Wildlife Protection In India

India is home to very diverse and rich wildlife which includes over 172 endangered species. A great deal of effort has been made in the last sixty years to preserve the natural habitats as well as the population of the wildlife across the Indian landscape.

The Bengal tiger, Asiatic water buffalo and Indian elephant are just some of the magnificent animals walking the plains and tropical rain forest across India. It is amazing to see the herds migrate from jungle to jungle in order to sustain their population in a good and natural habitat.

With the encroachment of human activities on these lands, the natural habitat has been destroyed and has shrunk considerably. This has endangered not only the smaller avian, reptile and mammal’s population but also eroded endemic flora and fauna.

Establishment Of A Wildlife Protection Network Across India

Wildlife in India is considered sacred to the culture and heritage of the country. A great deal of effort has been made in collaboration with international environmental protection and wildlife conservation organizations to ensure the safety of the natural habitat of Indian wildlife. Unfortunately agricultural land has been given the priority and the natural habitat has been eroded to make way for human occupation.

As human encroachment and settlement increased across the Indian landscape, the wildlife was cornered in specific areas. These were eventually declared as protected and endangered areas. Once this status was awarded to a particular area or breed of animal or species of bird, a great deal of effort was maintained to prevent the poaching and hunting of wildlife. This helped in increasing the awareness and subsequently the population of endangered and exotic species.

Creation and Development of Wildlife Reserves across India

There are quite a few sanctuaries, for example the ones in Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Goa and Madhya Pradesh among others. A good thing about the network of Wildlife Protection in India is that there is one basic administration that runs the Forestry and Wildlife Department. It has different subsets in each state and the Central Government acts as the main advisory to each of these divisions.

The creation of the Wildlife Protection Act has made it mandatory for each union territory to have wildlife advisory boards. Furthermore, with the addition of wildlife preservation in the Constitution the situation has greatly improved in terms of safeguarding wildlife populations across India.

With the use of information and experience of international wildlife protection agencies like the World Wildlife Federation which has placed 172 species on the endangered animal list in India, the total number of national parks and sanctuaries has risen from 5 parks to 69 national parks. Further, the number of sanctuaries has increased from 60 to more than 410 parks in the last decade.

Another interesting fact about the sanctuaries and parks for conserving wildlife in India is that they are distributed throughout the Indian landscape and even on some islands. The biodiversity in India is spread across plains and mountains along with the plateaus and coastal areas.

Each of these areas has been given full attention and therefore resulted in the creation of safe havens for aquatic and land populations of endangered species across India. From crocodiles to Tigers and elephants to peacocks there are many species which are protected under the national conservation projects across the country.