‘Please do not listen to environmentalists. They will say that the place has 300 types of ants and butterflies. Who counted them?’ a quote by a politician in a daily newspaper drew our attention. He was very sharp in passing such a strong statement, advising people to ignore the environmentalists. Such statements from politicians are not uncommon nowadays. It is ample proof of the shallow knowledge about the very meaning of the environment. Let us believe, the next time, if someone calls them to chair a convention on biodiversity, they will refuse the same.

During the last few decades, Indian forest acts have been diluted to accommodate many activities such as mining and other infrastructure projects to encroach the forest lands. Pristine forests are slowly giving way to avoidable developmental activities. Sustainable development is only in papers. The latest trend is to convert forest land into parks. The forest department is made to hand over sizable land to state governments or local authorities. The local authorities will then develop the acquired land into amusement parks with enclosures for animals and space for food courts. In due course, the converted land will lose its forest tag and get ready for some commercial activity.

People may not be aware of the clever moves of politicians. To appease the environmentally conscious people, who may not know the repercussions, converting forest lands to ‘people-friendly’ amusement parks is an easy excuse. To achieve such nefarious moves, politicians have to direct their anger against environmentalists. Such conversion moves may help politicians to accommodate contractors and suppliers who use the opportunity to fill up their coffers. Simultaneously politicians also turn into multimillionaires. If awareness grows and people muster the strength to protest, the agents of politicians will suppress peaceful environmental campaigning. Sometimes politicians even take the lead role in spearheading the environmental movement, to sabotage the movement silently. Innocent protesters fall prey to the evil traps of the politicians-bureaucracy combo.

Every day, we hear a lot of climate events. Melting glaciers, rising temperatures, unusual rains, failing monsoons, and flooding cities are all evidence of a climate emergency. If temperature rises beyond a certain tolerance level, life on earth will become miserable. The presence of an ant, a bee, or a butterfly does not impede human existence. They are the important links in our food chain. Naturalists and researchers count them, list and measure their worth, and explain the need to save the whole ecosystem. Reintroducing a cheetah saving a tiger or stopping a tree felling is not just an environmental activity, but an effort to stop the climate emergency, that is looming large on this planet. Will politicians listen or fill their pockets? The answer is known to all. If they cut the trunk, sitting on the delicate branch of a tree, they will fall as well as the tree.