Kerala State Board for Wildlife reconstitution draws flak over choice of nominees

Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan. The board is headed by the Chief Minister as its chairperson.

The reconstitution of the State Board for Wildlife by the Keralam government has triggered criticism over its composition, particularly the nomination of certain persons whose commitment to wildlife conservation has been questioned by environmental activists.

The board, headed by the Chief Minister as its chairperson and the Forest Minister as vice-chairperson, includes three legislators – Kunnathur MLA Ullas Kovoor, Poonjar MLA Sebastian M.J. and Thiruvambady MLA C.K. Kasim, who represents the Revolutionary Socialist Party, Indian National Congress and Indian Union Muslim League respectively.

Renjan Mathew Varghese, State director of WWF-India; Jose Louise, chief executive officer of the Wildlife Trust of India; and M.K. Ranjit Singh, chairman emeritus of the Wildlife Trust of India are the members representing non-governmental organisations in the panel.

Ten members have been nominated from among conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists, including representatives of Scheduled Tribes. They are K.V. Dayal, Meera Chandran, Vinod C., Sandeep Das, Hume Centre scientist Suma, Balan Madhavan, Saji Joseph and K.P. Elias.

Chandanam N., a tribal culture specialist and social advocate from Idukki, is among those included in the category. Raman Rajamannan is also among the nominated members from the Scheduled Tribe community.

However, questions have also been raised over the selection of certain nominees, particularly Mr. Elias, a Wayanad-based activist. Conservation activists have alleged that the nominee had taken positions that opposed forest preservation initiatives.

Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi president N. Badusha alleged that Mr. Elias’ purported advocacy of hunting wild animals to control their population and his arguments questioning the role of forests in addressing global warming were at variance with the prime objectives of forest and wildlife conservation. He also referred to the nominee’s reported support for projects such as a tunnel road through the hills of Wayanad and an airport that required the reclamation of paddy fields.

Co-existence Collective, a coalition of environmental organisations, wildlife conservationists, researchers, scientists and civil society groups, have registered strong protest over the panel constitution.

Mr. Elias was unavailable for response to the allegations levelled against his nomination.

The official members of the board include the Secretary, Forest and Wildlife Department; the Head of Forest Force; the Secretary, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department; the Managing Director of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation; and the State Police Chief.

The Commander of the 91 Infantry Brigade, Pangode; the Directors of the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Departments; the Regional Deputy Director of Wildlife Preservation (Southern Region), Chennai; and the Director of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, are also members.

Representatives from the Botanical Survey of India, Southern Circle, Coimbatore; and the Zoological Survey of India’s Western Ghats Field Research Station, Kozhikode; have also been included.

The Chief Wildlife Warden will function as the member secretary of the board that will have a tenure of three years (for members other than ex-officio members) from the date of their nomination.