Land is where we stand and stay, get our sustenance. Land has following types and features which have been further analysed below.
Soil
Almost 60 per cent of all species live in soil making land the planet’s most biodiverse habitat.
Healthy soils store massive amounts of carbon which, if released, would cause a huge spike to planetary warming.
Dryland
Drylands face great water scarcity; cover 41 per cent of the Earth’s land surface and 78 per cent of the world’s rangelands. Generating 44 per cent of global crops, they are the source of feed for half of the world’s livestock and support the lives and livelihoods of more than 2 billion people.
Desert
Deserts cover more than one-fifth of the Earth's land area and are found on every continent.
The Sahara is the largest spanning 9.4 million square kilometers. Despite its pseudonym, “Lifeless” the Sahara Desert is home to 500 plant species, 70 mammalian species, 100 reptilian species, 90 avian species and several arthropods such as spiders and scorpions. Many deserts are expanding because of climate change but some countries are fighting back including the 22 countries in Africa that border the Sahara Desert where the Great Green Wall initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares of land through a mosaic of green and productive landscapes.
Forest
Forests cover 31 per cent of the Earth. More than half of the world’s forests are found in only five countries: Brazil, Canada, China, the Russia and the USA. Forests are home to more than half of the world’s land-based species of animals, plants and insects.
Water
Only 0.5 per cent of water on Earth is useable and available as freshwater. Climate change is dangerously affecting that supply. Over the past two decades, land-based water storage, including soil moisture, snow and ice, has dropped at a rate of 1 centimetre per year with severe ramifications for water security and food production. Lakes, rivers and wetlands hold 20–30 per cent of global carbon despite occupying only 5–8 per cent of its land surface.
The Nile River is widely regarded as the world’s longest waterway. Starting in East Africa, flowing through 11 countries it stretches to 6,695 kilometres. Approximately 1.4 billion livelihoods worldwide are directly reliant on access to fresh water.
Farmland
Equivalent of one football pitch of such land is eroded in every five seconds. But it takes 1,000 years to generate 3 centimetres of topsoil. Every year more than 24 billion tonnes of priceless topsoil are washed or blown away worldwide, as the land is over cultivated and overgrazed and trees and forests are cut down. The world will need to raise its food production by 60/70 per cent to feed a projected human population of 9 billion by 2050 even as the current agricultural expansion continues to threaten forests and biodiversity. Close to 75 per cent of the world’s fruit and seed crops depend, at least in part, on pollinators like bees. Pollinators contribute to 35 per cent of the world’s total crop production, pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops worldwide.
Despite their importance pollinators are in serious decline, primarily due to intensive agricultural practices, pesticide use, invasive alien species, diseases and climate change. At least 2 billion people depend on the agriculture for their livelihoods, particularly poor and rural populations.
Cities
Cities occupy three per cent of the
Earth’s land surface but are home to more than half of its people. Cities
account for 75 per cent of global resource and
energy use and produce
more than half of global waste and at least 60 per cent of greenhouse gas
emissions. More than one-third of the
biggest cities, including Barcelona, Bogota, New York and Tokyo, source a
significant proportion of their high-quality drinking water from protected
forests nearby. Trees in urban
areas can cool the air by up to 5°C, reducing air conditioning needs by 25 per
cent. Urban trees provide multiple health benefits such as cleaner water. They
also clean the air and reduce flooding among many other benefits.
And here below are the further elucidation
Soil- Not the nutrient contents only but the latest scientific
projection is soil biodiversity. More the microbial actions more the production
from the soil. Soil is neither mud nor dirt. It is teeming with life. Innumerable
living things including microbes assure sustenance of life below and above the
soil. Healthy soil separates carbon and helps flood control. Soil is home to 59
earthly species and one per cent of biodiversity.
Soil is made of five main ingredients:
Minerals- their presence in the soil is to the extent of 45 to 49 per cent. Soil texture is made of sand, silt and clay.
Water- is present in varying quantities. It is essential for plants and other living things in it. Organic matters-microbes decompose dead plants and animals and release nutrients for plant life.
Gases- oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide are essentially present in soil to help life going .
Organisms-the presence of invertebrates in large numbers is most beneficial for the living organisms and plants though they comprise less than one per cent of the soil. Decomposing organic matters and releasing nutrients are their main functions. Earthworms and nematodes are the bigger ones followed by ants, flying insects, bacteria, algae, fungi and microbes.
Healthy soil helps in water absorption, retention and reduce erosion. Soil in floodplains act as storage areas during flood events. Over exploitation and misuse, wrong use of lands tells heavily on the earth’s eco system. Already 33 per cent of world’s soils has been degraded which may go up to nether point by 2050, it is estimated when desired food production level has to increase by 60 per cent due to estimated population exploitation,
Erosion of topsoil has also been a recurring problem in the world, particularly in India. 1625.70 square kilometre of land in some five States and one UT in India has been under catastrophic soil erosion at the rate of 100 tonnes or more per hectare per year. Such erosion representing three per cent of the topsoil creates sufficient environmental and socio economic problems. Land is degraded reducing agricultural produce and the resulting sediment creates ecological problem for water bodies like rivers, lakes and ponds. It further accelerates ru-offs during floods..It creates damages to roads, buildings and fences; creates gullies giving danger signal in cities. Soil erosion is usually the result of deforestation or cutting of trees as the roots do not protect the soil and its water retention capacity too gets lost.
Forest
Trees utilise carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for photosynthesis. As we lose more and more trees carbon dioxide in the air increases causing global warming. Twenty-five per cent of carbon dioxide was added to the atmosphere during the last 150 years due to deforestation. Destruction of forest causes drought. Destruction of rain forest in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire might have caused drought for two decades in Africa. World is losing 31 million hectares of rain forest annually, more than the size of Poland. The world is losing forest wealth of the size of 36 football grounds every minute. This was as per calculation by scientists on an average estimation up to 2011. The loss of forest worldwide may be measured from the Indian lost forest example which is as below:
In the mid-1980s Indian government made an actual satellite survey of forests and published “State of Forest Report 1987” which compared the position of forest cover between 1972-75 and 1980-82 when India lost 1.3 million hectares of forest cover each year for seven years which was quite more than projected. When the report for 2021 was published it was found that 25.87 million hectares of forest cover was missing from the recorded forest area under government. It was certainly lost as forest but it was not mentioned to what extent the forest was degraded. Up to 40 per cent of the open forest was outside the recorded forest cover under government. Even 12 per cent of the dense forest area was beyond the recorded forest area. The report contained many other anomalies. What the report has shown as forest cover contains many private plantations like tea, coffee, rubber and such areas are under private control.
On the whole the wanton destruction of forest land for mining, road construction, urbanisation and for other purposes including for the private interest of parties violating all environmental rules by those who are in authority for protection has been decimating forests throughout the country. 1
It has been reported that Northern Hemisphere summer in 2023 was warmest in two millennia. The 2023 summer temperature was 1.19°C higher than the warmest summer in 246 AD. World is on track to shatter temperature records for 12 consecutive months in May 2024. Climate change is responsible for over 80% of temperature rise within Asia last month, the hottest April ever. Weather-related disasters continue to displace more than conflict and violence, study calls for urgent greenhouse gas reduction. Destruction of forest is the main reason for production of greenhouse gas, for global warming and climate change.
Desert
Heat is rising in every country, it is a global issue. More the heat less the moisture available on the ground and dust accumulates. Dust-bowl. Speed of wind increases and creates dust storm of incredible force killing people as has happened in North India in 2018. Already dry area gets hotter with water scarcity due to paucity of green cover; this leads to desertification. 12 million hectares of land gets degraded every year the world over, according to United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which was born at the Rio de Janeiro, Earth Summit in 1992.
In 1997 it was estimated that overgrazing was the cause for 90 per cent land degradation in Australia and 60 per cent in Africa. Deforestation caused land degradation to the extent of 40 per cent in Europe and South America and 30 per cent in Asia. It is estimated that at least a quarter of global land was degraded in the last two decades on which depend at least 1500 million people for their livelihood.
Thar desert occupies major portion, nearly
70 per cent of the State of Rajasthan in the north western India. Here in hot
and arid land degradation is severe. Most affected areas are around the sand
dunes some of which are very old and hard crusted for thousands of years. In some of the areas people have erected
green belts at the border of the dunes preventing further spread of them.
Growing selected trees causing rain and retention of water has enabled
cultivation and recovery of some degraded lands. Dunes have been fixed.
Mining: Process and Purpose; How much Beneficial How much Harmful
Metals. Stones and other valuable objects are created in Nature, the result of interaction between different elements and forces of nature, evolved in millions of years. Modern man through scientific knowledge and technology could know of the deposits at the specific sites and began to mine and explore possibilities for further excavation and lifting the minerals. While it served to fulfil many crying demands for minerals for completing the developmental projects and industrial purposes, the crave for mining became a greed and whoever acquired the authority of. excavating such wealth, even when beyond the country’s needs, go for it for profit as the present mad rush to the Arctic regions by countries to raise and lift whatever the wealth they .can procure for their collections and for making wealth. But it is time to remember that such assets belong to the future generations and to all the people of the world whoever shall have the requirements and ability to raise minerals from mines for the development of their world. The selfish man should not be allowed to loot all the limited resources of the world, future wealth of the humanity that are waiting to appear on the scene. Instead of minerals man has gone to explore alternate possibilities of generating energy from the Sun and the Wind. It may be that minerals raised so far may be recycled for further resource generations.
As the resources are raised man has to dig deeper and deeper for more. The process becomes excruciating labour with accompanying pains for those who actually do that. It also entails destruction.. of forest and wildlife, driving out the original claimants of the earth who have been living the mines area carrying out their pristine life for unrecorded generations past. It is time that man considers all aspects of mining and proceed as per the best way conceived by the majority of the humanity. Among the minerals and activities to raise them, a few examples are given below for further consideration.
Coal Mining
Governments would give clearance, giving up the ‘Go
or No Go’ policy in classification of forests where for ecological reasons 50
per cent of the them are No Go zones, observed a daily paper in their
report, as the government felt the urgent need for generating electricity at any cost. The paper argued
further that such acts cause
environmental dilution raising fear for aggravation of climate change and
creation of various problems:
Ecosystem services that
humans derive from these forests are invaluable like hydrological, nutrient and nitrogen cycles. Carbon cycles regulate global climate.
It was said that the
Ecological scientists have estimated the net value of some of the more easily
quantifiable ecosystem services to be around the amount of the global GDP. Destruction of forest
must account for this cost apart from other costs and harms done. Large number
of tribal and other forest dwellers will be displaced. Rehabilitation system in
India has so far been very inadequate. The World Bank team has pointed the
inadequacies. Huge carbon emissions from coal based
thermal plants are questions of great concern.
The
advantage of alternate energy
is evident from the sharply declining cost of solar and wind technologies and
an equally sharp increase in the coal and fossil fuel costs.
Mining Aluminium
Here is an observation about the process and prospect of mining aluminium.
The aluminum industry depends primarily on bauxite, a porous rock that
caps mountains, some of the highest and most pristine. Bauxite being porous
retains water causing the sides and often the summits of these mountains
densely forested. Bauxite slowly releases water in the summer in clear streams
that nourish the fields and bodies of the peoples who live on these mountains. Further
downstream, the flow feed the region’s major rivers.
Further activities essential in the process are; to strip the old-growth forest off the summits and sides of mountains using explosives to blow up the mountaintops themselves, to herd the people who live on the hills; who have cherished and nurtured their unique environment for millennia into settlements that sometimes resemble concentration camps, to build dams for supplying the enormous quantities of water required to smelt aluminum (almost 1,400 tons of water for every ton of the metal) drowning neighboring valleys and villages, to crush, refine, and smelt, leaving behind toxic smoke that chokes lungs, weakens bones and bleaches crops and the resulting byproduct, caustic, radioactive red sludge, leaches into rivers killing fishes, along with the occasional humans .Even to an ordinary person such activities would seem to be ecocide and cultural genocide. All this goes in a developing country by the name of development, economic growth, or even poverty reduction!
Mining Diamond
Diamonds are mined mostly from African countries; always at the cost of the vulnerable humans from the Africa solely for the selfish pleasure of the rich and the Multinational companies of the world.
Edward Zwick, Director and Co-producer of the American Film, Blood Diamond rightly said,
“It seems that almost every time a valuable natural resource is discovered in the world — whether it be diamonds, rubber, gold, oil, whatever — often what results is a tragedy for the country in which they are found. Making matters worse, the resulting riches from these resources rarely benefit the people of the country from which they come.” 2
Amazon the Pristine flow
Amazon the largest or second largest river in the world with 30 major tributaries, totally numbering to more than 1100 tributaries, has the largest rain forest. Amazon basin carries one fifth of the planet’s fresh water. The vast and gigantic river, one of the pristine water bodies of the earth, was flowing in its own way before the arrival of humans on its banks, gradually populated by men of whom many still exist there as tribes having their birth rights to live and enjoy but often losing their ways before the mightier new comers, losing their pristine rights. Carrying the humanity on its bosom flowing through eternity Amazon has been crippled and dwarfed by them.
Francisco de Oreliana, the Spanish voyager, navigated the entire length of the river reaching its mouth on 24 August 1542. He found the river flooding; at some places, had the width of 80 kilometres. He had never encountered any river of the volume and length of its tributaries. They were dumb founded at the immensity of the river as it poured into the Atlantic. The voyagers conceived that part of the river as the sea and named it sweet water sea. Some of its islands were of the size of Switzerland. Oreliana would not have believed had he lived today, what man has done to Nature, how such a massive Amazon has been transformed into its present stature.
After its discovery floods of adventurers poured into the area conceiving its wealth. It was colonised and in its evolution the Amazon basin is now shared by nine countries; the largest sharer is Brazil. Extremely exploited, the whole Amazon area has been undergoing flood and drought alternately for decades, After the massacring flood of 2021 it is now undergoing a devastating drought. Negro, the main tributary of Amazon, one of the most voluminous rivers, has been flowing at the lowest level in 121 years. In Solimoes river people are walking over imuds and in Acre river, another tributary, water has completely dried out affecting water supply to 17000 people.
The drought has been linked to Climate Change, Deforestation and unusually hot North Atlantic sea. 66 per cent of the Amazon rainforest is under constant pressure from the vested interest groups like oil industry, mining and hydroelectricity, 800 operating and planned projects. 26 per cent of the region, has reached a Point of No Return due mainly to deforestation and degradation. The dying up of Amazon Ecosystem warns about the planetary crisis. There are 157 dams in operation and 21 is under construction. Dams severely affect flow of water and ecosystem of the rivers. It may leave only three tributaries of Amazon living in decades if all the projected 280 dams are completed. Mining and agriculture including overgrazing by animals are added pressures. Drought and hot waves cause frequent fires further destroying the animals and men. Thousands of species of plants and vertebrates have been extinguished like thousands of caimans and dolphins. There are millions of caimans in the system which crawls in drought and seek alternate spaces giving rise to man-animal conflict.
The gigantic devastation to Amazon and its tributaries, to Amazon Basin and Amazon rain forest done by the vested interest groups so far tells about the scale of human misbehaviour with Nature causing Climate Change; drought, flood and destruction giving warning to further escalation of suffering and deaths. Its impact to other regions and countries have already been predicted by scientists. Nothing can check the ruins until people of the region and the globe in a broader sense, rise up to the occasion and compel the wrong doers to withdraw from the scene and undo many devastating wrongs done. According to the World Resources Institute, the Amazon rainforest remains a net carbon sink, just barely, and that’s thanks to strong protections in lands managed by Indigenous communities.
Water vis-à-vis Land use
Water
Introducing water in his essay, Dance Of Water For Bio-incarnation, Sustenance And Apocalypse, Dr. K. C. Sahu has written,
“An apparently inert seed, dormant for years, sprouts into a sapling when comes in contact with water and in due course develops a majestic green canopy of inner and outer world of life. Cascading stream carves out intricate pattern of curvaceous potholes even in hard rocks and erosional force of water develops diversity of land forms of mountains, valleys, plains and shore-lines on earth, attired with a cover of green vegetation. From the impact of rain drops to sheet flows on land, physical and chemical weathering by water pulverizes rocks to release mineral nutrients and feeds a diversity of life awaiting along its course of movement. No wonder, the earth surface quenches thirst and becomes alive soon after a shower. It is this hydrated biosphere which envelops the planet earth exactly as the skin, flesh and blood do over a skeleton, prompted some Scientists to address our planet as a Living Earth or Gaia. Similar idolization of the planet as Dharitri in Indian mythology and as “Mother Earth” by the modern generation.
The magic of water to stimulate or trigger activities in inorganic or organic materials at molecular to global levels has prompted search for extraterrestrial liquid water as a precursor to presence of life outside the earth.”
Let us see how Himalayan Springs, the source of most river waters in India, are drying up towards extinction.
Mountain Springs
Himalayan mountain ranges have three million out of five million springs in India which are source of water to large numbers of rivers. Such springs sustain life of 50 million people in north and north-eastern India. Most of them have dried or are drying up, becoming seasonal flows. Springs give moisture to the soil and keep holes in forests for animals. Absence of such holes and springs makes wildlife insecure about the availability of water. This has been linked to Climate Change, bringing down the rainfall in the Himalayas, almoat abolishing winter rains.
Hydrology of springs affect the hydrology of the rivers, either at its source, at the middle or at lower level. It essentially tells about the degradation of land due to wrong use and deforestation. Or misuse of land for the so called development causing ecological disintegration and degradation of land causing the draining out of the aquifers.
Joshimath
Misuse and deliberate wrong use of mountain lands have recently brought havoc to cities like Joshimath. At an altitude of 1874 metres the pilgrim town is on a steep slope on the landslide sediments of the past. Besides random housing and construction of dams in such places a 12 km long tunnel was constructed in 2006. And the Helang bypass was constructed outside the town to accommodate Chardham project linking the four ancient pilgrim spots of India which used to be crossed over by real devotees for ages with much hardship and sufferings. Chardham linking highways are show pieces showing modern engineering pride but cracked by lack of knowledge and prudence in undertakings such ventures which harms more than any real development. In the beginning of the New year, 2023, large numbers of houses had shown cracks and many roads too cracked necessitating shifting of large numbers of residents from their homes. The city, actually a town, has been subsiding one centimeter per year.
Spree to Urbanisation
When Uttarakhand, on the
Himalayas at its southern slope, was made a new province of India in 2000, it
had roads to the extent of 8000 kms. Now it has a road network of 40000 kms.
Huge debris created for such constructions were dumped on the slopes which
silted the rivers and killed vegetation, farmlands.
Random construction of roads, houses, hotels and dams in the fragile body of the geologically youngest but highest mountain range, the Himalayas, with many tectonic traits, is under huge pressure as it is still evolving. It has been subsiding under human pressure giving warning to all Nature and humans and of course to the wildlife too.
In a spree to make towns, ending villages, the backbone of Indian life, frantic efforts were made to make facelift of towns a couple of years ago. Suddenly concrete slabs and stones of similar huge sizes arrived in Pondicherry town and they were dumped by the side of footpaths hindering pedestrian and vehicular movements for quite some time. And then, in absence of space to use or apply them anywhere they were lifted back by trucks entailing public expenditure as in all such futile ventures.
Apple Orchards
Land use for farming and plantations in Himalayan regions draw our attention. Previously in the snow clad upper Kinnaur, dry and less rainfall areas, they used to cultivate barley, wheat and potatoes but due to rising temperature and less snowfall this arid region has been chosen for apple orchard while traditional juniper, pine, apricot and robinia aren’t found. Moisture in the soil has been very less unlike before due to less snow fall; Already 72 per cent of the district land has been degraded and desertified. As apple trees are water guzzling water is getting transported to this region adding costs of production, questioning its continuance.
Banni Grassland
Disappearance of the largest chunk of the famous Banni grassland in Gujarat, mainly due to human interference in Nature, is a telling example of human folly.
Maldharis, the traditional pastoral community, were grazing their animals on this 2617 square kilometre finest grassland of Asia which looked like a green island on the arid Raan of Kutch district which is linked to the sea. Drought prone Banni buffaloes, famous for their milk quality, were fed by the grassland for centuries.
Though erratic rainfall has been shown as the cause for the degradation to some extent, people had noticed earlier that the pristine grassland thrived well even in scanty rains. The main cause for the degradation was the scattering of seeds of an alien species of tree, Prosopis juliflora, by helicopter over an area of 31, 550 hectares to check salinity and spread of the Rann. This was the most inconsiderate action by the government in 1960-61 without reference to ecological and socio economic consequences. The seeds thrived well in non-saline and less saline areas and spread from six per cent in 1997 to 54 per cent in 2015 and has been spreading to engulf the whole. Only 33 per cent biomass collected from the grassland can be fed to cattle, rest is waste matters.
Introduction of eucalyptus and other intensive alien species of trees in Himalayas and elsewhere have brought ruins to the native trees and farmlands.
Destroying the Water bodies choking the flow
Drawing cityscape is an artistic luxury when in reality the city lacks any of the essential elements of Nature for life. Bengaluru (Bangalore), built over its water bodies spreading to 800 sq km, chokes flow of water to its own mouth and body. It is like cutting the branch of the tree one is sitting on (remembering the story of the great Poet Kalidas). Bengaluru is built over 93 per cent of its space available leaving little scope for ground water recharging specially when it is on semi arid peninsular region. Akravathi and its tributary Vrishavavathi, originating and flowing through the it are the only streams available in the city. But Its rocky surface makes the catchment impermeable, resulting in surface runoff.
Looking back a little we can find what man has done to a city, what man has done to fellow humans of the future. Kempe Gowda the founder of the city in 15th century was a visionary and a master builder. Observing the terrain and its rocky undulating features he had constructed large numbers of lakes and tanks in the city, allowing catching rain water and reserve it and thereby to recharge ground water allowing water to flow from one water body to another when in surplus. And this free flow of water keeps floods in check. The subsequent administrators of the city maintained the useful process. By 1800 Bengaluru had an intricate system of 1452 water bodies spread over 741 sq km of city space with a storage capacity of 35000 million cubic feet (TMC). Though topographically a water scares area it had no dearth of water.
The reversal in the system began by 2011 when government deliberately took over many water bodies and constructed over them such big shows as City Terminus, Kanteerva Stadium and local market. Only 193 water bodies were left out with a storage capacity of only 5 TMC. By 2017 for additional cause of siltation, etc. there was a storage loss of 76 per cent. By 2015-16 the situation was 98 per cent of the lakes were encroached upon for high rise illegal buildings and apartments, 90 per cent of the lakes were sewage-fed and their catchment areas became the dumping grounds for municipal solid waste and debris.
We further note the position that there has been a1005% increase in urban (built-up) area between 1973 and 2016 and there has been 89% decline in tree cover and 79% loss of water bodies. 3
Coexistence with Others
In a broad division of
land spaces humans gradually made their habitats in villages, towns and cities
and wild animals including most other livings things lived in forests. But man
has never felt satisfied with what they had. They have been constantly
encroaching upon wildlife areas and urbanising their habitat destroying
wildlife and their share of land. As a result animals in search of food and shelter
encroach upon human settlements.
In India elephants come out of forest and eat up crops and finish farm lands to live. Tigers often leave forest and many of them do not live in reserves man made for them. Tigers attack humans and often kill cattle. Bisons come out and roam in towns. There are millions of caimans in theAmazon system which crawls in drought and seek alternate spaces giving rise to man-animal conflict. These are conflict areas with animals. Clashes regularly happen. It is neither possible nor feasible to annihilate all of them unless Nature intervenes but Nature is unbiased. On the other hand Man does not intend to annihilate all. Perhaps they would be satisfied if they could cage or keep all animals in Zoos; a chimeric dream.
The core idea in Nature is that man has to
share space and all other resources derived from the Mother Earth with others
as per requirements of each. One of the reasons for man to expand their area of
living is population explosion but that may happen in animal worlds too. The
idea of compulsory sharing has been functioning when we come to domestic
animals but all of them aren’t pets nor all humans like them.
Due to their presence
and conflict with them there were of 20000 dog bite cases a day in India in 2019 and 1.92 millions of dog bite in 1922 which means 5200 incidents a
day. Of the rabies suffered by humans 96 per cent accounts for dog bites.1000
monkey bites happen per day on an average in India and that too leads to
rabies. India has become a Rabies
Capital of the world. Pigeon droppings and feathers cause lung infections which has been on the
increase in recent years. They also cause hypersensitivity, pneumonitis,
cryptococcal meningitis and psittacosis.4
From 1990 to 2004 the size of monkey population increased from 61000 to 317000 or there was a fivefold increase in Himachal Pradesh of India. 5
There
was a 100 per cent increase in pigeon population in India during the last 25
years. And no end to dog population, specially stray dogs. Such animals find
human company rewarding as the human foods are quite congenial to them and
space for stay! They know how to manage. Pigeons can stay on ledges, parapets,
cornice or any such space for nesting. Such animals grow healthy with ever increasing
population though it is true that millions of different species are getting
extinguished every year from the face of the earth.
Monkeys
The monkeys of Lopburi,
Thailand, once welcomed the tourists and pilgrims who would feed them. But with
few recent visitors the monkeys are getting hungry and becoming aggressive. The
crab eating macaques have seized the older capital of the State which in olden
days would mean that they have won over the country! Their growing population,
at least 8,400 in the area with most concentration in a few city blocks, has
decimated parts of the local economy. With territorial troupes of macaques
roaming the neighbourhood dozens of business houses including a music school
and others like gold shop, barber’s cabin, mobile phone store and movie
theatre, have been forced to close in recent years. After their basic needs are
fulfilled other traits of their character have flourished as it is in human
nature too. Over the years the monkeys moved into abandoned buildings, trashed
display cases and rattled the bars installed to keep them out. Unless security
guards are vigilant, they rip antennas and windshield wipers off parked cars.
Monkeys are very skilful in India and in
other South Asian towns. They have learnt to open bottles and packaged food,
can sift through garbage bins. When food is not easily available they raid
houses and rob shops.
About monkeys people are divided in their
opinions and ideas. There is religious sentiments in India and tourists
everywhere feed monkeys for fun. Pigeons too carry religious sentiments of man
and some men feel it a duty to feed pigeons and stray dogs daily. Sentiments,
bias and religious obligations are personal and communal. Even courts are
divided in their judgments. When dogs and cats are pet they get all attentions
of their fosters but when they stray outside they get the attention of common
people who may not be able to keep pets. Indulged at the beginnings some
animals now find living with men unavoidable.
They stay in their vicinity like such
common birds as crow whose presence is ubiquitous.
Banishing all others from the neighbourhood of human habitats may not be possible as living without trees would be suicidal. Dogs may be sterilized, separate reserved forest areas with suitable provision of fruits and vegetables for monkeys may be created and pigeons may not be given foods to discourage their stay but on the whole coexistence seems a judicious way of life.
Conclusion
Common people may be unconcerned, ignorant and selfish in their dealing with Nature and Environment; may allow municipal water flowing from taps uncontrolled, use fridges and air conditioners unnecessarily, cut trees and spoil many things, though not desirable they remain in limited scales and areas. But when deforestation, degradation of lands, driving out tribes, annihilating wildlife and choking of rivers and water bodies are done in a large scale by constructing dams and otherwise causing Green House Gases and Carbon dioxide to overflow effecting Global warming or causing scarcity of water or when large scale mining is done mostly for private profit and gains, destroying wealth belonging to the future generations of humanity, those activities are invariably done by those who by some system or other have been authorised to rule the country. It is observed that such persons taking chance of their eligibility often misuse public property, wealth and resources of the country, degrade Nature and Environment by ignorance and with selfish motives.
Man has to consider one very important thing that ruling a country by or through any process should not be construed as the authority over all wealth of the country which are of permanent nature like Forest, Wildlife, Mines, Lands, Water and other elements of Nature. A distinction has to be made so that temporary authority does not give whimsical power to do or undo anything with such intrinsic wealth of the country. If everyone or most are aware of the consequences of misdealing with Nature and Environment they should oppose or try to get the system of dealing with such wealth of the country changed or amended suitably.
Notes and References💚💚
1 Based on report; “25.87 Million Hectares.”. Down To Earth. New Delhi. 16-28 February, 2022.
2 From Internet. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/edward_zwick_409677
3 “Unplanned Urbanisation and Imminent Water Scarcity in Bengaluru”
By Mr. T.V. Ramchandra, Head of the Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. (https://wgbis.ces.iisc.ac.in/energy/water/paper/Unplanned_Urbanisation/index.html)
4 “Conflict of
Existence”- Down To Earth. New Delhi. 16-30 June 2023
5 “Out of Control”- Down to Earth.. New Delhi.16-31 August, 2015
(c) Aju Mukhopadhyay 2024
