Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a three-day visit to Gujarat, his home state, where he has included Gir in his itinerary. It is never a dull moment for him, never say no to any opportunity to break fresh ground. An early morning discovery trip through the forest is said to have brought him in sight the Asiatic Lion, with a cub, in a sanctuary known to be the only home of this species.
Later, the PM chaired his first meeting of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at the Gir National Park in Junagadh district. This is the apex body on wildlife conservation and development. It has 47 members, which included the chief of Army staff. The PM is the ex-officio chairman of this committee that met last only in 2012, when then prime minister Manmohan Singh chaired the same. Routinely, the standing committee, chaired by the Union Environment Minister, which has largely steered crucial decisions on wildlife policy and diversion of land in and around parks and sanctuaries.
PM Modi amidst his programme, laid the foundation stone of the National Referral Centre for Wildlife at Junagadh, which will function as the hub for coordination and governance of various aspects related to wildlife health and disease management.
A number of far-reaching decisions were taken, all crucial and critical for keeping our wildlife on the path of conservation and development. These included:
- Announced plans to expand Project Cheetah to Gandhisagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Banni Grasslands in Gujarat.
- Reviewed the government’s flagship wildlife conservation programmes like Project Lion and Project Cheetah.
- Initiated the Asiatic Lion population estimation exercise to be done later this May.
- Setting up a centre for effective management of human-wildlife conflict.
- New conservation initiatives for gharials and Great Indian Bustards.
- Under Project Cheetah, the wildlife board decided to expand introduction of cheetahs to Gandhisagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Banni Grasslands in Gujarat.
- Announced the establishment of a centre of excellence for effective management of human-wildlife conflict. The centre will be located at the Wildlife Institute of India campus at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History in Coimbatore.
“Recognising the dwindling population of gharials and with a view of ensuring the conservation of gharials, the PM announced the initiation of a new project on gharials for conservation,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a release.
Further the wildlife board approved Rs 2,900 crore for various conservation works under Project Lion for the next 10 years, and announced a National Great Indian Bustard Conservation Plan as well as a scheme for conservation of tigers outside tiger reserves.
Under Project Lion, the government aims to increase the range of Asiatic Lions throughout the Saurashtra region. Population estimation of Asiatic Lions is carried out once every five years. The last such exercise was carried out in 2020.
PM Modi released a report on riverine dolphin estimation, the first such conducted in the country, revealing that there are 6,327 riverine dolphins across the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Indus River basins.
During the meeting, the board also discussed the issue of human-wildlife conflict at length. The new proposed Centre at Coimbatore will support the states and Union territories in equipping rapid response teams with advanced technology, gadgets for tracking, forewarning; prescribe surveillance and intrusion detection systems in human-wildlife conflict hotspots; and build capacity of field practitioners and community to execute conflict mitigation measures, the PMO said in their release.
“Prime Minister chalked out a roadmap for wildlife conservation strategy and future actions for the ministry and also asked to constitute various task forces to work on Indian sloth bear, gharial and Great Indian Bustard conservation and development,” it said.
He stressed on the usage of remote sensing and geospatial mapping and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to combat issues like forest fires and human- animal conflicts, the government release said.
Presentations were made on the progress of Project Lion, Project Cheetah, Project Tiger, Project Snow Leopard, Project Elephant, Project Dolphin and on conservation of national parks and sanctuaries.
These are big time interventions for wildlife conservation in the country. The trickle-down effect of this serious endeavour needs to be monitored and implementations ensured, so that India comes into the forefront of this global endeavour. While we have had abundance of wildlife in the country, some of it unique to our land, we have yet to make a significant mark in wildlife tourism with many countries such as Kenya and South Africa said to be providing a more elevated experience. When the PM talked of two things – human-wildlife conflict management, and improving the experience of forest conservation – these can be effective guidelines towards creating experiences of global standards.
We need more effective control over poaching, ensuring that our wildlife numbers grow, on the ground, in their natural habitat, towards providing exceptional experiences for the tourists. In fact, globally, this vertical in tourism, like many others, helps in creating more jobs, new streams of revenue, and much of this is ploughed back into conservation.
These new resolves at the level of the PM himself should instil new confidence among the teams, down the line, ensuring a bottom-up approach to management and conservation.