Indian Wildlife Club Forum

The "developed" countries are actually the culprits when it comes to the destruction of ecosystems in "not-their-backyard" as we are finding out the Bush Administration and their approach to the "conservation" of the lands in the north for a few more gallons of oil to feed the insatiable demand in the US.

We can talk about not destroying the ecosystems but when the family needs the tree branch to use a fuel for the cooking I dont think saving the tree for the future generations will have an impact; especially when the current generation is close to starvation.

Poeple can do a lot but the "powers that be" can not fathom making use of humna-power. Where is the sexy slogan or the picture when all you can show is gangs of people making a road versus the shinny new tractor OR the crane that build the "hospitality industry" units instead of people.

Ecology as a resource slogan sounds a lot like "data as resource" and "people as a resource" campaings we here so often in the government or private industry. The only thing that ever seems to matter is the $$ to be had now versus in the future. The penalty for failure still seems to be promotion to the next level.

Maybe it will be different in India. Between 1920 and 1948 someone did try but I think it has yet to catch on.

Thank you for some thought provoking ideas, Amin.

The developed nations of the world are trying to find a balance between development and ecological sustainability. Countries like India still have some natural resources untouched by big developmental projects. NOW is the time to think of conservation.

Restoring a lost ecology is always harder. E-Government has the ability to address many economic issues. The abundance of manpower in our country can be utilised/can be empowered by e-governance which does not exploit our natural resources. In fact, e-governance for conservation involves montoring, assessing and showcasing our natural resources- creating employment oppotunities for thousands in the process.

Instead of looking at natural resources as an exploitable resource, we look at it as an asset which needs to be valued and protected. The benefits of protecting this asset are universal.

It depends. If you mean by that the process of motivation and move away from the current practices of destroying the current environment with no regard to the future or the impact on the "global" environment, then I agree it is complex. For that I doubt if there ever will be anything mere mortals can do. History also shows that those who are above the mere mortal category get "removed" sooner or later; usually sooner.
The purpose of the work for Canadian Environment Agency was to monitor the process for the Assessment of "Industrial" projects on the environment and to Assess the impact based on the Guidelines established as to the protection of the environment. The scope was global in that any Canadian Organization doing work in any part of the world had to provide the data on the impact on the environment. The Agency operates in Canada "for ever". The problem, as I saw it, was that "vested interest groups" would try and circumvent the provision of the data or privide vague and "useless" data.
Educating the public on the importance of managing the environment and looking beyond the "today's bubndle of branches to cook with" is not a simple task when the focus of the "powers that be" is towards other goals like weapons and IT jobs.

Regards

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)has just been unveiled.

The Ministries which get into the bandwagon now stand to benefit immensely. The Ministry of Income tax is a case in point where technology is working wonders to boost revenues and plug loopholes.

We appeal to the Ministry of Environment and Forest to actively participate in the NeGp. This will benefit conservation, regulate poaching, boost tourist revenues and create jobs.

Dr Susan Sharma I read your paper. You make the process sound very complex. I think the solution would be by starting to look for a generic approach.

 For example, all the stakeholders (and I reallly hate that word) are really the same just different roles (and some with multiple roles). The Environment has several aspects as of now and more will come into play. There is a relationship among the Environment Factors. And finally the "Stakeholders" and The Environment have several attributes you need to track and record.

I did a system here for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency using the same concepts and it worked fine and provided a vastly superior capability for research and investigation then if they had remained in the "independent" stakeholder and environment factor mode.

 All the best Regards

Dr Amin Adatia MBA, PhD

amin@knowtech.ca KnowTech Solutions Inc

(www.knowtech.ca)

I have uploaded a paper presented at an e-Government conference held in October 2005 at The Grand, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.  The Conference "Conflux 2005"  was a joint effort by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), Government of NCT of Delhi along with Department of Information Technology, Government of India, UNDP, Danish Technological Institute and key academic and civil society organizations and various multilateral agencies. 

 The full presentation is uploaded at the following link

http://www.slideshare.net/susansharma/egovernance-for-conservation

The paper makes a case for the potential of e-Governance for creating jobs as a major byproduct. Giving livelihood options to fringe villages of national parks seems to be the only solution for avoiding man -animal conflicts and exploitation. If the livelihood options are related to protecting the parks, it becomes a win -win situation for conservation and people.

I am throwing the paper for a "no-holds barred discussion "by IWC members.  Please do add your valuable opinions.