This August, graduates Nimaya Lemal, George Crompton, Sreemathi Mariappan, Lainey Cartwright and our very own Aparna, graduates of the University of Glasgow (Dumfries Campus) Masters in Environment, Culture, and Communication, took over the evening to talk about Human/Animal Conflict & Cooperation: Stories from India, Siberia & the Sea (a title that was beautifully put together by Nimaya).
Nimaya introduced us to concepts such as HABITAT FRAGMENTATION and how and why it is occurring, and how the DEFINITION OF REWILDING has evolved (and still is) over the years, quoting from George’s dissertation, “From the restoration of large wilderness areas devoid of people, rewilders are now looking towards a more holistic future that includes both humans and non-humans in their vision”. She explained terms used to describe FOCAL SPECIES – did you know that the terms ecosystem engineers and keystone species can be confused due to their similarities but are actually different?
Here’s a video shot by Nimaya in her hometown of Barnard, Vermouth in the US, of a block bear wandering into human habitation: https://youtu.be/oKVd0rTxCeA
We explored HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT IN INDIA. Starting off with a quiz that could only be answered either in kilograms or pounds (an inside joke), Aparna spoke a bit about why elephants are important to our ecosystems. Did you know that 60% of the elephant population in the world is in India? Being an endangered species, this makes it increasingly important to reduce conflict and protect them. We looked at some of the ecosystem services that elephants provide, such as food and water, and how this helps maintain the ecosystem. Records on human-elephant conflicts date back to the 1930s, but 85% of them have increased since 1980 due to habitat fragmentation and encroachment of forest land for agriculture and other developmental needs. India is making efforts to try to protect elephants and their habitat while trying to reduce conflict through Project Elephant, a nation-wide initiative that began in 1982.
Aparna shared an illustration of hers that shares a story of conflict through the eyes of a baby elephant named Adia.
Have you ever wondered about the ANIMALS THAT ARE EXTINCT from this world? Ever wondered what their ecological importance would have been when they existed George spoke about rewilding (or WILDING?) and climate change and the project at Pleistocene Park, which focusses on restoring grazing ecosystems in the Arctic that are similar to the mammoth steppes that dominated Eurasia in the late Pleistocene. He emphasised the importance of considering climate change as a factor while planning such projects to help mitigate its effects. He talked about the importance of the topography of a landscape by showing contrasting evidence from studies on herbivore density and their effect on permafrost thawing. In other words, wilding is a complicated process, and several things, such as ability to adapt and mitigate, landscape, climate resistance, and species biodiversity, need to be taken into consideration for wilding projects.
George closed with the question: How would you feel if genetically-modified Asian elephants—”mammoth proxies”—were to be introduced to restore the Artic tundra ecosystem, maybe even in two years’ time? https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-022-00432-3 . This question leaves us with a lot of things to think about. Is this ethical? How will these animals survive without ancestral knowledge? What traits of Asian elephants and their behaviours would these organisms have? You get the gist of it!
Next, Sreemathi brought stories of TIGER CONSERVATION IN INDIA. Did you know that tigers were killed to extinction in India? Sreemathi shares a story of how tigers, believed to be the protector of forests, were killed for mere pennies. She discussed the stories of two prominent figures, Kailash Sankhla (the ‘Tiger Man of India) and Jim Corbett, two hunters-turned-conservationists who played an eminent role in the development of Project Tiger. Tigers, holding the highest position on the food chain, play an important role in maintaining ecological balance.
But wait a minute, how can people coexist with predators? Sreemathi shared a personal story of meeting the Injikuzhi Kaani tribe in KMTR, India, where a 110-year-old woman, now blind, lives alone at the top of a hill inside a tiger reserve in a basic house. She has lived there since she was 15 and has seen her fair share of tigers but has never been attacked. Doesn’t that sound amazing? This shows that coexistence is possible, and also that tribes have priceless knowledge on how this is possible.
Last but not least, Lainey took us to a different world. Much has been said about rewilding on land, but what about the OCEAN? Lainey shared a video created by the Blue Marine Foundation to introduce us to rewilding the sea: “any effort to improve the health of the ocean by actively restoring habitats and species, or by leaving it alone to recover.” An introductory video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO2hktrL_Ec provides us with a basic understanding of why we need to protect marine ecosystems and how much of a role they play in achieving climate change objectives. It places emphasis on the lack of funding and a need for the involvement of governments from around the world to take a holistic approach to help rewild the ocean. But why do this? Lainey shared with us some insights on the potential value rewilding oceans could bring. To name a few, it can increase biodiversity, produce oxygen, remove water pollutants, and create rewilded ecosystems that act as nurseries for fish species to be sustainably fished and consumed by locals. She shared how environmental issues affecting the sea can have an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ effect and that this could work in favour of restoration projects.
Ocean restoration projects can share spaces (similar to how an area could be a tiger and an elephant reserve at the same time), but may need the cooperation of several nations as ocean boundaries lie out with our national ones. Lainey shared the story of oyster restoration in the UK, and we discussed how this could help create healthy ecosystems; some of the ecosystem services that Ostrea edulis provide include increased water clarity, increased fish production, and denitrification. Check out this video from Seawilding, a community-led native oyster and seagrass restoration in UK waters, who have successfully restored over 350,000 native oysters to the Loch Craignish seabed by the end of 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RUoYgwEFpw
The presentations were followed by a question-and-answer session. By the end of the session, we learnt that rewilding could mean different things to different people and can be interpreted in a myriad of ways (let’s call it wilding for now). This can make it difficult to convince people that rewilding could be a good thing. This paved the way to discussion about how we involve the people living in areas with wilding projects. More so than often, people living in the area of such projects have priceless knowledge on the issues in the area and also possible ways to mitigate them. For example, educating people of the importance of tigers in forests and involving communities living in the areas of tiger reserves has proved to be successful in India. This brings us to the next part of the discussion, education. Education plays a really important role; this could either be to reduce conflict or to help the public understand the importance of protecting wildlife and their habitat.
Such an informative evening with so much to learn. We hope everyone had a good time and learnt something new!
Photo credit: NISSAN SHARMA