On the occasion of World Wildlife Day 2026, a powerful and detailed representation has been submitted to the highest echelons of the Indian government, including the the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (EF&CC), who are chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Authored by Shankar Sharma, a Power & Climate Policy Analyst from Sagara in the Western Ghats, the communication levels a serious indictment against the current state of environmental governance. It accuses authorities of celebrating the day for biodiversity while simultaneously sanctioning projects that lead to the "annihilation of biodiversity" within the country's Protected Areas (PAs).
The representation questions the sincerity of wildlife conservation efforts when critical habitats are being desecrated. It specifically highlights the controversial 2,000 MW Sharavati Pumped Storage Project (PSP) in Karnataka, which threatens the Sharavati Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque (LTM) Sanctuary. This issue has escalated to the legal arena, with the Karnataka High Court issuing notices to the Centre and state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the approvals granted by the State Wildlife Board and the NBWL's standing committee.
The petitioners argue that the project, which requires over 102 hectares inside the sanctuary and nearly 40 hectares in its eco-sensive zone, violates Section 29 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which prohibits such destruction within a sanctuary unless it is for the "improvement and better management of wildlife" . Environmentalists and local protesters, including former minister K.S. Eshwarappa, have vehemently opposed the project, citing the impending destruction of the habitat of over 400 Lion-Tailed Macaques—a significant portion of the estimated 700 living in the wild—and the felling of more than 16,000 trees .
The report underscores a broader, systemic failure in environmental oversight. It cites alarming national trends, noting that between 2014 and 2019, a staggering 99.82% of projects seeking forest clearance were approved. This has led to the diversion of 173,000 hectares of forest land for non-forestry uses, with nearly 60,000 hectares cleared for commercial purposes in just three years.
The loss of primary forest during that five-year period exceeded 120,000 hectares. Furthermore, between June 2014 and May 2018, over 500 projects within India's Protected Areas and eco-sensitive zones were cleared by the NBWL. This pattern is exemplified by the recent approval by a NBWL panel for the Kopra medium irrigation project, which will divert 272 hectares of forest land in the core area of the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, a reserve itself created to offset habitat loss from the Ken-Betwa river-linking project.
This systematic diversion of forest land occurs against a backdrop of escalating man-animal conflict and threats to wildlife elsewhere. Reports from the Nallamala-Lankamala forest belt in Andhra Pradesh indicate that despite protective measures, over 30 deer and 15 leopards have died in the past year and a half due to poaching, electrocution from illegal fencing, and habitat stress.
Meanwhile, farmers on the periphery of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka have protested the restart of jungle safaris, arguing that such activities disturb wildlife and exacerbate conflicts, a claim contested by conservationists who view regulated tourism as a vital tool for funding conservation and supporting local economies . Even the illegal wildlife trade persists, as evidenced by the recent rescue of a sloth bear cub named Lissy from the "dancing bear" trade on the Jharkhand-West Bengal border, a practice thought to have been eradicated in 2009.
Sharma's representation argues that the NBWL has devolved into a "rubber-stamp" for biodiversity loss, consistently failing to justify the true necessity of projects in PAs against the ensuing ecological destruction. He points to the NBWL's refusal to provide satisfactory responses to concerns raised by environmentalists and project-affected communities.
In contrast, the government has highlighted some restoration efforts, such as the Aravalli Green Wall Project, where 6.45 million hectares of degraded land have been identified for greening to combat desertification and restore the ecological stability of the northern plains . However, critics like Congress leader Jairam Ramesh have labeled other environmental programmes, such as the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), as "notional" and fundamentally inadequate to address the scale of India's pollution crisis.
The core of the appeal to the Prime Minister and Union Cabinet is for an urgent and paradigm shift in environmental governance. The author contends that without such a change, the concept of World Wildlife Day will become an "abused terminology" in the Indian context, and the high GDP growth rates will be rendered meaningless against the backdrop of irreversible ecological damage. The first test of a reformed approach, according to the representation, should be the summary rejection of the Sharavati PSP and all similar projects in fragile river valleys, advocating for more benign alternatives like Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
As the author concludes, echoing the sentiments of the referenced article, conservation focus must extend to the lesser-known species that underpin entire ecosystems, for losing them would inevitably lead to the fall of the "charismatic giants" as well. The nation now awaits a response from its leadership on whether it will heed this call for a course correction before the ecological fabric is frayed beyond repair.
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