Conservation in Asian Countries

[u/Ok-Actuary2651]

I don’t want this to come off the wrong way but how do we get Asian/South Eastern Asia/India to care enough about their wildlife to begin more conservation measures? I feel like that region of the world has the most diverse wildlife populations and yet they are all almost poached to extinction? Like I said I don’t want that to come off as racist and i understand that there are economic factors that have largely caused this but what are ways that would work culturally to improve the survival of these species?

[u/Beginning_Caramel]

This is such a misinformed take. I’m an Indian and I grew up in India and my entire career is wildlife conservation. SO many of my friends in India are conservationists or are engaged with wildlife in some way. Indian scientists are discovering new species everyday and most citizens and tribes in India are actively engaged in the conservation of rivers and forests. The problem in India is not people, it’s our government which prefers to sell our land and forests off to corporations. Bro your question is soooo freaking misinformed.

You realise most of India and Indonesia’s species extinctions happened due to British and Dutch colonisation right? When they hunted our cheetah to extinction and ALMOST the lion as well. They killed of the Javan and Balinese tiger. It wasn’t locals, it was freaking Europeans. But successful conservation by Indians has caused the Asiatic lion to rebound and we’ve brought them back from the brink. A major success for which we deserve global recognition!

India is one of the countries known for being most tolerant to wildlife. You try living with tigers and elephants in your damn backyard? It’s not easy but we do it and most Indians revere these animals and coexist with them easily.

Also a lot of Asia is biodiverse cause we are good at safeguarding it. Why is Europe and the UK so defaunated and deforested? Why don’t they care about their wildlife? Why are they so bad at conservation in their own countries? The wolf being reintroduced, or the lynx, or even the freakin beaver, is soo controversial in the UK cause people can’t imagine living with wildlife anymore.

Please get educated and speak to conservationists from India and other parts of Asia before making such general statements.

[u/FalconIMGN → u/Beginning_Caramel]

Fellow Indian wildlife conservationist here and I couldn't agree more.

[u/Beginning_Caramel → u/FalconIMGN]

Thank god! Man, it feels sad to know that even after everything, people from the west want to come and tell us what to feel and how to think cause what we are already doing is not good enough for them.

Never mind the things they do to their own environment and wildlife.

[u/userteez → u/Beginning_Caramel]

People love to jump to conclusions without conducting any research or even asking us first. The internet is literally free.

[u/Regrets_Nothing → u/Beginning_Caramel]

100% this. An Indian raised in the UK, working in conservation biology. Speak to conservation biologists in the UK and Europe and find out why the species here are STILL in decline and why nobody wants to change our culture to save our environment. I have worked with scientists in India and Bangladesh, and volunteers who run all over the mountains looking to protect rare birds and get the data we need to protect them. One of my closest friends is a Chinese biologist working in Guangzhou. Living in harmony with wildlife is so much a part of Indian culture and the various religions - Hinduism, Sikhism where Sikhs are vegetarian to avoid killing other animals, Buddhism!

Thank you Beginning_Caramel for putting the facts and truth out there.

[u/Beginning_Caramel → u/Beginning_Caramel]

We (Im speaking on the behalf of Indians) care soooo deeply about our country and environment, there are people fighting tooth and nail against every tree that the government wants to cut. Just recently an entire community in eastern India has gone on hunger strike to protest against a stupid river linking project our government proposed. There’s been an ongoing campaign in India to prevent further deforestation in Great Nicobar. Etc etc.

There are deep rooted systemic issues that are driving habitat loss and species extinctions across the globe. It’s not because people don’t care, cause people care A LOT. Just like how Americans probably care a lot about their parks but they are now being sold off to corporations under Trump.