Karnataka - Bangalore

Environment: the cup is half, nay, a quarter full

Madhav Gadgil

Bangalore: Karnataka was born in the first flush of independence out of our commitment to making people's languages official languages of their own States. It was a time of total dedication to the goal of development, of freeing ourselves of the backwardness imposed on us by colonial rule. Karnataka believed in the maxim of industrialise or perish and set about the task of generating power, irrigation, promoting industry at all costs. This meant submerging fertile fields and dumping the displaced farmers in the midst of hostile forests. It meant full licence to chemical industry to pollute rivers and seas with toxic wastes and destroy fish that supplied good, cheap protein to millions. But such inequities could not continue forever in the world's largest democracy, and one generation after independence, in the early 1970s, arose spontaneous movements of environmental protection, like the justly celebrated Chipko Andolan. The State, too, responded and a series of positive measures such as the Wildlife Act, and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) began to be put in place.

One of the first projects to be so assessed was on Bedthi river in Uttara Kannada. I happened to be on the EIA team, and was shocked when asked to endorse the project on the basis of a morning's field visit without any serious scrutiny. Along with many good friends of the district we organised an alternative, people's assessment funded by the farmers' cooperative and conducted by local college teachers and students along with experts from institutions like IIMB. The assessment brought out that the project was not only environmentally undesirable, but did not even meet the prescribed economic benefit: cost ratio. To the credit of Karnataka Government, it accepted the findings, and dropped the project.

Other positive measures initiated in the 1980s have meant that the forest cover of Karnataka has largely held its own over the last 25 years. Our Sahyadris are still green, though much of this greenery is that of exotic trees, and patches of genuine natural diversity have been rapidly shrinking. Amongst such islands of biodiversity are the sacred groves of Kodagu, and a ray of hope is the popular movement of Kodavas to protect them. On the debit side, however, is the reluctance of the official machinery to support this initiative, to genuinely work with people. This reluctance has also meant that the hopes initially aroused by the Joint Forest Planning and Management programme have been largely belied.

Fifty years ago, Jim Corbett asserted that tiger would soon vanish from India. It still roars in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and elsewhere in Karnataka. Notably Bandipur TR has recently secured an important corridor for elephant movements through a voluntary sector-Government initiative. Regrettably, all is far from well and most of tuskers and mature sandalwood trees of Bandipur and neighbourhood have been wiped out by Veerappan's gang. Veerappan could operate with impunity for decades, because local inhabitants regarded the State machinery as their oppressors and Veerappan as a source of some welcome employment.

Such sentiments are being reinforced by the recent banning of forest produce collection by Soliga tribal cooperatives in BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. These cooperatives have been collecting "amla," honey and medicinal herbs in a highly disciplined fashion. Studies by ecologists have demonstrated this collection to be sustainable. It is a vital component of tribals' meagre earnings. It is clear that presently Soligas are a positive asset for the sanctuary. Yet, the State now insists on depriving them of this vital source of livelihood. This is truly perverse; such decisions are regrettably fuelling the spread of naxalism to districts like Chikmagalur.

There is thus much on both the credit and debit side. But India, and in India Karnataka has done far better in taking care of the environment than most of developing world. We owe this to our democracy, and our vigorous civil society. Fortunately, this system is being strengthened with new initiatives such as the Right to Information Act. So, I am hopeful that despite tremendous odds, we will continue to progress. After all, Switzerland's forest cover was once down to 4 per cent; it recovered magnificently on the strength of its community forest management institutions. Perhaps, we too will turn the tide in the coming years.

(Madhav Gadgil is a renowned ecologist. He retired as professor, Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore).

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