Speaking for them

Sandesh Kadur is the voice of a million species of animals, birds, insects and reptiles. Speaking at the 10th D D Kosambi Festival of ideas the photographer, explorer and author made a strong case for preservation of the environment and wildlife. He talked about his journey through forests, mountains and flatlands of the country to bring back images and stories that need to be told so that people realise the urgent need to protect our natural heritage, which is increasingly falling prey to unbridled development. At first his journey seemed like a romantic prodding to preserve nature because it is beautiful, but in the end it became apparent that his message was loud and clear – we need to preserve nature because our future survival depends on it.

All of us might not be able to walk the many paths he has taken, but he has left behind records of his sojourns in books where, as he said, every picture is worth a thousand words. He uses these books to open the eyes of leaders to the dangers of over-development. On one such occasion he presented a book on the western ghats to former prime minister Manmohan Singh who asked, ‘How can we preserve all this?” For him it’s about connecting with leaders and people to make a difference. On another occasion he presented a book on the Himalayas to the Dalai Lama because the spiritual leader had a strong enough hold on the people living in the region to effect a change.

Kudur does not come across as an activist. He is simply a man using the medium of film, still photography and text to tell stories of a plethora of species and their relation to mankind’s survival. And for a moment he made us think about our priorities and the pressure our model of development is putting on nature. His admonition to stop building dams across rivers because when one stops the natural flow of a river species that survive on it vanish, seems valid. However, it is difficult to think of a nation without dams, especially at a time when one needs to harness our water wealth for equitable distribution in order to prevent the wars that Kadur talked about. One cannot fault Kadur for having a point of view that is different from economists. His job is not to find the middle path, his mission is to tell stories about the wild and ensure that nature is factored into development plans. And he does that well.

For Goa in particular, he had some advise on eco-tourism, which he said could be like a double-edged sword. The State has opened up forests to development in the name of tourism. Kadur pointed out that without a study on the carrying capacity of forest areas, eco-tourism will destroy wild-life habitats and interfere with nature. Having invited Kadur to speak at the Festival of Ideas, the government would do well to put him in charge of the eco-tourism agenda so that it goes in the direction that leads to preservation and understanding instead of destruction.