INSTITUTIONS

Conservation as a mission

Interview with Dr. George B. Schaller, wildlife biologist.

"For epochs to come the peaks will still pierce the lonely vistas, but when the last snow leopard has stalked among the crags... a spark of life will be gone, turning the mountains into stones of silence," says Dr. George B. Schaller, wildlife biologist and the world's most eloquent speaker for the wilderness. Schaller is best known in India for his seminal studies on Indian wildlife in the 1950s. Prior to his scientific data collection and observation, India had no formal discipline of the study of wildlife biology. Ullas Karanth, a conservationist and a former student of Schaller, says his arrival in India in the 1950s changed everything. "He came here with binoculars, notebooks and nine buffaloes from the Kanha meadows and changed our entire approach to natural history." The impact of his work is so great that his book The Deer and the Tiger is still mandatory reading for serious students of wildlife. This, despite the fact that Schaller has not worked in India since the 1960s.

VIVEK BENDRE

The BNHS presented him with the Salim Ali International Award in recognition of his work. In his acceptance speech, Schaller emphasised the need to fight on with more passion and perseverance. He donated his award money of Rs.1 lakh to the Wildlife Protection Society of India and the Wildlife Trust of India.

Schaller is thought of as the greatest naturalist of the 20th century. He is known for his scientific studies of large animals and his passion for their conservation; he has studied endangered large mammals around the world since 1952. His detailed field studies of gorillas, tigers, lions, snow leopards and pandas resulted in writings that have inspired a generation of wildlife biologists and resulted in improved conservation and management practices throughout the world.

Schaller began his research career in the 1950s. While still a graduate student, he participated in the biological survey of a little known region in northwestern Alaska. This work led to the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - a region he still fights to protect. In the late 1950s, he conducted the first scientific study of the mountain gorilla. His book The Mountain Gorilla, published in 1963, was an instant success. This research was followed by studies of the tigers of India, the lions of the Serengeti (East Africa), and the Giant Pandas of China, among others. Schaller is the Vice-President of the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is one of the most knowledgeable and eloquent champions of conservation. His ability to inspire others to take action has fostered a high degree of interest and involvement among governments and in the public in the conservation of wildlife. A number of nature reserves in Brazil, Pakistan, Mongolia and China have been the result of his cooperative efforts with these countries. The "hero" of a generation of field biologists, Schaller spoke to Lyla Bavadam on his lifetime work in wildlife conservation. Excerpts:

In your speech after accepting the Salim Ali International Award you spoke of watching a tigress in Kanha strolling to a water hole. You said, "[The sight was] like a gift to my spirit, uplifting me... as her soul pervaded the forest." Exquisite but unconventional language from a scientist.

(Smiles) You need nature to sustain your spirit. And you have to have emotional involvement, not just intellectual scientific commitment. Observing wildlife is not a job. That doesn't make for good work. It has to be a mission. If you do it as a mission you'll work at it much more.

Is there any idea you repeatedly express... any thought you feel you cannot emphasise enough?

The most important issue before us now is to conserve nature for future generations. We all have a moral obligation to become advocates for nature conservation. Conservation needs to include the whole ecosystem. It's a huge challenge and requires policy initiatives.

There's an increasing tendency to see nature only as a resource base. This must make the work of conservationists much more difficult.

Yes. Unfortunately nature's virtues are being price-tagged. If there's no known value to humans, does it mean that it is valueless? How do you measure the value of hearing the bugle of a Kashmir stag? We need to accept the idea of wild places. That there is such a thing as nature having an intrinsic value. We must have areas where nature can function unimpeded.

You have expressed admiration for India's wildlife field biologists, calling them "active and dedicated". What is your opinion of the state of India's wildlife?

India is still the best country in Asia where you can readily observe wild phenomena. India's population has gone up three times since the1950s and wildlife has suffered; but much of it has survived and, in some cases, is even making a comeback. The Asiatic lion is doing well in the Gir and so is the swamp deer.

Isn't that too optimistic a report? What is the true picture of the environment in India today?

I have to say that India's options in conservation still remain open with the exception of the cheetah and the brow-antlered deer. Those magnificent animals are extinct in this country. There are many issues India has to consider. Dams are being built and forest land is being destroyed. Poachers hunt with impunity. Poaching is a huge problem in India. The Kashmir stag population is about 300 but the hunting continues. The Tibetan antelope (chiru) is viciously hunted for its wool [shatoosh]. The chiru is hunted in a terrible fashion. It's usually done at night in vehicles. Poachers drive around a herd using bright lights to confuse the animals. It is often done when the females are giving birth... they are completely helpless at the time. The poachers surround the animals and open fire with their automatic weapons. The leopard is also still widely hunted. Recently in Lhasa (Tibet) I noticed a new trend. People were wearing coats trimmed with leopard fur. I asked them about it. They said it came from India. I have to say that much has been put in place by legislation. You have the Wildlife Protection Society of India and the Wildlife Trust of India. I've had a long association with both in preventing the slaughter of tens of thousands of chiru. There's a spirit of cooperation between countries too. Recently China confiscated 32 tiger skins and 579 leopard skins. We need to fight on with more passion and perseverance.

What is it like to work in India on conservation issues?

It feels good to work in a country where you feel you have left something behind to stimulate some social good. That's tremendously satisfying. In India you can stand up and speak out problems. This is good. It means the public knows about issues. Not being able to speak out is one way of stifling public perceptions of problems.

Building a constituency for conservation and getting the local community involved in the preservation of protected areas are ideas that are growing. They were also central to the discussions at the recent World Parks Congress in Durban.

Getting local people involved is essential as long as you don't lose sight of what you're doing. Conservation is now being interpreted as development and the unfortunate part is that the local people are no longer benefiting from this. Ecotourism has been much touted but the fact is that less than 10 per cent of the money goes back to the locals. The middleman has turned it into a business advantage. In Tajikistan, shooting wild sheep is a big business. People pay $20,000 for this game hunting but not a penny of this goes to the local people. They shoot the sheep, take its horns and leave the carcass there to rot.

Poisoning of animals is a big problem in India. Wild animals lose their habitat to growing human populations. They prey on livestock because their natural game is less. This enrages the people and they poison the animals. What does one do? So much has been tried... a system of compensation for loss of livestock was tried but nothing has worked. No good policies means that there will be no solutions.

WORLD WILDLIFE FEDERATION/AP

The chiru or Tibetan antelope, which is viciously hunted for its wool. A photograph by George Schaller.

Is there a positive future for sustainable development? Is it a useful notion any longer?

There's a lot of empty rhetoric now about sustainable development. Development has become a way to increase consumption, not to protect nature. Sustainable has come to mean what the market will bear. It is unfashionable to talk of protecting areas and limiting access but there must be limits to habitat destruction. Key areas and corridors have to be protected.

There's so much to preserve and conserve and so little funding. How does one decide where to use the money?

It is difficult but we make the choices. Both the Kashmir stag and the Nilgiri tahr are endangered species. But the tahr has of late made some sort of recovery because there are numerous people interested in it. Not so the Kashmir stag. There are 300 or so stags remaining and the politics of the region makes access for conservationists impossible. I'd say the stag needs more attention than the tahr. It is sad that such choices have to be made. Funding is very low and so we have to make careful choices. The chiru has been relentlessly hunted since the mid-1980s. There's been a 90 per cent decline in its population and there are only about 75,000 left. If managed well, the wool could have been harvested. It would have been a great resource for the local people. Now only the poachers make money.

The case of the chiru is a bit complicated. India is considering a plan for captive breeding with a view to wool harvesting. There are two problems associated with this. First, a huge amount of money will be spent on a project for which no one knows the outcome, since chiru has never been bred in captivity. Second, chiru cannot be sheared. Their wool fibre is too short for this. So they have to be plucked (after the animal is killed). I believe the funding risks are too great to start a captive breeding programme in this case. If you are going to spend money, spend it on preservation - not on captive breeding of the chiru.

There are some issues about accepting corporate funding. For some it is almost like a sell-out because it comes with strings attached and compromises have to be made.

Yes, it is a matter of compromise but where else does the money come from? Of the hundred big economies, 50 will be countries and 50 will be corporations. But there are some things you never compromise. You have to draw a line in the sand and that line has to be drawn by non-governmental organisations and governments.

You were one of the people who proposed that the Siachen glacier be a no-man zone used exclusively for conservation purposes.

Conservation bridges gaps between countries. The idea is to have a five-country peace park. Siachen was just a part of a larger plan to create international cooperation for environmental matters so that wildlife does not suffer because of political boundaries. Pakistan has responded positively by creating the Khunjarab reserve. The K2 area is also a nature reserve. In China, there's the K2 range and the Taxkorgan reserve. I've also been to Tajikistan and am planning similar initiatives in Afghanistan. There is initial resistance by governments but on the whole they are receptive.

What is the commonest obstacle to conservation efforts?

People are concerned with their daily lives. They are not concerned with what happens 50 years hence. The environment doesn't give the quick returns that people expect and so it's a peripheral issue for most of the public.

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