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A Fifty Year Journey
Zafar
Futehally
Mr. Zafar Futehally (77) has been actively
involved in the national and international movement for conservation
of nature. Described variously as a naturalist, environmentalist or
conservationist, he had been at the vanguard of the
environment/conservation activities in our country. The late Salim
Ali was his mentor and often provided the stimulus for action such
as establishment of “Birdwatchers’ Field Club”. But, Mr. Zafar
Futehally was instrumental in taking the initiatives in policy
directions such as incorporation of an ‘environment’ philosophy in
the national five-year plans.
His role in the conservation of forests, wildlife and fragile
ecosystems such as in the Western Ghats, has received recognition
nationally and internationally. He has held high offices at IUCN,
WWF, and BNHS with distinction.
We, at Development Alternatives are fortunate to have Mr. Zafar
Futehally as a distinguished member of the Board of Governors of our
sister concern “Technology and Action for Rural Advancement”
(TARA). Bombay Natural History Society has honoured Mr. Zafar
Futehally with the award of International Salim Ali Centenary
Memorial Prize. We extend our felicitations to Mr. Zafar Futehally.
The article is not a verbatim reproduction of the acceptance speech,
but highlights some of the milestones on the “conservation” journey
in ZH’s inimitable style of wit and frankness.
I
think the best I can do on this occasion is to give an anecdotal
account of the Conservation Movement for the past 50 years. I will
attempt to highlight from memory (not a very sharp one) the main
events of the past five decades. It is a period when Salim Ali
played a pioneering role in emphasising the importance of our
natural environment, not merely for nature lovers, but for society
as a whole. I was fortunate to be on the periphery of this
movement.
Forests
I
think it will be agreed that the first National Pronouncement about
conservation was the National Forest Policy of 1952 with its famous
proposal that 33% of India’s land surface should be under forest
cover. I understand that the figure of 33% was arrived at in a
curious way. A Government of India note, produced by the Ministry
of Agriculture, said that Europe had a certain degree of forest
cover but since its climate was temperate, and the rainfall more
frequent, and since India was a tropical country with greater
extremes of climate, it should have more forest cover than Europe.
On that basis the figure of 33% was arrived at. I need hardly
remark to this audience that in the matter of vegetation cover on
the land, averages can provide no sensible guidelines.
I
wish the Government would accept the recommendations made in several
fora for having two categories of Forests, i.e. Protective
and Productive Forests. This policy would ensure that there
would be no exploitation at all of the Protective Forests and these
would be left entirely untouched to perform their ecological
functions, conservation of ground water, protection of soil and all
the other natural duties which a forest is meant to do. The
present practice of having selective felling even in the so-called
protective forests leads to serious degradation. It might be noted
that a forest which has anything less than 60% of its leaf cover
fails in its ecological functions.
On Birdwatching
My
serious involvement in birdwatching and conservation happened in a
curious way. Towards the end of the 50s, a reporter in the Times of
India, wrote a piece under the heading The Magpie Robin - a fine
songster. He obviously knew nothing about birds but must have
looked up the books and put together a paragraph about the European
Magpie (Pica pica) and then added a few paragraphs from Salim
Ali’s book about our own dayal (Copysychus saularis) creating
a hybrid bird. Salim Ali was furious and conveyed his annoyance in
his characteristic manner to N J Nanporia, the then Editor of the
Times of India. Nanporia in return inquired who could write a
column on birds on a regular basis, and Salim suggested my name. It
was the start of the Birdwatchers Diary which continued for over a
decade and I believe created some interest in birds. We started the
“Birdwatchers’ Field Club” and a newsletter. The first issue of the
‘Newsletter for Birdwatchers’, was brought out in December 1959.
Since then it has appeared without a break as a cyclostyled monthly
till 1987, and as a printed bi-monthly since then. I have every
hope that it will survive the editor.
Conservation
The 60s was a period when Europe and America had got extremely
alarmed by the consequences of man’s aggression on the natural
world. The IUCN and the WWF had started their worldwide mission to
save Planet Earth in the mid 50s. In 1969, Salim Ali and E P Gee
arranged for a close interaction between the Indians and some of the
leading naturalists such as Sir Peter Scott, Max Nicholson, Richard
Fitter, Lee Talbot, Sir Frank Fraser Darling, Sir Hugh Elliot,
Harold Coolidge and some others. The outcome was the IUCN General
Assembly holding its session in New Delhi in 1969. It was here that
the tiger was designated an endangered species and its
hunting totally prohibited.
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)
There were two success stories for the BNHS during the 60s. I refer
to them not only for their intrinsic value, but also because each
was the outcome of a happy chance. While driving from Kihim to
Bombay, a stranger on the road asked for a lift and I took him in my
car. When we approached the area below Karnala Fort I found a
freshly painted signboard in Marathi. Not being able to read it
very well, I asked my companion what the notice was about. He said
the area had been designated an industrial estate by the Maharashtra
State Industrial Development Corporation. This was shocking news
and the next day I sent a letter to the Times of India saying that
it was unbelievable that the last remaining evergreen forest around
Bombay should be converted into an industrial estate instead of
being made into a sanctuary. That very evening the Secretary
Industry, Mr. P C Nayak, telephoned me and said that he agreed with
the contents of the letter and that the decision would be reversed
and Karnala would be made into a Bird Sanctuary. Mr P C Nayak is
now in Bangalore and continues to the active in conservation.
The other unexpected success took place in the Borivli National park
which was then a Reserve Forest and the catchment area for the lakes
of Powai and Vihar. On one of my walks through the area I was
alarmed to see a hundred teak trees cut down and laid in neat rows
along the road. I took a photograph and sent it to the Times of
India, hoping that they would publicise the undesirability of
cutting down trees in the catchment area. The Evening News
published the picture under the heading ‘Reserve Forest or Slaughter
House’ or words to that effect, and in fact wrote an editorial on
the subject. We had an opportunity to explain to the Forest Minister
the undesirable consequences of denuding the forest of trees
particularly since Powai and Vihar lakes supply much needed water to
Bombay. Obviously impressed by the arguments, the Minister turned
to the Chief Conservator of Forests and said, “Ata kapaicha band
kara”. As far as I know there was no legal cutting of trees in
Borivli after this directive from the Forest Minister. Borivli, in
spite of being suffocated by surrounding development pressures,
remains a unique example of a natural area so close to and within a
busy city.
Project Tiger
The 70s were dominated by Indira Gandhi. Soon after her return from
the Stockholm Conference, she established the National Committee of
Environmental Planning and Co-ordination in 1972. Unfortunately,
the NCEPC was not an effective body. The process towards
developing a national environment policy was a frustrating
experience. The Committee reports were nicely worded documents, but
little thought went to the implementation on the ground. “Project
Tiger” was born in 1972. You are all familiar with what Project
Tiger has achieved so far!
Environment and Ecology in the National Plans
Environment and Ecology featured in the planning process thanks to
the vision of Late Pitamber Pant. I suggested to Salim Ali that it
might be a good move on the part of Bombay Natural History Museum to
try and get the Planning Commission to introduce a section on
environment and ecology in the 5th Plan document. He agreed, and
asked me to produce the requisite text. The ball was in my court
now. Salim Ali complimented me on one virtue of the document - its
brevity!
All over the world conservation became an issue of great concern.
President Nison established the Council on Environmental Quality in
1970. The world, by and large, realised that man has been too
cavalier with nature.
At
about this time, BNHS and WWF decided that educating our ‘masters’
would be a good move. Alyqe Padamsee’s help was sought and he
suggested that “Conservation - an answer to drought” kind of
audio-visual presentation may draw in the decision-makers in Bombay
since Maharashtra was going through a drought-stricken period. This
was a brilliant idea, and the presentation was convened in the
spacious Hindustan Lever hall - 10 legislators turned up. Shri S N
Wankhede, the speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly was chairing the
meeting! However, there was one important person in the audience
and that was Ajit Bhattacharjea, the then Editor of the Times of
India. He recognised the value of the presentation, and took up the
cudgels. Conservation never received a greater shot in the arm than
on this occasion. The audio-visual on “Conservation - an Answer to
Drought”, has made its rounds in many seminars both here and abroad,
and has not lost its relevance through the passage of time.
Fellowship at University of Calgary, Alberta
While at Alberta, I was highly impressed by the environmental
concerns of the state government and the holding of public hearings
on environmental issues. 50 information centres were set up. Over
50,000 volumes containing factual information used to be circulated
to the public well before the hearing date. The hearings were
widely attended and many excellent submissions were received. To
me, public hearings on land use on the eastern slopes of the Rocky
mountains were of particular interest since the Western Ghats played
a similar role in peninsular India. When I returned from Canada, I
spoke to Mrs. Gandhi about this subject. She was not enthusiastic
about the public hearings, and had her own reasons, but she did
organise an Ecology Planning Task force which comprised people such
as J C Daniel, Madhav Gadgil and several others who retain a
continuing interest in the future of the Western Ghats.
In
the 80s, the major event for conservation was the promulgation of
the ‘World Conservation Strategy’. Mrs Gandhi released this
document on 5th March along with (if I remember right) 28 other
countries. If we were to follow the three main guidelines of this
policy : use resources sustainably; preserve ecosystems; save
genetic resources; all would be well on the ecological front and the
Ministry of Environment was conceived. In 1987, the World
Commission on Environment and Development published ‘Our Common
Future’ under the chairmanship of Mrs Gro Brundtland, the Prime
Minister of Norway. Many of you must be familiar with this report
which is basically an elaboration of the world conservation
strategy.
Coming to the present decade, we had the Rio Conference in 1992.
Perhaps the most worthwhile result of the Conference was the
recognition by world leaders that our future is closely connected
with the biodiversity of the natural world. Politicians may accept
the importance of biodiversity in theory, but many of them are
unaware of its deeper implications, and it is for organisations like
the BNHS to ensure that the administrators are properly informed
about the crucial importance of this Convention. Many important
decisions taken by experts in the past have remained unimplemented.
This has happened in many fields other than in natural history too.
But, it is encouraging to find that the conservation movement is now
spreading to the common man. Lifestyles are being altered to suit
the requirement of nature.
I
would like to conclude on a happy note and the credit for this goes
to Prof. Madhav Gadgil of the Indian Academy of Sciences. In a
recent publication it was stated that Salim Ali will be remembered
for a whole series of superbly written and illustrated books on
Indian birds, books that played a key role on stimulating popular
interest in India’s rich living heritage. In honour of this great
naturalist the Indian Academy of Sciences will launch, on the
occasion of his birth centenary, a project called ‘Lifescape’ as a
part of its initiative to enhance the quality of science education.
This project aims to publish illustrated accounts of 2500 to 5000
Indian species of micro-organisms, plants and animals. This project
needs to be supported by us all. Its success will create the kind
of understanding and love for the natural world amongst our common
citizens which is essential for conserving our natural resources.
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