Agasthya 6.3 Editorial

For long have I been hearing that the 'Protected Area' method of conserving wildlife has alienated people from wildlife and may be detrimental to conservation interests. Some of my experiences in the field also seemed to validate this theory. Younger people whom I met seemed to know less about the forest that was in their backyard. Kids even thought that there were gorillas and lions in KMTR. In contrast, the older people would know where and when exactly different species would be found in KMTR. It seemed true that people were indeed being forcefully separated from forest which could have negative long term implication. But would the conservation scenario be any different if the state had adopted a different conservation paradigm as often contested by intellects? A deeper thought from the experiences from outside the protection of the Tiger Reserve suggest a different scenario. Why are snakes, even non- poisonous ones, killed at sight? Why does a market for pond terrapins exist? Why are wetlands threatened by careless use regime and are being literally used as waste-yards, despite provisioning various useful services? These questions come to the mind when one thinks about the state of the fauna and flora without protection. But still there are some bright spots as many of the articles of the current issue focusing on the biodiversity values outside KMTR shows. Species such as the fan throated lizard and ecosystems such as 'Theri' are covered in this issue along with a few articles from interns. That there still exists considerable amount of biodiversity outside the forests are but an indicator of the resilience of human dominated natural ecosystems. But if the threats and pressures maintain their increasing trajectory, as is the prevailing trend, it is quite plausible that the resilience of the system would break, putting the very survival of such bounties of nature at stake.