Theme: Biodiversity Conservation: Individual or Collective Responsibility?
The Power of Awareness: Collective Responsibility in Biodiversity Conservation
by Rithvik Bala. P
National parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation efforts by various NGOs- notwithstanding all these efforts, species are still going extinct, and more still are dwindling and are at the brink of perishing. The efforts are definitely not completely fruitless- many species such as the Royal Bengal Tiger and the One Horned Rhino, for instance, have shown a remarkable recovery in protected areas. But the efforts are not completely fruitful as well. Multiple
amphibians and some large animals, such as the Sumatran Rhino and the Pinta Island Tortoise have gone extinct in spite of efforts.
The problem is not that distant, if we come to think about it. The Great Indian Bustard is just one of the many grassland birds which bear the brunt of extensive urbanization and reckless expansion by humans. All these overwhelming problems related to biodiversity are far from solved. Is this because of inefficient government planning? Insufficient government funds? Or carelessness on the part of all the governments of the world?
It is easy and quite satisfying to think about it that way, but let me state a blatant fact- we, the public, have a huge role to play in this massacre of flora and fauna, directly or indirectly. Very hard to accept, but very true. Let us take overfishing, for example. Catching enormous quantities of fish from the ocean has reduced the global fish stock by 30-50%. That is quite a lot, and one may wonder what is the reason behind this practice that puts the availability of seafood for future generations at risk.
The very natural answer for that question is, big companies which work just for the sake of profit. But what is the rationale behind a company undertaking any venture? Public demand, of course. It can thus be concluded that only because of the great demand for seafood by the public do companies turn to overfishing.
We must realize that saving the environment and slowing down environmental degradation and damage is not the government’s, an NGO’s, or the United Nations’ job- it is ours, the commoners’. Small steps taken by many feet can have the effect of a huge leap as a community. It is high time we give a ‘spark’, after which people will understand and take responsibility, initiating a chain of events which will eventually create the utopian human society where everything is perfectly balanced and nothing is affected, where there is no climate change, and everyone lives in perfect harmony with nature.
How do we give this spark? I believe that the first step is awareness. When people know more, they can do more. For instance, organizing community activities such as a tree- planting drive can educate people about the importance of trees in absorbing atmospheric carbon, and thus can lead to less trees being cut and more being planted. Another way to do it is organizing public meetings, directly educating people. Giving speeches about the importance of predators in the food chain, for instance, can lead to a reduction in poaching of tigers.
The public can be motivated to change not only their own ways, but also the policymakers’. Giving awareness about a problem can trigger an avalanche of public pressure on the big decision makers, shaping their decisions in favor of conservation. The protests for the international ban on whaling in the mid-20th century strongly illustrates this fact.
Millions of people actively participating in protests on various levels from local to international over decades has led to many countries signing agreements and imposing laws regulating and controlling commercial whaling. Multiple countries like Japan, Norway, the USA, and Iceland have seen public protests forcing world governments to look into the issue of dwindling whale numbers. These, along with efforts by NGOs such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund has brought about major changes in policy making in this regard, and has resulted in a great increase in whale numbers since.
All this was mainly because of awareness among the public. Scientific research on whales and their importance made public and media coverage made people more and more aware about the cruelty faced by whales. NGOs mobilized support by feeding people with more news about whale brutality.
This is a pleasant, honest-to-goodness solution to biodiversity issues in a perfect world, but let’s be real for a moment- is this actually an effective method? We can’t say for sure that it is effective for every issue. It may seem like a pointless thing to advise people who wouldn’t listen, and even if they do, wouldn’t understand the weight of the problem of biodiversity degradation. After all, a great amount of awareness efforts are being taken by activists and organizations for reducing carbon emission, but we don’t see any concrete action being taken by the public like in the previous case. Given the dubiousness in the efficiency of this method, I think there are better ways to spread awareness. I opine that targeting efforts towards children can yield better results.
Student minds are easily shaped by what they are taught and exposed to. I, for one, attribute my love and care for nature to my parents’ efforts. They encouraged me to participate in various competitions and quizzes and read books about nature. I was also taken on bird watching trips every other week. Giving especial importance to conservation, wildlife, global warming, sustainable development, etc., I believe, lead to a more generalized idea, and as a result, more generalized action by the future public, rather than fragmented interest and concern towards nature expressed by just a few people who can’t unify their efforts into one, effective force. I strongly believe that if it is done, it can produce a far greater, more permanent change than ever seen in nature conservation.