The Importance Of Justification In Conservation

Why we should not stray away from the idea of justice in conservation in a rapidly changing planet

- Ishan Kukreti

The Indian economy has grown from the US $266 billion in 1991 to the US $2.3 trillion in 2019. Nature Conservation in the New Economy dwells into an aspect that is often overlooked in this stride: how ecosystems in India are changing due to the demands of our economy. With thematically separate chapters on issues ranging from forest governance to coastal regulation, the book explores how the “Great Acceleration” of India’s post-privatization economy has impacted conservation.

The writers have taken an inclusive approach to conservation. In opposition to a model of conservation which aims at protecting wildlife species through creating inviolate spaces with no human presence—the Protected Areas—there is a growing understanding among conservationists that in a country like India, where forests and wildlife were never inviolate spaces and where forest-dwelling populations are on the economic fringe, such a model of conservation won’t work, says the book.