Foot soldiers of the forest

PUBLIC MUST PARTICIPATE TO SAVE FORESTS

Working to protect nature and wildlife makes me happy. I do not consider this a job, but my responsibility. Whether it was the years of work at the Kali Tiger Reserve in north Karnataka, countering poachers and the timber mafia in the Kulgi and Kumbarwada wildlife ranges or helping prevent bull frog smuggling, whatever I have achieved is because of the support from the officers and staff. Working in such a rich environment is a huge learning experience. Even though I have no formal training, I'm able to identify hundreds of tree species, birds, butterflies, amphibians, snakes and more by their common and scientific names.

After nearly 15 years in the field, a few incidents stand out in my memory. One is from a few years ago when I rescued a snake the first time — a king cobra at that! I received a lot of appreciation from the locals for doing so. Since then, I must've rescued nearly 500 snakes.

Another incident was a bit unsavoury. In 2013, a few people had hunted a sambar deer. Moreover, these culprits were being supported by a few local politicians. The politicians and their henchmen issued threats, asking me not to get involved in the case. 

They unsuccessfully attempted to register false charges against me to dampen my spirit and weaken the case against the hunters. With support from our seniors though, we arrested the culprits.

Today, forest and wildlife conservation is a challenging job. We should make efforts to protect nature not just by marking it on Environment Day, but by working hard to achieve our goals all through the year. The government should introduce core forestry and wildlife conservation lessons in school curricula, and since the role of the public in shaping our country is crucial, there is an immediate need for public participation in saving our forests and wildlife.

(Chandrakant Naik is a Deputy Range Officer with the Karnataka Forest Department. He was awarded the RBS Earth Heroes 2017 Save The Species Award last month)

WE NEED A GENE BANK FOR FLORA AND FAUNA

I thoroughly enjoy my work in the remote and inaccessible Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra. I faced a lot of challenges when I was posted as the Range Forest Officer, Kamlapur in Sironcha Forest Division. I was able to explore the Naxalite area with tribal youth and worked in the core tiger reserve area, which has been very thrilling. Working in Naxal-affected areas is challenging because of the near daily police-naxal encounters and pressure bombs on roads. Despite the difficulty and the threats, the police department's spirit taught me how to handle pressure. Being honest to your promises is the key factor to working in Naxal-affected and tribal areas.

Inter-department coordination helps to get things done. I suppose every forest staff is like a research worker, working in an open laboratory. The forest department would benefit by some upgradation as we are slow in embracing new techniques to manage forest and wildlife issues. I also feel that universities should get convenient access to non-tiger reserve areas for research. We must also think of adopting new policies so our staff can get help from people for forest conservation. We must think of minimising the direct benefit from forests and compensate tribal communities instead.

In addition, we must develop a gene bank in every state where all the wild varieties of flora and fauna can be conserved and modified to have their cultivars for agri-silviculture model. There are so many 'Ayurvedic' medicines in the market claiming to have been derived from wild plants. If this is indeed the case, then we should analyse and understand the pressure this puts on wild species. Developing cultivars of these wild species will help tribal communities and also become a legal source for Ayurvedic medicines.

(Atul Deokar is a Range Forest Officer at the Pench Tiger Reserve and has played a crucial role in establishing eco-development committees in the surrounding villages. He has worked with local communities to conserve wild buffaloes, Indian vultures and the Indian giant squirrel. He received the RBS Earth Heroes 2017 Green Warrior Award last month)