Former Chief secretary S.M. Vijayanand and former Indian Forest Service officer Prakriti Srivastava watching a photo exhibition on the inaugural day of the Wildlife Week Celebrations organised by the Coexistence Collective, Kerala, and the State Central Library, in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Prominent wildlife conservationist M.K. Ranjitsinh Jhala has cautioned that India’s protected areas are shrinking even as pressure from development, mining and tourism continues to grow.
Delivering the wildlife week message at the National Wildlife Week celebrations organised by the Coexistence Collective in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, Dr. Ranjitsinh said conservation should focus not merely on iconic animals such as tigers, elephants and leopards, but on preserving their habitats and the ecological systems that sustain people. “Wildlife means all animate things found wild in nature,” said Dr. Ranjitsinh, the chief architect of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
He said Keralam was particularly fortunate to be located in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the Western Ghats, and stressed that its remaining evergreen forests constituted a natural national heritage that could not be recreated once destroyed.
He added that the protection of forests was important in a high-rainfall, densely populated State such as Keralam because forests and their catchments sustained perennial streams and provided wider ecological and economic security.
Citing his experience with the Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand, he said protection from fire, grazing and illicit felling had resulted in seasonal streams flowing for progressively longer periods, with some eventually becoming perennial.
The former bureaucrat also expressed concern over the reduction and de-notification of protected areas across the country. He questioned the rationale behind reducing protected areas to accommodate mining and construction.
“You must save your forests. If you are not prepared to dig beneath the Ram Mandir temple or beneath the Ajanta and Ellora caves, or beneath the Taj Mahal, why should you disturb, destroy and mine beneath Kaziranga, Kanha and Periyar National Parks,” he asked.
Dr. Ranjitsinh also cautioned that tourism could contribute to the increasing human-wildlife conflicts when it was allowed to take precedence over conservation.
Inaugurating the programme, Rajesh Ravindran, Head of the Forest Force, called for a deeper understanding of wildlife and stressed the human survival is inseparably linked to coexistence with nature.
He also highlighted several challenges facing the world, including erratic weather patterns, fractured mountains, polluted rivers and choking air. The growing pressure of anthropogenic activities and the pursuit of material wealth have often come at the expense of other forms of life, the senior official cautioned.
Former Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand, who delivered the keynote address, has called for a people-centred approach to environmental conservation. The former bureaucrat added that sustainable development could be achieved through constructive dialogue with local communities and by integrating livelihood concerns into ecological protection.
He also opined that environmental protection should not be presented as being opposed to development. Instead, conservation measures should be designed in ways that strengthen sustainable livelihoods and local economies.
Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Prakrithi Srivastava, State Librarian P.K. Shobana, environmental activists N. Badusha, Veena Maruthoor and K.M. Sulaiman also spoke on the occasion.
Published – October 05, 2026 09:09 pm IST
