Lhinghoikim Touthang IFS
All across the World, World Wildlife Day is celebrated every year on 3rd March since 2013. Aside from this, India observes a weeklong celebration annually during the first week of October (2nd - 8th) popularly known as the Wildlife Week. The dates align with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi to emphasize compassion for all living beings. The celebration also aligns with broader legal and constitutional provisions in India, such as Article 51A (g), which emphasizes the duty of citizens to protect the environment, and Article 48A, which mandates the State to safeguard Forests and Wildlife.
The erstwhile Indian Board of Wildlife now the National Board for Wildlife conceptualizes the initiative in 1952, while the first week long celebration was observed in 1957. The purpose and significance of the wildlife week is to raise awareness about wildlife, wildlife conservation and protection of the country’s rich biodiversity amongst the people. Over the years, the wildlife week has become a platform for the Government, Environmentalist and Communities to come together in conservation efforts in protecting the Nation’s rich Natural Heritage. The week long observance includes programmes focused on raising awareness through seminars, workshops, essay competitions, quiz competitions, painting and sketching competitions, photography and videography contests among school and college students as well as communities, cutting across all sections and ages of society.
The theme of the wildlife week 2026 is “Connecting Habitats, Thriving Wildlife.” With the Core Focus on Moving beyond protected forest boundaries to safeguard wildlife corridors, improve habitat connectivity, and promote human-wildlife coexistence.
To achieve the goals of the theme, let us look at the individual components that need to work together in tandem. These individual components are wildlife, habitat, connecting the wildlife habitats and thriving wildlife.
What is wildlife? Most people generally associate wildlife with the animal kingdom only. However, wildlife in the broader sense includes all uncultivated flora and undomesticated fauna that exist in their natural habitats. India hosts over 1,04,000 animal species and more than 47,000 plant species, making it one of the world’s 17 mega diverse countries with four global biodiversity hotspots: the Western Ghats, Himalayas, Indo Burma, and Nicobar Islands.
How does wildlife benefit us in our day to day life? Think of all the things that you take for granted say, food, clothes , shelter, medicines, clean air and clean water to name a few. They are derived directly or indirectly from wildlife. We can list the provisions obtained from wildlife into the following:
(a) Bees, birds, bats and insects play a significant role in pollination and pollination is a necessary process of plants for the production of fruits and seeds thus ensuring food production and food security.
(b) When animals and birds eats fruits and discard the seeds, it acts as a part of natural seed dispersal mechanism, enabling forest regeneration and plant diversity.
(c) A thriving population of organisms enables the food chain and food web to function at the optimum which results in pest control through the process of eating and being eaten, thus reducing reliance on chemical pesticides that harms the environment.
(d) Wildlife helps in nutrient cycling and maintenance of soil fertility, when soil organisms and herbivores breaks down organic matter.
(e) Another important aspect of wildlife is climate regulation through forests and marine organisms by absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and wetlands helps filter water and support clean freshwater systems.
(f) Wildlife tourism generates millions of jobs and generates billions of dollars in revenue globally. This helps supports livelihood for rural communities as well as indigenous communities.
(g) Wildlife in medicines and scientific research: over 50% of modern medicines including antibiotics are made from wildlife while also providing genetic resources for medical and scientific discoveries.
(h) Wildlife holds much spiritual and cultural significance for many communities across the world.
What is wildlife habitat: It refers to the place or environment that the plants or animals or organisms live and thrive. They get food, shelter and all necessary requirements for their growth and survival from the habitats. The habitats can be forests, wetlands, deserts or water bodies depending on the wildlife. A well protected and conserved habitat supports a thriving wildlife.
Habitat fragmentation and degradation: as the name suggests, when large continuous areas are broken down due to urbanization process - building of roads, residential areas, and agricultural fields is called habitat fragmentation. This result in smaller areas for the wildlife that once has a large area for it to live and thrive, has to survive on limited land with limited resources now. This can result in decline in population of certain plants and animals and in some cases totally wipe out (extinction) a particular species from the earth. Now, if this species happens to be a keystone species of that habitat, then we could observe a cascading ecological failure which would translate to loss of biodiversity, lesser productivity in agriculture and serious health risks from degraded ecosystem which can increase the spread of diseases.
Protected Areas: India has a protected area which is a designated Wildlife habitat with limited human interventions. These areas are created to preserve the natural habitat and the species. These areas are established under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 (WPA) and depending on the restriction and regulations followed in the habitat they are classified as – National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves, Community Reserves. There are 107 National Parks with a total area of 44,402.95 SqKm and 573 Wild life Sanctuaries with a total area of 123,762.56 SqKm in the country. In these designated wildlife areas, removal of forest produce, hunting, grazing , causing fire, entry with weapon, use of explosives is prohibited to ensure the wild plants and animals can thrive well without human interference.
Connecting habitats: in simple terms it means wildlife habitats should be interconnected and animals should be able to move freely from one habitat to another. Even though the country has a vast network of protected areas, they are in isolation from one another, interspersed with urbanization, which restricts the movement of animals, sometimes leading to the straying of animals in human populated areas, resulting in human - animal conflict. To lessen this pressure, the Government has come up with two more types of protected areas with varying degrees of protection accorded. These are called Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves. These reserves are setup in areas adjoining the National Parks and Sanctuaries to give more space for the movement of wildlife. They basically act as a corridor for the animals to move from one protected areas to another. The Conservation Reserves are notified (under WPA, 1972) on Government land after consultation with the local communities while the Community Reserves are notified (under WPA, 1972) on non government land when communities or individuals volunteered to conserve their land for wildlife habitat.
Wildlife conservation and Management in Nagaland: In Nagaland, the Forests area under the control of the Government is less than 4% of the State’s geographical area, while the rest of the forests are owned either by the community or clan or privately owned. The protected area of the State covers an area of 241.05 SqKm which includes the Intanki National Park at Peren District, Singphan Wildlife Sanctuary at Mon District, Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary at Kiphire District and Puliebadze Wildlife Sanctuary at Kohima District. The State also has a Tragopan Breeding centre at Kohima and a zoo called the Nagaland Zoological Park at Dimapur.
With the unique land holding system and special provision accorded to the people of Nagaland, majority of the Forests areas are owned and managed by the community, clan or individuals. However, conservation of forests and protection of resources is not a new concept for the people.Infact, the people have traditionally practiced conservation and this has resulted in the establishment of 222 Community Reserves covering an area of 1160.3137 Sqkm spread across the State. Another significant conservation practice popular in the state is the Community Conserved Area (CCA) which is a conservation area voluntarily declared by the village or the community themselves and managed by them as well. The first Community Conserved Area called the Yingnyu Shang was declared in 1842 by the Yongphang Village in Longleng district. The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) in collaboration with the Nagaland Forest Department in 2015 conducted a study to document the Community Conserved Areas of the state and identified 407 CCAs.
Legal provisions in wildlife protection and conservation: The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 provides legal framework for wildlife and habitat protection, conservation, regulation of wildlife trade and scientific management of biodiversity. The Act originally have 6 schedules where plants and animals are grouped into schedules according to the threats faced by them and the level of protection accorded, where schedule 1 animals were given the highest priority level of protection, schedule V with the least level of protection and schedule VI has endangered plants whose possession, cultivation, sale and transport of the plants is strictly regulated. In the year 2022 a restructuring of the schedule reorganizes the 6 schedules into 4 schedules: schedule 1 has highly protected animals, schedule II has other protected animals, and Schedule III consists of protected plants and schedule IV consists the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) list.
What can we do as an individual: This wildlife week, let us take the time to consciously appreciate the unending benefits we get from wildlife in our lives. Let us relearn the significance of wildlife on planet Earth and ponder on how bleak the future would be, if we don’t take steps towards its conservation.
