Wildlife Conservation is for Human Existence

Dr. N. Munal Meitei
Environmentalist, email- nmunall@yahoo.in

World Wildlife Conservation Day is observed on 4th December as initiated by Hillary Clinton since 2012. Clinton stated, “Wildlife cannot be manufactured. And once it’s gone, it cannot get replenished”. This day spread awareness about preserving Earth’s endangered flora and fauna and their survival is in our hand. Today, the most invasive species on earth is the humans, the nature’s most magnificent creatures, causing irreparable damages to the wildlife, pushing it to brink of extinction and causing irreparable damage to the ecosystem.

People everywhere rely on wildlife and biodiversity for our needs – from food, to fuel, medicines, housing and clothing. To enjoy the benefits and the beauty of nature, we should work together to make our ecosystems to thrive and wildlife to exist for future generations.

Wildlife plays an important role in balancing the environment. This day is an opportunity to arise the multitude of benefits that their conservation provides to us. The day also reminds us the urgent need to step up, the fight against wildlife crime which has a wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts. Poaching diminishes the local economies of the wildlife tourism destinations, enhances the corruption and intimidation of the law enforcement agencies and challenges the wildlife staffs.

As reported by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, over 41,415 species are in red list and 16,306 of them are extremely endangered, threatened with extinction–making up for 28% of all assessed species. Specifically, 27% of mammals are threatened, in addition to 13% of birds, 41% of amphibians, 37% of sharks and rays, 21% of reptiles and 28% of crustaceans.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), some well-known animal species whose populations are at concerning levels include the Tapanuli orangutan (less than 800 left), tigers (around  3,900 left), the giant panda (around 1,890 left), the Amur leopard (around 100 left), the mountain gorilla (around 1,063 left), Javan Rhinos (only 67 left) and the black rhino (over 6,000 left).

The animals and plants that live in the wild have an intrinsic value. In a strong ecosystem, if any link in the food chain breaks, it causes ripples far and wide. Over-hunting, illegal game trade, overfishing and deforestation are all culprits, but none of these are beyond our control. Wildlife preservation is a management for the human progress. A symbiotic relationship exists between the forest, forest-dwelling wildlife species, ecosystem services and people. These spaces are not only their economic resources, but also to their cultural identities.

Wildlife conservation is an integral part of creating a sustainable world. Ensuring earth remains a thriving, living, breathing planet means taking care of everything in it. The loss of a species can lead to changes in the local environment, which can directly affect the humans living around. Experts estimate that about 200 species of plants and animals become extinct every 24 hours -more than 1,000 times the natural rate of extinction.

India is facing with acute challenges in conservation of wildlife but still trying to protect the critical species and eco-region from many challenges. There are many animals and plants in our forests and around. Due to these animals and plants, our environmental balance is preserved intake. Any harm to the wilderness can pose a threat to the entire ecosystem.

The 4th December is also International Cheetah Day. In India, currently, there are 25 cheetahs only at Kuno — 13 adults and 12 cubs, born at the national park. Under the translocation project, 20 cheetahs were brought to India in two batches — eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa last February — of which seven have died until this January after 70 years of our extinction.

India owns 80% of the world’s wild tiger population, 60% of Asian elephants, 80% of the one-horned rhinoceros and the entire remaining population of the Asiatic lion. But our rich wildlife brings itself with several threats as well. We may not aware of the potential harms caused to this wildlife from various reasons.

Manipur recorded with over 1200 species of plants and animals. The wildlife of Manipur includes about 1200 medicinal plants, 500 species of orchids, 55 species of bamboo, 695 birds, 160 fish species, 21 migratory aquatic birds and many big animals. But the region is suffering from the acute environmental degradation threatening to the permanent loss of our valuable flora and fauna. Thus, we may not bring back our once quite an abundant but now lost animals to our soil but we can at least save our Sangai and other remaining endangered friends.

It is the need of the hour to aware about the causes threatening the staggering wildlife. It is also necessary to understand that humans are not the only species that have the right to live on this earth and share her resources. With rapid urbanization, decreasing forest covers, irregular seasonal changes and forest fires, our wildlife is threatened like never before with different plaguing to cohabitants such as man-wildlife conflict.

The children and youth are the future leaders of wildlife conservation. They deserve for a future where the humans live in harmony with wildlife that shares the planet with us. In this way we would be able to change the entire human mind towards the wildlife conservation on this day.

So, it is time we act and work together to conserve wildlife and to ensure their survival. Future of wild life conservation depends on the action and values of people. By facilitating a deeper relationship between the environment and the mankind, the country’s wild life can be conserved. Although mankind is responsible for the endangerment and extinction of wildlife but if we act unitedly, we could surely conserve our wildlife for human existence.