Centre's Advisory To Prevent COVID-19 Human-Animal Transmission Can Be Misused: Forest Activists

Forest rights activists wrote to Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Arjun Munda on Friday, flagging that an advisory issued to prevent the transmission of coronavirus between humans and animals can be "misused" to restrict the access of tribal and nomadic communities to natural resources.

The Union Environment Ministry had on April 6 asked all states to take immediate steps to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 from humans to animals and vice-versa, after a tiger in New York''s Bronx Zoo contracted the disease from an infected caretaker.

Among other directions, the ministry had sought a reduction in human-wildlife interface and restrictions on the movement of villagers inside and around protected areas.

Expressing concern over this aspect of the advisory, the forest and tribal rights groups, including the Van Panchayat Sangharsh Morcha, the All India Union of Forest Working People and the Adivasi Jan Van Adhikar Manch, said, "There are around three to four million people living inside and around protected areas, and many more in the immediate surroundings."

"These are mostly Scheduled Tribes and others including, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, nomadic and pastoralist communities, fish workers etc. They are dependent on the natural resources within and around the protected areas for their daily livelihoods," the letter to the Union environment minister and tribal affairs minister read.

The activists said there are reports to show that the nation-wide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus has affected the livelihood and survival of tribal and other households, as they are unable to collect and sell forest produce in this summer season.

"We fear there is great danger of this advisory being misunderstood and misused to further alienate and restrict access of these communities to the natural resources they are dependent on for their livelihoods," they said.

"Therefore, we urge you to reissue the advisory with clarifications that it should not be implemented to restrict customary and legal rights of use and access of the local communities living in and around protected areas," the letter said.

Forest and Revenue departments must ensure that villagers are not restricted or evicted from protected areas during this time, the activists said.

Citing reports, the forest and tribal rights groups claimed that these communities have acted responsibly and isolated themselves from the pandemic.

"In fact, district-wise spread of COVID-19 data in Maharashtra suggests that there are no or negligible cases reported from forested and tribal-dominated districts of the state," they said.

Also, there is absolutely no evidence so far of human beings being able to infect free-ranging wild animals. The only reported case is of a captive tiger in the US, the activists said.

They also appealed to the state governments to provide free rations and items that people in and around protected areas need for survival.

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