Introduction

"When Lindsay Oaks, a veterinary microbiologist at Washington State University in Pullman went to Pakistan in the year 2000, there were so many vultures that he got bored looking at them. Now, three years later, the raptors are nearly gone."

- Copyright 2004, National Geographic News

The very idea that a million strong vulture population has dwindled by a staggering 97% in the regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh over a period of just 3 years is almost too absurd to believe. It's like saying that the number of seagulls in Dunedin would come down to 3 nesting pairs in 8 months or saying that the cuckoo is not found anymore in UK. But wait. Can any of this be true? Turns out it is. The Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is not so common anymore and has suffered serious decline in the United Kingdom. Reports on BirdLife Iinternational’s website suggest that some of America's commonest birds have dived to all-time lows over the last 4 decades. Though not as drastic as the vulture decline in south-east Asia, the downfall is steady and very obvious even to people who are not environmentalists or ornithologists.

These developments reveal a sick downward trend globally and push us to think about the effect we have on nature. Reasons for decline of birds and animals just roll off the tongues of anyone who even remotely understands the issue. Loss of habitat, global warming, and industrialized agriculture are some of the oft repeated refrains.

This is where New Zealand nature conservationists have captured my imagination. The way this small country fiercely guards its natural resources and protects it’s wildlife with all its might is hugely inspiring. Almost every living creature in the country from fur seals to wetas to penguins has been studied inside out and the conservation departments are well equipped to deal with almost any kind of calamity that might befall their wildlife.

Coming back from New Zealand, India was a huge shocker to me even though I'd been away for just 10 months. I could definitely understand why people from abroad find it so difficult to adjust to the conditions here. Right from the moment I landed, scenes at the airport of people jostling at the baggage conveyor belt to the hundreds milling immediately outside the arrival gate is so vastly different from the quiet airports in New Zealand that were way too empty for my comfort.

When I left the country, I had vowed to myself that I would not be one of those people who return and perennially complain about the conditions here. I had always been the first to rubbish their rants about the garbage, poverty and grime. This gave me all the more reason to hate myself for being a huge hypocrite. It's not so much the physical conditions as it is the psychological. Every single day is a huge struggle for 90% of the 1.2 billion people in India. The remaining 10% are either politicians or have inherited their wealth.

In situations where basic human rights very often take a severe beating, it is extremely difficult for people to sit up and take notice of environmental problems and conservation issues. When more than a few million people are still homeless or starving or below the poverty line, how easy can it be for environmentalists to convince people to be concerned about animals and birds that are facing a huge decline.

I, for one honestly believe that human beings are not doing that well either. It is this race for survival that stacks the chips against the denizens of the jungle. Either they kick us out of their turf or we push them out of theirs.

A paragraph in an old dusty 1988 edition of the ‘Sanctuary’ magazine put my thoughts in clear perspective:

To those who still utter the age-old argument, “Can we afford the ‘luxury’ of nature conservation?” Project Tiger’ (a wildlife conservation project initiated in India in 1972 to protect the Bengal Tigers)'s simple response is, “We can no longer afford the luxury of not conserving our natural wealth.”

All pictures except the first two Copyright 2009 Kyriakos Stylianopolous

Text by Siddharth Nambiar