Sanctuary Asia - April 2018

More at http://www.sanctuaryasia.com | Conservation Action

Rizwan Mithawala is a conservation

writer with the Wildlife Conservation

Trust and a Fellow of the International

League of Conservation Writers. He has

previously worked as an environment/

conservation journalist with a national

newspaper. He is also a conservation

photographer and butterfl y gardener.

and small mammals die unmourned
and unrecorded. “We are losing them
fast, and forever,” says Pariwakam,
whose team of researchers sampling
roads running through forest areas
in Maharashtra have come up with
worrying numbers – 200 roadkills on
Mul Road in the Chandrapur Forest
Circle in a span of three months; 50
roadkills on Gondia-Kohmara Road in
two months. And that is just scratching
the surface.
‘What can we do?’ – is less of a
question and more of an expression of
helplessness and hopelessness in India.
A simple app now enables virtually
anyone with a smart phone to add
to the strength of the conservation
movement. Public involvement can put
pressure on the government as well as
on experts and project proponents who
often seek to dilute eff ective mitigation
measures to save on their project costs.

The citizen science project will not just democratise the collection of data, but will make it available to anyone.

Information submitted by citizens will be accessible in the public domain on maps posted at http://www.roadkills.in.

Infrastructure planners, wildlife researchers and students wanting more detailed access to the data will get it

under a Creative Commons licence.

The citizen science project will not just

democratise the collection of data, but will

make it available to anyone. Information

submitted by citizens will be accessible

in the public domain on maps posted on

http://www.Roadkills.in. Infrastructure planners,

wildlife researchers and students wanting

more detailed access to the data will get

it under a Creative Commons licence.

Apart from the general public, WCT has

partnered with several other wildlife

conservation organisations and is looking

for more partners willing to help make the

data collection eff ort more comprehensive.

Hopefully, the hard data generated

will enable planners and other

government agencies to take preventive

actions to lower wildlife mortality. In the

1970s, India had a legendary track record

in wildlife conservation. The time has

come for our country to demonstrate

leadership again, this time in building

wildlife-friendly infrastructures.

While the death of a charismatic mammal gets public attention, innumerable small species such as this strikingly beautiful Indian bullfrog die unnoticed.

Over the next fi ve years, the

Indian government plans to build

over 83,000 km. of roads. These

economic corridors must take into

account the imperatives of ecological

connectivity, which has everything to

do with our ecological and therefore our

water, food and climate security.

The death of endangered

species must never be

accounted for as acceptable

collateral damage in our

race for infrastructure

development. i

ANISH ANDHERIA