about how Tamil Nadu has achieved economic successes in comparison with the rest of the country, Mr. Vijayabaskar from the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission said both manufacturing and services sector had grown equally in the State due to two important factors – the democratisation of education and also changing social norms coupled with a spurt in access to essential infrastructure and services that enabled people to access transport, electricity and other essential services, both in rural and urban areas.