Every citizen of this country must ask this question to self and to the Central Government and the governments of the 19 states where tigers are still found. These states with their respective tiger numbers – as per the tiger estimation of 2014 – are Andhra Pradesh including Telangana (68), Arunachal Pradesh (28), Assam (167), Bihar (28), Chhatisgarh (46), Goa (5), Jharkhand (3+), Karnataka (406), Kerala (136), Madhya Pradesh (308), Maharashtra (190), Mizoram (3+), Odisha (28), Rajasthan (45), Tamil Nadu (229), Uttar Pradesh (117), Uttarakhand (340) and West Bengal (79). It tallies to 2226 tigers - statistically a 30% rise over the population of 1706 reported in 2010.
India today holds around 70% of the global tiger population
in its 48 tiger reserves covering an area 69751.64 sq km, which is merely 2.08%
of the geographical area of the country. It is incredible that tigers are doing
reasonably well in these forests despite all odds and with little political
support for their conservation. Most of these areas (tiger reserves) are fragmented
and thus have tiger populations that may not be able to exchange genes with the
tigers of other tiger conservation landscapes.
While figures do indicate a positive trend in the overall
tiger population, it is necessary to understand some hard facts and ground
realities that (would) decide the fate of tigers in India in the coming years.
I would like to begin with complimenting all the forest
officials and frontline forest staff without whom protection of tigers in India
would have been impossible. They put in a lot of hard work – at times putting
their lives at stake – while fighting off poachers and timber mafia that are
always looking out for opportunities to destroy our natural heritage. As if
facing these threats is not enough that the forest department has to constantly
face the ire of local communities, whose dependence on the forests is at times
almost 100% and the groups of naxalites/Maoists, who have made forests their
hideouts. There are many examples of forest staff losing their lives in
protecting the wildlife and forests. Although the situation is much better now,
yet the quality of arms available with our frontline staff is inadequate (and at
times non-existent) and they have to face the anti-social elements armed with
modern weapons and ammunition. The department must be provided with the best of
the weapons (as is given to the frontline staff in Kaziranga) so that they can
fearlessly take on the poachers and other destructive elements. An occasional
pat-on-the-back from their seniors, including IFS and IAS officers, and the
political top brass is essential to boost their morale.
Fragmentation of tiger habitats is something that we all
must be worried about. Tigers breed well if they are provided with inviolate
areas with enough forest, water and natural prey. If these three basic
conditions are fulfilled, tigers can make more tigers quite easily! Often these
are the areas where tourism is flourishing and tourists are often satisfied
with ‘seeing’ a tigress with its litter of 3, 4 or even 5 cubs. Photographs are
clicked, shared and often become viral on social media websites. This does
generate a lot of interest in tigers but may not necessarily translate into
conservation action. Little attention is then paid whether these cubs grow in
to adults or whether they disperse to other safe forest areas and establish
their own territories. It is a general observation (and from the information
shared with dedicated frontline forest staff) that the tigers that ‘disperse’
from the core areas of tiger reserves often do not live to die at a ripe age.
They meet an untimely death due to poaching or as consequences of human-wildlife
conflict. The National tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) have stated that as
on 29th July 2015, 36 tiger deaths have been reported in India. Out
of these, for only two deaths reasons have been stated whereas for the rest it
says ‘Details Awaited’. One can understand that there can be tiger deaths due
to natural reasons also. But what makes the NTCA not mention these ‘natural’
deaths clearly? Or is it not sure about the reasons for the deaths of these
tigers? This is a grey area that needs clarity. If the deaths are due to
unnatural reasons such as poaching, the authorities must be forthright in accepting
this and work on avoiding such incidences. Habitat fragmentation may also lead
to genetic inbreeding among tigers. Therefore a landscape-level conservation
approach is essential in planning tiger conservation programmes. These
programmes may encompass many states and therefore inter-state coordination is
of utmost importance. This is seen lacking in many cases. For e.g. tigers are
doing pretty well in Madhya Pradesh but they aren’t doing as well in Chhattisgarh
although the forests here are connected to Madhya Pradesh and of as much good
quality. There are many more examples.
Involvement of local communities in tiger conservation is
important. Tiger reserves comprise of core and buffer zones. While the core
zones are the sanctum sanctorum that
buffer zones of areas of multiple use. These areas have villages, people and
cattle in large numbers. People living here have grazing rights in the forests
of buffer zones. They also legally venture into the forests to collect firewood
and Non-Timber Forest Produces (NTFP). These activities often give rise to
human-wildlife conflict. Tigers often prey on domestic cattle. The cattle owner
is entitled for compensation but at times this is delayed by the authorities. There
are cases of retaliatory killing of tigers by the affected villagers by
poisoning the cattle carcasses or laying of live wires. While this behavior cannot
be justified and is outright illegal, such incidences can be avoided if the
system of providing timely compensation is developed and implemented honestly. However,
this is seldom seen happening effectively.
It is necessary for the forest department to recognize that
the people sharing the forests with tigers have been living here for
generations together. Their lives are completely or at least partially
dependent on forests and its resources. It is observed that the forest
department often has a very autocratic way of dealing with the villagers when
it comes to resolving conflict (there are some notable exceptions to this).
This must be avoided at all times. Unless the local communities are not made a
part of the conservation planning process, no conservation programmes can meet
with success. First and foremost, interventions to reduce the community
dependence on forests are necessary. The forest department must collaborate
with local credible NGOs who quite often have a better acceptance at the
community level than the forest department.
Having local community in support of conservation is
necessary to fight off poaching. No poacher or poaching gangs can penetrate the
forest areas without the information of local communities. Poaching incidences
happen either in buffer areas or connecting territorial or social or forest
development corporation divisions. These areas are soft targets as the staff
here has other priority works than tiger protection. Many states are now
involving the territorial division staff in tiger protection but these efforts
must happen at a larger scale and across the country. These forest divisions
also must be a part of tiger conservation programme planning with adequate
capacity building undertaken for them.
And last but not the least, the overall outlook of the
present Central Government is a matter of grave concern. If we look at some of
the decisions taken in the past one year, one wonders whether this government,
with Mr. Prakash Javadekar, the Hon'ble
Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest & Climate
Change at the helm of affairs, is indeed serious about saving tigers! His
ministry has cleared 217 proposals that required environmental clearances from
the MoEFCC in just one month! All these projects may not concern a tiger
habitat but may be nevertheless important for other ecosystems and species.
Several credible conservation organizations have raised serious concerns about
the way commercial projects are given go-ahead without enough deliberations and
consultations within the National Board for Wildlife, an apex body constituted
under the MoEFCC vested with powers to approve or reject proposals concerning
the wildlife and natural habitats. But it seems that our hon’ble Minister is
worried more about economic concerns over ecological concerns. One wonders what
actually is the mandate of his ministry – protecting India’s wildlife and
natural heritage or protecting the interests of industries that threaten the
very existence of tigers and other endangered wildlife. The recent example is
the case of road expansion on the NH7 that passes through the critically
important Kanha-Pench (tiger) Corridor. Although the Wildlife Institute of
India and many other organizations expressed serious concerns, Mr. Javadekar’s ministry
yet went ahead with the road expansion work despite an alternate road
available. All concerns and suggestions were shelved quite obviously under the
pressure from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways headed by Mr. Nitin
Gadkari. There are many other controversial decisions by Mr. Javadekar that have
the potential to leave devastating impacts on tiger habitats and other
important ecosystems of India.
All this will
continue unless the general public – you and me – raise a united voice for the
tigers and other wildlife of India. This is the least as Indian citizens we can
do. We must, as a strong ‘wildlife lobby’, appeal not only to Mr. Javadekar but
to our hon’ble Prime Minister as well and let the governments – Central and
States – know that we will only vote for those who understand environmental
concerns and work towards sustainable development in India.
Today, on the
occasion of the International Tiger Day (29th July), please pledge
your support and lend your voice to the tigers in India. Together, we CAN save
this magnificent species from extinction.
Kedar Gore
29 July 2015
International Tiger Day
No comments:
Post a Comment