Volunteers save Nahargarh Wildlife Sanctuary
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This blog is republished here with permission from Hope and Beyond
#NahargarhMatters is a campaign initiated by a Jaipur based NGO, Hope and Beyond. Volunteers from all walks of life decided to save Nahargarh Wildlife Sanctuary “The Lungs of Jaipur City”. Under this campaign Team Hope cleaned strategic areas of the wildlife sanctuary and gathered more than 1500 kg of beer bottle glass and more than 600 kg of plastic waste in six consecutive cleaning drives.
Nahargarh Wildlife Sanctuary is a forest area in the middle of India’s pink city Jaipur. It’s a small sanctuary of 52 sq km with three major tourism forts in it because of which people infiltrate the sanctuary and treat it like a garbage bin. Presence of plastic, paper and small glasses of beer bottles are very common in maximum parts of the sanctuary. As per Rajasthan Forest Department there are more than 15 Leopards with Indian Striped Hyena, Jackal, Porcupine, Pangolin, Wolf, Sambhar Deer, Asian Palm Civet, Mongoose, Hanuman Langoor and more than 150 species of birds including vultures reside in this sanctuary area. This pollution is not only injuring the wild animals but also reducing the fertility of the soil and destroying the lungs of Jaipur city.
Human interference in the Natural Habitat of wild animals is increasing regularly in the sanctuary and on the name of “Right of Way” more public is infiltrating in the protected area. This pollution is not at all good for wild animals as sometimes they eat these polythene and there are some casualty cases too. The glass of bottles can injure any wild animal and if unnoticed it can prove fatal for the innocent animal who was not aware of such pollution in its Home.
We wish to continue this work for a longer time until local people start thinking of this in a different way. Rajasthan Forest Department and local media are also supporting the campaign and are working with us to save the beautiful forest.
