SAHYADRI: Reminiscences and Reflections edited by Sudhirendar Sharma.
Photographs by N.A. Naseer. Prakruti, Sirsi, Karnataka, 2009.
THE benevolent mountain ranges of Sahyadri, the Western Ghats that runs parallel to the West coast of peninsular India, is a unique landscape that must be why it is even recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is much to celebrate here thanks to its highly vibrant natural heritage. However, it has its own share of sorrows too, as conflicts keep arising due to competing forces in action for exploiting its rich natural resources. Understanding such pains hidden in these spectacular hills and valleys, therefore, is increasingly becoming necessary, since it impacts the life of billions in peninsula. The book, Sahyadri: Reminiscences and Reflections serves this purpose enormously.
The theme based books on Western Ghats by different experts, treating domains like geology, geography, biodiversity, large wildlife, landscape dynamics, among others, are not rare. And, innumerable literature too is available for user groups like eco-tourists, trekkers and bird watchers. But, this scholarly book stands out as it presents multiple perspectives lucidly, which could enlighten wide spectrum of readers, from ecologists to economists to policy makers. At the same time, it could be enjoyed by the general reader like a coffee table book with compelling photographs. The only other book, perhaps, which could be compared with this in this genre would be Sahyadris: India’s Western Ghats: A Vanishing Heritage, edited by ecologist Kamala Bawa and photographer Sandesh Kadur. Sudhirendar Sharma, a writer and sustainable development professional who has meticulously documented the dynamics of natural resources governance over the decades, has edited this book of eighty pages.
The captivating images of the landscape and its life forms by brilliant photographer N.A. Naseer, have added enormous value to this book. As the editor puts it in his preface, it is an attempt to capture these rich natural phenomena and the challenges in defending them. It focuses mainly on multiple events that took place from the eighties onwards that continue to influence the present and future of these mountains. It can, thus, be seen as a sequel to his own earlier book, Paradise Lost, Almost (2006). While most of the articles here are a reproduction of published works in mainstream print media by different scholars, a few are exclusively written ones.
The first one, ‘Mountains without snow peaks’, gives a vibrant overview of diverse life forms that make this landscape distinct. From of next fourteen write-ups, four broad categories can be discerned. The first set is about the Appiko movement (a ‘tree embracing’ movement), a unique protest by farmers and peasants that originated in the hills of Karnataka in the eighties. It was to protect their surrounding forests from the government agencies, that had started mono-culture plantations by clear felling trees. It later evolved into a movement by itself, obviously inspired by the Chipko movement of Himalayas. While ecologist Madhav Gadgil’s article gives intricate natural science ethos that must underline the forest management, environmentalist Claude Alvares argues for respecting the voice of local communities in policies and practises of natural resources management. The third one is by the editor himself, which comprehends the importance of genesis and evolution of such people’s action. These insightful arguments have enhanced the worthiness of this book, which are relevant even today in discourses on sustainability and equity.
An article by the editor that stands out as second category is on the history and impact of the ‘Save Western Ghats movement’, one of the most important people’s movements of independent India that took place in the eighties. The historical march from Kerala to Gujarat and the subsequent sensitizing efforts, not only caught the imagination of the wider public on the importance of Sahyadris, but also became a watershed for many environmental movements in subsequent years. Such spirit of collective action seems to be the only true hope left for this ecologically sensitive area.
The third bunch of articles narrates the bewildering mosaics of diverse forms of land and life that make this unique habitat. And the last pool of essays represent the multiple challenges this land and its people face due to depletion of natural resources caused by wrong priorities in developmental policies.
Much water has flown now in the rivers of Sahyadri, since this book was published in 2009. Once seemingly simple challenges have now grown into complex conflicts. Though many solutions have been proposed over the last decade to address them, including that of Madhava Gadgil’s Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), and the report of the Kasturirangan Committee, there seems to be no forward movement. Pandurang Hegde, an activist of the Appiko movement, and incidentally the publisher of this book, believes that a fresh scholarly effort is needed to capture the magnitude of all the issues that are shooting up now in different trajectories. Indeed, any such effort must look into the eco-friendly traditional lifestyles of ‘ecosystem’ people of Sahyadri as well, which may help in exploring the ways forward that could balance economic aspirations and ecological obligations.
Keshava H. Korse
Conservation Biologist and
writer based in Sirsi, Karnataka
First published in the Seminar, November 2020. Few copies of the book are still available. If interested, drop a mail to appiko@gmail.com
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