Conservation through Sustainable Use: Lessons from India

203 Pages·2022·17.692 MB·English

by  Anita Varghese, Meera Anna Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul, Snehlata Nath

Conservation through
Sustainable Use
The human use of nature is a polarizing topic in India and across the globe, often
perceived as contradictory to traditional exclusionary conservation. However, India’s
natural landscapes serve as important sources of biological resources for many
communities. This collection of case studies on sustainable use practices throughout
India aims to identify the policies, management strategies, and knowledge contexts
that contribute to resource use without damaging biological diversity.
Through a diverse array of personal accounts, stories and photographs from the
field, and ongoing research studies across biogeographic zones, readers will connect
with academics, practitioners, managers, and policy analysts who challenge us
to rethink the conservation paradigm. These chapters provide a reflection on the
history of conservation and sustainable use in India and illuminate a path towards a
local and global future in which biodiversity and human well-being go hand in hand.
The wide variety of authors in this book reflects the broad audience this book
will be of interest to, from students studying environmental conservation and
sustainability to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who work in the field
and seek to learn about successful sustainable use systems and resulting lessons
that have widespread application. This book will appeal to readers interested in the
areas of environment sciences, biodiversity management, sustainable development,
developmental studies, forestry, wildlife and protected area management, public
policy, environmental policy, and governance.
Anita Varghese is Director (Biodiversity) at Keystone Foundation. She holds a bachelor’s
degree in Zoology (Bombay University), master’s degree in Ecology (Pondicherry
University), and a doctorate in Botany (University of Hawaii). Her interests are in plant
conservation specifically on sustainable use, non-timber forest products, long-term
population dynamics of harvested species, invasive plants, cycads, and forest trees.
Meera Anna Oommen is a trustee of Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore, and the
Madras Crocodile Bank. She works on issues related to ecology, conservation science,
and environmental history. Her recent work focuses on incorporating insights from
multiple disciplines to understand the dynamics of human–wildlife conflict, aspects
related to human–animal relationships, and the history of hunting in India.
Mridula Mary Paul is a postgraduate researcher at the Department of Geography
and Environmental Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
She has previously been Senior Policy Analyst with the Ashoka Trust for Research
in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, and practised environmental
law before the Madras High Court.
Snehlata Nath is Founder Director of Keystone Foundation and has worked on
conservation-livelihoods-enterprise with indigenous people in the Nilgiri Biosphere
Reserve. She co-founded the NTFP Exchange Program network across Asia and has
coordinated the India chapter for over 20 years.

Conservation through
Sustainable Use
Lessons from India
Edited by Anita Varghese, Meera
Anna Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul,
and Snehlata Nath
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Anita Varghese, Meera Anna
Oommen, Mridula Mary Paul, and Snehlata Nath; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Anita Varghese, Meera Anna Oommen, Mridula
Mary Paul, and Snehlata Nath to be identified as the authors of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-29083-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-38102-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-34349-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003343493
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Figures viii
List of Contributors x
Foreword xv
Acknowledgements xvi
1 An introduction to sustainable use: And its contribution to
biodiversity conservation in India 1
ANITA VARGHESE, MRIDULA MARY PAUL, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN,
AND SNEHLATA NATH
2 Sustainable use and biodiversity conservation: When the
twain shall meet! 6
SNEHLATA NATH, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN, MRIDULA MARY PAUL,
AND ANITA VARGHESE
PART I
Governance 13
3 The governance of sustainable use: Historical legacy
and contemporary deployment 15
MRIDULA MARY PAUL
4 Small islands, big lessons: Critical insights on sustainable
fisheries from India’s coral atolls 27
NAVEEN NAMBOOTHRI, ISHAAN KHOT, AND ABEL JOB ABRAHAM
vi Contents
PART II
Enterprises 41
5 Ensuring sustainable harvests through market-based tools
and community-based organizations: A practitioner’s perspective 43
SNEHLATA NATH
6 Sustainable use of wild medicinal plant resources:
Developing field methods for sustainable collection
and direct market linkages 59
JAGANNATHA RAO R. AND DEEPA G.B.
PART III
Community knowledge 69
7 The pig and the turtle: An ecological reading of ritual and
taboo in ethnographic accounts on Andamanese hunter-gatherers 71
MEERA ANNA OOMMEN
8 Rethinking indigenous hunting in Northeastern India: Some
lessons for academics and practitioners 84
AMBIKA AIYADURAI AND SAYAN BANERJEE
9 Sustainable grazing practices: Conserving biodiversity
in an Asian tropical grassland 97
PANKAJ JOSHI
PART IV
Intangible benefits 111
10 Counting to conserve: The role of communities and civil
society in monitoring marine turtles 113
KARTIK SHANKER AND MURALIDHARAN MANOHARAKRISHNAN
11 Bringing reptiles into the conservation sphere:
A personal account 131
ZAI WHITAKER
12 Linking ecotourism and biodiversity conservation: Lessons
from India 142
KUNAL SHARMA AND LOKESH KUMAR
Contents vii
13 Sacred groves of Central India: Beyond the botany
and the ecology 165
MADHU RAMNATH
PART V
Conclusion 173
14 Sustainable use and biodiversity conservation: Experiences,
challenges, and ways forward 175
ANITA VARGHESE, SNEHLATA NATH, MEERA ANNA OOMMEN,
AND MRIDULA MARY PAUL
Glossary 181
Index 182
Figures
4.1 Pole-and-line fishing for skipjack tuna as practised in
Lakshadweep 29
4.2 Meeting with representatives of the Minicoy fisheries
Jamaat, May 2018 31
4.3 A modern variant of Labari used for in-water storage of
leftover baitfish 33
4.4 Launch of community-based fisheries monitoring
programme in Agatti 35
4.5 Infographic depicting CBFM 36
4.6 Launch of Dakshin’s fisheries co-management initiative in
Kavaratti, May 2019 37
5.1 The three pillars of sustainability 44
5.2 NTFP processing in progress 45
5.3 Tendu leaf collection in Madhya Pradesh 48
5.4 Terminalia chebula fruit collection in Chhattisgarh 49
5.5 Gum collection in Chhattisgarh 49
5.6 Medicinal plants raised in a nursery 51
5.7 Medicinal plant nursery 51
5.8 Farmers with root of Decalepis hamiltonii 52
5.9 Honey collection from combs of Apis dorsata on Nilgiri cliffs 53
5.10 Ecological, socio-cultural, and economic approaches used
in the sustainable management of wild honey 55
6.1 Wild plant market channels before intervention 65
6.2 Wild plant market channels after intervention 66
8.1 Skull display in Nagaland 85
8.2 Idu Mishmi Shaman (Igu) 87
8.3 Otter skin 88
8.4 Head gear with artificial hornbill beak 90
9.1 Tropical grasslands of Banni in Kutch, Gujarat 98
9.2 Location of Nani Daddhar Taluka 99
9.3 Focus group discussion in Daddhar 100
9.4 Land use and vegetation types of Nani Daddhar Taluka 101
9.5 Prosopis mixed saline habitat in Daddhar 102
Figures ix
9.6 Ground-truthing expedition 102
9.7 Distribution of grazing areas 103
9.8 Hanj Tal 104
9.9 Distribution of wildlife in the grazing areas 106
10.1 Field staff and researchers of the monitoring programme
in Rushikulya, Odisha, after a night of counting turtles
during an arribada 117
10.2 Late Dhambru Behera, a senior field assistant in Odisha,
explaining how the olive ridleys nesting at Rushikulya
were his friends and would not harm anyone 118
10.3 Olive ridley nests being relocated to a hatchery managed
by Dakshin Foundation in Rushikulya, Odisha by field
staff (Magata Behera, Bipro Behera, and Mahendra
Nayak) from Purunabandha village 119
10.4 Saw Thesorow and Saw John recording the clutch size of a
leatherback nest in West Bay, Little Andaman Island 122
10.5 Saw Coloumbus, Saw John, Saw Thesorow, and Adhith
Swaminathan attaching a satellite transmitter on a
leatherback in the Andamans 123
11.1 The plant nursery of ITWWS 135
11.2 The newly completed gharial enclosure at the Croc Bank
gets its first inhabitant 136
11.3 The king cobra rescuers of Agumbe (Ajay Giri, Rom, and
Kumar) 138
11.4 The Aka-Bea, ANET’s first research boat 139
12.1 Guests at Binsar Forest Retreat, a private ecolodge
model for ecotourism in India 143
12.2 Team BFR at Binsar Forest Retreat 150
12.3 Room interior at Binsar Forest Retreat 151
12.4 Nature walk at Binsar Forest Retreat 152
12.5 The grounds outside of Raju’s Homestay 154
12.6 Waterfall landscape at LWF field site 156
12.7 Pardhi naturalists with guests of Taj Safaris on a guided walk 157
12.8 Women at work threshing and hand-pounding 158