Safeguarding Wildlife, Securing Harmony | 06 Mar 2025

At a recent National Board for Wildlife meeting, the Indian Prime Minister announced the establishment of a center dedicated to managing human-wildlife conflict. While population growth has traditionally been seen as a key indicator of conservation progress, it now presents new challenges as wildlife increasingly competes with humans for space and resources. India must proactively address these evolving challenges to ensure a harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife. 

Why Wildlife Conservation is Crucial for India’s Ecological and Economic Sustainability? 

• Ensuring Ecological Balance and Climate Resilience: Wildlife plays a critical role in maintaining ecosystem stability, ensuring biodiversity, and regulating climate patterns. 
  • The loss of keystone species like tigers and elephants disrupts food chains, leading to overpopulation of herbivores and habitat degradation.  
  • Forests and wetlands, sustained by wildlife activity, act as carbon sinks and buffers against climate change.  
  • Protecting species ensures natural pollination, seed dispersal, and disease control, which are essential for ecosystem health. 
  • For instance, the Kaziranga National Park's rhinos help maintain grassland health, supporting herbivore populations and preventing soil erosion.  
• Securing Water Resources and Preventing Desertification: Forests, wetlands, and grasslands, supported by diverse wildlife, regulate hydrological cycles and groundwater recharge.  
  • Conservation of forests helps maintain river flows, prevent siltation, and reduce the severity of floods and landslides.  
    • Wildlife also plays a role in maintaining soil fertility and preventing desert spread in regions like Rajasthan. 
  • For instance, Blackbucks play a role in seed dispersal, especially for Khejri trees (Prosopis cineraria), which are crucial for preventing desertification in the Thar Desert. 
• Boosting Sustainable Livelihoods and Eco-Tourism: Wildlife-based tourism provides employment to millions and generates revenue for conservation efforts, benefiting local economies.  
  • National parks, tiger reserves, and bird sanctuaries attract international and domestic tourists, creating opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. 
  • Well-managed eco-tourism ensures that local communities benefit financially, reducing dependency on poaching and illegal logging.  
  • For instance, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve revenue increases from 45 crore to 60 crore as visitor influx grows. 
    • As per recent reports, wildlife tourism is a major driver for the broader tourism sector, which contributes roughly 5-6.5% to India's GDP. 
• Preventing Zoonotic Diseases and Ensuring One Health Approach: Conservation reduces the chance of viral spillovers by maintaining natural buffers between humans and wild species.  
  • Illegal wildlife trade and deforestation expose populations to unknown pathogens, making strong wildlife laws essential for health security. 
  • For instance, the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala (2021) was linked to habitat destruction affecting bat populations. 
    • Strengthening conservation ensures biodiversity remains intact and reduces the emergence of deadly diseases. 
• Supporting Agricultural Productivity and Food Security: Wildlife conservation ensures the survival of pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds, which are essential for agricultural yield.  
  • Natural predators like owls, snakes, and big cats control pest populations, reducing the need for chemical pesticides.  
  • Forest biodiversity enhances soil fertility and water retention, contributing to sustainable farming practices.  
    • The decline in vulture populations led to an increase in stray dog populations, spreading diseases like rabies. 
• Fulfilling Constitutional and Global Environmental Commitments: It fulfills the constitutional duty under Article 48A and Article 51A(g) to protect and improve the environment and wildlife.  
  • As a signatory to international agreements like CITES, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Paris Agreement, India is bound to conserve its biodiversity.  
  • Strengthening wildlife conservation aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).  
• Safeguarding Indigenous and Cultural Heritage: Wildlife conservation is deeply linked to India’s indigenous communities, whose livelihoods and traditions depend on nature. 
  • Many tribes, such as the Soligas of Karnataka and the Bishnois of Rajasthan, have historically played a crucial role in protecting biodiversity.  
  • Conservation also preserves sacred groves, religious sites, and traditional knowledge systems related to sustainable resource management.  

What are the Key Issues Associated with India’s Current Wildlife Protection Measures?  

• Escalating Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC): Rapid urbanization, infrastructure expansion, and farmland encroachment have fragmented habitats, pushing wildlife into human settlements.  
  • This increases crop damage, livestock predation, and human casualties, leading to retaliatory killings.  
  • For instance, over 300 lions in Gujarat now live outside Gir’s Protected Area (PA), increasing human-lion conflicts (Lion Census 2020). 
    • In the past 5 years, India has recorded 52 human casualties from elephant attacks and unnatural deaths of 552 elephants due to electrocution, train accidents, poaching, and poisoning. 
• Poor Habitat Management and Carrying Capacity Issues: Wildlife policies focus on increasing population numbers and to an extent miss in ensuring sufficient habitat, food, and water availability.  
  • Many species, such as elephants and tigers, require large territories, but shrinking forests restrict their natural dispersal. 
  • The Sundarbans tiger population has grown, but habitat loss due to climate change has forced tigers into villages. 
  • For instance, Mrugavani National Park extent was reduced by 22% to 280.29 hectares. 
    • And a vital wetland, Pallikaranai has shrunk dramatically due to urbanisation, threatening biodiversity and vulnerable communities in Chennai 
• Lack of Scientific Approach in Wildlife Relocation and Conservation: Political and regional interests often override scientific recommendations in translocation efforts. 
  • Gujarat’s refusal to relocate Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh, despite Supreme Court orders, highlights this issue.  
  • Unplanned relocations can also fail if ecological factors like prey base and disease control are not considered. 
    • Cheetahs were reintroduced to India from Namibia, but multiple deaths in Kuno National Park raise concerns over habitat suitability. 
• Climate Change Impact on Wildlife and Ecosystems: Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather events are altering animal migration patterns and degrading habitats.  
  • Wetland shrinkage and glacial retreat threaten species dependent on specific ecosystems.  
  • Marine and coastal biodiversity, including mangroves and coral reefs, are also at risk from rising sea levels. 
  • For instance, more than 150 animals, nine of them rare one-horned rhinoceros, have drowned in floods at the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.  
    • Extreme heat in India impacts all aspects of life and is increasingly causing birds to collapse mid-flight due to sunstroke-related conditions. 
    • Also, 33.6% of India's coastline faces erosion, threatening coastal biodiversity. 
• Inadequate Wildlife Corridors and Fragmented Connectivity: Many Protected Areas exist as isolated patches, disrupting natural movement patterns and genetic exchange among animal populations.  
  • Infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, and power lines further fragment habitats, increasing animal mortality.  
    • Despite efforts to create green corridors, land-use conflicts hinder seamless connectivity.. 
  • According to railway data, over 32,000 animals, including cattle, lions, and leopards, were killed on railway tracks in the three years leading up to 2019. 
• Underfunding and Ineffective Utilization of Resources: Despite ambitious projects like Project Tiger and Project Lion, funding remains insufficient to meet conservation needs.  
  • Many state forest departments struggle with staff shortages and outdated equipment, limiting anti-poaching and habitat management efforts.  
    • Private sector and community-led funding models remain underutilized. 
  • The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds remain underutilized, delaying afforestation projects and ecosystem rejuvenation for wildlife.  
• Increasing Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade: Despite stricter laws, organized poaching networks and illicit wildlife trade continue to thrive due to high demand for animal parts.  
  • Smuggling routes between India, Nepal, Myanmar, and China remain active, facilitating black-market sales of tiger skins, rhino horns, and pangolin scales. 
    • Digital platforms have also become new marketplaces for illegal wildlife trade. 
  • In 2024, a rhino horn smuggling racket was busted in Kaziranga National Park in Assam, exposing links to international crime syndicates. 
    • Also, as many as 1,203 pangolins, the most trafficked wild mammal in the world, were poached for illegal wildlife trade in India from 2018-2022.  
• Conflicts Between Development and Conservation Goals: Balancing economic growth with environmental protection remains a key challenge, as several projects receive clearances despite ecological concerns.  
  • Mining, dam construction, and industrial expansion often take precedence over wildlife protection.  
  • Weak enforcement of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) allows many projects to proceed with inadequate safeguards. 
  • For instance, the Great Nicobar Development Project has raised concerns over habitat destruction for indigenous species like the Nicobar megapode. 
• Weak Community Involvement and Benefit-Sharing Mechanisms: While local communities play a crucial role in conservation, many policies fail to include them as stakeholders.  
  • Lack of economic incentives for communities living near PAs leads to resentment and occasional involvement in poaching or deforestation.  
  • Successful models, like eco-tourism-driven conservation, remain underutilized in many states. 
    • The Maldhari pastoralists in Gir have historically coexisted with lions, but growing human-wildlife conflict threatens this relationship. 
  • North-East Indian states such as Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Assam have become the frontrunners for community led conservation projects, but other states significantly lag behind.  
• Lack of Technology Adoption in Wildlife Protection: India has been slow to integrate modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones, and satellite tracking into conservation efforts.  
  • Advanced surveillance can help curb poaching, monitor habitat changes, and track animal movements, but implementation remains limited due to funding and training gaps.  
  • Technology-driven solutions, such as early warning systems for HWC, need wider adoption. 
  • TrailGuard is an advanced camera trap designed to detect specific species, such as tigers, and instantly transmit their images.  
    • However, its implementation and adoption remain minimal. 

What Measures can India Adopt for Enhancing Wildlife Conservation Efforts?  

• Strengthening Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Mitigation Strategies: India must adopt proactive measures such as early warning systems, better compensation for affected communities, and habitat restoration to reduce HWC.  
  • Relocation of vulnerable communities from high-conflict zones should be done with their consent and proper rehabilitation.  
  • Safe wildlife corridors, eco-bridges, and buffer zones around protected areas (PAs) can facilitate animal movement without disturbing human settlements.  
  • Community-led initiatives, like controlled grazing programs, can minimize livestock predation. 
    • Suraksha Mitr developed by C-DAC should be effectively utilised.  
• Expanding and Strengthening Protected Areas: Many of India’s national parks and sanctuaries are too small to support growing wildlife populations, requiring their expansion and better connectivity.  
  • State governments should identify and designate more eco-sensitive zones and community reserves while enforcing strict protection in core areas.  
  • Buffer zones around PAs should be developed with sustainable livelihoods to prevent illegal encroachment.  
    • For instance, the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) project in Uttarakhand and UP successfully links fragmented tiger habitats across India and Nepal. 
• Implementing Scientific and Transparent Wildlife Relocation Policies: Translocation of species must be based on ecological viability with a science-backed approach ensuring prey base, disease control, and genetic diversity.  
  • A dedicated National Wildlife Translocation Board should oversee such efforts to avoid failures like Kuno’s cheetah deaths. 
  • The successful translocation of rhinos from Kaziranga to Manas National Park has revived rhino populations in Manas. 
• Strengthening Anti-Poaching Mechanisms and Wildlife Crime Control: Despite stronger laws, poaching and illegal wildlife trade remain rampant, requiring increased surveillance using technology like drones, thermal cameras, and AI-powered tracking.  
  • Strengthening the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) with more personnel and inter-agency coordination can improve enforcement.  
  • Strict penalties under the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Act 2022 should be enforced to deter poaching syndicates. 
  • India can learn from Bhutan in this regard that has embarked on the national roll out of SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) patrolling.  
• Encouraging Community-Led Conservation Initiatives: Local communities must be made stakeholders in conservation through incentives like eco-tourism, sustainable forest produce collection, and conservation-linked livelihood programs. 
  •  Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) should be empowered to take a leading role in protecting forests and preventing poaching.  
  • Initiatives like Van Dhan Vikas Kendras can provide alternative income sources to communities near protected areas, reducing their dependence on forests. 
• Adopting Technology for Better Wildlife Monitoring: Leveraging AI, GIS mapping, and satellite imagery can help track animal populations, detect poaching attempts, and monitor habitat changes in real time.  
  • Radio collars and GPS tracking should be expanded beyond flagship species like tigers and elephants to other vulnerable animals.  
  • AI-powered models can predict climate impacts on species and suggest adaptive conservation strategies. 
    • Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has set up a pilot project to use eDNA (environmental DNA), to study and monitor wildlife, that is a significant step in the right direction.  
• Addressing Climate Change and Habitat Degradation: Wildlife conservation must be integrated with climate resilience strategies to safeguard habitats from extreme weather events.  
  • Afforestation drives using native species, wetland restoration, and reducing human-induced wildfires can improve ecosystem stability.  
  • Coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs should be prioritized in conservation plans to protect marine biodiversity. 
    • For instance, the Miyawaki afforestation method in Chennai is being used to rapidly restore degraded urban green spaces. 
• Reforming Land Use and Infrastructure Policies for Wildlife Protection: Linear infrastructure projects like highways and railways should incorporate eco-sensitive planning, such as underpasses and overpasses for wildlife movement.  
  • The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process should be strengthened to ensure that conservation concerns are not ignored for economic growth.  
    • For instance, The Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway has included wildlife overpasses to reduce roadkill incidents. 
  • Land conversion regulations need stricter enforcement to prevent deforestation in ecologically fragile areas. 

Conclusion: 

India’s wildlife conservation efforts are at a crossroads, where proactive strategies are essential to balance ecological integrity with development needs. Strengthening habitat connectivity, leveraging technology, and fostering community participation can ensure long-term sustainability. A holistic approach will not only safeguard India’s rich wildlife but also secure its ecological and economic future.