Perilous battle to save nature

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PERILOUS BATTLE TO SAVE NATURE

By Prerna Singh Bindra
Op-Ed
The Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com
Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The gravity of environmental crime, be it illegal trade
in animal parts or the assault on natural habitats,
cannot be underestimated. The racket in wildlife is
linked not only to the smuggling of arms and narcotics,
but also to financing terrorism

On May 30, 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval, a dedicated
Costa Rican conservationist working for many years to
protect the endangered leatherback turtles, was killed by
the mafia that plundered turtle nests to steal their
eggs, which command a lucrative market as delicacies, or
are sold to drug traffickers. Sandoval patrolled the
beach every night during the nesting season. He was
abducted, stripped, beaten ruthlessly, shot in the head
and left to die. His naked and bruised body was found on
the same beach he protected for the turtles to nest in.

The leatherback is the world�s largest and deepest-diving
turtle, and is listed as critically endangered in the
International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.
This brutal murder shocked the conservation community in
Costa Rica and globally. However, reportedly, there is a
reluctance to link the murder with the turtle egg trade
and there hasn�t been much progress in arresting the
murderers � or the trade. The killing has put in jeopardy
the protection of this threatened turtle and revealed the
murky underbelly of wildlife crime, spotlighting� the
risk inherent in the task of conserving wildlife species
and habitats. Illicit wildlife trafficking is a multi-
billion dollar organised crime, and its scale compares
with that of narcotics and arms. Even the cartels are
linked.

Equally fraught with risk is the battle to protect the
world�s last remaining natural resources. In 2010, the UN
special rapporteur on human rights noted: �Defenders
working on land and environmental issues in connection
with extractive industries and construction and
development projects in the Americas face the highest
risk of death as a result of their activities.�

A 2012 report by environment action group Global Witness
estimates that the death toll of community leaders,
campaigners and journalists involved in the protection of
forests, water and land has risen dramatically � almost
doubled in the past three years. This is backed by a
report from the Paris-based group, Reporters Without
Borders. �In many countries, journalists who specialise
in the environment are in the front line of a new war�,
the report says, adding that they face harassment,
persecution and threats from �thugs in the pay of
criminal entrepreneurs or corrupt politicians.� Resource
and forest-rich countries like Brazil have the highest
environment conflict � over a thousand have been killed
in two decades in conflicts. The majority of victims are
connected to illegal forest clearance by loggers and
large scale industrial farming in the Amazon and other
remote forests.

One particularly gruesome incident was the murder of two
environmental activists who opposed mining projects in
the El Salvador in December 2009. One of them, Dora
Alicia Recinos Sorto, was eight months pregnant when she
was shot dead in front of her two-year-old child, who was
also wounded in the attack. In 2008, in the Philippines,
journalist Aristeo Padrigao had his face blown off in
Gingoog City after investigating illegal logging, and the
involvement of local politicians, which he reported both
in radio and print. In Indonesia, where prime rain
forests are being destroyed by logging, mining and large-
scale plantations, the problem has taken ominous
proportions. A particularly horrifying case was that of
Arbi Kusno, who was repeatedly stabbed and mutilated.
Kusno was silenced because she had persistently fought
and exposed the illegal timber trade.

In India too, environmentalists are facing the heat. One
remembers only too well the shocking image of
conservationist and RTI activist Amit Jethwa gunned down
in broad daylight outside the High Court in Ahmedabad in
July 2010. Jethwa was a fiery defender of the forests �
even in the face of dire threats as he fought against the
expansion of a cement factory bordering Barda Wildlife
Sanctuary (earmarked as the second home of the endangered
Asiatic lion), mining near Gir and encroachment on a
wetland in Bhavnagar. Among his many battles were his
efforts to bring to light the� suppressed evidence
against actor Salman Khan and his colleagues in the
alleged poaching of chinkaras in Banni, Gujarat during
the shoot of a Hindi film, and his relentless campaign
against illegal mining in Saurashtra. And possibly, he
paid for this with his life.

Such wars in defence of the environment are typically
fought by conservationists, journalists and communities
whose livelihoods are affected by attacks on the
environment � be it by Governments, corporates or mafias.
Unfortunately, while the offensive over natural resources
is being waged worldwide, there is little recognition of
the gravity of the problem. The stakes in environment are
very high, and in an unequal society the fight to control
fast-depleting natural resources is getting edgier,
throwing communities and big corporates into bitter
battle. For long, the perpetrators got away. Now, when
projects with grave ecological consequences are
questioned either by those protecting the environment, or
those protecting their land and livelihood, the people
who uncover and expose the inconvenient truth put their
lives at risk.

The victimisation of environmentalists is not always
limited to obvious physical attacks. Intimidation in the
form of foisted litigation, and threats by Governments
and corporate cartels is a harassment that
conservationists constantly face.

The gravity of environmental crime, be it illegal trade
in wildlife and forest products or the more complex issue
of assault on natural habitats, cannot be undermined. The
racket in wildlife is linked not only to smuggling in
arms and narcotics, but it has been well-established that
wildlife crime is financing terrorism. The volumes are
enormous running into billions of dollars.

What needs to be done is to address the systemic problem,
rather than provide first aid solution. Globally, the
script and the scenario is the same, just different
characters playing it over and over again: The struggle
to save our natural resources by a small band of
committed environmentalists, up against powerful
Governments and industrial cartels aiming to gain control
over finite natural resources. We must realise that the
battle is not of environmentalists alone, nor is it a
matter of �merely saving pretty animals�. Our very
survival is dependent on natural resources.

(The columnist is senior consultant, WCS India, and
founder-director of �Bagh�. She is also a member of the
National Board for Wildlife)

More at:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/perilous-battle-to-save-nature.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

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