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

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 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 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. 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.