How individual efforts at conservation in the Konkan could pave the way to policy decisions

More did not let his lack of knowledge stop him from trying to protect the environment. Today, he is one of the forces of conservation. He rattles off pain points, from the crop raids by the gaur, monkey, sambhar and leopards and the decline in the Malabar Pied and Malabar Grey hornbill populations to the disappearance of old forests. He will tell you how 80-90 trucks of felled timber leave the district every night. Soon, More got together like-minded people, such as Dr Shardul Kelkar, and formed the Sahyadri Sankalp Society.

The group is trying to revive forests near the Western Ghats and on the coastal lateritic plateaus.

“One of our initiatives is the hornbill conservation programme that has been running for six years. Ratnagiri is 68 per cent forest, of which 98 per cent is in private ownership. A lot of owners cut down old trees to sell to foundries and sugarcane factories, causing primary forests to disappear. This is a reason hornbills cannot sustain. Their breeding cycle involves making nests in the cavities of trees. When we identify a nest, we talk to the owner of the land or sacred grove, offer compensation and convince them not to cut down the tree,” says More.

At other times, the group fans out among villagers to spread awareness about human-animal conflict, especially the leopards who enter human settlements due to forests becoming non-functional. “We tell the villagers that leopards are here to stay among us and how they should keep themselves safe,” he says. Their other activities include collecting seeds of lost tree species, planting saplings and growing trees.

People’s efforts, such as More’s, are emerging all over the Konkan, especially Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. Rather than depend on the authorities, many individuals have taken up the responsibility of preserving the natural and cultural heritage. Some are carrying out wildlife rescue or turtle conservation while others are documenting birds and promoting sustainable and social values. Pooja Ghate is a researcher from Rajapur who has documented the cultural and ecosystem services of the plateau, locally known as sada, landscape and found aspects that were unknown to outsiders. Now, the efforts of locals at conservation could lead to policies about conserving sites and developing a nature-based economy. This would have wide-arching impacts, including preventing migration of locals to the metros for work.

From individual initiatives to policy changes

When the Mumbai-based Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), in partnership with The Habitat Trust, decided to document the natural value of the Konkan plateaus, they found unusual situations. “Not only do the Konkan plateaus have a large number of endemic species, they also contain petroglyphs or rock etchings. When a local organization, Nisargyatri Sanstha, informed us of the petroglyphs, we realised that the same ecosystem is important for its biological as well as its cultural value. On the other hand, a lot of development projects were being announced without an understanding of the ecological sensitivity as there is no protected area. There was resistance to the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant. But, there are mining companies, oil refineries, highways and townships, too, coming up,” says Aparna Watve, a Pune-based scientist associated with BEAG.

BEAG has long experience of defining conservation policies in areas under extensive human use, such as Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani and Matheran eco-sensitive zones. Both areas continue to harbour biodiversity along with a thriving human economy through special development and management plans facilitated by BEAG. The documentation of bio-cultural values of the Konkan plateaus by BEAG will be presented to the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board and district planning authorities. It will be useful in developing the Regional Plan of Ratnagiri. If local people are willing, some areas can even be declared as Biodiversity Heritage Sites.

This is where local interest in conserving the environment became important. Watve says that they held workshops and interactions with local people and shared knowledge and scientific processes about conservation. “Most of the people who attended the workshops were young people keen on wildlife and, originally, from the Konkan or still working there. Bringing them together, I think was one of our biggest achievements,” says Watve, adding that, though their project ended in 2023, they are still working with the local groups.

This method allows people to conserve what they want. “It’s not a top down approach; it’s a bottom up approach. It is a very interesting but also very complicated procedure,” says Watve. Armed with “a lot of data”, experts such as Watve are creating arguments about how specific sites are important, how to protect them and what kind of activities would support biodiversity. “Across the world, the focus is on a nature-based economy but, in the Konkan, natural resources are being taken away and people are moving to urban areas to live and work. It is our duty as planners and scientists to figure out how nature can be used sustainably for economic benefits,” says Watve.

She has noticed that a lot of locals are looking at how to revive the general awareness and pride in their culture.

“Earlier, there was a feeling of desperation in people, where people were selling off land and moving out. The younger generation understands the value of land and customs in that area,” says Watve.

Small steps and loud voice

Sonali Mestry was one of those locals who used to be unaware of the importance of the local landscape. “Because I did not understand the importance, I did not comprehend the threats either,” she says. Like most people of the Konkan, she was a nature-loving and taught life sciences as an Asst Professor at Mumbai University “but didn’t have that much awareness regarding threats to Konkan plateau and biodiversity”.

“I was in college when the agitations started against the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant. We had read about Hiroshima and Nagasaki so I was opposed to it. There were strong opponents and proponents to it,” she says. Notably, Mestry had never visited the petroglyphs that were on the plateau at whose foot she lives in a village.

Yet, when she became a sarpanch in 2021, Mestry educated herself. She was one of the speakers at a workshop organised by the Bombay Environmental Action Group. She helped with the official paperwork needed from the Gram Panchayat to send to UNESCO to consider the petroglyphs as a World Heritage Site. She organised a photography competition, sky gazing activity for students of village, sustainable and an eco-friendly utensil-making workshop at the gram panchayat level to engage the local youth, self-help groups and students with the environment.

“Whenever I can, I talk to children, young people and older people about our environment and culture. It is a small step, but I lend my voice to the environment,” she says.