From protecting borders to fighting insurgency and assisting administration in disaster relief, armed forces have been a multi-tasking lot.
NEW DELHI: From protecting the country’s borders to fighting insurgency and assisting civil administration in disaster relief operations, the armed forces have always been a multi-tasking lot. But the National Forest Commission (NFC) is of the opinion that they could do a lot more.
They would now have a new role of preserving and protecting environment and wild life entrusted to them if the government accepts this recommendation by the NFC.
The NFC in its recently submitted report recommended that armed forces be involved in wild life conservation and curbing wild life crime. Armed and paramilitary forces deployed on the nation’s borders have effective control over vast habitats that are critical to a number of montane and other species, notes the report.
The NFC says their active involvement in the conservation of these areas would not only prevent poaching by these personnel themselves as has been the case in the past, but will prevent poaching and habitat degradation by others, prevent illegal transit of wildlife products and will provide periodic data to the wildlife authorities concerned as to the status and distribution of a large number of animals about which very little is known.
Similarly, if sensitised, the Air Force and the Navy could also be of invaluable help in this regard, to both carry out surveys in remote areas and to prevent illegal traffic in wildlife products, the NFC says.
The NFC notes that the Indian Army is deployed in many areas rich in ecological diversity, like the Rann of Kutch, the Thar Desert, the length and breadth of the Himalaya, the tropical rain forests of northeast India, the Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This and the fact that the bulk of the manpower is recruited from rural areas, gives the jawan an edge in understanding nature and the intricate web of life.
The Indian Armed Forces can arrange environmental training programmes for officers and jawans through their Green Governance initiative. Army training manual on environment can be developed in a structured format, which will then form an integral part of Army training. Army, Navy, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force and coast guards should also contribute in prevention of smuggling of wildlife products along the borders, the NFC says. It notes that the Army has set up a special unit called the Environment and Ecology Cell, which deals with conservation aspects.
It has been in touch with the MoEF for a number of years. It would be appropriate if MoEF, the cell and concerned State Governments work out collaborative projects in different selected areas for long-term conservation efforts, involving strict protection of areas and species, especially endangered species, their status surveys, and the prevention of the passage of illegal wildlife trade.
Green warriors
Armed and paramilitary forces deployed on the nation's borders have effective control over vast habitats that are critical to a number of montane and other species, notes the report.
Their involvement will prevent illegal transit of wildlife products and will provide periodic data to the wildlife authorities.
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