A ban on India

India has traditionally been a leading advocate of protecting wild fauna and flora.

But its wildlife preservation credentials have become suspect--so much so that the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which India chaired on several occasions in the past, has now suspended India from its membership.

Cites has also threatened to put a commercial ban on trade with India in wild products, including medicinal plants and some essential and aromatic oils.

All this because India, being home to some of the most charismatic animals and rare plant species, has acquired the dubious distinction of being a major source for the flourishing illegal trade in wildlife products.

This trade is estimated by Interpol at over $ 12 billion a year. Poaching is rampant in India's wildlife sanctuaries and national reserves.

The authorities estimate that the actual level of smuggling is 10 times the number that get caught. What is worse, the country's domestic legislative regime for prevention of this nefarious activity has been found by Cites to be incapable of coping with the job.

These laws are also said to be out of line with the global norms laid down by the Cites convention.

All this is a matter of great regret, if not shame. And considering the ground realities, it is hard to criticise what Cites has done. Many an important animal species is on the verge of extinction.

The position regarding plant species is worse as a good deal of this native wealth has already been lost. This is despite the fact that the country boasts of a protected area network of as much as 156,000 sq. km, or about 5 per cent of the country's geographical area.

This network includes nearly 90 national parks and 500 sanctuaries. But most of the network is in bad shape. While there are hardly any tigers left in the Sariska tiger reserve, the rare one-horned rhinos have run away en mass from the Kaziranga world heritage site.

The Keoladeo national park, home to over 350 migratory and resident birds, including rarities like the Siberian crane, sociable lapwing, sarus crane and black-necked stork, has shrunk to one-fourth of its size for want of water which has been diverted for irrigation.

Shockingly enough, these reserves house villages, mines, polluting industries, highways, railway tracks, thermal plants and even timber factories running legally or illegally.

On an average, one tiger is reckoned to be killed every day by poachers, who have links with international traders. Similarly, at least one elephant and two leopards lose their lives daily.

The same is the fate of some rare birds like the great Indian bustard. Incidents of such plunder are legion. Though the authorities surely cannot be unaware of all this, hardly any corrective measure has been initiated.

It is not enough to be in favour of or critical of the Cites report; what is needed is urgent action to save India's wildlife.