As the toddlers paint

I once watched an interesting experiment. Parents of a group of toddlers were handed a large box of multi-coloured crayons and asked to draw on a piece of paper. Many began almost immediately, while others took a pause and delicately picked out the colours they liked most. Once the drawings were finished, they were shared and admired. The next day the toddlers walked in and were handed the same box of crayons that their dads and moms used—but with a twist. All the colours that were used by their parents had been set aside. The children drew the best they could and when the task was done the parents were called in. As the paintings were laid out, the story of human life on earth was revealed. The sky was grey, the trees deep blue and the sun a dismal black because every parent has inadvertently picked out the most vibrant colour—leaving little for their young progeny to work with.

Are we not doing the same? With global warming reaching a new high along with rising anthropocentric interference in the web of life, a drop in the biodiversity count is but obvious. Extinction of endemic species and uncontrolled spread of invasive ones can spell a disaster of proportions we are yet to comprehend fully. Scientists claim that over 80 per cent species remain undiscovered and the global total species count still at small fraction of what is out there. However, the manner in which the humans are picking colours, it won’t be long before we lose it all.

It is important to grasp the magnitude of this slow disaster. Loss of biodiversity can effectively cut away exits for humans in a dwindling resource scenario. This issue of G’nY brings to the fore contemporary policy issues in the domain of biodiversity conservation. Forest Rights Act and new notification on Coastal Regulation Zone are two areas of interest that are particularly relevant to conservation efforts on the land and in the marine environment. In addition bolstering meaningful policy needs, such as access and benefit sharing, have also been discussed.

Happy reading.