Extinction is a reality

Rather than be a parasite devouring all of Earth’s resources, mankind must develop more sustainable ways to fuel its engine of growth

CAN POLICYMAKING integrate a scientific approach into development? This was the question thrown up by last Tuesday’s guest speaker Dr. Deepak Apte (Director, Bombay Natural History Society).

Although Dr. Apte was speaking of India specifically, this is a question that many growing economies have struggled with over the past decades. South America, for example, with development raging through the Amazon Rainforest has faced this question at every step of its progress. Mankind’s right to work and subsistence have faced off with our duty towards the other inhabitants of planet Earth, our shared home.

Rather than speak in broad, general terms, Dr. Apte asked, “What are we fighting for?” To focus thought, he unveiled a virtual treasure chest of fabulous creatures.

Through a slide show, Dr. Apte shared his intimate knowledge of living beings that walk the Earth alongside us but to whom we are impervious.

Talking of the Olive Ridley sea turtles that come to the tiny island of Bhitarkanika, Orissa, he said, “This is the largest recurring of sea turtles anywhere in the world in an area not larger than two square kilometre. We are not fighting to save the whole coast of Orissa, just this small patch of two square kilometre!”

Pointing to bird migration patterns he spoke, most passionately, about Mumbai’s backyard Sewri which attracted winged creatures from across the world. “Birds the size of my palm migrate all the way from Arctic Russia to nest and feed in our 30 sq km patch of wetlands. The Arctic Tern, a bird that weighs 110 gm, makes the longest migration journey in the world – an annual round trip of 71,000 km. A tiny dragonfly flies 18,000 km from the Western Ghats to Africa. This is what we are trying to protect!” exclaimed Dr. Apte. What a commercial flight cannot do, a bird less than a foot in size does: fly 11,500 km non-stop for nine days without touching the ground.

“That is what we are trying to save,” emphasised Dr. Apte. “That is why we need to fight for every inch of the
oceans, to save these species. The Alpine Swift, smaller than my palm, flies 200 days non-stop and covers 2,000 km from Africa to Europe. The Common Swift does 16,000 km non-stop for 10 months without touching the ground.”

Going back to the Olive Ridleys, Dr. Apte shared that not only do the turtles hatch their eggs at the same coast, but the new-born female Ridleys come to the same place to hatch their eggs after they become adults. “That is why protecting these spaces is of absolute, paramount importance. Any change in these spaces will not work, the sea turtles will not understand; they are not genetically configured that way. That is why embedding science in conservation is imperative. Unfortunately, today’s problem is that policies are divorced from science and conservation. You have policies which have nothing to do with science. Policies are driven by the economy but that is not a good model for development; such policies do not take nuances of conservation into account,” said Dr. Apte.

“It is painful and frustrating to see habitats being lost and degraded every day because decision-makers do not have sensitivity about this subject,” he added. “Today, we promote renewable energy but if you do not integrate science into the planning, what happens is this: you pinpoint the maximum wind potential in the country which is along the western coast of India and there is a massive development of windmills. But the western coast also has a massive
network of ‘important bird areas’. These ‘bird areas’ are nothing but millions of birds migrating or residential, who use these areas.”

Dr. Apte also talked of urban biodiversity under threat. “There are three important projects coming up at Sewri, the backyard of Mumbai: Mumbai Nhava Sheva-Sewri Sea Link, Navi Mumbai International Airport and now, there is a proposal for a bullet train that will go through the Sewri Creek. Imagine the impact of these large projects upon a small, 30 sq km area, upon what we call the Eastern Seafront. Unless we embrace and embed science into planning stages, these conflicts are inevitable. We don’t plan and then later come to the realisation that we have made a mess of things because we find ourselves working amidst one of the largest congregations of flamingos in India. We have more than one-and-a-half-million birds flying to these seascapes annually. What is going to be the impact of these three large projects on these seascapes? We don’t know. We have never tried to do a policy formulation to look at some of these critical sites.”

In another example, Dr. Apte shared the case The Gateway of India precinct, which large numbers of people flock to annually, to enjoy water coming in from the sea, especially during the rains when the tides are at their highest.

Dr. Apte said, “I see such a picture with great sadness as it was not there three decades ago. This means that the sea is coming to us. It is a warning for us that it is going to hit us hard. Any infrastructure you develop in this area now will have huge economic and human consequences to deal with. If not now, two decades from now. The sea has already inched 800 m towards land. Nature has no mercy. It will hit you back with consequences you cannot deal with. What happens in the sea directly impacts the land; you cannot disfranchise the impact of land away from the sea.”

“Extinction is a reality,” said Dr. Apte. “Extinction will be a direct consequence of what we do with our remaining last pockets of forest and ocean and therefore a people’s movement is necessary to prevent it.”