New Delhi: A Climate Profile
New Delhi, the capital of India, is a city with a deep cultural heritage and rich history. Over the past few years, Delhi has seen a developmental and economical boom. But speaking environmentally, the city still has great hurdles to overcome. As of 2020, New Delhi has been ranked as the most polluted capital city in the world by the World Air Quality Report. Trees, habitats, and forestry are rapidly being replaced by concrete buildings. Once clean air and open skies are being lost to toxic smog. Out of the 1500 sq. km. that Delhi spans, only 85 sq. km is forest land.
The Forestry and Wildlife Department works hard to conserve the remaining natural world in Delhi and ensure that it flourishes once more. Their efforts alone, however, are not enough. Many lesser-known organizations work alongside the government to protect the forests. One such example is the Ecological Task Force, also known as the ETF.
The ETF is most famously known for its work in the Southern Ridge of Delhi. The Southern Ridge is the largest green patch in the area, and it is so due to the efforts of this group. They patrol the forest area twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Since the year 2000, they have planted and protected saplings, revived water bodies, constructed structures for water conservation, protected the land from encroachment, and removed illegally built houses and buildings. The work they do is not easy and is often dangerous. ETF members have faced violent attacks from people who want to claim and clear forest land; the police and forest department have had to intervene many times.
It is through their hard work that the forest still stands today. However, the amount of effort and danger these people go through on a daily basis paints a dire picture for Delhi’s environment. Patrols needed every hour of every week, an entire forest protected like a maximum-security prison, violent opposition fended off more often than anyone cares to count… this is only one patch of natural land. This cannot continue; it cannot be allowed to continue. There have to be better, safer solutions.
Fortunately, many people are working towards such an ideal. They are looking for innovative solutions which will allow the human and natural worlds to live in harmony. One example of this is a wildlife corridor being constructed in urban Delhi, the first of its kind in all of India.
A wildlife corridor is a habitat area that connects wildlife populations separated due to human activities, such as roads. The necessity of this construction was highlighted when a two-year-old leopard was killed on an open road by a vehicle. This was a continuation of a long list of animal deaths recorded in the past five years. To prevent these accidents, a wildlife corridor is being commissioned on the Surajkand-Pali Road in Delhi. This is also near the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary spans over two states, Haryana and Delhi, so it requires coordination between two forest departments to build this corridor. There are also other plans in motion to construct several other underpasses and corridors around this region.
These are two very different methods of wildlife and forest conservation, yet both are effective and necessary. What is needed most right now is awareness. Awareness among the general populace of the importance of the natural world, the necessity of flourishing forests and habitats. People need to understand that humans cannot do whatever they wish to this world; there is a point when the earth will have had enough, and we are rapidly approaching it. There will be unfathomable consequences for every being if we force the planet beyond its capacity, and the human race will be responsible. This is a message which we have had to understand the intensity of for many, many years, and hopefully, we will be able to before it is too late. Until then, hats off, to every person who has dedicated their life to this planet, and all those who go about their life carefully, for the sake of the earth.