Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2022 | 14(2): 20701–20702
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7898.14.2.20701-20702
#7898 | Received 09
January 2022
Book Review: Conservation
Kaleidoscope: People, Protected Areas and Wildlife in Contemporary India
L.A.K. Singh
Puspaswini, Friends Colony, 1830 Mahatab Road, Old Town, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751002, India.
Date
of publication: 26 February 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Singh, L.A.K. (2022).
Book Review: Conservation
Kaleidoscope: People, Protected Areas and Wildlife in Contemporary India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 14(2): 20701–20702. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7898.14.2.20701-20702
Copyright:
© Singh 2022.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium
by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
ISBN 978-81-954100-2-6
Pankaj
Sekhsaria (2021). (Ed.)
Publisher:
Kalpavriksh, Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust and Authors Upfront,
xviii + 412pp.
The launching of The Protected
Area Update (PAU) by Pankaj Sekhsaria in 1994
speaks about the very unique foundation and sustainable foresight for perennial
source of information. PAU has grown in its contents and deliverables. At
regular interval while it is updating its readers with all that is happening in
the country about wildlife, the volume of information the PAU have amassed have
developed into a historical data bank.
For a researcher it would have
been difficult to go back and search the contents of PAU for crisp and
meaningful data pieces, anywhere. In 2013, Sekhsaria
brought out The State of Wildlife in North-East India 1996–2011 within
295 pages, and in 2015 it was the turn for The State of Wildlife and
Protected Areas in Maharashtra, within xii + 235 pages. I had the
opportunity to go through the second masterpiece (Singh 2020).
This time, as a person ever
hungry for data and information, I have profound pleasure and satisfaction
while going through Conservation Kaleidoscope: People, Protected Areas and
Wildlife in Contemporary India, compacted within xviii + 412 pages. The
book has a simple and attractive cover within 23 x 15 cm. From the small art
works, one is able to know the scope within the book.
I reaffirm my own opinion (Singh
2015) that information relating to wildlife and natural history photography
have now expanded to people who are beyond full time field researchers, and the
platforms used for dissemination of information are often outside impact-loaded
journals. One needs to see his observation or writing quickly in the print or
electronic media. PAU has very ably harvested upon these changing trends.
Field discoveries, management
remarks, instances of policy flouts, and people interfaces are now possible by
tourists, amateur photographers, and users of normal mobile phones. Data do not
have to wait for confirmation by full time researchers from large institutions
or sophisticated equipment or costly laboratory profiling.
PAU has the pages where these are
documented and getting accessibly organised in the compilations edited by Sekhsaria. The data doesn’t come only from India, but from
the neighbourhood, as well. For example, “Only two rhinos poached in Nepal in
2007” (Page 347). The piece on “Do we want the cheetah back?” (Page 351) from
October 2009 is interesting to browse back in the light of present
developments. The volume includes more than a hundred editorials from old
issues of PAU. Congratulations!
Obtaining authentic information
from nook and corner of the country is extremely difficult, time consuming and
depends on the level of networking. The editor, Mr. Sekhsaria,
has handled these faculties with grit and efficiency so well for nearly two
decades. That has made this book possible.
Organising the contents for such
a data base is a hard task, considering the range of topics, over historical
account of states, and the variety of happenings. Yet, the contents have been
well planned and laid out in 14 chapters. Well done! The chapters include 1.
Law, Policy, and Governance; 2. Human Rights in Protected Areas; 3. The
Developmental Threat; 4. The Linear Infrastructure Nightmare; 5. The Local
Context; 6. At the State Level; 7. Specific Geographies; 8. Changing Seasons;
9. Tourism; 10. Communicating Conservation; 11. Tiger and Tiger Reserves; 12.
Fate of the Elephant; 13. Rhinos, Bees, Bats, Dolphins; and 14. A Colourful
Mosaic. The Editor’s Note is very explicit. There is also a very exhaustive
list of abbreviations running to 5.5 pages. The entire work is carefully woven.
An index would have made usage more at once.
I am confident that the volume
will draw references for students, historians, and general readers in India and
overseas keen to know the happenings around wildlife in this part of the globe
with the scope of a wide-ranging chapter titles.
References
Singh, L.A.K.
(2015). A scientometric analysis of the trends of information
dissemination on ‘true albino’ and ‘white’ mammals. Journal of the Bombay
Natural History Society 111(3): 216–220.
Singh, L.A.K. (2020). The State of Wildlife and
Protected Areas in Maharashtra: News and Information from the Protected Area
Update 1996–2015. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(3): 15405–15406. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5791.12.3.15405-15406