Vikas Singh Baghel
Founder & Chief Editor
It is always a feeling of content and satisfaction when we do something especially for our mother, the same feeling can be felt when we do for Mother Nature as well, for the well being of its creatures that includes wild animals & forests via process called conservation.
As we initiated an annual conference from January 2023 on “lesser known species of Madhya Pradesh” (being first of its kind in India) to highlight conservation issues and management challenges of lesser known faunal diversity found in Madhya Pradesh as of now, may extend to other states as well in time to come. The expected outcome of it being coming up with better conservation action plans and management strategies for lesser known faunal species through utilization of available research data on these species focusing on their current status, conservation issues and way forward i.e. recommen dations for the concerned department to execute on the field and if data is deficient then must plan for its proper & detailed research to obtain data on them, because without that (scientific data) we can’t figure out anything.
We conducted 2nd National conference in January 2024 focusing again on the same theme in addition with role of translocation in boosting conservation. T his year conference was lead by Hon’ble Governor of MP Shri Mangubhai Patelji, with more than 250+ participation in both 2 days it turned out to be grand success again with more than 60% of students and researchers taking part, showed their keen interest in this very important topic, with participa tion from more than 15 Indian states helping people to know the great fau nal Biodiversity of Madhya Pradesh, other than being Tiger, Leopard, Gharial, Vulture and Cheetah state of India. They got to know the small and less prolific species as well who are equally important than these flagship species thie role in ecosystem and how their less number or absence can disturb the ecosystem. To know the status of these species is very important especially by the Forest Department and other crucial NGO’S who are parallely working with the department for conservation plans and their executions on field to maintain the ecological balance, good number of wildlife as well as their natural habitat. Mp Forest Department always believed and adapted themselves to the latest available conservation strategies for Wildlife conservation and they have huge belief in implementing science in their conservation work and that includes citizen science, researches, surveys etc.
They keep promoting the research works in & outside PA’s to develop better methodology rather than going with traditional knowledge and experience only. This keeps them ahead of other states Forest Department and they are regularly updating themselves with the latest scientific techniques & gadgets and Cheetah at Kuno, Hard ground Barasingha in Satpura, Gaurs in Bandhavgarh & Sanjay Dubri, Tigers in panna etc. are the live example of the same.
As the climate is changing at a good pace and so are the challenges in conser vation, you cannot apply the same strategies as it was few decades ago. The poaching activities are Global issue for whole world, their unmatched and very updated techniques of hunting and smuggling body parts have always kept questioning our Wildlife Management wing and WCCB. Forest Department are countering them with their wits inbolving, great deal of science and hence adding huge value to conservation efforts.
We have to move along with sensible use of Science and now the AI is adding more values to it as well in overcoming the conservation challenges and creating a better place for us and the wild animals to co-exsist.