The politics of rewilding/ reintroductions: the lion in India
Maan Barua1 & Tarsh Thekaekara2
1. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, UK 2. The Shola Trust, Tamil Nadu, India Reintroduction / rewilding
Reliance on documented historical distribu on
796-802 Single Reintroduc on , High species 18
Ecosystem Restora on Ecology,
Low
Community construc on SEDDON, P. J. 2010.
Moving megafauna a major challenge | Never occurs in a social vacuum | How might the social sciences help understand such processes? 1 Who extirpated species and who wants to bring them back? Wolf eradication in the USA Thylacine extinction in Gendered | Racial Australia The Asiatic Lion
Hunting practices of the colonial and Indian princely elite Princely ecologies
Lion Reintroductions
Chandraprabha, U ar Pradesh Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh Three lions shi ed in 1957; number grew African lions introduced in to 11 in 1969 Popula on died out 1904; high levels of human-lion ‘inexplicably’ conflict; animals shot
Kuno, Madhya Pradesh Mooted in early 1990s; 2004 Gujarat refuses to part with lions
Gir Conservation and early reintroductions
Princely ecologies: Nawab of Junagarh Gir Forest in western India Isolated, single population: all eggs in one basket 2 Megafauna are charismatic – they generate value in the commodity economy “World’s envy, Gujarat’s pride” Narendra Modi: the lion of Gujarat Gujarat gets 1,60,000 foreign tourists per annum| against Madhya Pradesh displaying lions on website Politicizing reintroductions
“Adventure has been an essential part of the A&K experience ever since Geoffrey Kent started offering his Kenyan safaris back in 1962. But adventure ‘Abercrombie & Kent style’ doesn’t mean you have to live without your creature comforts – like the inest cuisine, indulgently comfortable beds and that essential chilled glass of champagne to accompany the sunset” (Abercrombie and Kent, advertising for adventure safaris in 2007) 3 In practice, it is dif icult to separate conservation from politics
Politicizing the lion
Tiger replaces lion as the national animal in the 1970s
BJP: ‘Gujarat saved the national emblem’ Congress: ‘Maldharis, not Modi, saved the lion’
Modi: ‘Why does the tiger get 5 million US$ per annum and the lion nothing? Is the tiger secular, and the lion communal?’
Politicizing the lion
Gujarat: 50 people will self-immolate if lions sent outside state Madhya Pradesh: massive protests for not getting lions
Conservation organization iles public interest litigation 4 ‘We don’t know’ (what ends science can be put to) The uses and abuses of science
“Lions are happy here, why relocate them?”
“Lion populations increasing - thus not critically endangered”
“Lion genetic diversity is improving”
Some more rewilding ...
Gujarat says Madhya Pradesh should get cheetahs Project stalled by Supreme Court of India Political metapopulation ecology
Gujarat: invests funds in ‘Greater Gir’ complex of sites Surrounding satellite areas (68 lions) Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS), coastal areas, hill ranges extending from Mitiyala, Savarkundla-Palitana- Shihor in Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts
“If lions want to go to Kuno, then they can go on their own”
5 Who has the authority to speak and to speculate? Appropriating local voices
‘Attitudes of the local people are highly conservation oriented; they feel pride in the fact that lions have inhabited their land’
‘Such sentiment will disappear if lions are moved out of Gujarat’
‘People in Maharashtra do not know how to live with lions’ ... Fear of virus ‘a hoax’
Speculating the future: the fear of an epidemic Canine Distemper Virus and Gujarati science 6 What are the cons? Con lict ...
Cattle constitute up to 30% of Gir c 400 people killed every year lion diets Crop loss up to 70% of local output Maldharis offset c 58% of their loss in some regions through free grazing rights 10-15,000 houses damaged Bannerjee et al 2013 PLOS One Jadhav & Barua 2012 Lion relocation waiting to happen, but …
“Our forefathers stayed with tigers and other wildlife in the Kuno sanctuary. Now, for a few lions, we are being driven out of our homes ..."
(resident of village near Kuno)