New Delhi, Oct. 16 -- The sheer success of growing public consciousness to save the environment can sometimes strike body blows to the very subjects they were meant to save.

The examples are now so numerous as to be commonplace. An influencer's call to plant trees may draw thousands of citizens to participate in a mass-planting programme. The plight of a mistreated temple elephant could charge a viral social media campaign to send the elephant to a zoo. A governmental or judicial diktat to save forests will send forest officers on a rampage against invasive plants. And the idea that forests can be restored after being destroyed in one place allows plantations to sprout in another.

From the Central Ridge in New Delhi to the island of Gre...