Interview Summary
Ghazala Shahabuddin reflects on challenges persisting in conservation in India, including bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining permissions and enforcing laws, prompting a call for an inclusive approach that considers social and cultural factors.
She emphasises the importance of integrating social sciences into conservation, advocating for community-based initiatives and holistic studies that examine the relationship between forests and people. Despite successes in saving species and establishing Protected Areas in India, she cites habitat destruction and biodiversity loss as pressing concerns that remain.
While India has made strides in protecting endangered species like tigers and elephants, she alludes to failures in leveraging public support and addressing habitat destruction. Further, she is critical of the limited role of science in wildlife conservation strategies, giving the example of recent cheetah reintroduction efforts, citing a lack of holistic planning.
Shahabuddin stresses the involvement of local communities in decision-making and management of Protected Areas. While concerns linger over restoration efforts and relaxing laws for infrastructure development, she hopes for public involvement and suitable political leadership to ensure a sustainable future.
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:00:30) Personal experiences and reflections: Protected Areas, multidisciplinary thinking about wildlife conservation and social and cultural factors
(00:07:37) Community-based conservation, importance of single site studies and a holistic view of conservation
(00:11:15) Getting science into policy-making on conservation
(00:13:34) Integrating social sciences into conservation efforts
(00:19:04) Divide between social scientists and biologists
(00:22:16) Conservation successes: saving species from extinction, land under nature and conservation, environmental governance and saving flagship species
(00:27:54) Conservation failures: lack of popular support, Forest Department operations and governance issues
(00:30:52) Failures in wildlife conservation, including lack of research on sustainable use and implementation of science
(00:36:08) Conservation science and management in India, need to focus outside protected areas as well and importance of local engagement
(00:43:59) Push for restoration
(00:46:34) Worries for the future of conservation in India, including relaxation of environmental laws, infrastructure development and air pollution
(00:56:14) Hope for the future of conservation in India, including younger leaders, cultural links to wildlife, small town naturalists and civil society participation
(01:01:31) Winding up the session
Dates
- Creation: 2022-11-22
Creator
- From the File: Shahabuddin, Ghazala (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
Ghazala Shahabuddin was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Her family moved to India in 1975. Here, she did her schooling at Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi. Having had an interest in wildlife and nature since childhood, while still in school, she became involved with the Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group.
She went on to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of Delhi and a Master’s in Wildlife Science from Pondicherry University. She received her Doctoral degree in Ecology and Conservation Biology from Duke University, United States of America in 1998.
Throughout her career, she has been associated with a number of organisations and universities. A few of them have been the Council for Social Development, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India and Ashoka University.
Her research, largely multidisciplinary, has been on issues such as displacement, community-based conservation and the impacts of grazing, non-timber forest products and fuel wood extraction, and land use change on forests.
She was a recipient of the New India Fellowship in 2007-08.
She played a key role in setting up the School of Human Ecology and the Master’s programme in Environment and Development at Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) from 2009-14. She has also been involved with the setting up of two NGOs- Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group and Centre for Ecology, Development and Research (CEDAR).
She has authored Conservation at the Crossroads: Science, Society and the Future of India’s Wildlife (2010) and edited Making Conservation Work: Securing Biodiversity in this New Century (2007), Nature Without Borders (2014) and Nature in the New Economy: People. Wildlife and the law in India (2019).
Extent
62 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