Interview Summary
Divya Mudappa notes that over time, there has been a notable expansion of conservation endeavours beyond Protected Areas, with early forest restoration initiatives fostering a convergence of ideas across regions.
Reflecting on India’s conservation journey since 1972, she highlights both successes and failures, critiquing aspects of the Protected Area establishment process. Wildlife conservation, supported by cultural tolerance and Protected Areas, she says, has played a vital role in preserving charismatic species, although debates persist regarding the efficacy of the Wild Life (Protection) Act in safeguarding ecosystems and species.
Challenges in managing Protected Areas, such as limited understanding and conflicting priorities, are underscored, alongside a call for improved training and management practices. Market incentives in conservation evoke mixed sentiments for Mudappa, while the importance of valuing land for its ecological significance is recognised. Despite challenges, she advocates for collaboration, emphasising the imperative of community engagement and unity among conservationists for effective action.
(00:00:55) Conservation work outside protected areas in India, including restoration efforts
(00:09:05) Views on inviolate areas, the Wild Life (Protection) Act and The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, and cultural tolerance in India
[Archivist’s note: the interviewee and interviewer refer to it as ‘Forest Rights Act (FRA)’ but the summary and index term use the authority record name ‘The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act’]
(00:19:43) Permissions for developmental activities and using environmental laws and the absence of other legal alternatives
(00:23:12) Impact of conservation legislation on forest dwellers and wildlife and Mudappa’s engagement with the Wild Life (Protection) Act
(00:30:49) Forest Department’s management of Protected Areas and its conflicting priorities with wildlife researchers and conservationists
(00:37:55) Differing opinions with the Forest Department and how it views and deals with tourism and restoration
(00:42:30) Mudappa’s attitude towards and engagement with The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act in her work
(00:44:33) Shortcoming of the Wild Life (Protection) Act – focussing on species over ecosystems
(00:46:50) Discomfort with giving a blueprint for conservation and the need for community engagement and collaboration
(00:56:30) Challenges faced by the Ecological Restoration Alliance (ERA)
(00:1:00:27) Members of the conservation community and improving conservation training and management practices in India
(01:06:28) Market incentives in conservation: challenges and concerns
(01:25:41) Conservation in India over the next fifty years
Dates
- Creation: 2022-07-04
Creator
- From the File: Mudappa, Divya (Interviewee, Person)
- From the File: Sridhar, Hari (Interviewer, Person)
- From the File: Venkatram, Preeti Shree (Processing Archivist, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Level of Access: Open/Online
Biography
Divya Mudappa is a Wildlife and Conservation Scientist at the Nature Conservation Foundation, India. She is known for her work on the Western Ghats restoration project, where she and her team work to ecologically restore rainforest fragments in plantations and estates. She specialises in studying hornbills and small carnivores, specifically those involved in frugivory and seed dispersal. She has worked extensively on the distribution, abundance and nest-monitoring of Hornbills along the Western Ghats. Her primary research areas are tropical ecology, particularly rainforests, and applied ecological subjects such as restoration ecology and conservation biology. She was presented the Wildlife Services Award by Sanctuary Asia which she shared with T. R. Shankar Raman for their work in Restoration Ecology. She has co-authored Pillars of Life with T. R. Shankar Raman, which is an illustrated book on the rainforest trees of the southern Western Ghats. Her long-term plan is to improve the scientific understanding of the patterns and processes of tropical ecosystems and use that knowledge to implement conservation programmes that would benefit both wildlife and local communities.
Extent
91 Minutes
Language of Materials
English
Repository Details
Part of the Archives at NCBS Repository
National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Bangalore Karnataka 560065 India
+9180 6717 6010
+9180 6717 6011
archives@ncbs.res.in