Statement by Let India breath and others.. To those working in this space, we understand better than most, the melancholy and loneliness that drove this passionate environmentalist to take such a drastic step. We hope that the death of KV Jayapalan does not go in vain and that no one else has to suffer from the soul-crushing depression and helplessness that witnessing the continued destruction of this world can bring about. for Full text of Statement click read more
Statement by Let India Breathe
To whomsoever it may concern,
We are deeply pained and saddened to hear about the tragic suicide of beloved wildlife photographer K V. Jayapalan. As you might already know, it has been reported that unable to bear the merciless destruction of the Western Ghats, he took his own life.
At this juncture of this most heartbreaking news, we are openly expressing our growing concern about the dire state of our country's environment. We wish to press upon the various state governments and the central government to take the destruction of our country's natural resources more seriously. We also want to express our concern that the conservation of life-giving ecosystems has taken a back seat while government policies are not only promoting but protecting those that bring about harm and destruction to our environment.
The Western Ghats deserve much more than mere documents that seem to be created to protect them but end up acting as loopholes that corporates and government bodies use to destroy them. Coffee cultivation, tourism, real estate development, and extraction of minerals have destroyed large portions of the Western ghats. Not only have the governments of Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Karnataka all failed to protect the ghats, each government has been rallying to remove the legal protections given to them.
The environmental conservation community wishes to convey to people at large the emotional cost of seeing firsthand, the destruction of our natural world. To witness, every day, its systematic destruction is a very difficult thing for anyone to go through. The depression and anxiety that accompanies such a reality is something each one of us battles with every single minute of every single day.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. To those working in this space, we understand better than most, the melancholy and loneliness that drove this passionate environmentalist to take such a drastic step. We hope that the death of KV Jayapalan does not go in vain and that no one else has to suffer from the soul-crushing depression and helplessness that witnessing the continued destruction of this world can bring about.