Women return carrying heavy bundles of fresh fodder on their heads from forests near Jim Corbett National Park. Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE
Forests

The wilderness is never ‘pristine’; it is always shared

Hypothesis of Euro-American philosophers like John Muir, which became ‘Fortress Conservation’, was wrong from the beginning

Vikas Choudhary

These images show women carrying heavy bundles of fresh fodder on their heads and returning from forests near Jim Corbett National Park, crossing the shallow Kosi river. 

These images show how wrong Euro-American philosophers like John Muir of the Sierra Club were.

The daily trek reflects the dependence of rural households on forest resources for sustaining livestock-based livelihoods.

Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Euro-American philosophers formulated the philosophy of ‘pristine wilderness’, untouched by humanity, where wildlife and biodiversity could thrive freely.

There can never be anything like a ‘pristine wilderness’. Humans have always shared and will share the natural world with other species.

This hypothesis, now termed ‘Fortress Conservation’, has shaped conservation strategies across much of the world, including the Global South.

What people like John Muir of the Sierra Club did not know was that there can never be anything like a ‘pristine wilderness’. Humans have always shared and will share the natural world with other species.