Ecological Areas and Challenges of Urbanization: A Stride Towards Environmental Restoration

Introduction

The global landscape is decked up with a variety of natural habitats. Having rich biodiversity, they are the hub of ecological processes which are silently at work to maintain a balance of the ecosystem through sustainable use of natural resources. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 has mentioned that the assortment of life available on earth has been altered vitally and irrevocably by human actions. Biodiversity conservation is itself a target articulated by Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) with several other legal frameworks at a global and national level. The indigenous wildlife and biodiversity inhabit these protected areas and are more vulnerable to the burgeoning threats occurring from anthropogenic activities. This has forced policy planners and governments to restrict activities and even to cordon them as ‘protected areas’. Ecological areas provide various services, named ecosystem services, which comprise provisional services like water, food, raw materials, medicinal plants; regulatory services such as climate regulation, control of air and water pollution, management of floods, droughts, and epidemics; habitat or supporting services such as provide habitat areas, maintenance and formation of soil nutrients; and recreational services for cultural empowerment and spiritual wellness. Therefore, as hubs for biological processes and ecological services, these areas are essential for achieving ecological equilibrium.

For the conservation and management of ecological areas, there are various recognized international organizations, conventions, enacted protocols and declarations. These organizations and conventions were established with an intent to promote coordination, cooperation, and interaction among them for future environmental protection, conservation, and management. These organizations are operated as governing authorities having their expertise in strengthening the standards and practices for conservation goals, research studies related to nature, and sustainable future. The recommendations of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention have been adopted at the global level. In India, the legal framework regarding the environment has covered various laws and legislation, summits, schemes, and projects such as the wildlife protection act, environment protection act, biodiversity act, project tiger, project elephant, project snow leopard, etc. Mostly these are aimed to regulate, manage and protect biodiversity, wildlife, and available natural resources.

Biodiversity is an essential element for many ecosystem services which these protected areas provide for human survival, welfare and livelihoods. Regardless of the vital contributions to human society, ecology and biodiversity are still declining. The record population growth, migration, and urbanization are unpremeditated. With increased human demands, towns and cities are blooming with changes in landuse patterns around their peripheral areas or in the immediate vicinity. This sprawl in urban areas is globally recognized as significant planning and management issue in several major cities. Land intensification and disproportionate urbanization have made our ecological areas victims of uncontrolled urban growth. This has inflicted various challenges such as qualitative and quantitative depletion of natural resources, the devastation of ecosystem services, and degradation of environmental quality in and around ecological areas. These peaceful areas, having biological importance, are now in continuous threats of human intervention as evident from their shrinking sizes, fragmentation, and habitat destruction, forced extinction of select bio-species, reduction in species count, the decline in migratory species visits, especially migratory bird species, destruction of indigenous ecosystems, shrinking and contaminations of rivers and wetlands, deforestation, etc. The aggravated urban sprawl comes with a complex mix of changes such as landuse transformation and environmental disturbances. The increase in urban sprawl and modification in landuse are reported worldwide as responsible for ecological degradation and biodiversity loss. The examples like the establishment of industries, illegal constructions and development work in the vicinity of ecological areas, violation of water bodies and rivers with untreated waste leading to chemical reactions, recent fire disaster in the world’s largest rainforests, etc. all substantiate the above statement.