Ramnagar (Uttarakhand) [India], October 12 (ANI): Mining, urbanisation and the loss of forest land are putting pressure on the Aravallis, a range that plays an important role in groundwater recharge and supports a wide variety of wildlife. Ecological restoration practitioner Vijay Dhasmana, who has spent nearly two decades working to restore parts of the range, said that it needs a comprehensive conservation plan that looks at the entire landscape.
He has worked on restoring degraded stretches of the Aravallis, including the site where the Aravali Biodiversity Park in Gurugram stands today. The area had witnessed mining and stone-crushing activities in the 1980's, which left hill slopes barren and forest patches degraded. In 2002 the Supreme Court ordered a stay on all mining activities. A group of people, seeing the destruction by mining, decided to make the 'Aravali Biodiversity Park' in 2010, taking in the help of Dhasmana for the project too.
Mining and stone crushing at the site came to a halt following a Supreme Court ban, with the restrictions implemented from 2009.
“Aravallis the areas that I work in, were a mine site. There was stone crushing happening at one point of time and Supreme Court of India in 2004 declared that this is ordered that no more mining should happen, no more stone crushing should happen. So that land was lying and it needed recovery, it needed healing. And then therefore we got an opportunity to work with NGOs and the government and the municipality of Gurugram and the Forest Department to recover and restore these mine sites,” Dhasmana told ANI.
“They are very significant. They are lesser known and were not in the national radar. They only came into the national radar because of the Supreme Court case, otherwise, nobody was talking about it earlier,” he added.
He said the range is significant for northwestern India because of its role in shaping drainage patterns, supporting biodiversity and conserving water.
“It's important to look at the landscape of the Aravallis and what ecological significance it has for the northwest part of India. It shapes the drainage of northwest India all the way from Udaipur, Gujarat, to Delhi. So it is a significant geological feature that relates to watersheds, water conservation, water security, and biodiversity hotspots; they all lie in these forests. So therefore, it's good that the Supreme Court highlighted the Aravallis, and it has become a national issue. And then the Ministry of Environment and Forest has come up with this Aravalli conservation plan, so therefore it's a welcome move, I must say,” shared Vijay.
Pointing towards the factors posing major threats to the Aravalli range, making a landscape-level conservation strategy essential to protect its biodiversity and water resources, he shared, “The main threats are fragmentation. There are urbanisation threats. Mining is a big threat. Land use change is a big threat.”
He also referred to projections suggesting that 21 per cent of forest land in the Aravallis could be taken over by 2059, highlighting the need to address changes in land use and protect the remaining forest areas.
“There are urbanisation threats. Mining is a big threat. Land use change is a big threat. The projections are by 2059, 21 per cent of the forest land in the Aravalli will be taken over. So, it's important that we look at these threats and then mitigate them…there are population pressures… these are water reservoirs,” said Dhasmana.
He noted that, “The Aravallis are water reservoirs. All the water that is falling in the Aravallis is actually going into the subterranean level and therefore very significant for our own security, our ecological security.”
He said the Aravallis had received greater national attention following legal intervention over mining, and welcomed the Environment Ministry's Aravalli conservation plan.
“Now that it is in the limelight, it's important to look at the landscape of the Aravallis and what its ecological significance it has for the northwest part of India,” he said.
In 2010, the citizen group in Gurugram initiated efforts to restore the site, and Dhasmana took up the restoration work in 2011. The project aimed to bring back the original forest vegetation of the Aravalli region.
Dhasmana said restoration work is being carried out across around 900 acres in different parts of the range, in collaboration with the Haryana and Rajasthan Forest Departments. He said the experience gained from these efforts could help inform a broader conservation strategy.
“We are very, very open and I think we should have a significant plan state-wise and holistic national-wise where we can look at Aravallis and a conservation of Aravallis at landscape level,” he said.
He said conservation efforts must also account for the smaller species that sustain the ecosystem. The Aravallis support thousands of beetle species, along with amphibians, reptiles and other forms of biodiversity, he said.
Comparing the ecosystem to a pyramid, Dhasmana said protecting its foundation is essential for conserving larger animals, including tigers.
“Unless we protect the base of the pyramid, we can't protect the top. The apex cannot be protected. A tiger cannot be protected if you don't have the habitat, if you don't have the insect population, if you don't have the microbial growth and the mycorrhiza network and bryophytes and the grasses and the trees and the shrubs,” he said.
He added that conservation planning must therefore extend beyond individual species to protect the habitats and ecological processes on which wildlife depends.
“If we conserve the base of the pyramid, the apex is protected,” Dhasmana said. (ANI)
“If we conserve base of pyramid, apex is protected”: Vijay Dhasmana calls for landscape-level conservation of Aravallis
