Author : Himraj Dang
Published by : Development Alternatives
B-32, Tara Crescent, Qutub Institutional Area
New Delhi 110 016
Price : Rs. 295/- (US$ 29.50)
In designing development strategies that are sustainable, conservation of wilderness areas plays a special role. Natural and relatively undisturbed habitats are important not only for the in situ maintenance of genetic resources, but also for maintaining certain natural, aesthetic and cultural values in their own right. Not least important is their role as laboratories for scientific research as sources of primary information on natural processes.
India now supports 15 per cent of the world's human population and 14 per cent of the world's livestock population on 2 per cent of the world's land area. There is consequently a bitter competition for the country's remaining wildlife resources (including forest resources); a struggle which has hitherto favoured development.
In a country like India where population pressure has forced people into increasingly remote and marginal regions, the options for conserving wilderness areas rapidly disappearing. Once gone, it can take several centuries to revive the fauna, flora and natural processes which give value to a wilderness area.
People and livestock are now increasingly coming into conflict with the needs of conservation. Unless viable solutions are found soon, the problem can be expected to become unman-ageable within a short period of time.
There is now an urgent need to understand how local populations can partake of the benefits of conservation, and reconcile the requirement of fulfilling basic needs with conservation values. This book by Himraj Dang is a pioneering attempt to analyse the major issues involved and to identify possible strategies by which protection of wilderness zones can be achieved while at the same time satisfying the development needs of the local and neighbouring inhabitants. q