Kaushal Kishore |twitter @mrkkjha
In the Indian subcontinent, there are six thousand species of the colourful flies. Sixteen percent of it is going to be extinct soon in the future. Disappearance of vulture and sparrow in the India that looks like a beehive on the map has been a part of news for last several years. The sixth mass extinction is a part of the same debate on biodiversity loss. This time modern human civilisation is responsible for the mass extinction, unlike the previous five occurances of the natural origin.
On occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity this is a burning issue throughout the world today. In the Indian subcontinent, tribal village community has been dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity since ahistorical times. Yesterday, it was a part of the discussion during the celebrations of cultural diversity and dialogue. Unfortunately, the tribes dedicated to biodiversity conservation is on the verge of extinction due to the modern civilisation.
The annual festival to preserve biological diversity was initiated in the last decade of twentieth century. Its foundation was laid with inception of globalisation during the Rio Earth Summit. The next year, on 29 December 1993, it was signed by most of the countries except the USA. As such the biological diversity festival started to mark that day between Christmas and New Year. In the 21st century, it has been shifted to 22nd May, due to the series of celebrations in the last week of the year. The conservation of biodiversity is a part of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), and it was a part of the discussions in the UNEA (United Nations Environment Assembly) in Nairobi last March. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in China, beyond the Tibet, has been waiting for COP15 on this topic in the first week of October this year. Chinese wet market and its relation with the pandemic is being discussed around the world these days. Its regulation and other significant decision can be its outcome.
The pandemic created further space for biological diversities in the mainstream discussions. Extinction of biodiversities and its outcome is in public today. The loss of a hundred and fifty thousands to two hundred and fifty thousand species in last 5 centuries is a part of the debate in these trying times.
In the last couple of hundred years, 158 fish species, 146 among the amphibians, 69 mammals, 80 birds and dozens of reptiles are reported to be extinct at an unprecedented rate. According to the experts, the number of species that take ten thousand years to be extinct have lost within the last century. The age of modern technology seems to speed up the process of extinction a thousand times. The extinction of the mankind in future is a part of this crisis. In the first decade of twenty-first century, American journalist and author Alan Weisman wrote on it The World Without Us. The idea of a world without humans is the principal thought behind this literary work.
Sensitivity of the United Nations and its agencies on the climate and environment is in the focus since 1970s. Chipko movement in the Himalayas started in the same period. The women in the valley of Uttarakhand started it to preserve the socio-economic order of life. This idea of nature conservation is embeded in the Indian cultures. In the deserts of Rajasthan, the community of Vishnoi is known to save the forests and its biodiversities. Today, the tribal population of Chhattisgarh started another Chipko movement to preserve the Hasdeo Forests known for its rich biodiversity.
Forest dwelling communities are most suitable set people to save the natural forest. In 2007, the United Nations has started an initiative to that effect. As long as its provisions are not legally binding at the local level, the forest dwellers cannot get its benefit. In fact, the evolution of the indigenous culture has been based on the conservation of the nature and its biological diversity. As such the need of these trying times is to return to those values instead of sticking to what’s being taught in the name conservation initiatives perhaps to promote the modern technology.
Across The Lines: Kaushal Kishore 