Be selfish to save urban biodiversity!

We must save biodiversity to save ourselves! In other words, if the wonderful biodiversity around us disappears, it would directly impact human beings and their activities. So let us be ‘selfish’ to protect it

Organising the 1st National Conference on Urban Biodiversity Conservation (NCUBC) was an entirely new experience for me. While I have been dabbling in the much wider environment sector for many years now, I did not have brunch with biodiversity, let alone its sub-section,
urban biodiversity.
Being the organiser of this conference (I am not a biodiversity expert at all) and as the Co-founder of The Nature Volunteers (TNV), we, in our small group, were constantly thinking about how cities are growing at the cost of biodiversity. It was troubling me for some time. After much deliberations across the country, I decided to host this two-day event. TNV is “An Informal Pressure Group of Environmentally Restless People”. We claim to have restored 140-year-old Sirpur Lake, the latest Ramsar Site of August 2022. But it took us more than 25 years to restore an urban wetland with more than 190 bird species found there, in a recent survey. Our experience of working with municipal corporation Indore exposed some challenges. This led to the idea of building awareness about urban biodiversity conservation.
A number of architects, forest officials, civil engineers, urban planners, students and Govt officials (Municipal Commissioners and CEO Smart Cities) who attended the two-day event came out wiser.

Global & national actions to save biodiversity

It is exactly 30 years ago, as some of us know, that the first global summit on biodiversity protection was held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It came to be popularly known as CBD 1992 (Convention on Biological Diversity). The world had just woken up to a series of threats the planet had started facing, and the United Nations had already organised the first Earth Summit in the same city around the same time.
In a way, 1992 was a watershed year for the environment across the world. It is, however, unfortunate that India needed to be reminded by the UN agencies to conserve its centuries-old natural treasure of forests, medicinal plants, rivers, wildlife, birds, bees, butterflies, reptiles, grasslands, marine life and lakes through the CBD. As the growing Asian economy which was set to take a big leap of physical development in the forthcoming decades, the year 1992 was just the right time to look inwards and start protecting the biological diversity India had been known for. But India took a decade to frame its legislation, and then came the landmark Biological Diversity Act 2002 (which actually commenced in 2003-04). The government soon constituted a statutory body named the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) in Chennai. Considering the widespread assault on the natural resources spread across the country, it was also imperative to set up state-level agencies, which were formed in the shape of State Biodiversity Boards from 2005 onwards. But today, I am gripped with a lurking fear that the provisions of the present Act could get diluted if the Union Government goes ahead with new amendments to water down some of its provisions. I would like to be proven wrong. It would be a setback if the Parliamentary Committee formed to strengthen the Act further, fails to do so. It is being said that Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) would be affected adversely in the first step if new amendments go through. We may have to wait.

Conserving the Urban Biodiversity: A daunting task!

Instead of going into the background of the Act, its implementation etc., I would like to focus on the conservation of urban biodiversity, which I feel is a much more neglected area in our country. Who is to blame? The authors of the Act or the implementation agencies or both? It is because no one is heard talking about protecting urban biodiversity anywhere! My experience of conserving an urban wetland and its biodiversity has taught my team of TNV and me a lot over the past 25 years. It’s not so easy, rather a much daunting task. Unfortunately, as urbanisation is picking up at a frightening speed in our country, I see cities turning brown, and desertification is increasing on the fringes, which needs to be addressed quickly by all concerned. According to State of the World’s Trees report (Sept 2021) by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), there are 17,510 tree species threatened, of the total 58,497 known species in the world. And it’s a dangerous trend in times of climate crisis. And what is the status in India? Here, the report quotes, a total of 413 tree species are facing extinction of the 2608 varieties found in India (Indo-Malaya and Palearctic region.) There is no need, I suppose, to explain the importance of trees or the role they play in absorbing carbon emission
In addition, or as a corollary, traditional and modern water sources have begun to dry up fast. Aquatic diversity is also facing problems. All these are intrinsically linked to each other and cannot be separated. And that is precisely what is impacting the biodiversity in our ever-expanding cities directly. But no one seems bothered! Cities are burning beyond expectation, and they are turning more and more barren over the years.
I would like to state that MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the only politician with big stature who is planting a tree a day and has tried to make it a popular movement in the state for people to come forward and plant trees on their own. But then, such examples are very few and far between.
Before conceiving the idea of an urban biodiversity conference, I spoke to at least ten present and past municipal commissioners. Almost all of them agreed that it was something that they could never look into during their tenures as city bosses, despite their good intentions. Although the Act mandates maintaining Peoples’ Biodiversity Registers (PBR) by local self-governments at all tiers, it has not been done in most states. I checked in Madhya Pradesh, where the scenario is not satisfactory. But in Gujarat, some work has been done. It was thanks to the petition in the (NGT) by one Chandra Bal Singh, which helped activate the MoEFCC and others in 2016, as the performance and implementation of the BDA (Biodiversity Act) were less than noteworthy then.
We can take the example of Chennai or Bengaluru lakes (a recent article in Frontline has again underlined the plight of lakes in the Silicon Valley of India). Or take the example of the once-beautiful gardens and hillocks of Pune or talk of any city in Uttar Pradesh, and we have the same answers. Everywhere we see a depressing situation with mounting population numbers and unchecked encroachments and constructions, backed by selfish contractors’ lobbies. At times, one wonders why authorities do not act on illegal encroachments that shrink our wetland areas or why they do not use their ‘authority’ to save old trees in the cities? Is anyone actively involved in protecting birds or butterflies in our big cities in the official set-up? I would like the newly elected Mayors and councillors of MP to commit themselves to the cause of urban biodiversity conservation. The Biodiversity Act was brought in some 20 years ago only to save all these and many other natural resources mentioned above. It is the duty of all of us to mount pressure on the authorities — executive and political — to save our precious biodiversity. Because there is no tomorrow.
The root cause lies in the system of city governance. The Smart Cities initiative, started with much fanfare, has had an impact on the green cover in some cases because trees were cut down in the name of retrofitting etc. and then make City Smart.
The Municipal Corporations, the development authorities and other construction agencies such as PWD, PHE Housing Boards, or NHAI or State Road Building Corporations are often involved in firefighting or managing local groups in their efforts at governing cities or building infrastructure. It is a pity thatuUrban biodiversity conservation does not seem to be among their priorities. The conference was aimed at turning focus on that. A former forest officer who was a Member Secretary (executive head) of the State Biodiversity Board conceded frankly that nothing much (encouraging) was happening as yet in the board.
I am, however, told that in Kochi or in Hyderabad, a Delhi-based organisation is working on drawing up a City Biodiversity Index, the way Singapore had done some two decades ago. If that works well, perhaps some indicators would be available about the loss of biodiversity in our cities and how to check this loss. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has prepared training manuals for municipal officials and WWF has worked in Nagpur and other cities. Such developments hold hopes for the future. The GOI also started the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-being (NHBHWB) to improve biodiversity science in all areas. The State Biodiversity Boards were to formulate State Action Plans and help local bodies maintain biodiversity registers, form committees and undertake training on how to conserve traditional knowledge strewn all over and then benefit society. But, I’m led to believe, the ground-level situation is yet to gather momentum. Not much has been happening on that front, barring a few states. Like protecting the forests, biodiversity protection cannot be left to Biodiversity Boards alone. Other agencies and people must also come forward. Because they also benefit from it. Why are the municipal corporations not made responsible for conserving urban lakes, large parks, trees, birds and shrubs in the city? Can they hire professionals competent in the area? Do local governments have enough funds to undertake massive biodiversity protection drives with a clear focus? Do urban planners think of green causes first and keep certain grounds/fields open for decades in their planning process, like the no-go areas? Are open lands, grasslands, small ponds, wild growth pockets in cities an eyesore for our private developers? Surely, not for me! We hope to find answers to all, or some of them, through such conferences where the best brains meet. I also feel district collectors, if they wish, can turn around cities; they have the requisite powers. What is missing, perhaps, is the willingness and capacity-building of the concerned officials.
We were always taught to appreciate and preserve beautiful trees, fragrant flowers, chirping birds and large parks having tremendous aesthetic value and cultural importance in this country a few years ago. Today, there are no takers for trees, much less for birds, bees and butterflies in urban areas, and that is a sad commentary. This is my personal observation. Some readers may also be thinking on these lines.
The Biological Diversity Rules 2004 stipulate that every local body shall constitute a BMC within its jurisdiction (Under Section 22). But have they been formed all over the country? Especially in urban areas? My inquiries reveal that urban biodiversity actually has no takers and, therefore, the limited implementation of the Act’s provisions. The CBD had categorically stated in 1992 that conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of the components of the biodiversity, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the genetic resources were the objectives of CBD. It had also hoped that “conservation of biodiversity would be a common concern of the population”. In fact, 2011-20 was celebrated as the Decade of Biodiversity by the UN. In 2010, the first Cities and Biodiversity Outlook was released, and the picture was not rosy. Looking back, much of that is yet to be achieved, and sadly urban biodiversity is under severe threat. Some senior officials in the government admit in confidence that engineers, contractors and various construction agencies’ heads are yet to understand the full importance of urban biodiversity, and they need to be made fully aware of the provisions of the Central Act of 2002.
In this background, TNV organised the 1st National Conference of Urban Biodiversity Conservation (NCUBC) at Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Many experts deliberated on this serious issue together and saw if our cities could have their own ‘green future’. Policy interventions, use of technology, public awareness, synergy between departments, using new tools, etc should be brought into play., they suggested. Delhi’s School of Planning (SPA) suggested in master planning process and introducing biodiversity at the planning stage, for instance. I am glad to share that the ‘Indore Declaration’ was also released on 6th August, thus rolling out an important debate on issues on which Governments and people have to act fast and meaningfully in a time bound manner. It was handed over to Dr VB Mathur, Chairperson of the NBA Chennai. The declaration would also be sent to other states to pave the way for generating further debates and to ensure urban biodiversity becomes a priority area in India.