Design for Wildlife: Graduation Project 2017

LIFE CONSERVATION An inquiry into design and conservation

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To begin with a cliché, there were a few people without whose support this project would not have been possible.

Foremost, my parents deserve to be acknowledged for their patience and faith in me; and for encouraging me to take up a project of my choice. My dad for instilling this love of the wild in the first place. My mother for being my first and foremost design guide.

A special shout out to Sonam; without his love, and support, neither my project nor myself would have progressed as much as we did.

The other members of Echostream deserve my thanks as well; Tenzing, Karma, Ranveer, Chewang, Palzor, for allowing me to take up office space, and bandwidth.

Praveen, for being a guide that allowed me to guide myself for most of the project. The underlying encouragement to explore an area that was unclear and unexplored for both of us was vital to my project.

Usha Lachungpa ma’am, Minla, Priya, Kinzang, Col. Suresh and all the other knowledgeable people who took the time out to address and give me insights about the beauty that is the wild.

A loving acknowledgment to my batchmates, especially PDUG13; Gaurika, just for (mostly) always being there; Akshay for hosting me multiple times, and for joining me in my existential crisis; Vaibhav for the constant vents, dreams, and ambitions; Deergha for the tea, inspirational quotes, and ambiguity; the rest for the constant mirth and warmth which was spread on the Whatsapp group.

My friends back home, Vijay, Surya, Chaitanya, and Yash; giving me plenty of excuses to blow off work and roam around Sheikh Zayed road early in the morning, helping to take off mid project stress.

I believe I need to thank myself (pretentious as it seems), for believing I can take the road less travelled by, and do a project I well and truly believe in, rather than something I am “supposed” to do.

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“There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.�

- Sir David Attenborough

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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 13 Foreword National Institute of Design What can a designer do?

Synopsis

GIR About Habitat Wildlife division Observations Case study - Asiatic lion

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SIKKIM

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About The Ecosystem Echostream Conservation in India National Wildlife Action Plan Conversations with WWF Forest Department Himalayan Zoological Park Case study: The Himalayan Black bear Baby Deer rescue Workshop prototype Realization Final workshop Honey trail Further Research The Future of Conservation Deep Ecology Happy Planet Index Wild Cam Gorgonosa Directions Scope Pitching the Project

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SYSTEMS Systems map Stakeholders Wildlife Crime Case Study: The Rhino Human Wildlife Conflict Urban Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Human Apathy Food and Land Security Food Choices Tourism Invasive Species Climate Change & Pollution Case Study: Coral Research Breeding and Repopulation Forest Fires, Landslides & Natural disasters Urgency Scale Problem Assessment Problems with Solutions Affects and Affected The Value of wildlife

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SOLUTIONS

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Initial Plan Product Solutions Mapping Realization Speculative Design Ideation Privatisation of Wildlife The Stakeholders Artefacts from the future

CONCLUSION

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Reflections What next for the wild?

References Colophon

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INTRODUCTION

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FOREWORD I don’t know why I wanted to do my final graduation project on wildlife. Maybe it was the 2000 (give or take 1000) screenings of the Jungle Book, and the Lion King that I must’ve seen as a kid. Maybe it was my father’s unbelievable and inspirational store of knowledge of the animal kingdom. Or maybe, this is an extension of my aim to push the power of design into every field.

What I do know is that wildlife conservation is treated as just that; conservation of other life; wild life in the forest, jungles, rivers, that don’t affect most of us, living in the cities, living our human lives.

However, we all share the same Earth. Nature, in its infinitely complex beauty has created a beautiful system where everything lives in perfect harmony. The system is self sustaining; just look at the food cycle we study in our fourth grade.

Conserving wildlife is not only for the sake of the tigers, and the elephants. As part of a larger system, their conservation aids in the sustenance of the local flora. Our domesticated animals depends on this flora for their survival.

Our agriculture depends on other flora to thrive and grow. We are completely dependent on this livestock, and agricultural produce and other elements of nature for our very survival.

This is where systems, design thinking, and wildlife conservation all come together. There are several other parts of this puzzle as well, such as climate change, global warming, pollution, etc.

In the eternal words of Charles Eames,” Eventually Everything Connects.“ Or as Pocahontas puts it (through the magical voice of Vanessa Williams); “And we are all connected to each other, In a circle, in a hoop that never ends.”

Thus, it is not only for the sake of the endangered species, but for all life on earth, that their survival is important. Which is why this is about life conservation, not wildlife conservation.

Wildlife is an important cog for life conservation.

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NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN On April 7, 1958, the Eameses presented the India Report to the Government of India.

The Eames Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of NID and beginning of design education in India.

The Report recommended a problem-solving design consciousness that linked learning with actual experience and suggested that the designer could be a bridge between tradition and modernity. The Report called upon future designers to re-examine the alternatives of growth available to the country at that time.

Today, the National Institute of Design is internationally acclaimed as one of the finest educational and research institutions for Industrial, Communication, Textile and IT Integrated (Experiential) Design. It is an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. NID has been declared ‘Institution of National Importance’ by the Act of Parliament, by virtue of the National Institute of Design Act 2014.

One of the premier design institutions in not only Asia, but the world.

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WHAT CAN A DESIGNER DO? One of the major drivers for me was my final systems project, where we had discovered the many sectors in which designers could intervene, but hadn’t until now.

We had also mapped out the different types of changes that a designer could bring about; from aesthetic changes to a systemic, social transformation. Design thinking and doing has the potential for systematic, organisation change, and for social transformation.

This inspired me to use my graduation project as an opportunity to push what I could do as a designer, and not just design another washing machine, or app.

As a designer, I had never felt inclined towards industrial design, and mass manufactured products. My own philosophy led me towards more valuable, meaning solutions. Wildlife has a special meaning for me. I believe that while traditional design has harmed it in the past, the new, 21st century meaning of design, which asks questions, and serves society, rather than just industrial needs can really help it.

As seen on the right, design does not only have to be in service of the industry. I believe I am more of a ‘B’ designer than one on the ‘A’ side.

A guide on the levels of change that design can cause from the systems project “The Design of Design”

Design has a greater potential than just aesthetic, and functional optimisation.

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An except from ‘Spculative Everything’ by Anthony Dunne, and Fiona Raby

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PRODUCT DESIGN Role in wildlife and conservation The question that was asked the most of me throughout the project was why or what does product design have to do with wildlife.

The obvious answer was that there is a sheer number of products and technology now being used in wildlife, from camera traps to remote GPS tracking. A traditional approach to product design can be applied anywhere here.

Design follows a human centric process; Conservation is a people centric problem.

We always think about our end users, and use the power of empathy in our designs (ideally). We try to get into the mindset of the target audience, gather the little nuances and insights that help us ask the more important and relevant questions that translate into real design. The problems with wildlife and environment, while varied, all originate from man’s actions. If we have to fix the problem, we have to start at the source.

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The most important element of this is the product designers sensibility to make sense of the complex systems in nature and use his designerly skills to create a solution for it.

Ergonomics, material, form, function are all part of a product designers toolkit that create more effective solutions.

I’m fairly sure there are many more reasons why design should (and shouldn’t) be involved in wildlife conservation. We aren’t experts in wildlife or biology or even conservation as a matter of fact. But what we can be are enablers. Enablers and facilitators for conservation to be more successful and inclusive.

From products and toolkits to visual communication to systems and policies, design has a lot it can affect in this field. Designers just need to know that they can.

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SYNOPSIS While most of the project has been presented in chronological order of events, I felt a necessity to show an overall timeline of events over the 6 months to show how it progressed.

The corresponding page is to give an overall picture of the project, and to prepare the reader for the barrage of information that lies in the pages ahead.

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Registering a self sponsored project on wildlife conservation

Field visit to Gir Going to Sikkim

RESEARCH

Meeting with primary stakeholders, along with secondary research

Start of the documentation of systems Ideation for product design interventions

Pitching the project to WWF and Forest officials

DOCUMENTATION IDEATION EXECUTION

Co-creation conservation workshop Change of project brief

Speculative ideation Building speculative scenarios with stakeholders

Final documentation 21

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GIR

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ABOUT The Gir forest in Southern Gujarat is the only home to the Asiatic Lion in the wild. It has a total area of around 1412 km2 (roughly the city limits of New Delhi ), which includes both the national park and the sanctuary. These were established in 1965. A tourist hotspot, it also has an interpretation zone which includes a small exhibit, and a bus tour around a small area in which sightings of the major animals are guaranteed.

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Why did I start here? I was eager to get started on my project and went to closest, most iconic place to begin. A 9 hour bus ride from Ahmedabad took me to home of the ‘king of the jungle.’

A male chital, or spotted deer that is indigenous to the area.

Habitat Home to an endangered species, and many more.

The habitat is considered to be that of a dry-deciduous forest. There are over 400 species of plants. The most common species is teak, while others include neem, peepal, and banyan.

Other than the lion, the Gir sanctuary is home to a variety of species including the Indian leopard, the golden jackal, chital, nilgai, wild boar, and the mugger crocodile. Some of the birds include the Baya weaver, the cattle egret, the crested hawk-eagle among 300 other species.

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The offices of the wildlife division of Sassan Gir.

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WILDLIFE DIVISION - GIR I interviewed the ACF of the Gir forest, and spoke to him regarding the different problems, and the unique situation of Gir. Community The people around Gir understand the importance of lion; economically, it is a source of income through tourism. It holds religious and cultural significance as the vehicle of the Goddess Durga. The government also does its role in educating people from the school level regarding conservation and its importance.

I also managed to speak to some of the local people who confirmed this; they understand that the importance of the wildlife, and part of their faith and trust is due to an efficient local government. The state is very well funded to take care of Gir, and the people surrounding it.

The state of Gujarat takes pride and care of its status as the only home of the Asiatic lion.

All this being said, it is not as if there are no problems.

Monetary losses The state has to spend over than 2 crore rupees a year on deaths, medical bills and crop damage.

In addition, they pay a large amount to set up unsightly fences, as an attempt to reduce human wildlife conflict mitigation. The farmers say that they can lose more than 500 rupees in a single go if some deer get into their fields.

They have to stay up all night at times with a flashlights to ward away trespassing wildlife.

Population boom The conservation has been too successful. Lion numbers have exploded from 177 to over 500 in just around 40 years. Being territorial beings they tend to spread out; beyond the dedicated protected areas. This puts them in further conflict with people living in the rural areas; which sometimes leads to them being put down.

Its not only the lions, but the deer, the leopards, and other wildlife that is spreading out. This shows there is a need for a sustainable long term plan for conservation. Its not about just getting the numbers and population up. Real conservation should ensure that there is a sustainable long term plan which includes all the elements and possibilities of the system, from contingency plans of an earthquake, to land acquisition and compensation for conservation.

Gir’s officials also helped bring me face to face with another tenet of design; context.

No solution will work everywhere. What has worked in Gir, has not worked in Madhya Pradesh; for a variety of reasons. Just as the flora and fauna have adapted themselves to different environment, so must our solutions.

Community is the most important factor of conservation.

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OBSERVATIONS Conversations with farmers who lived around Sassan Gir, as well as the auto and taxi drivers helped further understand the system.

They were pleased with the current systems, because they earned well from tourism. Most have opened their own kitchens, and hotels or resorts in the area, right next to their own houses and fields.

The locals are however wary of people who come to work who are not from around the area. Lots of the labor force comes from Bihar, and other states from the North. The concern is that these people do not share and appreciate the balance and care for nature that the local population does. Factors such as the more non vegetarian diet of these immigrants, their poor disposal of waste, as well as their living conditions have caused an increased rate of human wildlife conflict. However, these incidents should not be blamed on these people, as there are several other factors at play.

Another observation was of the tourists that visit the park. Other than the overwhelming population, there is a lack of sensibilities for the wildlife and their peace. It is very obvious that the animals are being put on show, especially in the interpretation zone. There needs to be awareness on the side of both the tourists and the officials in charge of tourism of the area.

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Key insights 1. Compensation of people 2. Oversuccessful conservation 3. Incentives of tourism increases value, but tourism is not managed well

CASE STUDY: THE ASIATIC LION

The Asiatic lion once roamed around from the Eastern Europe, across Persia, South Asia till Central Asia. Now, it’s limited to the Gir Forest in the South of Gujarat.

Hunting was the main reason for its decline, The last lion of Mount Abu in Rajasthan, which has a wildlife sanctuary in its vicinity,was spotted in 1872.By the late 1870s, lions were extinct in Rajasthan.By 1880, no lion survived in Guna, Deesa and Palanpur, and only about a dozen lions were left in Junagadh district.

By the turn of the century, the Gir Forest held the only Asiatic lion population in India, which was protected by the Nawab of Junagadh in his private hunting grounds.

Since the establishment of the sanctuary, the number of lions has increased from 20 in the early 1900’s to over 500 in 2015.

More than one third of this population has moved outside the protected area, which was set aside more than 20 years ago. This has increased the incidents of human wildlife conflict. The increasing population of lions

cannot be sustained in Gujarat in coming years. Not just due to lion-human conflicts but other problems too, like unnatural deaths and genetic disorders, which will surface. There is a threat of an epidemic wiping out the entire world population of the Asiatic lion, since it is constricted to a small area.

This is a good example about conservation being too successful, with no proper long term planning, or action. While population numbers have risen, there is no land or habitat security.

Other political issues have stopped the transfer of a small population of these lions to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. While on one side, the officials at Gir say it is because they do not believe that the site prepared in Madhya Pradesh is suitable enough, the officials in Madhya Pradesh say it is because Gujarat wishes to be the only state with the symbolic lion.

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SIKKIM

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ABOUT This tourism hotspot is the northernmost states in India. It is also the second smallest state, with an area of just over 7000 km2. It is nestled in between Nepal on the west, Bhutan to the east, and China to the North. It is also host to Kanchenjunga, the highest peak in India and third highest on Earth. The meditative, mural-filled traditional monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism coexist with Hindu shrines of the ever-growing Nepali community, both religions creating some astonishing latter-day megasculptures to adorn the skyline.

In a lot of ways, Sikkim differs from mainland India, with a different cultural, environmental, and political makeup, given its geopolitical significance. It was annexed as a state by India in 1975. Sikkim’s capital and largest city is Gangtok.

A green, mountainous, diverse ecosystem.

Left: The village of Lachung in North Sikkim

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THE ECOSYSTEM Most of the state is natural, and uninhabited by human beings. Around 81% of the total area in the state is under the control of the State Forest department. Almost 35% of the state is covered by the Khangchendzonga National Park. While it mostly a mountainous landscape, Sikkims ecosystem consists of three habitats, from the subtropical at the lower altitudes ( around 300 metres above sea level), to the temperate to the alpine deserts of the north ( around 8500 metres). This makes it one of the most biodiverse state in comparison to its size. The iconic species include the red panda, the Himalayan black bear, the snow leopard, and the Himalayan thar. Some of the iconic species of flora include orchids, magnolia, silver fir, rhododendrons and juniper.

Sub-tropical, temperate, and alpine; three different habitats in one state.

Left: Posters done depicting the different natural habitats for WWF, by Echostream, a local design consultancy.

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ECHOSTREAM Echostream is a collective design unit working for the creative mountain economy, With strong connections back to NID, the studio comprises of a multidisciplinary team from animation to products to spatial to textile design. The aim of all projects undertaken is uplift and provide holistic design services to the Indian Himalayan belt, from the Jammu and Kashmir to the Seven Sisters in the North East. Echostream is also home to several other initiatives, namely, La, Sikkimis, B.R.E.W., and Kuzu.

Having done several projects in the area of sustainability and social innovation, I proceeded with my project in their office in Gangtok. Sonam Gyaltsen, head of Echostream’s product design, further guided me to people in Sikkim who were capable of helping me take the project forward. Echostream has a very vested interest in my project; most of the mountainous areas are forested and there is a much larger percentage of natural habitats, as compared to its human occupied areas. As their manifesto says, “Take the road less travelled, and ask for directions.”

The mountain economy is heavily reliant on its natural resources, which are in trouble.

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Above: One of the many car rides with Sonam.

Below: An outing with all the past interns of Echostream.

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“The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?�

- Sir David Attenborough

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CONSERVATION IN INDIA Conservation in India is considered to be a success, or a failure, depending on who you ask.

We are the same country that a few generations ago was hunting down tigers for Royal Shikar; had its last Cheetah fall to a hunting bullet; coveted ivory as an old heirloom and new acquisition both. We raised dams as the temples of modern India and kept forests only for timber. Much has changed: commercial hunting is legally banned and largely socially taboo as well.

There is an overall love for wildlife; forests are being valued for ecosystem and biodiversity services. The country has made an ambitious solar power plan, even as the US shies away from climate action commitments. Then again, much has also become worse, some will argue. In India’s environmental journey as an independent nation, a few aspects stand out.

The Environment Impact Assessment Notification of India, the law that sets the course for environmental appraisals, was created in 2006, an update from previous provisions under the Environment (Protection) Rules. While the law envisages a fair appraisal process, both the UPA and NDA governments have done their best to weaken it. The present government has a motto of ‘ease of business’ and previously attempted to amend environmental laws through a highlevel committee.

Currently, through a series of memos, it has undercut the appraisals and exempted several industry sectors. It has allowed and reduced the time for clearance processes without simultaneously strengthening environmental safeguards. A new draft notification even exempts big buildings and construction projects from submitting themselves to these protocols.

India is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmental activism. A report by the international NGO Global Witness finds India ranks fourth on this list. It says 200 people were killed in India in 2016 for defending the environment or espousing environmental causes.

We have several success stories, and high population counts of wildlife, but several other acts of environmental destruction still happen.

While India still holds on to some of its wild spaces, its biodiversity and its heritage, the conflict between man and wild neighbour, and indeed man and man, seems to be getting more common.

Will nature be crushed underfoot by the ease of doing business? Or will ecological wisdom thrive? Faced by climate change, as well as many resilient environmental voices, scattered among the hopes of a developing nation, it truly is time for India to decide.

While we have higher population counts of wildlife, there is no supporting sustainable habitat protection.

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A wildlife map of India by Green humor, done by Rohan Chakravarty

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NATIONAL WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN Conservation of biodiversity is directly linked with conservation of ecosystems and thus with water and food security. These together constitute a major plank of Indian economy.

However, National planning has not taken into account the adverse ecological consequences of shrinkage and degradation of wilderness from the pressures of population and commercialization.

The government has unveiled 3rd National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) 2017-2031. It accords special emphasis to rehabilitation of threatened species of wildlife while conserving their habitats which include inland aquatic, coastal and marine ecosystems.

A document that entails several different aspects of conservation from improving protected areas, to rehabilitation of threatened species, to wildlife health, to awareness to strengthening research. The document, on first glance, seems to be an extensive plan on improving the state of wildlife in our country.

However, on closer inspection and analysis there are some shortcomings in the document.

The action plan suggests some vague solutions such as “ reduce adverse impacts,” without any concrete suggestion. This makes it difficult to successful manage the monitoring, fine tuning and implementation of policies. The plan also does not offer any action to stop the growth of invasive species. While the national policy acknowledges the problem of feral dogs, it has not stated any plan for solving the problem.

Urban wildlife must also be managed, but wildlife living outside forest areas has been neglected. The length of the plan being for 14 years is too long; the plan must be kept shorter to absorb the contemporary realities and scientific advances.

While the National Wildlife Action plan is a good step in the right direction, there are several shortcomings that need addressing.

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The draft of the National Wildlife Action plan that was available for scrutiny online in early 2017.

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CONVERSATIONS WITH WWF The World Wildlife Fund is an international organisation that works for the purpose of wilderness preservation. Their mission is to conserve nature, and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on the planet.

A personal interview was held with Ms. Priya, who headed the operations of the Sikkim chapter of the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

We told her about our interest in human wildlife conflict, and how there is a disconnect in conservation between both sides. We spoke about how we could use the Internet of Things to connect people, and data for effective solutions. As people who have worked on the field for so long, they understand the real scenario so much better. Human wildlife conflict has always been a grey area, but there are so many other factors that can only be gleamed from someone working on the field; and for a good amount of time.

One of the insights is that the government is doing the easier job of ‘compensating’ people for damages, rather than mapping out how to prevent the conflict. There are issues with the compensation as well; the amounts and the claimers are irregular.

However, it can’t be said that no measures aren’t being taken. There is an interesting bio-fencing project in Darjeeling, that utilises fast growing, and thorny bushes to create a natural barrier to turn away animals. Solar electric fences have also been installed, but are apparently not very effective.

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We spoke of wildlife corridors; how even though over 80% of Sikkim is forested area, human occupation is pushing them into smaller islands. This is bound to lead to higher amounts of conflict.

Forest fires are another issue that hurt wildlife’s habitat. While not always caused by humans (directly; the increase in number of forest fires is a result of climate change) , the action taken is too slow and ineffective. Use of (now) simple technologies such as infrared cameras could yield a more effective way to contain these fires to smaller areas.

There was an air of resignation; what can be done for wildlife? Are we too foregone? A common problem I found out later; the never ending struggle had led to a sense of pessimism among several conservationists.

Its a conundrum; because while population numbers of wildlife are expanding in Sikkim at least, their lives are not being made easier by rapid habitat destruction in the remote areas of Lachung in North Sikkim. We have other issues and opportunities too; we know that the black bear is the primary perpetrator of the conflict. Being such a large animal, there is an issue with transporting them, with the cages being too weak and unusable considering the terrain.

This was just a first approach meeting I think. To discuss what we can do; what is the scope of the problem. There’s no doubt there’s a problem; but what can we define as the brief?

Key insights: 1. Compensation of people is an important aspect 2. Poorly installed solutions such as solar electrical fencing have failed 3. Too many topics and areas are urgent, which leaves a confusion on what to focus on.

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FOREST DEPARTMENT A trip was made to the forest department in Gangtok, to meet Mrs.Usha Lachungpa; the Principal Research officer in the wildlife department. Being someone who has worked for over 20 years in the government in one of India’s most biodiverse (don’t think that’s a word) states, she gave us several insights, and opportunities.

We started off speaking about crop protection; the challenges that an organic state with a tough terrain faces. We saw some work done on recreating traditional snares, ; a traditional, low cost method of preventing human wildlife conflict, and damage.

There are a lot of solutions that farmers themselves come up with, For example, farmers use simple netting on the ground to trap wild boars feet, and thus deter them from entering their fields. The type of solution depends a lot on the crop, the area, and the type of pest; but everyone has their local techniques. However, due to the successful conservation efforts combined with the change of local culture ( for example, hunting as a part of life as reduced), the animal populations have increased, and thus the number of incidents have increased.

There is still this divide between the forest officers and the people. The villagers still tell the officers to take care of “your” wildlife and “your” animals.

We spoke about various research projects; how people don’t contribute back to the Biodiversity board, and do projects for their own benefit and research.

Camera traps are being installed in Sikkim, by the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun. The problem is that this job is not only expensive,

but it is that it is also being outsourced. How can the technology, and the data from it be more accessible to the local experts in Sikkim?

While discussing the possibilities of the use of tech in wildlife, we reached a point where we discussed the unethical uses of it. We discussed how there’re still problems everywhere with wildlife crime, even in places you wouldn’t expect. Usha lent me a book by the Wildlife Protection Society of India on an enforcement guide to Wildlife Crime. It’s a fascinating guide for officers to identify and stop wildlife trade.

There is an app called Wildlife scan in Thailand that allows people to report any suspected wildlife crime and post the GPS coordinates and a photo. This is a good example of citizen science; but how can we help the actual enforcers using tech? Maybe an app and an accessory for the now common mobile phone?

An interesting topic we came across was invasive species. Species such as the Giant African snail have found their way into Sikkim through human means, and are now a massive threat to crops. Other exotic species include weeds such as the Lantana and the ‘mile a minute’ weed, which grow at astonishingly quick rates, affecting indigenous fauna.

An interesting outcome is the use of these species to fuel local industries, such as Lantana being used to make furniture and other products that can be made from cane or bamboo. Local innovation being funded because of invasive species sounds very promising and fascinating.

Another observation was of how upbeat and enthusiastic Mrs. Usha was. She was quite realistic about what happens on the ground, but is optimistic on what the future can bring.

How do you make data more accessible to local experts in Sikkim?

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A guide for reducing wildlife crime at various levels.

This edition released in 1994 is still in use.

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HIMALAYAN ZOOLOGICAL PARK I visited the Gangtok zoo, or as it is officially known, the Himalayan Zoological Park.

Speaking to Minla, the Assistant Biologist at the zoo, we explored the different problems and opportunities with the zoo in its current state.

The zoo currently hosts animals from around Sikkim such as the snow leopard, the red panda, the Himalayan black bear, the goral, the Himalayan Thar etc.

Sikkim has three main climatic regions; the tropical, the sub temperate and the alpine. These animals come from all over Sikkim to one common area.

While it isn’t a major problem for most animals, some animals like the snow leopard come from cold mountainous deserts. They now stay in rainy, moist Gangtok. Most of the problems come down to poor planning; both in the past, and for the future.

There are several opportunities when it comes to the zoo; from getting funds for conservation from something such as merchandising to creating an interpretation area in the unused areas. The zoo is over 200 hectares; there are so many opportunities that can really create a world class wildlife experience here.

One of the major problems of the zoo is the lack of use of funding. That hampers several potential programs such as the potential upgrades proposed.

There are also no wildlife trained vets in Sikkim; which means a regularly trained vet must take up responsibilities.

Three people constitute the entire wildlife rescue team for the entire state.

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Mr. Sohn, one of the three man animal rescue team for the whole state of Sikkim.

Another issue is that the whole state of Sikkim has no dedicated rescue centre; which makes any problem with wildlife in the whole state a problem of the zoo. Whether it be a human wildlife conflict with a bear, a wild boar, or an injured animal, the understaffed zoo has to deal with it.

Wildlife conflict has reached such a stage such that wild boar problems have managed to displace an entire village. Government agencies have spent crores in Himachal Pradesh sterilizing monkeys which have become a local nuisance.

Also the opportunity to learn about the work done by the rescue team of Sikkim and their problems presented itself through one of their members.

CASE STUDY: THE HIMALAYAN BLACK BEAR

Mr.Sohn, who other than his job as the compounder at the zoo, is also part of a 3 man team who get called whenever there is a black bear is spotted in human settlement. Again, across the entire state.

The biggest problem is crowd control; most villages are angry at the damage caused by the black bear and why the forest department hasn’t done more to protect or compensate them properly. They hurt the animal sometimes after its been tranquillized.

The cages used to relocate these bears are also a host to a number of problems; from being so heavy that they require close to 25 people to carry a single bear in it, yet being weak enough that a bear

has broken through and escaped it. The cage also requires you to ‘squeeze’ the animal in place to sedate it. Transporting this cage in the hilly terrain, in a poorly fitted vehicle also has its own problems; there has to be a man squeezing in and sitting next to the animal in the back of the Jeep. A bear once had to spend a month in a squeeze cage because they didn’t know where to put him!

One major reason for the increased bear sights is the reduced availability of food in the forests. With fewer bees, and more of its natural food such as avocados being taken over for human consumption, the bear is forced to look to agricultural lands to satisfy its hunger.

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BABY DEER RESCUE I was also fortunate enough to see a barely month old barking deer come into the zoo.

It had been injured by a marten (type of weasel) that had unfortunately killed its sibling. The mother was no where to be found. The deer was found in East Sikkim; closer to the Bhutanese border.

The issue with bringing young animals to the zoo is that they are then captive raised animals, and cannot be returned to the wild. Young animals are also the ones who require their mothers warmth the most; something the zoo cannot facilitate as their incubator doesn’t work. Their incubator is not one specially meant for animals; it is a human infant incubator.

While checking how healthy it was and filling up the paperwork, the deer was fed. After a 5 hour car journey in a cardboard box which must have terrified it, it eagerly gulped down the milk, explored its surrounding and relieved itself everywhere, from the box to person carrying it.

The zoo’s hospital is quite ill equipped; considering it is the rescue centre for the state as well. They are constructing a new centre nearby, but that isn’t slated for completion for another 2 years or so.

The other issue is that animals from all over the state need to be transported till Gangtok, while the rescue trip should be to the animal.

The deer will eventually be introduced into the zoo, with the other grazers.

Unfortunately, around a month later, we were informed that the baby deer had passed away.

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The injured infant barking deer was transported in the cardboard box for 5 hours.

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WORKSHOP PROTOTYPE I tried the basic format of the workshop with 5 members of the office to see how conducive the format of the workshop would be.

The format of the workshop began with me explaining the essence of my project; the intersection between wildlife, social innovation, and technology (more specifically, the Internet of Things). Then, we divided the participants into 3 groups; urban dwellers, rural dwellers, and forest officials. Each group was asked to put together an understanding of what they knew in terms of their political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental scenario. This was done so that they can get an holistic understanding of their personas, rather than a surface level connection. A small news article was also shared to understand what was happening in their spaces (urban wildlife, rural education programs, and conservation balance in Kaziranga).

Overall, the workshop was a failure. However, I got several insights for how to improve the quality of conservations and creative thinking of the workshop.

One, definitely need to tailor my workshop for my audience. Will be different for everyone, and all parts of society.

Two, needs to be more fun. This set up is a little formal, and doesn’t allow you to come up with innovative, imaginative ideas. The empathy study also doesn’t allow you to really step into the shoes of your persona. Tenzing suggests I use a situation.

Three, the initial explanation isn’t strong enough, to convince people of the need for conservation, and social innovation. That would be worked on too.

There was also a need to plan out the participants of the workshop. School children, on field forest officials, higher ups, wildlife enthusiasts, wildlife researchers, a village, social workers also, perhaps.

The next step was asking them to plot out ideas on a graph that ranged from things that could happen now to an extremely futuristic scenario; and from incremental innovation to a disruptive solution.

A small prototype of the workshop to help understand how to improve the insights we get from it.

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The format of the workshop was tested with the members of the office

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REALIZATION It is difficult to involve wildlife as a stakeholder in the process. The design process teaches us to involve and empathise with our stakeholders. Co-creation exercises with wild animals are not possible at this stage.

I also realised that understanding the ecosystem of conservation itself is a time consuming process. It is a hugely complex system with so many different elements.

While there have been several studies on the individual elements and some of the connections, a holistic primer is missing, especially one for who is starting out in the conservation field. I hope that the next part serves as a primer for anyone aiming to get involved in conservation or wildlife, rather than taking months to learn and delve into the this ecosystem.

A primer for conservation was required.

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FINAL WORKSHOP After planning for many weeks, we finally held a co-creation, collaborative, conservation workshop. We invited people from different areas and backgrounds, from top forest officials, to people heading NGO’s, social scientists, and zoology students, to vets.

Sonam, and the other interns at Echostream ( Rhea, Tirtha, and Dishant) helped me conducting and setting up the workshop.

freely and move beyond the constraints of their usual jobs.

With such a diverse group of people ready to give their insights, and share their experiences, it would have been foolish not to take full advantage of them.

A workshop that included most of the different stakeholders of the various organisations and elements of the system.

We created a format for the workshop that would allow us and the participants to think

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The workshop started with a quick explanation of what design is, and why it is relevant to wildlife, and conservation. We showed examples of how connected wildlife is to our lives, and how the balance between prey and predators affects our economy as well.

We then did a small exercise to show how interconnected the various aspects of the larger problems with wildlife are. Assigning each participant a different problem, such as wildlife crime, or human wildlife conflict, we asked them to pass around a ball of yarn, trying to connect all the problems together.

The exercise showed that no aspect happens independently; everything was directly or indirectly dependent on some other aspect of wildlife.

The next part of the workshop included scenario mapping, and problem definition. We gave the two groups a scenario each; one relating to human wildlife conflict, and one relating to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. The groups were given some triggers as well, and they had to first define the various aspects of the problem. The triggers included words such that the scenario was defined

by its political, legal, economic, environmental, socio-cultural aspects among others, such that the participants understand the problem as a whole.

The next part happened once all of us had a stronger, more holistic idea of the various aspects of the problem; how do we fix it? Again, triggers were given to try and incite more radical ideas from the participants, from Shah Rukh Khan to Wai wai.

We broke for lunch, and then moved onto the next part of the workshop, being the speculative aspect of it.

We asked the participants to imagine the future of the same scenario; 50 years hence. Once again, defining the problem, what led upto it, and what’s the solution in the future.

A good fun exercise, I think it helped to involve so many different voices in the design process and get out of my own head.

Connecting the various parts of the problem to show how interconnected they are

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The first part of the workshop, being the scenario definition itself yielded some new insights.

Both scenario’s yielded some similar problems, such as the lack of infrastructure, lack of updated information and studies, and the unregulated, rampant tourism. However, there were 5 very interesting insights from the scenarios; Lack of trans boundary conservation landscape. Even good conservation efforts can be ruined by poor management on the other side of our man made borders. This has affected Sikkim particularly, being surrounded

by Nepal, and Bhutan on either side, both countries allowing trophy hunting that negates some conservation efforts in India.

Feral Dog issue. Not a new insight, but the extent of their damage was revealed in our discussions, where feral dogs are now everywhere from the rural to the urban areas, harming humans, and animals alike. In fact, in our speculative segment, predictions were made of feral dogs becoming the apex predator in the near future.

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Religious beliefs. Traditional superstitions and cultural systems ensured a healthy balance between nature and man, and the loss of them in modern times has accelerated the problems with human wildlife conflict, and food and land security. The interesting aspect is that these superstitions are still the most effective way to deal with these issues; black magic seems to be key to keeping people in line. In fact, they say 50% of conservation happens due to cultural reasons.

Forest quality of the replaced forests/ reserves. Even our efforts to fix the problem are lacking. The forests we plant or grow back are not enough to provide for the wildlife living in there, which further increases the chance of conflict.

Lack of importance of wildlife. Ultimately it all comes down to the fact that wildlife has no direct value to us human beings. Its not important enough for us to care about in our daily lives; its not a useful resource at all.

The next part, fixing the scenario. Solutions were varied and diverse, if not, to an extent, confusing. Confusing because, we strayed into a lot of different, if slightly unrelated areas.

Nevertheless we got some good solutions: Local projects and knowledge. Rather than relying on external agencies and resources for help, a lot can be achieved using traditional knowledge, and the manpower available in Sikkim.

Capacity building. To make such local projects and resources available, more capacity building of the state is required; from local wildlife vets to even locals that can be trained for basic first aid to even the frontline staff of the forest.

Private ownership. There were two levels to this; one being that the feeling of local ownership where people feel the sense of pride and responsibility for their surroundings and environment. The second level is the concept of having privately owned management of wildlife, rather than it being public/government land. Again, these work only if wildlife as a resource has some visible value.

Planning with the environment. An important solution was the compulsory involvement of environmental issues when any plan of work or policy is drafted; not keeping them as separate issues. Steps like the international Paris agreement have been taken, but such steps must be taken at lower levels as well.

Honey trail. The idea for this came from the problem that bee species are dying out due to a lack of habitat; creating self sustaining plantations that include not only trees, and other flora , but also the wildlife, the birds, and the insects, that can maintain, and help the area grow without any human intervention.

International Buffer zones. Just as we have International waters that do not belong to any country, could we have international buffer zones for wildlife? They could have an agreement on the proposed structure for conservation that would benefit the wildlife.

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The final portion, the speculative bit, were when things went really crazy. Politics to economics to evolution were discussed.

Changing roles of predators and prey.

We predicted that due to disappearing populations of predators, the feral dogs will become the apex predator. To keep the natural balance, we might have some herbivores take to eating meat, and start hunting. Evolution will be accelerated.

Artificial, introduced carnivores. We predicted that we might have to import and introduce carnivores into our ecosystem to maintain the balance. We also might have to use AAI (Artificial Animal Intelligence) to create robotic predators.

Privatisation of wildlife. Privatisation of wildlife will extend to people physically owning wildlife and ecosystems; part of the wildlife crime system being legalised, as it is the only way to ensure the survival of some species.

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Shifting roles of current cities. In short, Siliguri becomes Calcutta, Gangtok becomes Siliguri, and Lachung becomes Gangtok. In the name of “development”, these settlements will become more and more crowded. With rising sea levels, we even speculated that Siliguri might become a port town.

More water based tourism in the mountains.

With more natural disasters leading to artificial lakes, and melting glaciers, there could be more water based tourism in the mountainous regions, which could a cause different types of problems.

More advanced infrastructure for conservation. A good aspect of the future is that we will have modernised our conservation infrastructure, and it will be more widespread.

However, it might not be effective enough to deal with the problems then.

While the workshop could still be improved, overall it was quite a successful one. The participants enjoyed a different set up to think and ideate about their field, and the facilitators managed to glean several insights that were not gotten through personal conversations.

Some shortcomings of the workshop include the mindset of the participants; a few more ice breaking activities might have been required to open them up to more creative ideas and solutions. The activities created were just right considering the number of participants.

However, if the workshop were to be scaled up, some changes might be required.

1. Each stakeholder in the process has their own priorities and stories; by coming together we can learn a more holistic picture.

2. The workshop process needs to be more conducive for creativity; some need more time to open up and think broadly.

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THE HONEY TRAIL One of the directions I moved forward from the workshop was the “honey trail,” a solution that would essentially aid in stopping the decline of bee populations.

Why are the bee’s disappearing? The same problems essentially; climate change, pollution, overuse of pesticides. Increased changes from natural ecosystems to agrobased ecosystems. There are some parasites that have also caused many species to die out.

Some solutions such as the introduction of bees from other regions has caused other problems of competition over resources.

The government has been introducing nonindigenous species of bees from Africa and Europe to try and improve pollination and honey production. While it seems to be a simplistic solution, it has caused a new set of problems that include reducing the number of indigenous species; which further reduces the biodiversity of the area.

Monsanto, the worlds largest agrochemical industry has proposed experimentation with RNA interference and genetic modification to make the bees more resistant to parasites and pests.

Beekeeping is of huge economic value, especially in nearby Nepal. Apiculture is a major alternative source of income for many farmers, with extremely good quality honey being produced. However in the last couple of years, the industry has suffered losses of around Rs.39 million due to vanishing bee populations.

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Bees are also of tremendous ecological value, being responsible for much of the pollination and spread of flora. They also provide nourishment in the form of honey, to animals such as bears. In fact, the disappearing bee populations and hives are a reason for increased human wildlife conflict with bears.

I considered the ideas of increased bee populations in Sikkim through controlled and protected hives, but I realised that it would cause another problem; increased number of bears would migrate from Nepal over the border to Sikkim, which would cause increased amounts of human wildlife conflict.

Also, the hives might cause a more aggressive and invasive species of bees to breed, and cause further problems in the ecosystems.

The honey trail ended here . Any small scale solution has the propensity to cause more problems, and the only way forward we see (in Sikkim) is solving the big issues of climate change, deforestation and reducing our dependence on pesticides.

The propensity to cause more problems because of a poorly thought out solution makes it even more dangerous.

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FURTHER RESEARCH OTHER CONVERSATIONS This spread talks of other conversations and interviews had with other interesting stakeholders. There were also many interesting concepts that were explored.

Lapalala Reserve Col. Suresh Rajagopalan is an investor in the Lapalala reserve in South Africa.

Human wildlife conflict in Africa is less of a problem than in India, as there is a smaller population present there as compared to India.

Even the density of the population is lower. A major problem in India is that there is a larger density of not only humans but animals per unit area. As seen in forests such as Gir, when the carrying capacity of the land is overspent, conflict begins. The carrying capacity of the land defines the ecosystem, with the soil quality determining the amount of vegetation, defining the herbivores present, thus defining the carnivores and their numbers. In fact, Col. Suresh says conservation and preservation of the flora is the first and most important step; once that is done, fauna will follow.

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The carrying capacity of the land along with its population (of all species) is one of the key factors in determining conflict.

New Zealand designer Sam Rye is currently doing his Masters of Design thesis on Nature conservation. A peer to peer conversation over an online forum helped gather insights on why more designers were not involved in conservation and with wildlife.

The problem not being the lack of interest in conservation but the availability of platforms and funds to take part in conservation. There was also a need to diffuse toolkits such as the Frog CAT (Collective Action Toolkit) into the environmental conservation space, considering the complete lack of awareness of the need and value of designerly methods. The need for including entrepreneurship into conservation was also discussed, as a field that could really benefit the number of participants in environmental conservation.

The availability of platforms and frameworks to take care of conservation are as important as the awareness of their effectiveness.

Wildlife Conservation Society I had also visited the Bangalore office of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). While their online presence claims to do work in the lines of education and on field conservation, a conversation with their members let me know that their work nowadays was mostly legal; fighting for land security and animal rights.

The nature of the work meant they could not disclose much information to me. However, the meeting gave me a sense of how serious the legal side of wildlife was.

The main fight for Indian wildlife is in the courts right now.

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THE FUTURE OF CONSERVATION An interesting study taken up by various professors based in the UK to map out the future of conservation. The website is hosted by the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre. The projects explores the views of conservationists on a range of issues, and how they vary by key demographic characteristics such as age, gender, geography etc.

After taking the survey, the website presents your views on a plot with two axes: how people or nature centred your views are, and how pro or anti markets they are. Based on the results there are 4 areas:

1. New Conservation Central to the ‘new conservation’ position is a shift towards viewing conservation as being about protecting nature in order to improve human wellbeing (especially that of the poor), rather than for biodiversity’s own sake.

‘New conservationists’ believe that winwin situations in which people benefit from conservation can often be achieved by promoting economic growth and partnering with corporations.

2. Traditional Conservation Traditional conservationists often support the protection of nature for its own sake. This emphasis on nature’s intrinsic value typically leads traditional conservation advocates to be critical of markets and economic growth as tools for conservation. This is because they believe that by embracing markets, we run the risk of ‘selling out nature’ by neglecting species that may be considered to be of little economic value. What’s more, economic growth itself is seen as a major driver of threats to biodiversity.

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These studies could help predict the direction of conservation of tomorrow, with the attitudes of today.

3. Market Biocentrism Support for conservation based on nature’s intrinsic value along with a market-based approach is not common in the existing literature.

Perhaps one example of such ‘market biocentrism’ is EO Wilson’s recent book ‘Half-Earth’, which advocates the setting aside of half of the Earth’s surface for nature reserves. Aware that this ambitious target would require a drastic decrease in per capita environmental footprint worldwide, Wilson supports free markets as a means to favour those products which generate the maximum profit for the minimum energy and resource consumption.

4. Critical Social Science According to critical social scientists, the impacts of conservation on human wellbeing should be at the forefront of the conservation debate. This entails both being critical of negative side-effects that conservation activities might have on people who are economically poor and/or politically marginalised, and also employing conservation initiatives as a means of improving human welfare.

While initially a research project, this also helps create a framework to predict the direction of the future of conservation.

This can be used to help organisations and individuals make more informed decisions in planning, and debating this future.

My results at the end of a 6 page long survey. My conservation views align with those of “ New Conservation�

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DEEP ECOLOGY Deep ecology is an ecological philosophy which promotes the inherent worth of non human living beings regardless of their utility to human needs, and a radical restructuring of the economy to suit its needs.

It considers the value of humankind as an integral part of the environment.

The phrase “deep ecology” was coined by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss in 1973.Næss rejected the idea that beings can be ranked according to their relative value. For example, judgments on whether an animal has an eternal soul, whether it uses reason or whether it has consciousness (or indeed higher consciousness) have all been used to justify the ranking of the human animal as superior to other animals. Næss states that from an ecological point of view “the right of all forms [of life] to live is a universal right which cannot be quantified. No single species of living being has more of this particular right to live and unfold than any other species.”

Deep ecology offers a philosophical basis for environmental advocacy which may, in turn, guide human activity against perceived self-destruction. Deep ecology and environmentalism hold that the science of ecology shows that ecosystems can absorb only limited change by humans or other dissonant influences. Further, both hold that the actions of modern civilization threaten global ecological well-being. Ecologists have described change and stability in ecological systems in various ways, including homeostasis, dynamic equilibrium, and “flux of nature”.

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Arne Naess, the founder of the deep ecology philosophy

An interesting theoretical concept that has radical applications if used in practical scenarios.

The Deep Ecology Platform 1. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: inherent worth, intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.

2. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realization of these values and are also values in themselves.

3. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital needs.

4. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.

5. The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.

6. Policies must therefore be changed. The changes in policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.

7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent worth) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living.

There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.

8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation directly or indirectly to participate in the attempt to implement the necessary changes.

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HAPPY PLANET INDEX The Happy Planet Index is an index that compares human wellbeing and environmental impact. It is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries’ development, such as the gross domestic product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI), which are seen as not taking sustainability into account. In particular, GDP is seen as inappropriate, as the usual ultimate aim of most people is not to be rich, but to be happy and healthy.

Furthermore, it is believed that the notion of sustainable development requires a measure of the environmental costs of pursuing those goals.

The four parameters include life expectancy, wellbeing, income inequality, and the ecological footprint. The current top placed country is Costa Rica. India is 50th, while the US is 108th.

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WILD CAM GORGONOSA The Gorgonosa National Park in Mozambique uses a system of open source camera traps and images to involve the online community in the conservation process. A platform that provides information about the wildlife of the region is shown alongside to help people identify the animals caught on the camera trap images.

This is a great initiative to utilise the power of coconservation and teach people about the variety of biodiversity of a region. The Wild Cam tool is also a useful way to raise awareness on an interactive online platform. It is also quite cost effective, as it reduces the need to hire human resource.

The interface of the Wild Cam website

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DIRECTIONS As more and more research was conducted, I had to keep a list of the sheer number of possibilities. I also realised the need for some sort of organisation for these directions. These were done with the simultaneous mapping of the system.

Each of the directions below were listed after grouping together all the briefs and insights from both primary and secondary research sources. From these directions, a further narrowing down of the directions to more precise briefs was done based on various constraints of time, location, etc.

Wildlife Crime Human Wildlife Conflict Rescue and Rehabilitation Food and Land security Human Apathy Invasive species Tourism Breeding and Repopulation Research Climate change & Pollution Forest fires, landslides & Natural disasters

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SCOPE During the research phase, Sonam and I had several different ideas of how and where we could propose them. We tried analysing them to see the scope of each, and to figure out which was the most feasible to achieve within the graduation project, and also, which was the most viable to pitch and propose.

Pitching ideas for the zoo, and the rescue team seems the most feasible. We even considered the possibility of one phase for the graduation project, and one for after. We decided to keep the systems as a second outcome if the time permitted.

Later on, we discussed the possibility of involving local people in creating product or services that would benefit both them and the surrounding wildlife, and ecosystem. The consideration was that the products would be sold under Sonam’s brand of handmade, crafted products called La.

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A table that compared the scope, impact, priority and feasibility of the various topics.

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PITCHING THE PROJECT Along with Echostream,I created some concept notes for the WWF, and the Forest department in Sikkim.

For the forest department, we created a pitch for the zoological park; from the low cost medical equipment to the tourism aspect of it. They seemed extremely interested in the project, and were quick to help build onto the project. However, when it came to asking for the funds, the matter was passed in between different departments. Keeping the time constraints of the project in mind, we decided to go in other directions.

For WWF Sikkim, we presented the possibility of a systemic study, and the possibility of social innovation to help wildlife. They were interested in the idea passed the concept note to their head office in Delhi. They too, approved the project to be taken ahead. However, having never done a project like this, they were unsure of how to proceed. After almost a month of deliberation, we decided to continue without them keeping the constraints of the graduation project in mind.

I continued the project as a self sponsored one. The decision was made to continue with the freedom of changing the brief, and timeline at will. The completed project might have more value for a pitch for funding in the future.

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THE SYSTEM

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WHY SYSTEMS Throughout the research, the complexity of the problem kept increasing and getting more difficult to keep track of. There were also several unanswered questions, and areas of general fuzziness. To help keep track and make sense of all this, I proceeded using the tools of systems or systemic design.

Mapping out the different elements and their interconnections helped create more holistic design briefs to use. This helps design more responsibly and avoid unintended side effects.

The most important thing to realise is that the system is ever-evolving, and is constantly changing.

The elements, their connections, the stakeholders are all organic, and will change over time. The aim is not to simplify the system, but to embrace the complexity of it.

The aim of this study was to create a base for which small subsystems can be made and worked on, depending on the context it is used in, and by whom.

An initial framework for better understanding the system.

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GOVERNMENT

VETS

RESCUE TEAMS

SOCIAL WORKERS AND NGO’S

WILDLIFE NGO’S

WILDLIFE CRIMINALS

FOREST RANGERS

TOURISM WILDLIFE CRIME

FOOD AND LAND SECURITY

FARMERS HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT

RESEARCH

RESCUE AND REHABILITATION

BREEDING AND REPOPULATION

CLIMATE CHANGE & POLLUTION

HUMAN APATHY

FOREST FIRES, LANDSLIDES AND NATURAL DISASTERS

INVASIVE SPECIES

PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS

SYSTEMS MAP How does everything connect?

The next part of the document gives a short insight into all the elements of the system that is wildlife and conservation.

The chart on the left shows the connections between all the different areas and the stakeholders, and in between.

The main aim is show the complexity, rather than the connections.

How to read it?

Each area and stakeholder is further elaborated on the next pages, with a general description and a scenario to help the reader. There is also an urgency scale that gives each problem a score based on the intensity, scale, frequency and resources that are available to tackle the problem. These scores are all compared with each other later on.

The assessment of these problem areas is also followed up with a small collection of briefs in that particular field that a designer can take up.

There is also a problem assessment area at the end which compares the composition of each element; For example, how much of wildlife crime consists of economic factors vs socio-cultural vs technological ones.

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STAKEHOLDERS Government

Wildlife NGO’s

The government in India is the sole “owner” of all wildlife and natural reserves and habitats.

They create the policies that affect wildlife the most. They are also the largest spender on wildlife related issues in India.

Such as WWF, or WCS ( World Conservation Society), these non profit organisations work to maintain and uplift the biodiversity of the region they work in. They also spread awareness on conservation and help raise funds.

Vets

Social workers and NGO’s

In small states such as SIkkim, wildlife is taken care of by regular vets, instead of specially trained wildlife vets. They are the ones who are entrusted to for animal care for injured animals.

There are local agencies that work to mitigate the effects of human wildlife conflict, and them with compensation. They also work on improving agricultural produce with local farmers. In forest fringe areas, their work involves dealing with wildlife quite often.

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Poachers

Forest Rangers

Poachers are those who illegally hunt animals, usually for the economic gain that comes with selling animals or animal parts. Some animals are also illegally hunted for the damage they cause to human property.

Forest Rangers work on the field in the government to protect wildlife from activities such as poaching. They also prevent the straying of humans into protected areas. They can also have the responsibility of tracking animals, and conducting a census.

Farmers

Rescue teams

Farmers and other villagers, especially those who stay in the fringe areas are ones who are most in contact with wildlife that stray from their natural environments. They usually bear an economic loss or even injuries from this contact.

Rescue teams are the ones called for any incident that involves human wildlife conflict, or urban wildlife intrusions. They are involved in the transportation of these animals as well.

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WILDLIFE CRIME About

Current scenario

Wildlife crime is the second largest source of illegal crime in the world.

The value of wildlife crime as of 2016 exceeds $23 billion.

Locals collaborate with poachers, due to a need for money. Poachers are part of organised crime circuits that are able to smuggle items such as rhino horns and ivory across borders, with most of the demand coming from China, and the rest of the Far East.

A good example is the high demand for a rhino horn from China, and Vietnam.

The poachers in Kaziranga national park identify a rhino’s travel paths, either through the locals, forest rangers or tracking technology. They either bribe a forest ranger to turn a blind eye, or hunt the rhino undercover.

After killing the rhino, they cut off its horn, and leave the carcass. The horn is then crushed into powder, or disguised as something else.

It is smuggled through mountain passes, through organised crime circuits, along with other high value items such as narcotics.

The rhino horn is sold as medicine in China, costing as much as $100,000/kg.

Rhino horns confiscated from poachers.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 5/5 Wildlife crime can cause entire species to go extinct.

1. Wildlife crime reporting app

Scale 5/5 It has affects all over the world, from the countries being poached in to the countries into which the products are being smuggled into.

2. Wildlife crime tracking devices 3. Toolkit to keep officials updated 4. Awareness campaigns for illegal products 5. Poacher tracking and prevention of crime.

Frequency 4/5 While it may not be seen or heard of in everyday life, it is a real issue that is a constant threat.

Resources 3/5 Since there is a massive financial backing to the organisations that carry out wildlife crime, it requires an equal amount of resources to fight back, which, along with a strong motivation, is somewhat lacking.

Final Score: 17/20

Ivory and rhino horns are burnt as a symbolical stance against poaching, with the message being that these items have no value unless they are attached to the animal.

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CASE STUDY: THE RHINO Rhinos are one of the most endangered animals in the world. There are 5 species of rhinos; namely the white, black, Indian, Javan, and the Sumatran rhinoceros. The first two are spread across Africa, with the latter three based in Southern Asia.

They are one of the largest species on the planet, being part of megafauna, along with the elephant. They are also an integral part of the ecosystem, they belong to.

They rhino is also one of the most hunted, and poached animals. Adult rhinos have no real predators in the wild, which means that humans are their only threat. They are mostly hunted for their horns, which are crushed into a powder that is imbibed for medicinal purposes to in Vietnam and China. However, it has no actual medicinal value; the value is purely on the basis of superstitions and rumours. It is also treated as a recreational drug. Due to its rarity and popularity, its price in 2012 peaked at 65,000$ per kilogram. This makes it one of the most expensive items sold by weight, more than gold and platinum, or even ivory.

Rhino horn is so valuable, there has been an instance in early 2017 of a poacher killing rhino while inside the zoo in Paris to saw and steal off the horn. This has scared other zoos in Europe, which has prompted some of them to cut off the horn pre-emptively and destroy it.

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Some rhinos in the wild have their own armed guards as well. 3 rhinos are killed every day in Africa.

India’s own haven for rhinos, Kaziranga in Assam lost 18 rhinos in 2016; higher than previous years. However, experts say this is the result of effective conservation efforts in raising the rhino population of the area; more rhinos are available for poaching. Kaziranga has also faced criticism for harsh treatment and even killing of innocent trespassers around the national park in order to maintain security of the rhinos.

Poachers also have intricate networks which involves local people to track rhino movements. Even dehorning the rhinos don’t help the ones on the wild, as some poachers shoot them regardless to ensure time is not wasted on tracking them again.

There is no animal that is currently under as much stress due to wildlife crime as the rhino.

The rhino is one of the most affected species due to poaching and wildlife crime.

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HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICT About

Current scenario

Human wildlife conflict is caused when the wildlife wanders into human territory, and causes damage to life or property, leading to a economic loss, or injury/ loss in life. The average loss for crop and livestock losses combined amounts to around 15,000 Rs a year for a single rural family.

It can also be caused when the opposite happens; humans trying to expand inhabitable land by reducing the habitats of wildlife.

A bear enters a field to eat the crops, usually due to accessibility and reduced resources in the forest.

If confronted by an unarmed human, he might attack and injure the farmer. The farmer might call the animal centre of the area to help remove the bear from the area.

The rescue team reaches around an hour later at the earliest. The team risks their safety to tranquillize the bear, and put it into the cage.

The rescue team has to transport the bear in its vehicle while simultaneously identifying a suitable place for release. The bear has possibly left behind several injuries, as well as economic loss in the form of crops.

There is no guarantee that the same bear will not attack the same area again.

Elephants destroying fencing to get to crops is commonplace

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 HWC can cause grave injury to man or animal, and can cause massive financial loss to small farmers, and animal rearers.

1. Awareness toolkit for proper waste disposal

Scale 3/5 The problem occurs mostly in rural areas.

Frequency 4/5 The problem happens quite often, with farmers having to stay up multiple nights to ensure their crop doesn’t get disturbed by animals.

2. Fencing solutions such as bio or electrical fencing 3. Training and development of rescue team and equipment. (From squeeze cages to transport to temporary rehabilitation) 4. Big data mapping of the areas of conflict, and accordingly devise strategies for mitigation.

Resources 3/5 There are local techniques and solutions to prevent human wildlife conflict. There are also several new technologies such as electric fences that are being used. However, there is a larger focus on compensation than prevention of such problems.

Final Score: 14/20

Destruction of crops caused by animals who ‘trespass’ onto agricultural fields.

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URBAN WILDLIFE There is also a need to address the elements of urban wildlife. A common sight in India include all types of species of animals, from the cows to pigeons to monkeys.

The increased availability of resources such as food and shelter from the predators in the wild has had an unexpected stakeholder in the urbanisation movement. A major reason for the number of monkeys in our urban environments in India is the reverence of the monkey God, Hanuman, and his temples.

These species have also adapted for their new habitats. For example, squirrels are now more dependant on their visual abilities rather than auditory, as a response to the increased noise pollution in urban environments.

Urban wildlife is a major reason for human wildlife conflict. Poor waste management is a key reason for this; these animals have easy access to food.

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An interesting perspective is the coexistence of the different species, and how it can be facilitated. Architecture in cities like Sydney have grown to facilitate insects and birds that aid in the flourishing of the local flora. Older solutions such as the “Chabutra” or bird house found in traditional urban settings are another example of products that can facilitate this coexistence.

Just as how there requires to be an ecological balance in forests, oceans, savannahs, and deserts, cities too now require design for ecological stability.

Beyond the common pigeons and crows, a greater variety of species such as the Glaucous Gull (pictured above) have also made their home in urban environments

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RESCUE AND REHABILITATION About

Current scenario

Either due to natural or manmade causes, several animals are found injured in the wild, or near human settlements. However, due to a lack of knowledge and training, these animals cannot be aided in time.

Feral dogs are a large part of this problem.

There is also a lack of spaces, and information for proper rehabilitation and release of wild animals.

Problems such as spread of diseases also affects the survival rate of these animals.

An injured baby deer is found near a human settlement near the Bhutanese border.

Forest rangers discover the animal and bring it back to the only rehabilitation centre in the state, namely the zoo. This takes around 3.5 hours. The deer ( if still alive), is bought into the foreign environment which is usually ill equipped to deal with the injury. The centre also lacks in an area and tools to rehabilitate the deer. When/if the deer recovers, it is put into the same area as other herbivores, which it may lead to a conflict with other deer.

The deer might not survive the rehabilitation even if it recovers from the initial injury. Being so young, it cannot be released to its original area, as it now a captive bred.

Rescue of a baby barking deer

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 Rescue and rehabilitation efforts are very important, as a solution for many man made problems that affect wildlife. They are especially important for endangered species, and their well-being.

1. Rescue team equipment development 2. Rehabilitation centre development 3. Toolkit for facilitating localised rehabilitation on forest fringe areas

Scale 2/5 Rescue operations are more needed in few areas, mostly rural. Rehabilitation is also limited to small, controlled areas.

Frequency 3/5 Reported rescues are moderately frequent, and are more frequent in some times of the year rather than others.

Resources 3/5 There are several existing solutions that are available for rescue and rehabilitation exercises, however they are quite outdated. The spatial requirement for rehabilitation is also not upto the mark.

Final Score: 12/20

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HUMAN APATHY About

Current scenario

Human apathy is the lack of importance given to the issues of wildlife, and biodiversity around the world.

Since wildlife is not connected to our daily lives, most people do not realise their importance. The link between their wellbeing and our own is too far away for us to realise. This extends into policy making, planning, allocation of funds, or any other decision making activity. This occurs at both the micro and macro level.

Indian politics at both the macro and the micro level display the lack of empathy with environmental problems. At a macro level, the governments willingness to be conducive to business at the expense of nature is evident, with forests and habitats being cleared away for roads, and industrial and business parks. As estimated 135 hectares of forest land are cleared everyday for highways, mines and cement factories. The Telangana government has clubbed together the Social Forestry and Wildlife departments into the Forest departments.

This has bought an increase in the workload of the officials, and affected their targets of reducing wildlife crime and poaching.

Photo by Pete McGregor, taken in Nepal.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 5/5 Empathy towards the problems we have created for wildlife is getting less, especially due to scepticism towards its scale, and irrelevance in the scale of human issues.

Scale 5/5 It is a problem at all stages of society.

Frequency 5/5 While we do not feel it everyday, the attitude is one that is always prevalent.

Resources 2/5 There are several resources that try and raise awareness and solve the issue, but there have been very few attempts for a systemic change.

1. Awareness and connect with Nature 2. Realising the value of wildlife 3. Systemic policies and agendas on wildlife and nature that permeate other sectors.

For eg. policies on plastic waste that affect

Final Score: 17/20

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FOOD & LAND SECURITY About

Current scenario

An increase in both man and animal populations has led to an increase in conflict over land space. This has also yielded into conflict over resources like food. This issue occurs mostly near fringe areas of natural habitat, such as forests, and water sources such as lakes, or oceans; but affects even residents of urban areas indirectly.

Hunting wild animals for food is also a problem here; excess of this causes an imbalance in the ecosystem and the food chain, causing predators to turn to human settlements for food. Deforestation, and land fragmentation are some of the main causes for such a problem.

Herbivores such as deer can cause losses of around 1000 rupees in a single incident through crop destruction and feeding. Omnivores such as bears not only destroy and eat crops, but are also known to carry off goats, and other domestic animals. They also have larger appetites, and can finish an entire field off in a single sitting if left unchecked.

Carnivores not only attack domesticated animals, but can also attack humans, causing fatal injuries.

The Government has to reimburse around 200 crores a year to these farmers.

Increased incursions by these animals has caused farmers to forego their fertile land as well.

Habitat fragmentation due to increasing land use by humans has led to problems of food and land security for wildlife.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 The problem has caused a lot of conflict on forest fringe areas that has left several humans and animals alike with fatal injuries, or hungry and homeless.

Scale 4/5 The problem affects most wildlife at varies levels on intensity. It directly affect people living on forest fringe areas.

Frequency 4/5 Its a continuous ongoing problem, with a few events that show the escalation of the issue.

Resources 3/5 There are local techniques and solutions to help the solution, but they are not enough for the escalation of the problem that has taken place in recent years.

1. A food security bank for animals 2. Mapping and creation of wildlife corridors

Final Score: 15/20

Farms on the forest fringe areas in Southern Gujarat. Farms that border natural habitats are the most vulnerable to human wildlife conflict.

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FOOD CHOICES One of the more interesting elements of the project led to the study of our food choices and their effect on wildlife.

A common, superficial misconception is that by becoming vegetarian or vegan, you will not kill or harm any animals. While there are benefits to being vegetarian, this is not one of them.

If we don’t know anything about nature and diversity, then we won’t be able to value it. Our universe is limited to what we see: dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, ducks, cows. Our sensitivity extends only towards them. The world is bigger than that and far more complex, whether we accept it or not.

When more people are vegetarian or vegan there is a greater strain on agriculture to produce alternatives to animal based products.

This strain on agriculture leads to increased deforestation, increased used of pesticides, killing of trespassing wildlife, etc.

A good example is that of the increased consumption of soya, with an increase in the number of vegetarians in the country, requiring more protein.

Going vegetarian or vegan also has socioeconomic repercussions. The production and sale of animal products account for 1.3 billion people’s jobs, and 987 million of those people are poor. If demand for meat were to disappear overnight, those people’s livelihoods would disappear, and they would have to find new ways of making money.

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There are several atrocities that happen in the meat and poultry industry; and overfishing is a very real issue. However, rather than zealotry, it is wiser to follow a balanced diet. A dairy, egg friendly diet can feed the most number of people on this planet, as compared to the current extravagant diets of today. The next best option is a diet which is 20% omnivorous or non vegetarian, in terms of land security at least.

However, the meat industry contributes to a large portion of resource use, especially of energy and water. In fact, studies have revealed that meaty diets contribute more the climate change and global warming that all of our cars and transportation do.

Our food choices make for a wicked problem, where there probably isn’t any completely right answer. Vegetarian and vegan diets are more environmentally friendly, but neither people not Earth’s resources can afford everyone doing so. However, with a little bit of awareness, a difference can be made.

A common misconception is that eating any meat is good for the ecosystem, but in places such as Norway, the sustainable consumption of local animals such as elk and reindeer aids in maintaining the ecological balance.

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TOURISM About

Current scenario

Nature based tourism, also referred to as eco tourism, is on the rise due to an increased accessibility of these regions, due to infrastructural investments. There is a direct correlation between nature based tourism, and the conservation efforts done by a country.

Tourism can however be invasive into wildlife and their habitats, and conservationists work for a sustainable balance. It also places a strain on the local resources, which include water, land and other infrastructure.

The Kerela government has earned around INR 145.53 billion from eco tourism in 2016.

A majority of environmentalists believe that these gimmicks are turning natural conservation areas into amusement parks, just as a measure to rack in extra cash. In the pursuit for monetary gain, wildlife, and nature are exploited for the tourists sights.

These sights end up not serving the purpose of nature based tourism; education and awareness on the beauty of nature, and is ended up sold as a commodity. A similar situation can found in almost all states.

Zoos are one of the most accessible form of wildlife tourism.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 The increased scale and frequency has also bought about an increase in the intensity of the problem.

Scale 4/5 Most places use tourism as a source of revenue, so this extends everywhere.

Frequency 4/5 Tourism can be seasonal, but the damage done through infrastructure is year round.

Resources 3/5 There are guidelines, and policies that can help tourism be more sustainable and wildlife friendly.

What is missing is the implementation, with economical reasons taking over ecological ones.

1. Sustainable wildlife tourism guidelines 2. More interactive tourism while maintaining the natural habitat 3. Educational toolkits at schools 4. Wildlife and ecotourism from home through online platforms.

Final Score: 15/20

Specially outfitted 4 wheel drives like this are a common site in Africa, where tourists frequent in large numbers for safaris.

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INVASIVE SPECIES About

Current scenario

Mostly through human intervention, foreign species of plants and animals have taken over and prevented the growth of local species, sometimes having side effects like loss of land fertility, or extinction of another species. It can also have an adverse affect on human health and, the economy. In 2001, the cost of these species on the agriculture and forestry department was over 91 million USD. Since then, the problem has only increased exponentially.

With increased movement of man across different natural habitats, the dispersion of species has also exponentially increased. Some of the features of such species include rapid reproduction, a high dispersal ability and high tolerance of different environments.

An invasive plant in most parts of India is the Lantana weed, Being a highly adaptable plant that can survive in a multitude of environments and climates, it has rapidly spread from the coast till the mountains. It prevents the seedling growth of other plants.

However it has some wildlife and livelihood benefits, from food to furniture. More than eradication, it is being managed, as eradication efforts are too expensive, and ineffective. Adaptive management is more efficient.

Lantana Camara on the left, and a craftsman curing the stems on the right

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 Invasive species can cause enough damage to endanger other local, indigenous species.

Scale 3/5 Invasive species can occur and spread anywhere.

Frequency 3/5 While it is a continuous problem, there are few outbreaks and instances where the problem becomes dangerous.

Resources 4/5 Being recognised as one of the bigger problems, there are many new techniques for management of these species.

1. Use of invasive species for social innovation.

2. Guidelines for growing appropriate and indigenous species of fauna 3. Creation of a periodic tracking system to identify a potential problem before it becomes widespread 4. Design of products to help remove invasive species from the ecosystem, while ensuring indigenous species remain unharmed.

Final Score: 14/20

Lionfish which are indigenous to the Indo Pacific regions, have become an invasive issue along the East coast of North America. This has caused the decline of the indigenous species of the area.

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CLIMATE CHANGE & POLLUTION About

Current scenario

Pollution in all its forms has severely degraded several habitats and environments. Synthetic chemicals, oil spills, and toxic wastes are some of the byproducts that have caused species such as the bald eagle, or the vulture to almost go extinct.

Pollution is also a major contributor to climate change has also caused displacement of flora and fauna, whom might displace other plants and animals in turn. More frequent storms, droughts, and other climate extremes, along with rising temperatures and sea levels have caused major habitat loss, and environmental damage. This has also affected human health, and well being, infrastructure, and the economy in a direct way.

Animals such as sea turtles lose their nesting beaches as sea levels rise, which directly affects their population levels Birds are changing their migratory patterns, which affects the distribution of wildlife, which further affects the abandoned environment.

Pollution also causes animals to choke on plastic waste. “Six-packs rings”, pieces of disposable plastic that are used to carry cans together are known to choke not only marine animals, but also sea-faring birds.

Plastic pollution has affected marine wildlife in extreme ways, from diet to mating rituals

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 5/5 Climate change is the largest existential problem in the world today, is increasing at an alarming rate.

Scale 5/5 The problem affects all living species, urban or otherwise.

Frequency 5/5 Its effects can be felt continuously, and at an increasing level of intensity.

Resources 4/5 While there are an increasing amount of resources available to fight climate change and pollution, the problem continues to be beyond human comprehension.

1. Wildlife oriented waste management systems 2. Re use of plastic waste in new ways 3. Alternatives to disposable waste 4. Awareness on climate change 5. Systems and policies to reduce harmful emissions

Final Score: 19/20

A graph created by the New York Times to show the increasing global temperatures.

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CASE STUDY: CORAL Coral reefs are large, diverse underwater ecosystems that are mostly created from stony corals, marine organisms that secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which supports and protect polyps (another marine species), creating the beautiful structures as seen on the right. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in warm waters.

Even though they occupy less than 0.1% if the world’s ocean surface, they provide a home to 25% of all marine species, from fish to molluscs, to crustaceans such as crabs, to cnidarians such as jellyfish. They are extremely vital to the marine ecosystem. They also have a large economic value through tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection (defence against flooding and erosion) Their estimated annual global economic value is around US$30 billion; comparable to the global annual revenue of Nike, or the GDP of a country such as Brunei. Reefs also contribute to medicine, and food security.

Despite all this, activities such as overfishing, blast fishing, digging of canals, coral minings, and other issues such as pollution, and disease have caused coral reefs to die around the world. Corals are also very sensitive to temperature changes, and climate change and ocean acidification ( due to increased greenhouse emissions), are also major threats.

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Coral bleaching, as seen on the bottom right, is a sign of dying corals, as they lose the algae they are dependant on to survive. Rising sea temperatures caused by global warming have been identified as the leading cause for coral bleaching worldwide.

In 2016, the Great Barrier reef, the worlds largest coral reef located in Australia, was revealed to have around 95 percent of its areas surveyed to be bleached. There is a mortality rate of upto 50 percent in the reef from coral bleaching. The process of recovery is slow, requiring 10-15 years as long as local conditions such as water quality remain conducive to recovery.

Tackling the largest and most pressing of the issues, namely climate change is the top priority of many organisations taking action to prevent this. The example of coral reefs is primary to show how our human activities can have an adverse effect in ecosystems which seem far away, and unconnected.

The death of all coral reefs due to pollution and climate change could cause a loss of US$ 1 trillion to the world economy.

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RESEARCH About

Current scenario

A lot is still unknown about wildlife, especially since their habitats are in inaccessible areas, with new facts being discovered everyday. Without complete information and data, it is difficult to create holistic solutions to the problems affected wildlife.

To minimize disturbance of wildlife and their ecosystems, it is vital that there be proper systems and tools to carry out the research. There is an increasing amount of technology being used to conduct research and experiments, however there are many improvements left to be made, including its accessibility and optimisation for different contexts.

There are currently several ways to conduct research including: Captive research Camera traps Radio tracking Drones and Aerial research Genetic Sample collection

A partially developed deer foetus

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In 2016, over 18,000 new species were discovered, from miniscule spiders in the Western Ghats to a giant tortoise in the Galapagos islands. In fact, scientists estimate that over 80% of species are yet to be discovered.

Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 3/5 The lack of research can affect our solutions in ways that cause further problems to an ecosystem.

Scale 4/5 The problem affects all species, and habitats, and even human beings.

1. Design of low cost camera traps, and GPS units 2. Creation of platforms to allow the general public to be involved in research efforts

Frequency 2/5 As the complexity of wildlife related problems increase, the frequency of the lack of research also shows more often.

Resources 4/5 There are an increasing number of solutions that aid in research from camera traps to DNA analysis.

Final Score: 13/20

A lioness being tracked using a GPS tracking collar

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BREEDING & REPOPULATION About

Current scenario

As animal populations decimate, we need to artificially induce their breeding to ensure they don’t become extinct. This is especially required for species that have longer breeding cycles such as bears which only have one breeding season in the year.

Captive breeding has its own challenges such as loss of genetic diversification, habitat loss, and captive behaviour changes. Repopulation of natural habitats is the next step, to ensure a balance of the ecosystem.

The species that requires repopulation is studied and surveyed for their natural breeding habits A pair of species is taken captive for breeding, and are made to do so in controlled environments.

In extreme cases, activities such as artificial insemination are required for reproduction.

The challenges include inbreeding, and that the bred animals are captive bred, and are unable to live in the wild. This makes it difficult for reintroduction into the wild.

The giant panda in China is one species that has really benefited from the captive breeding program.

It has a very low birth rate, but conservation programs have allowed its numbers to double from 2003 to 2013.

The red panda is a species that has benefited from breeding programs in Sikkim.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 4/5 Some species urgently require artificially induced breeding programs to avoid extinction.

Scale 3/5 While most endangered species have some sort of breeding program, it is not widespread enough.

Frequency 2/5 Repopulation is a long term process, and is closely linked to rehabilitation.

Resources 3/5 There is a lack of resources among some of the less developed countries and states for much needed localised breeding centres.

1. Breeding centre redesign, for local endangered species 2. Creating “insect hotels�, or spaces or products that aid in repopulating insect populations such as bees.

3. Incubators for baby mammals who have been abandoned 4. Incubators for eggs of rare species of birds.

Final Score: 12/20

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FOREST FIRES, LANDSLIDES, & NATURAL DISASTERS About

Current scenario

A lot of naturally occurring disasters such as forest fires, landslides and floods, destroy habitats, causing displacement of the wildlife. They also take a toll on wildlife populations of the region.

The frequency of such disasters has increased due to climate change, and pollution.

It has also been proved that a lot of natural disasters have been caused by an imbalance in the ecosystem caused by wildlife populations imbalance.

These disasters also cause widespread destruction of human property, and life.

Due to climate change, the forest is drier than usual, with the temperatures being higher. Fires start either through either natural or man made causes.

Being in the more remote areas, they are only detected after they have spread over a large area, and are difficult to contain. For example, the Uttarakhand forest fires in 2016 caused 2500 crore worth damages to property and natural resources.

In addition, they destroy habitats of the animals living there, increasing the chance of human wildlife conflict.

Forest fires in Uttarakhand in 2016.

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Urgency

Briefs

Intensity 5/5 Natural disasters can cause immense damage to both human and natural systems.

1. Drones for infrared tracking of such events.

2. Reclaiming of agricultural land for mixed purposes

Scale 4/5 While the scale varies, with an increasing intensity, the scale increases too.

Frequency 4/5 With the increase in factors such as global warming, such natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent.

Resources 3/5 There are lots of resources made for post disaster relief, but very few effective ones to help prevent disasters. There are even fewer that aid the affected wildlife.

Final Score: 12/20

Floods in Kaziranga in 2017 killed over 200 animals, including 20 one-horned rhinos

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URGENCY SCALE

wildlife crime human wildlife conflict rescue and rehabilitation human apathy food & land security tourism climate change & pollution invasive species research breeding and repopulation forest fires, landslides and other natural disasters

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Analysis The chart on the left shows the relative urgency of each area. While each problem is important in its own right, this chart helps to show the biggest problem that requires tackling.

The biggest problems are climate change, and pollution. The problem has ramifications for large scale phenomena such as migration, but can also affect an individual specie or animal. Human apathy is the driving force behind the lack of solutions, and the emergence of new problems, some which are come at a scale as large as wildlife crime.

The “lesser� problems of breeding, and rescue and rehabilitation, are only so in relativity; as solutions to several other issues here, they are vital. However, they do slightly worse off on a comparative, urgency scale.

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PROBLEM ASSESSMENT

Wildlife crime

Human wildlife conflict

Human Apathy

Food and Land security

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Rescue and Rehabilitation

Tourism

Invasive species

Breeding

Pollution and Climate change

Research

Natural disasters

Why The charts are placed side by side as a comparison to show what are the largest constituents of any problem with respect to the other. This helps in formulating a solution. For example, with economics being the largest factor in wildlife crime, maybe involving financial experts will be a key factor in eradicating the issue.

Some areas such as research and breeding are based on biological and zoological knowledge, which does not mean that the other areas

do not need or use scientific methods; but in comparison to the other factors, it is the most important part.

Pollution and climate change have an increasingly political role as well, bought about by increased awareness and data.

Human apathy is the area that is most defined by our values and our socio-cultural framework, rather than flora, fauna or the environment.

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PROBLEMS WITH SOLUTIONS Unfortunately, many solutions themselves prove to be problematic in their own way. Also, several solutions themselves never see the light of day.

Lack of funds There is still a lack of funds for several agencies, including local zoos and governments. These agencies require a larger amount of funds. A lot of solutions are poorly implemented with cheap materials, that leads to ineffective mitigation of the problem and a short term life for the solution. While there are foundations such as the Rufford foundation that support smaller ventures, large scale ventures for systemic change are still left wanting for funds.

Lack of involvement of local environmental experts in policy making A lot of higher level policy is made by people with only a limited understanding and expertise.

A higher involvement of environmental experts would mean more policies and decisions would have a lower environmental impact or cost.

Lack of holistic long term planning As seen in Gir, the lack of holistic long term planning can cause more problems. While there are good goals of stabilising wildlife populations, habitat management and land security is usually an issue.

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AFFECTS AND AFFECTED A lot of industries affect and are affected by the changes in wildlife.

AFFECTS WILDLIFE Food industry

Tourism

There is an ever increasing demand for raw products, a lot of which are dependant on various natural habitats and their inhabitants.

The increased footfall that has accompanied the increased access to remote areas has caused an influx of human development causing detrimental effects to local flora and fauna.

Agricultural Increased need for agricultural land, as well as unsustainable practices have an extremely negative affects on wildlife in the forest fringe areas.

Infrastructural development

Livestock

Creative industries

The needs of the livestock industry, particularly land and grazing space increase the possibility of human wildlife conflict.

A lot of creative industries, be it filmmaking, photography or even product design, are very invasive into wild habitats, and can disturb the local balance.

Pharma industry

Oil and Gas

The pharma industry exploits a lot of various flora and fauna for raw materials, and testing.

In fact, almost no pharmaceutical product is completely synthetic, being dependant on natural product.

Oil and gas infrastructure- well pads, roads, pipelines and waste pits- produce significant noise and human activity, leading to fragmented landscapes and diminished habitat.

Mining Mining has several effects on the ecosystem and habitats leading to reduced biodiversity.

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A lot of new infrastructural development means the clearing of natural habitats, displacing thousands of species.

AFFECTED BY WILDLIFE Food industry

Tourism

The raw products are grown in an ecosystem that are directly or indirectly dependant on wildlife to maintain it.

The sightings, and abundance of wildlife directly affect the size of the nature tourism industry.

Agricultural

Infrastructural development

Agricultural produce is directly dependant on factors such as food and land security, as well as human wildlife conflict.

Natural habitats, and environments play a major role in the planning of developing roads, or settlements.

Livestock

Creative industries

Livestock and other domestic animals can be a victim of the increasingly frequent incidents of human wildlife conflict.

Without wildlife or natural habitats, there are several creative industries that will suffer from films to the crafts,

Pharma industry The raw products are grown in an ecosystem that is dependant on wildlife to maintain it.

The questions should not be “ do you want to save the tigers,” but rather “ do you want to breathe”, or do you want medicines to live.

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Infographic taken from the Living Planet Report 2016 published by WWF

Ecosystem services Provisioning services are the products obtained from ecosystems, regulating services are the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, cultural services are the non material benefits people obtain from ecosystems and supporting services are those services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services. Adapted from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005.

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THE VALUE OF WILDLIFE A bio-economic analysis by a team of IndoAustralian scientists in 2017 revealed that saving just 2 tigers yields a capital benefit of about Rs.520 crore; in comparison the Mangalyaan mission to Mars cost India Rs.450 crore.According to the last estimate, India is home to 2,226 adult tigers which would mean a capital benefit of about Rs.5.7 lakh crore.

The team conducted this analysis across 6 tiger sanctuaries across India; namely, Corbett, Kanha, Kaziranga, Periyar, Ranthambore, and the Sunderbans Reserve.

The value is bought about not only from the biodiversity of the reserves these have, but the wide range of economic, social, and cultural benefits in the form of ecosystem services. The tiger is also an umbrella species under whose shadow millions of other organisms have been saved. Green accounting is giving conservation a whole new value.

Tigers across just 6 reserves in India have a capital benefit of about Rs. 5.7 crore.

The value of wildlife has a lot of economic, social, cultural, and health benefits. It links across various fields.

If we look at Wildlife in India’s economy, and see the different sectors that wildlife contributes to (nature based tourism, the pharma undistry, the food industry etc.) the figures show that wildlife affects over 1/4th of our GDP, i.e. 32 lakh crore.

The value of wildlife in the Indian economy can be roughly valued at Rs. 32 lakh crore.

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SOLUTIONS

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INITIAL PLAN During the initial stages of the project, I had planned out to create a product that could not only help wildlife, but also facilitate social innovation and local livelihoods, enabled by the Internet of Things.

Over the course of my research, a personal timeline was set such that after 2 months of research, the next two months would be spent on developing a product, or solution, following which, there would be an internal review to see whether it could be taken forward, or whether a new direction needed to be considered.

The project was undertaken as an inquiry into how design could help conservation, and it was to be tackled on three fronts; systemic research (as shown before), product design, and speculative design.

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PRODUCT SOLUTIONS The ideation phase of the research happened simultaneously with the research phase. The ideas came at various points of the project, and evolved alongside the work done. There was no one ideation session where all ideas were hammered out, rather multiple ones at various stages.

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MAPPING Further on, the solutions were mapped on a chart of two vertices; low to high impact, as well as incremental to disruptive solutions.

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REALIZATION I had also planned to create a product as an output of 2 months research. However, after 3 months, I realised that the level of research and resources required would be much more for a holistic solution.

Which is why I decided not to continue ahead with a product for this part of the project. The lack of stakeholders being involved was also a major contributor to this decision.

However, keeping my personal interest of speculative design in mind, I decided to have some outcomes that I could influence well as a designer, without the heavy involvement of people such as conservationists or biologists, in my constrained time frame.

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SPECULATIVE DESIGN Once designers step away from industrial production and the marketplace we enter the realm of the unreal, the fictional, or what we prefer to think of as conceptual design—design about ideas. This can be termed as speculative design, or criticial design or design fiction.

This separation from the marketplace creates a parallel design channel free from market pressures and available to explore ideas and issues.

Critical design, especially speculative design and design fiction, raises various “what if?” questions about the future. What if there ought to be a change? What if we would change? What if things were different? By creating scenarios around these “what if” questions with tangible and realistic objects, designers can fabricate an experience of that possible future.

Design fiction, much like science fiction, often illustrates dystopian or utopian worlds with only a slight grasp on reality or hopefulness.

But there are also projects closer to our everyday lives. Design studio and research lab Superflux uses speculative design to explore the uncertainties of everyday life and emerging technology in a new light. Anab Jain, co-founder and director, says that speculative design is a powerful tool that can be used as a lens to see implications for the future. A good example of their work is Uninvited Guests, which explores frictions between an elderly man and ’smart objects’ in his home. This project, commissioned by ThingTank, gives a glimpse of a not-so-distant future where smart devices - rather than being helpers - are actually controlling (elderly) people’s lives.

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Another speculative project was that done by the fictional “David Attenborough Design Group”, which used biomimicry to create a set of products which mimicked behaviours such as sneezing to remove dust from vents, and movements to avoid spilt liquids and other objects.

Design can shift the discussion from one of abstract generalities separated from our lives to tangible examples grounded in our experiences as members of a consumer society. Not to trivialize issues but because, for the most part, we live in a consumer society and consumerism drives economic growth in most societies. The idea is not to show how things will be but to open up a space for discussion so that people can form their own opinion about what kind of future they desire.

Uninvited guests by Superflux which shows the interaction between the elderly and their smart, assistive objects (shown in bright yellow).

David Attenboroughs Design Group which used biomimicry to speculate the

A guide on speculative design by

objects of the future. This particular floppy disk could ‘stand’ to avoid spilt liquids.

Dunne and Rabby.

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IDEATION The concept around which the speculative future would be built had to be futuristic enough to excite the audience. The future also had to be believable and contextual enough that the users felt the seriousness of the issue, and engaged them. The issue also had to be one that invited discussion and debate.

Keeping these factors in mind, various concepts and ideas were explored for the potential for building a speculative scenario.

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Urban wildlife DNA splicing Privatisation of the wild Shifting biospheres Robotic wildlife ‘Big brother’ of the wild Wildlife corridors Augmented Animal Reality Treatment of animals using human parts Integrated animal agriculture

The final concept taken to move forward with was privatisation of wildlife.

One of the key reasons for choosing this theme was the relevance of this theme to both the current state of events and an envisioned future scenario. This helps create a link for the audience.

The target audience chosen was not that of the general public; but rather that of conservationists and policy makers. The people working on the ground, and those making the decisions have to decide how the future of conservation will be.

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PRIVATISATION OF WILDLIFE Privatisation of wildlife is not a new concept.

It is most prevalent in Southern Africa, with countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The predominant argument for it is giving the land, and wildlife value. There are several examples such as the elephant populations rising in privatized Zimbabwe parks between 1979 and 1989, while in Kenya the numbers plummeted during the same time.

The main limitations include the focus on animals that have a high commercial value or are keystone or indicator species. Other species are not given priority for conservation, and the land is liable to exploitation.

The US government is scaling back its role and intervention in the wild, and there are some that call for privatization as the solution.

Can we imagine a future just 10 years from now, where privatization of wildlife and their habitats are the norms for conservation?

Capitalistic ideals are required for the conservation of species, and to prevent their extinction. The movement begins, with an increased number of private institutions.

20 years from now, several of these companies are being traded on the stock markets, being

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looked at as extremely viable financial options.

Similar to the dot-com craze in the early 2000’s, there is a huge growth, and money flowing into this sector. Cities such as Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, Windhoek in Namibia, are benefiting hugely from the influx of monetary resources. They are now part of the top 10 richest cities in the world.

Financial expertise shows now always make sure they have a zoologist on their panel.

Governments now have special cells to ensure that the proper parameters for maintaining these private reserves, and several companies are developing tools to do so; from DNA scanners to geographical sensors that can accurately analyse the carrying capacity of the land within minutes.

There are protests on Wall Street by more “traditional” investors to bring back money into “regular” companies that they are used to. “Wall Street, not wildlife” adorns several of their banners.

Organisations such as WWF are now private consultants that improve the turnover in such reserves through more sustainable practices.

In fact, WWF now rivals Apple for the most valuable company on the planet.

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THE STAKEHOLDERS Government The government, while initially struggling to regulate the new market, has created a new regulatory agency. It has also increased the size of the wildlife and forest department, to cope with all the increased workload placed on these departments.

Wildlife organisations NGO’s such as WWF have become independent consultants and reserve management organisations. They are experts that are hired for the development of the reserves that are now created. The movement from non profit to for profit organisations was met with resistance, but it has paid off in the long run. These agencies are some of the most profitable in the world.

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Investment experts There are now financial and investment agencies that are specialised in the field of wildlife management and investment. They are the link between the public and the reserves into which they invest, offering schemes such as marine mutual funds, and biosphere bonds.

Reserve owners On the left is one of the new reserve owners of the future. A stereotypical firm, it has taken over the previously government owned and managed Kanchendzonga national park in Sikkim. It leaves its financial management to firms such as Goodall Irwin, and has hired WWF as consultant for their ecosystem management services.

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Regulatory authority Created by the Government to ensure that wildlife wasn’t being exploited for profit, the Natural Reserve of India works similar to the Reserve Bank of India in the past, creating conservatory and fiscal monitoring agencies and laws. They regulate these parameters on expansion of reserves, wildlife handling and financial evaluation.

Farmers Farmers, especially those who stay near the fringe areas of the forest, do very well economically. With wildlife populations having increased, human wildlife conflict has increased. While their crop production and outcome has reduced, they have rebranded themselves to integrated wildlife agricultural facilities. This has highly increased the value of their farms and their produce.

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Tech companies

Attenborough design group

Wildlife and conservation technology firms are also the most bullish on the stock market.

The Attenborough Design group, now a fully functional tech company, makes technology that benefits ecosystems, such as drones to remove invasive species and tools to combat pollution in reserves.

Public The public have struggled with the economical shift. With the shift of policy and economics from cities, and human population to the forests, and wild, there is also a shift in public opinion towards these changes. Wild real estate has a larger value than human real estate, which has led to protests and campaigns such as ‘Wall street not wildlife.’

B/Z - schools The new education trend is a dual degree in Business and Zoology; giving rise to the new trend of joining B/Z schools. Most of these graduates are hired by firms such as Goodall Irwin, or go into the public sector, working with the Nature Reserve of India.

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ARTEFACTS FROM THE FUTURE The entire exercise brings back artefacts from this speculative future. The aim of showing these artefacts is to help the viewer connect better with the scenario presented, and allow a higher level of engagement for debate.

Signboards from the Wall street revolution Since the movement of financial power from companies that work in anthropological spheres to nature based reserves has caused a major change in the finances of investors. This radical change has caused employment in some sectors, while drastically increasing the growth of others. The disgruntled unemployed raise their voice against the exponential growth of the private wildlife sector.

Protestors against the movement of financial power from human led markets to wildlife dependant ones.

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Investor pamphlets Investment firms such as Goodall Irwin initially had the hard task of convincing people to invest in this new sphere. However, as the trend caught on, the complexity for the investors also increased, along with the variety of funds to invest in. This led to an increase in communication tools such as pamphlets from such firms.

Pamphlets such as this are common place at investor meets.

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Use of advanced optical technology for immediate DNA recognition.

DNA Scanners One of the new wildlife crime prevention initiatives is the more mobile and efficient DNA scanners that are used by wildlife security officers. This is done to keep a check on DNA modifications done on wildlife by reserve owners for the economic gain. For example, some reserves modified the DNA of their local herbivores to consume different flora that suited the changes they wished to make to the environment.

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Visual feedback on data received.

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Geobiological Parametric Tracker ( GPT) NGO’s such as WWF have become consultants and reserve management organisations. This tool will be used by them to measure various geological and ecological parameters such as humidity, wind direction, soil moisture, fertility, animal migratory patterns,etc. This data is then processed through an algorithm that suggests how the reserve owners can improve the habitat to facilitate a flourishing, thriving ecosystem.

The GPT as a tool is indicative of the increased footprint of new age technology firms in conservation with the added economic incentives.

An early prototype of the GPT.

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The implementation of the GPT’s in Tarangire National Park. These GPT’s also communicate with each other to create a larger database of information that increases the accuracy of the algorithm.

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BUILDING A SPECULATIVE FUTURE The speculative future shown was not built purely out of the creative juices of a young designer. It is the result of all the research done and co creative efforts between the stakeholders whom this affects.

The scenario itself was shown to some of these stakeholders who called it “outrageously interesting.” The scenario presented allowed these people to build open on this and design their own speculative future. While not every point was agreed on, the initial aim of creating a debate was achieved; from methods of privatisation to modes of regulation.

I believe that speculative design could help us question our actions and thus build better, more intentional futures. This scenario can be presented and made into an exhibition that can engage the conservationists of the local area, through interaction with the exhibits.

Another option is to create an online forum or database for this, which would greatly increase the range of people who could access and benefit from this exercise. However, the level of engagement would reduce with the reduced dimension (3D to 2D).

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CONCLUSION what nex t f or t h e w i l d ; a n d f o r me?

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REFLECTIONS I am really, really glad I took up this self sponsored, passion project. Knowing that I have to jump into the big bad world of difficult clients, limited budgets and tough deadlines, I am glad that I got an opportunity to do this.

Over the 6 months, I really learnt a lot about myself, my work ethic and what I would like to do moving forward.

Will I work on wildlife post this? I would like to. I think starting in a different country where wildlife is given more importance would be key to making a more successful pitch here in India.

The project has changed me in some more personal ways as well; from the change in my diet, to my water usage while bathing. Even my purchases of personal items has changed.

I feel like I understand the value of the local economy on a different level now, knowing that there are not only livelihoods, but also lives at stake.

This was also a project of many mistakes. A lot of planning went wrong, and in hindsights a lot more could have been achieved in the period of the graduation project. I’m glad that I made them now as a student. Overcoming my fear of failing and making mistakes is one of my biggest outcomes of this project.

Being brave enough to take the leap of faith has been as exciting as it has been terrifying.

Beginning the project I was extremely anxious on how it would turn out. A lot of the 6 months have gone into trying to reading inspirational quotes, and disregarding the sceptical faces.

“Make your faith larger than your fears and your dreams larger than your doubts.�

- Robin Sharma

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WHAT NEXT FOR THE WILD? Its a sad and a hopeful future for the natural world out there.

I’ll start with the more depressing news. The state of wildlife seems to be getting worse and worse even with the increased efforts to save to them. In fact, scientists estimate around 2000 species are going extinct every year. We are undergoing a period of mass extinction due to human activity called the Anthropocene extinction, which is the 6th great mass extinction event ( previous events have wiped out species such as the dinosaurs).

Hope still exists, with more and more policies being made. Large scale policies such as the Paris climate agreement in 2016, and the widespread adoption of the United Nations Development Program goals are clear signs that more and more people are paying attention to the problems of the wild. There is an increasing amount of technology invested in wildlife.

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People talk about fixing the ecosystem and wildlife. What we are in fact fixing is ourselves; and I don’t mean this in a deep spiritual way. Fixing the problems of wildlife and the environment will lead to a longer, healthier life for the human race. The way forward might not be going back to traditions and the way of living of our ancestors, but could be very technology heavy, yet in perfect harmony and in sync with nature.

We could all learn a little from the wild; whether we choose to imbibe values such as patience and perseverance from a lioness’s hunt, or whether we find inspiration to create a balance in our lives. Wildlife conservation isn’t just for those in the forests and the oceans. It really is about all of us, and all life; life conservation.

“It’s amazing how a little tomorrow can make up for a whole lot of yesterday.”

- John Guare

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REFERENCES What can a designer do?: Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby (2013) Speculative Everything, MIT Press Sikkim:http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/sikkim/introduction http://sikkim.nic.in/sws/sikk_fore.htm Vimal Khawas (2011) Climate Change in Sikkim. Available at School of Policy Planning and Studies, Sikkim University.

Conservation in India: https://thewire.in/168041/ngt-tigers-elephants-forest-rights-tribals/ The Honey Trail: https://scroll.in/article/839067/bees-are-disappearing-in-india-and-we-areslowly-learning-why https://www.wired.com/2016/08/jerry-hayes-how-to-save-the-bees-monsanto/ Future of Conservation: http://www.futureconservation.org/ Deep Ecology: http://www.deepecology.org/platform.htm Happy Planet Index: http://happyplanetindex.org/ Wild Cam Gorgonosa: https://www.wildcamgorongosa.org/ https://www.zooniverse.org/ Rhinos: https://thewire.in/99285/rhino-kaziranga-poaching/ Urban wildlife: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/08/urban-wildlife-animalsin-city Invasive Species: https://thewire.in/86078/invasive-species-prosopis-lantana/ Tourism: https://mediaindia.eu/tourism/eco-tourisms-gaining-momentum-in-india/ Food choices: http://www.playground.plus/food/vegans-and-vegetarians-think-they-dont-killanimals-but-they-do/ https://qz.com/749443/being-vegan-isnt-as-environmentally-friendly-as-you-think/ http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/feed_the_world/2014/05/meat_eating_and_ climate_change_vegetarians_impact_on_the_economy_antibiotics.html Research: http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-new-species-top-10-20170522htmlstory.html Affects and Affected: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/lpr_2016/ Value: https://davidshepherd.org/news/green-accounting-highlights-value-of-wild-tigers Speculative Design: https://blog.optimalworkshop.com/what-is-speculative-design https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/speculative-design-design-niche-or-new-tool-governmentinnovation Privatisation of wildlife: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/should-conservation-beprivatised--57745 http://www.businessinsider.in/Researchers-are-debating-whether-to-privatize-endangeredspecies/articleshow/56880804.cms What next for the wild: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/biodiversity/ Icons from the Noun project.

Templates from Freecreatives.com Topographies from Google Maps.

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IMAGE REFERENCES A small, yet significant achievement for me is the fact that out of 121 images in this document, a whole 90 of them were clicked by me. The rest are given credit as follows: Honey trail: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57b5ce01d2b8574df5e28c64/t/57 bc1553f7e0abe0efb85da8/1471944022834/bees.jpg?format=2500w Wildlife Crime: https://guardian.ng/news/south-africa-gives-go-ahead-to-rhino-hornauction/ http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/30/africa/kenya-ivory-burn/index.html Human Wildlife Conflict: http://www.elephantsforafrica.org/research/human-wildlifeconflict/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/wild-seve-human-wildlife-conflictconservation-india-krithi-karanth/ Food and Land security: http://www.conservationindia.org/gallery/habitatfragmentation-in-the-western-ghats Human Apathy: https://worldsenz.blogspot.in/2008/11/elephant-in-chains.html Breeding: https://www.pandasinternational.org/panda-census-2013-wild-pandapopulation-increases-to-1864/ Invasive species: http://www.thesholatrust.org/lantanaproject/ http://www.conservationindia.org http://www.jaxobserver.com/2014/06/02/fwc-launches-smartphone-app-to-help-fightagainst-invasive-lionfish/ Climate change & pollution: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/ marine-animals-are-dying-because-of-our-plastic-trash/ Coral: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160321-coral-bleaching-greatbarrier-reef-climate-change/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/12/loss-of-coral-reefs-causedby-rising-sea-temperatures-could-cost-1tn-globally Forest Fires & Natural disasters: https://www.yovizag.com/wp-content/ uploads/2016/05/Forest-Fire.jpg https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/india-floods-kill-more-than-200-animalsincluding-rare-rhinos/ Speculative design: https://www.wired.com/2014/02/design-fiction-speculativeeverything-dunne-raby/ Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby (2013) Speculative Everything, MIT Press Artefacts from the future: http://peopleus.blogspot.in/2012/06/unrest-spreadworldwide.html

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COLOPHON This document has been written and designed

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