Sanctuary |Campaign
Off -roading may sound like fun, but it could kill fragile ecosystems and species.
OFF-ROADS
AND OFF-LIMITS
Until a few years ago, the
ecologically fragile lateritic plateau
of Kaas, home to rare and endemic
fl oral species, witnessed large scale
damage due to uncontrolled tourism.
Tourists trampled over plants by
walking or driving their vehicles over
them. Thankfully, strict regulatory
measures by the community and the
Forest Department brought some
respite to this World Heritage Site.
However, there are all-too-many
ecologically signifi cant areas across
India, which continue to be decimated
by irresponsible adventure seekers.
Off -roading has, for instance,
recently caught the imagination
of thrill seekers, largely through
TV advertisements that seek to
win customers by appealing to the
adrenaline rush that they crave. Though
at a nascent stage in India, several car
and bike brands are selling vehicles
‘built’ to take the shocks of driving
through rough terrain. Called Off -road
Vehicles (ORVs) or all-terrain vehicles
(ATVs), these cars, motorbikes and
even cycles promote the concept ofin the country such as Leh and Manali
in the Himalaya, Rann of Kutchh in
Gujarat, Thar desert in Rajasthan,
and forests in Goa. Each one of the
locations mentioned above is a fragile
and irreplaceable ecosystem, which
harbours some of the rarest and
critically endangered fl ora and fauna.
What makes matters worse is that
the more remote the area, the more
the oversight.
Sanctuary is not against adventure,
but we believe that the ethics of
stepping into the fragile world of
nature must take precedence over
adrenalin-driven excitability. Across the
world, and this is not just limited to
cars, even off -road cycles and walking
trails have the strictest of rules and
protocols in place.
Our wildernesses are already
burdened with several problems, all
man-made, and off -road vehicle use
is simply ecologically unsustainable.
Automobile brands that produce and
sell ORVs in India and overseas must be
more sensitive to the issues involved, in
the same way as many camera brandsdriving through areas such as the sand
dunes of a desert, rugged slopes of a
mountain or through pristine vegetation
in jungles.
The repercussions of such
insensitive advertising and promotion
can destroy valuable biodiversity. Apart
from destroying natural vegetation, the
tyres of the ORVs physically damage
plants and cause soil erosion causing
siltation into waterbodies, thus causing
damage to both terrestrial and aquatic
life. Continual exposure to heavy off -
road vehicles impairs the regeneration
ability of vegetation and can eventually
lead to natural landscape features
deteriorating over time.
The off -road use issue is not just
restricted to trampling. With vehicles
comes a retinue of ill eff ects in the
form of air, water and noise pollution
and littering. Disturbance caused to
wildlife could lead to anxiety and
alteration in natural animal behaviour.
Several tourism and adventure
sports groups and organisations in
India sell off -roading car and bike trips
to some of the most pristine locationsHASEEBTRUMBOO / PUBLIC DOMAIN