India - now one of the Most Favored Tourist Destinations for the Global Traveler
MUMBAI, India, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM India and the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) announces the most eagerly awaited event for the Indian travel trade industry, India Travel Trade Expo, which will be held from 18th to 20th February 2010 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai.
According to the latest Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) research released by the World Travel and Tourism Council, India's travel and tourism industry was estimated to have generated approximately US $100 billion in 2008. This figure is expected to go up to almost US $275.5 billion by 2018, growing at an average of 9.4 percent over the next 10 years. Moreover, according to TSA research, travel and tourism is expected to contribute 6.1 percent to India's GDP and provide almost 40 million jobs by 2018.
As the financial capital of India, Mumbai features on every India travel itinerary. With good air, road and rail connectivity, the city attracts tourists from all over India and overseas.
India as a country offers exciting and diverse experiences to tourists. Each state has its own unique traditions, culture and cuisine. Apart from this, the country has excellent beaches, backwaters, Ayurvedic health resorts, ancient monuments, world heritage sites, forts, palaces, hill stations and wildlife. We have all heard about the heritage palace hotels that make you feel like maharajas and maharanis, a truly luxurious living experience found only in India, and something that overseas tourists look forward to. Good hotels to suit all budgets are available all over the country. We now also offer homestays, where you stay with a family as a member of the household and enjoy their hospitality and traditional ethnic cuisine. The Indian railways now run special luxury trains, each with unique themes that cover most of the important state tourism circuits. Truly, India has them all.
"It has been a dream of TAAI to promote business opportunities in the Tourism Industry in India and also to protect the interests of our membership at large, by providing for an unique platform for networking and to take their business to the next level. This is what we aim to do with ITTE 2010," said Mr. Iqbal Mulla, Hon. Treasurer & Chairman - Marts & Special Events.
"This is indeed a historical moment for all of us when the nodal travel and tourism association (TAAI) in partnership with the leading global business media company (UBM) have today announced the creation of ITTE 2010 - the biggest, best and most unique travel mart and exposition," said Mr. Rajji Rai, President, TAAI.
"TAAI is India's one of the oldest associations in the tourism sector of the country. Its role in the growth of tourism in India is commendable. By bringing and organising the India Travel Trade Expo 2010 in Mumbai, the TAAI will be contributing in furthering the growth of tourism in India especially at a time when global recession has affected this sector all over the world. This event falls immediately after the 'Visit India Year 2009' and will help in retaining the interest of potential tourists alive to make India as a preferred destination for a visit. I wish this event all the success," said Ms.Sujata Thakur, Regional Director Indiatourism, Mumbai.
"This country is well-known for its hospitality, and welcomes guests with open arms. India loves to share her rich heritage and culture with her guests, and believes in the philosophy, Guest is God," said Mr Gandhi, Managing Director, UBM India Pvt Ltd.
A booming economy and an increase in disposable income have led to a massive growth in the number of Indians travelling abroad. The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has thus emerged as one of the key sectors driving the country's growth, and it is thriving owing to a huge surge in both business and leisure travel by foreign and domestic tourists.
To act as a catalyst and give a boost to the travel industry in the country, UBM India and TAAI are presenting this event in India as their contribution to this booming and upcoming industry. The objective is to provide the travel trade and visitors a platform which will offer domestic and overseas tourists new vistas of business opportunities.
About UBM India
UBM India is a part of United Business Media Limited, which is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world's buyers and sellers together at events, online, and in print, providing them with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, and from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. Worldwide, UBM organizes 300 events, publishes 200 magazines and periodicals, and hosts 200 Web sites.
About TAAI
The Travel Agents Association of India was formed toward the end of 1951 by a group of 12 leading travel agents who felt that the time had come to create an association to regulate the travel industry in India. The primary purpose was to protect the interests of those engaged in the industry, to promote its orderly growth and development, and to safeguard the rights of the traveling public.
TAAI represents all that is professional, ethical and dynamic in our nation's travel-related activity, and has been recognized as the voice of the travel and tourism industry in India. With a membership database of over 2,300 active, allied and associate members comprising IATA-accredited travel agencies, airlines & general sales agencies, and hotels and tour operators, TAAI is the largest travel association in India.
For more information on the event please contact Mr Tarun Marwah on +91(0)22-6612-2685, or email him at tarunm@ubmindia.com
Source: http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20090428/3886794en_iCrossing28042009-1.html
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Body of a female lion cub found in Amreli.
--------
Published: April 25,2009
Amreli , Apr 25 Body of a female lion cub was found from a farm in Khamba
taluk here today, the district forest officials said.
The body of the cub, which is 6-7 months old, was found inside a farm of Pipalva
village in Khamba taluk today evening, they said.
The officials said the body has been sent to the Forest Department&aposs
veterinary hospital for postmortem.
The village where the body was found is on the border of the Gir Wildlife
Scantury (eastern region).
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/558409/National/1/20/1
Published: April 25,2009
Amreli , Apr 25 Body of a female lion cub was found from a farm in Khamba
taluk here today, the district forest officials said.
The body of the cub, which is 6-7 months old, was found inside a farm of Pipalva
village in Khamba taluk today evening, they said.
The officials said the body has been sent to the Forest Department&aposs
veterinary hospital for postmortem.
The village where the body was found is on the border of the Gir Wildlife
Scantury (eastern region).
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/558409/National/1/20/1
Summer threat to wildlife.
LALMOHAN PATNAIK
Cuttack, April 26: For tigers, elephants, deer and other animals, this summer has been the worst in recent times with no rainfall being recorded in the past six months across the vast stretch of forests from Mayurbhanj to Koraput, making them vulnerable to poachers.
With average temperature hovering around 42°C in most of the areas, several traditional water sources in the forests have dried up, while the water level has receded in the rest. The situation has been aggravated this year with summer setting in early.
In isolated pockets of the jungle, migration of animals into nearby villages in search of drinking water has become a cause of concern to animal rights activists. “As the mercury rises, the frequency of such sojourns out of their habitat by animals is increasing, making them more vulnerable to poaching and hunting,” B.K. Mohanty, the secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa, said.
As the carnivores “colonised” on whatever water resources left in the forests, tiger preys like spotted deer, sambar and barking deer are among the first to venture out to human habitat in search of water. “If immediate steps are not taken to provide enough water to the animals within forest limits, hundreds of them would fall prey to poaching and hunting,” Mohanty added.
The problem is potentially “distressing and alarming” in Athamalik, Dhenkanal, Daspalla, Keonjhar, Rairakhol, Kandhamal, Ghumsur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Koraput, Khariar and Kalahandi forests.
Satkosia reserve faces the same situation, as a large part of water bodies in the wildlife sanctuary have turned dry. In Orissa, the total number of tigers are 20, according to the Wildlife Institute of India, which came up with a report, “Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India”, in 2008.
The condition in Simlipal national park is somewhat better because of its abundant water resources.
The elephant population in the ranges of Narsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Athamalik, Satkosia, Pallahara, Keonjhar and Kotgarh was also being driven out of their habitat to quench thirst. They were suffering the most, as they need vast quantities of water both for bathing and drinking.
A senior forest official said there was a “crisis”, but claimed: “We have been working on a plan to tackle the crisis with water harvesting structures. The strategy of digging saucer pits, which generally collect water from underground sources and are easy to access for animals, has also been taken up in collaboration with the respective district administrations.” But wildlife activists are not convinced. “The harvesting structures serve little purpose, as they are located not within the forest limits but outside,” Mohanty said.
“Over 5,000 animals are killed every year as wildlife managers and officers fail to monitor the situation or take timely measures,” he alleged.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090427/jsp/nation/story_10881059.jsp
Cuttack, April 26: For tigers, elephants, deer and other animals, this summer has been the worst in recent times with no rainfall being recorded in the past six months across the vast stretch of forests from Mayurbhanj to Koraput, making them vulnerable to poachers.
With average temperature hovering around 42°C in most of the areas, several traditional water sources in the forests have dried up, while the water level has receded in the rest. The situation has been aggravated this year with summer setting in early.
In isolated pockets of the jungle, migration of animals into nearby villages in search of drinking water has become a cause of concern to animal rights activists. “As the mercury rises, the frequency of such sojourns out of their habitat by animals is increasing, making them more vulnerable to poaching and hunting,” B.K. Mohanty, the secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa, said.
As the carnivores “colonised” on whatever water resources left in the forests, tiger preys like spotted deer, sambar and barking deer are among the first to venture out to human habitat in search of water. “If immediate steps are not taken to provide enough water to the animals within forest limits, hundreds of them would fall prey to poaching and hunting,” Mohanty added.
The problem is potentially “distressing and alarming” in Athamalik, Dhenkanal, Daspalla, Keonjhar, Rairakhol, Kandhamal, Ghumsur, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Koraput, Khariar and Kalahandi forests.
Satkosia reserve faces the same situation, as a large part of water bodies in the wildlife sanctuary have turned dry. In Orissa, the total number of tigers are 20, according to the Wildlife Institute of India, which came up with a report, “Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India”, in 2008.
The condition in Simlipal national park is somewhat better because of its abundant water resources.
The elephant population in the ranges of Narsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Athamalik, Satkosia, Pallahara, Keonjhar and Kotgarh was also being driven out of their habitat to quench thirst. They were suffering the most, as they need vast quantities of water both for bathing and drinking.
A senior forest official said there was a “crisis”, but claimed: “We have been working on a plan to tackle the crisis with water harvesting structures. The strategy of digging saucer pits, which generally collect water from underground sources and are easy to access for animals, has also been taken up in collaboration with the respective district administrations.” But wildlife activists are not convinced. “The harvesting structures serve little purpose, as they are located not within the forest limits but outside,” Mohanty said.
“Over 5,000 animals are killed every year as wildlife managers and officers fail to monitor the situation or take timely measures,” he alleged.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090427/jsp/nation/story_10881059.jsp
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Can tourism save the tiger?
As India's big cats face the growing threat of extinction, Kevin Rushby is both inspired and underwhelmed by its national parks' approaches to conservation
We had just regained the path on the far side of the stream when Prasad stopped. So far our tiger hunt has been unsuccessful. A group of Malabar pied hornbills clattered through a tall fruit-bearing tree above us. Further away there was another sound, an urgent and repetitive bark. Prasad used his stick to draw two circles in the dirt around some marks. Neem translated his whispers.
"Leopard tracks - they are about 15 minutes ahead of us. A mother and cub. The barking is the langur monkeys giving warnings."
We went forward. The jungle was tinderbox dry. It was almost impossible to move without snapping a twig under a pile of crackling leaves and there were four of us: myself, two park guides and Neem, naturalist and translator. Through the trees we caught occasional glimpses of the main ridge that makes up Satpura national park, a 1,400-square-kilometre patch of jungle in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. That morning, Neem had told me, I was the only tourist in all those acres of wild forest.
Where the path cleared a little, Prasad pointed out more tracks: "Indian wild dog - very rare animal." And nearby something else: a pile of whitened droppings. "Tiger."
I felt the adrenaline kick through me. In my imagination the thickets around us parted and a massive orange and black killer came hurtling out. An adult royal Bengal tiger can weigh up to 35 stone. It sprints at 50mph. How fast could I climb a tree? My assignment was to investigate whether tourism can benefit tiger conservation, but now I wondered if I was about to increase the tigers' food supply.
It was nonsense, of course. Any tiger that sensed our presence would be quietly moving in the opposite direction. One cannot, however, always be rational about such things.
Neem grinned, as if he guessed my thoughts. "It's old," he said, "A couple of weeks."
Further down the track, Prasad and his partner, Ashish, held a whispered conversation. The warning cries had stopped and so had the leopard tracks. They were trying to second-guess the cats' direction. We moved forward again, cutting through the forest past a pile of white bones, "An old kill - a gaur, or Indian bison."
Then suddenly Prasad crouched down, motioning us to do likewise. There was a whispered conversation and a single glistening drop of liquid on a dry grass blade was pointed out to me. "Indian wild dog. It must be very close."
Prasad slowly raised his head over the line of the undergrowth and I copied. Almost immediately I saw them: a pack of chestnut and white coloured hounds, more like a long-legged fox than a dog, loping directly towards us. In seconds they would be on top of us. I ducked down and got the camera ready.
The dogs, however, had sensed our presence and altered course. All I got was a brief glimpse through the trees to our left, a single adult that had paused briefly to watch us. Then, in a flick of chestnut tails, they were gone.
We stood up and relaxed. "Unbelievable," said Neem, "There were 18 of them - I've never seen so many. Very rare sighting."
I was shocked to find that 40 minutes had passed since encountering the leopard tracks. The concentration had been so intense. And what had we seen? No tigers. No more than a few seconds of a wild dog, but I was buzzing with the adrenaline.
"Breakfast?" Neem suggested. We moved on to some smooth flat-topped boulders, brushed aside a few porcupine poos and sat down. Neem took a lunch box out. "Cucumber sandwich anyone?"
The tiger, as everyone knows, is in deep trouble. From an estimated 40,000 animals in India a century ago, the number is now down to around 1,200. Four sub-species are now extinct. In January 2005 the Sariska national park was forced to admit that all of its supposed 35 tigers had been killed after a group of students from the Wildlife Institute of India searched the park and couldn't find any, an exposé that also uncovered how park officials had been falsely exaggerating tiger numbers for years. Some experts argued that numbers might have fallen below the minimum for a viable population, something that would mean certain extinction in the wild.
The psychological impact of this calamity on conservation work is hard to exaggerate. Project Tiger in India has been one of the world's most energetic and well-funded campaigns, a flagship programme whose failure would spread alarm and despondency.
Things looked up briefly in June 2005 with the arrest of Sansar Chand, the notorious poacher and wildlife product trader who had killed over 1,000 tigers, including the Sariska population. Plans for wildlife corridors between parks also raised hopes that losses could be replenished naturally from more successful areas. However, the panic was reignited this year by the admission that Panna Reserve, also in Madhya Pradesh, had lost all of its estimated 30 animals.
One gleam of hope is that some experts, including Julian Matthews of the charity, Tour Operators for Tigers, feel that the way forward is with eco-tourism in well-managed parks - something along the lines already tried in Africa. If handled correctly, increased visitor numbers, the logic goes, could encourage good practise and ward off poachers.
Now cut away to a week earlier. This time I am in Kanha National Tiger Reserve, again in Madhya Pradesh. Kanha provides visitors with the classic Indian wildlife experience, the one most tour companies offer and the one that usually guarantees a tiger sighting.
At 6am we are in a queue of about 50 jeeps at the park gates, awaiting entry to the "core" zone of the reserve. Most of the vehicles are filled with Indian families, kids excited and chattering, ladies in bright saris. We have passed through the broad "buffer zone" where villagers are allowed to live inside a protected forest. It's also the zone where privately run tourist lodges are springing up in profusion to cater for this explosion in domestic tourism. We pick up our local guide and the gate opens.
Our first objective, like everyone else, is to reach "The Centre". This is the Park HQ within the inner reserve, the area that excludes all humans except park rangers. At the centre you can get the numbered token that entitles you to an elephant ride, should a tiger be located. Once we have that token we can begin to tour Kanha: a delightful rolling landscape of cool forests interspersed with broad grassy meadows dotted with herds of deer.
There is no tracking, however. No one is allowed down from the open-topped jeep and no deviation from the dirt road is permitted. The net result is that the local guide contributes very little, his ground-level knowledge locked away in the front seat of the jeep. These men are usually from the tribal groups that formerly lived within the park and their jobs are the "local employment" that was part of the deal when the government shifted them out. Sitting in a car, without English skills, they are often under-used and bored.
In this situation the naturalist provided by the tourist lodge becomes the key to any understanding for the visitor. These are from a very different background: often college-educated and always English-speaking, they move easily in the luxury hotel environment. Many will become great naturalists, but their knowledge is bookish and vehicle-bound: some have never walked through a jungle in their lives.
At Kanha I was soon locked into my packaged tiger experience. The park elephants and mahouts had located a male tiger. We dashed to the centre and waited for our number to come up. Within an hour I was climbing up on the elephant with one other tourist and strolling through the bush.
The tiger was slumped in a pool of water, lazily watching the elephants come and go with their cargoes of tourists. He did not get up or move; he probably knew better, having got used to this morning ritual: elephants and mahouts kettle him for an hour while the visitors get their pictures. The longer he is kept, the better, as each tourist pays 600 rupees (around £9) for the thrill.
I came away rather unelated. It felt like a zoo.
I put this to Dr H S Pabla, chief wildlife officer for Madhya Pradesh. "But you could walk," he says. "The lodges don't tell anyone, but we have changed the rules and it is possible to walk through the parks - with a guide of course."
He goes on to tell me that Pench national park near Nagpur has a walking trail complete with four observation towers that no one has ever used. Not a single tourist in a 100-square-kilometre area specifically set aside for walking safaris.
"I want people to come and start walking there!" he insists.
The magic formula Pabla and others are seeking is a way to integrate tourism so it energises the conservation, rather than just turn tigers into fairground attractions. My experience at Satpura was the result of work by Hashem Tyabji, a former wildlife warden, who has set up a new lodge, Forsyth, to encourage walking safaris. His use of local guides on walking tours puts the power, and some money, back in their hands. "We plan to start teaching them English," he says, "Communication between tourists and locals is one of the critical issues."
It is at Pench that I finally do get my "genuine" tiger sighting, but it is one that raises other questions in my mind about tourists and big cats.
Pench is one of India's up-and-coming parks: its tigers featured in the BBC documentary series Spy in the Jungle. Close to the big city of Nagpur, it is nevertheless wilder and less-visited - at least if you avoid public holidays and weekends. The local guides are keener here, more ready to offer information. We had barely entered the core zone at 6am when our guide stopped to look at some tiger tracks.
"There is a tigress with cubs who often hunts over this side."
We turned off on a side road and drove slowly along until we heard lemur warning calls. A few seconds later, Dhanya our naturalist hissed an excited warning: a tigress was strolling down towards the road through the forest. This time I felt all the excitement that I had expected. The tigress was wearing a radio collar - one of the individuals that had been filmed as a cub in the BBC series.
The tigress sauntered across the track and was about to re-enter the forest when she stopped. Something had alerted her. She went down on the ground, her hips working to get into a spring position. It was then we saw why. A string of spotted deer, cherval, were strolling through the trees, directly towards the tigress.
When they were just 20 feet from the tiger's jaws, they turned, still oblivious to the danger, and jumped down on the road. One after the other, they trotted across. Last to go was the fawn. The tigress waited. Her tactic would be to attack from behind, leaping on the fawn and biting its neck.
My camera was ready. It was going to be the wildlife moment of a lifetime - for me, if not the fawn. Then the jeep appeared. It was a big party of tourists, heading towards us. Our driver waved at them to stop. Instead they speeded up. I could hear them thinking . . . Are we missing something? Our driver was waving madly. They increased speed. We are definitely missing something!
The deer sprang away in alarm. The tigress relaxed, stood up and sauntered off. Success rates in hunts are never very high for tigers and they don't appear to waste energy on frustration. Unlike us. Our driver lambasted theirs.
I caught a last glimpse of the tigress as she disappeared. From behind the demands of two cubs and the dry season were clear: her body was gaunt and bony. For her, at least, tourism had not helped on this occasion.
Despite this experience, I came away from Pench, Kanha and Satpura cautiously optimistic for the tiger. With large areas of jungle still intact in Madhya Pradesh, and plans for wildlife corridors between parks advancing, there is hope that a new eco-tourist approach will have sufficient animals to work with.
Three more green safaris
Bengal tigers in Nepal
Nepal's lowlands are home to the Bengal tiger as well as leopards, deer, Asian one-horned rhino, langur monkeys and the rare Gangetic dolphin. Tribes Travel offers a wildlife-watching itinerary that takes in Bardia national park in the west, Chitwan national park and Koshi Tappu wildlife reserve in the east. The trip includes elephant-back safaris on which it may be possible to track a Bengal tiger. Accommodation includes the Nepali-owned Gaida Wildlife Camp, located on the boundary of Chitwan. Each of its 32 bungalows are fitted with solar-powered showers, with greywater collected for use in the gardens and lighting is by candles and lamps.
• A 14-night trip costs £2,035pp, excluding international flights. 01728 685 971, tribes.co.uk.
Coast and community in Tanzania
Kisampa is a private conservation area adjoining the coastal Saadani national park in eastern Tanzania. It is not a "big five" safari, but its open grasslands, forests and rivers are home to primates and many bird species. Guests stay in bungalows or tents constructed by local craftspeople from renewable materials, with composting toilets. The camp has a strong community focus, with people from five villages involved in its operation and raises money for local community improvements such as the area's first secondary school.
• From £110 per person per night; 00255 754 927694, sanctuary-tz.com.
Cheetahs in Namibia
The world's largest surviving cheetah population lives in Namibia and you can help conserve the species during a stay at Elandsvreugde (Eland's Joy), a working farm and the headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. A typical day might involve gathering data for a wildlife survey, feeding captive cheetahs and helping educate local farmers and children about the importance of conserving them, which is often seen as a problem animal. The farm is also home to kudus, hartebeest, warthogs, jackals, leopards and brown hyenas. Volunteers stay in two-person rondavels.
• Earthwatch (01865 318838, earthwatch.org/exped/marker.html, cheetah.org) has a 15-day visit for around £2,765pp.
Carolyn Fry
• Taken from The Guardian Guide to Green Travel, edited by Liane Katz, available from Guardian Books for the pre-publication price of only £12 (rrp £16.99); after publication on 10 May it will be £13.99. Order via guardianbooks.co.uk or call 0845 606 4323 quoting the code Green09.
Way to go
Getting there
On The Go Tours (020-7371 1113, onthegotours.com) offer seven-day, tailor-made itineraries to Kanha, Pench and Satpura from £1,699pp, including international and domestic flights, B&B accommodation, some meals, game drives, transfers, and park fees. Eightday group tours start at £699 inc flights. In Satpura Forsyth Lodge (forsythlodge.com) offers walking safaris.
Further information
Madhya Pradesh parks: mponline.gov.in.
Conservation and tourism: toftigers.org.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/apr/25/wildlife-ethical-holidays-tiger-preservation/print
We had just regained the path on the far side of the stream when Prasad stopped. So far our tiger hunt has been unsuccessful. A group of Malabar pied hornbills clattered through a tall fruit-bearing tree above us. Further away there was another sound, an urgent and repetitive bark. Prasad used his stick to draw two circles in the dirt around some marks. Neem translated his whispers.
"Leopard tracks - they are about 15 minutes ahead of us. A mother and cub. The barking is the langur monkeys giving warnings."
We went forward. The jungle was tinderbox dry. It was almost impossible to move without snapping a twig under a pile of crackling leaves and there were four of us: myself, two park guides and Neem, naturalist and translator. Through the trees we caught occasional glimpses of the main ridge that makes up Satpura national park, a 1,400-square-kilometre patch of jungle in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. That morning, Neem had told me, I was the only tourist in all those acres of wild forest.
Where the path cleared a little, Prasad pointed out more tracks: "Indian wild dog - very rare animal." And nearby something else: a pile of whitened droppings. "Tiger."
I felt the adrenaline kick through me. In my imagination the thickets around us parted and a massive orange and black killer came hurtling out. An adult royal Bengal tiger can weigh up to 35 stone. It sprints at 50mph. How fast could I climb a tree? My assignment was to investigate whether tourism can benefit tiger conservation, but now I wondered if I was about to increase the tigers' food supply.
It was nonsense, of course. Any tiger that sensed our presence would be quietly moving in the opposite direction. One cannot, however, always be rational about such things.
Neem grinned, as if he guessed my thoughts. "It's old," he said, "A couple of weeks."
Further down the track, Prasad and his partner, Ashish, held a whispered conversation. The warning cries had stopped and so had the leopard tracks. They were trying to second-guess the cats' direction. We moved forward again, cutting through the forest past a pile of white bones, "An old kill - a gaur, or Indian bison."
Then suddenly Prasad crouched down, motioning us to do likewise. There was a whispered conversation and a single glistening drop of liquid on a dry grass blade was pointed out to me. "Indian wild dog. It must be very close."
Prasad slowly raised his head over the line of the undergrowth and I copied. Almost immediately I saw them: a pack of chestnut and white coloured hounds, more like a long-legged fox than a dog, loping directly towards us. In seconds they would be on top of us. I ducked down and got the camera ready.
The dogs, however, had sensed our presence and altered course. All I got was a brief glimpse through the trees to our left, a single adult that had paused briefly to watch us. Then, in a flick of chestnut tails, they were gone.
We stood up and relaxed. "Unbelievable," said Neem, "There were 18 of them - I've never seen so many. Very rare sighting."
I was shocked to find that 40 minutes had passed since encountering the leopard tracks. The concentration had been so intense. And what had we seen? No tigers. No more than a few seconds of a wild dog, but I was buzzing with the adrenaline.
"Breakfast?" Neem suggested. We moved on to some smooth flat-topped boulders, brushed aside a few porcupine poos and sat down. Neem took a lunch box out. "Cucumber sandwich anyone?"
The tiger, as everyone knows, is in deep trouble. From an estimated 40,000 animals in India a century ago, the number is now down to around 1,200. Four sub-species are now extinct. In January 2005 the Sariska national park was forced to admit that all of its supposed 35 tigers had been killed after a group of students from the Wildlife Institute of India searched the park and couldn't find any, an exposé that also uncovered how park officials had been falsely exaggerating tiger numbers for years. Some experts argued that numbers might have fallen below the minimum for a viable population, something that would mean certain extinction in the wild.
The psychological impact of this calamity on conservation work is hard to exaggerate. Project Tiger in India has been one of the world's most energetic and well-funded campaigns, a flagship programme whose failure would spread alarm and despondency.
Things looked up briefly in June 2005 with the arrest of Sansar Chand, the notorious poacher and wildlife product trader who had killed over 1,000 tigers, including the Sariska population. Plans for wildlife corridors between parks also raised hopes that losses could be replenished naturally from more successful areas. However, the panic was reignited this year by the admission that Panna Reserve, also in Madhya Pradesh, had lost all of its estimated 30 animals.
One gleam of hope is that some experts, including Julian Matthews of the charity, Tour Operators for Tigers, feel that the way forward is with eco-tourism in well-managed parks - something along the lines already tried in Africa. If handled correctly, increased visitor numbers, the logic goes, could encourage good practise and ward off poachers.
Now cut away to a week earlier. This time I am in Kanha National Tiger Reserve, again in Madhya Pradesh. Kanha provides visitors with the classic Indian wildlife experience, the one most tour companies offer and the one that usually guarantees a tiger sighting.
At 6am we are in a queue of about 50 jeeps at the park gates, awaiting entry to the "core" zone of the reserve. Most of the vehicles are filled with Indian families, kids excited and chattering, ladies in bright saris. We have passed through the broad "buffer zone" where villagers are allowed to live inside a protected forest. It's also the zone where privately run tourist lodges are springing up in profusion to cater for this explosion in domestic tourism. We pick up our local guide and the gate opens.
Our first objective, like everyone else, is to reach "The Centre". This is the Park HQ within the inner reserve, the area that excludes all humans except park rangers. At the centre you can get the numbered token that entitles you to an elephant ride, should a tiger be located. Once we have that token we can begin to tour Kanha: a delightful rolling landscape of cool forests interspersed with broad grassy meadows dotted with herds of deer.
There is no tracking, however. No one is allowed down from the open-topped jeep and no deviation from the dirt road is permitted. The net result is that the local guide contributes very little, his ground-level knowledge locked away in the front seat of the jeep. These men are usually from the tribal groups that formerly lived within the park and their jobs are the "local employment" that was part of the deal when the government shifted them out. Sitting in a car, without English skills, they are often under-used and bored.
In this situation the naturalist provided by the tourist lodge becomes the key to any understanding for the visitor. These are from a very different background: often college-educated and always English-speaking, they move easily in the luxury hotel environment. Many will become great naturalists, but their knowledge is bookish and vehicle-bound: some have never walked through a jungle in their lives.
At Kanha I was soon locked into my packaged tiger experience. The park elephants and mahouts had located a male tiger. We dashed to the centre and waited for our number to come up. Within an hour I was climbing up on the elephant with one other tourist and strolling through the bush.
The tiger was slumped in a pool of water, lazily watching the elephants come and go with their cargoes of tourists. He did not get up or move; he probably knew better, having got used to this morning ritual: elephants and mahouts kettle him for an hour while the visitors get their pictures. The longer he is kept, the better, as each tourist pays 600 rupees (around £9) for the thrill.
I came away rather unelated. It felt like a zoo.
I put this to Dr H S Pabla, chief wildlife officer for Madhya Pradesh. "But you could walk," he says. "The lodges don't tell anyone, but we have changed the rules and it is possible to walk through the parks - with a guide of course."
He goes on to tell me that Pench national park near Nagpur has a walking trail complete with four observation towers that no one has ever used. Not a single tourist in a 100-square-kilometre area specifically set aside for walking safaris.
"I want people to come and start walking there!" he insists.
The magic formula Pabla and others are seeking is a way to integrate tourism so it energises the conservation, rather than just turn tigers into fairground attractions. My experience at Satpura was the result of work by Hashem Tyabji, a former wildlife warden, who has set up a new lodge, Forsyth, to encourage walking safaris. His use of local guides on walking tours puts the power, and some money, back in their hands. "We plan to start teaching them English," he says, "Communication between tourists and locals is one of the critical issues."
It is at Pench that I finally do get my "genuine" tiger sighting, but it is one that raises other questions in my mind about tourists and big cats.
Pench is one of India's up-and-coming parks: its tigers featured in the BBC documentary series Spy in the Jungle. Close to the big city of Nagpur, it is nevertheless wilder and less-visited - at least if you avoid public holidays and weekends. The local guides are keener here, more ready to offer information. We had barely entered the core zone at 6am when our guide stopped to look at some tiger tracks.
"There is a tigress with cubs who often hunts over this side."
We turned off on a side road and drove slowly along until we heard lemur warning calls. A few seconds later, Dhanya our naturalist hissed an excited warning: a tigress was strolling down towards the road through the forest. This time I felt all the excitement that I had expected. The tigress was wearing a radio collar - one of the individuals that had been filmed as a cub in the BBC series.
The tigress sauntered across the track and was about to re-enter the forest when she stopped. Something had alerted her. She went down on the ground, her hips working to get into a spring position. It was then we saw why. A string of spotted deer, cherval, were strolling through the trees, directly towards the tigress.
When they were just 20 feet from the tiger's jaws, they turned, still oblivious to the danger, and jumped down on the road. One after the other, they trotted across. Last to go was the fawn. The tigress waited. Her tactic would be to attack from behind, leaping on the fawn and biting its neck.
My camera was ready. It was going to be the wildlife moment of a lifetime - for me, if not the fawn. Then the jeep appeared. It was a big party of tourists, heading towards us. Our driver waved at them to stop. Instead they speeded up. I could hear them thinking . . . Are we missing something? Our driver was waving madly. They increased speed. We are definitely missing something!
The deer sprang away in alarm. The tigress relaxed, stood up and sauntered off. Success rates in hunts are never very high for tigers and they don't appear to waste energy on frustration. Unlike us. Our driver lambasted theirs.
I caught a last glimpse of the tigress as she disappeared. From behind the demands of two cubs and the dry season were clear: her body was gaunt and bony. For her, at least, tourism had not helped on this occasion.
Despite this experience, I came away from Pench, Kanha and Satpura cautiously optimistic for the tiger. With large areas of jungle still intact in Madhya Pradesh, and plans for wildlife corridors between parks advancing, there is hope that a new eco-tourist approach will have sufficient animals to work with.
Three more green safaris
Bengal tigers in Nepal
Nepal's lowlands are home to the Bengal tiger as well as leopards, deer, Asian one-horned rhino, langur monkeys and the rare Gangetic dolphin. Tribes Travel offers a wildlife-watching itinerary that takes in Bardia national park in the west, Chitwan national park and Koshi Tappu wildlife reserve in the east. The trip includes elephant-back safaris on which it may be possible to track a Bengal tiger. Accommodation includes the Nepali-owned Gaida Wildlife Camp, located on the boundary of Chitwan. Each of its 32 bungalows are fitted with solar-powered showers, with greywater collected for use in the gardens and lighting is by candles and lamps.
• A 14-night trip costs £2,035pp, excluding international flights. 01728 685 971, tribes.co.uk.
Coast and community in Tanzania
Kisampa is a private conservation area adjoining the coastal Saadani national park in eastern Tanzania. It is not a "big five" safari, but its open grasslands, forests and rivers are home to primates and many bird species. Guests stay in bungalows or tents constructed by local craftspeople from renewable materials, with composting toilets. The camp has a strong community focus, with people from five villages involved in its operation and raises money for local community improvements such as the area's first secondary school.
• From £110 per person per night; 00255 754 927694, sanctuary-tz.com.
Cheetahs in Namibia
The world's largest surviving cheetah population lives in Namibia and you can help conserve the species during a stay at Elandsvreugde (Eland's Joy), a working farm and the headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund. A typical day might involve gathering data for a wildlife survey, feeding captive cheetahs and helping educate local farmers and children about the importance of conserving them, which is often seen as a problem animal. The farm is also home to kudus, hartebeest, warthogs, jackals, leopards and brown hyenas. Volunteers stay in two-person rondavels.
• Earthwatch (01865 318838, earthwatch.org/exped/marker.html, cheetah.org) has a 15-day visit for around £2,765pp.
Carolyn Fry
• Taken from The Guardian Guide to Green Travel, edited by Liane Katz, available from Guardian Books for the pre-publication price of only £12 (rrp £16.99); after publication on 10 May it will be £13.99. Order via guardianbooks.co.uk or call 0845 606 4323 quoting the code Green09.
Way to go
Getting there
On The Go Tours (020-7371 1113, onthegotours.com) offer seven-day, tailor-made itineraries to Kanha, Pench and Satpura from £1,699pp, including international and domestic flights, B&B accommodation, some meals, game drives, transfers, and park fees. Eightday group tours start at £699 inc flights. In Satpura Forsyth Lodge (forsythlodge.com) offers walking safaris.
Further information
Madhya Pradesh parks: mponline.gov.in.
Conservation and tourism: toftigers.org.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/apr/25/wildlife-ethical-holidays-tiger-preservation/print
Friday, April 24, 2009
Shifting of Gir lions hangs in balance
Thursday, April 23, 2009 10:28 IST
Ahmedabad: The plan to shift Asiatic lions to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh continues to hang in balance. The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred the points of contention submitted by the Gujarat government to the Indian Board for Wildlife, seeking its recommendations on the issue. Experts associated with the case believe that Gujarat wants to buy time in the case so as to avoid any confrontation ahead of the elections next week.
Wildlife activist Faiyaz Khudsar had filed a PIL requesting the translocation of Asiatic lions from their only abode, Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, to Kuno-Palpur Sanctuary. But, on several earlier occasions, the Gujarat government has refused to part with even a single lion.
Based on the recommendations of the wildlife board and environmentalists, the MP government has spent Rs18 crore in rehabilitating 24 villages surrounding Kuno sanctuary and developing it to receive the lions.
Sources claimed Gujarat accused the board of not taking into account some points presented by it. On Wednesday, the apex court referred the matter to the board to consider the points put forth by Gujarat and file a reply by August 11.
Khudsar contended in the PIL that a single epidemic can wipe out the entire population of around 400 lions. Moreover, the area in the Gir sanctuary is not enough for the animals and they are pouring out of the sanctuary area.
"That tigers and lions cannot co-habit in an area, MP is not prepared to take care of lions, and there is no previous success story of such translocation are some of the 12 points of contention that we have submitted to the Supreme Court," principle chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Pradip Khanna said.
"The wildlife board had earlier unanimously agreed that 2+2 pairs of lions must be moved to MP to protect them. The scientific rationale was the island biology theory that if an epidemic strikes, the entire population is wiped out. Moreover, the carrying capacity of Gir has been exhausted,'' said the source.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1249958
Ahmedabad: The plan to shift Asiatic lions to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh continues to hang in balance. The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred the points of contention submitted by the Gujarat government to the Indian Board for Wildlife, seeking its recommendations on the issue. Experts associated with the case believe that Gujarat wants to buy time in the case so as to avoid any confrontation ahead of the elections next week.
Wildlife activist Faiyaz Khudsar had filed a PIL requesting the translocation of Asiatic lions from their only abode, Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, to Kuno-Palpur Sanctuary. But, on several earlier occasions, the Gujarat government has refused to part with even a single lion.
Based on the recommendations of the wildlife board and environmentalists, the MP government has spent Rs18 crore in rehabilitating 24 villages surrounding Kuno sanctuary and developing it to receive the lions.
Sources claimed Gujarat accused the board of not taking into account some points presented by it. On Wednesday, the apex court referred the matter to the board to consider the points put forth by Gujarat and file a reply by August 11.
Khudsar contended in the PIL that a single epidemic can wipe out the entire population of around 400 lions. Moreover, the area in the Gir sanctuary is not enough for the animals and they are pouring out of the sanctuary area.
"That tigers and lions cannot co-habit in an area, MP is not prepared to take care of lions, and there is no previous success story of such translocation are some of the 12 points of contention that we have submitted to the Supreme Court," principle chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Pradip Khanna said.
"The wildlife board had earlier unanimously agreed that 2+2 pairs of lions must be moved to MP to protect them. The scientific rationale was the island biology theory that if an epidemic strikes, the entire population is wiped out. Moreover, the carrying capacity of Gir has been exhausted,'' said the source.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1249958
The thing about the tiger.
Be it in Kanha, the Sunderbans or Corbett, too many tigers are still dying unnatural deaths. But why is saving the tiger so important? And how can you contribute?
Before you snigger at yet another tiger story, let me assure you that I understand your point. Yes, it is our national animal and yes, it is quite a sight even in the zoo. But in a country that is wracked by poverty, unemployment and terrorism, does the tiger deserve prime ministerial intervention?
No wonder you just don’t get this thing about the tiger.
The queen: Machhli, the famous tigress in Ranthambhore, has raised nine cubs in four litters. According to the latest national census, there are only 1,411 wild tigers left in India.
The more compassionate among us might spare a thought for it were we not repelled by rabid environmentalists who seem to value all living beings except humans. But for most, the tiger does not make the cut. It does not even make a legal pet. Is there, then, a valid case for saving the tiger?
Years ago, I was with some children at the Dhikala Complex in Corbett National Park. When I asked why they were there, they told me they had come “to see a tiger”. Why tiger? “It’s so big and powerful…even elephants are scared of it…”
At this point, a proud father prompted his seven-year-old to say “We must save the tiger” and a few other children echoed the same thought. But when I asked them why they should do so, even the parents looked foxed.
Suddenly, a tiny girl threw up her hand and said in a sing-song voice: “…because it is the king of beasts”. With a few children protesting “nooo, that’s the lion”, the parents broke into indulgent laughter.
But I had my answer. This whole thing about the tiger is not about the tiger.
Though it is indeed the king of the Indian forests, having won the territorial battle with the Asiatic lion long ago, let us not meddle with traditional titles. What children understand as king of beasts is, in fact, the ecological equivalent of the apex predator or the animal at the top of a food pyramid. In that sense, both lions and tigers are kings.
Common sense tells us that to keep the top block in place, every block down the pyramid must be in place. So a healthy tiger population typically indicates that everything is fine with the rest of the forest. The same is true of the lion, but it can serve as an indicator only for Sasan Gir National Park, Gujarat. The tiger roams much of India’s best forests. So this thing about the tiger is really about the entire forest.
In talking to children, few can match Mumbai-based environmentalist Bittu Sahgal, who runs the Kids For Tigers campaign. Some of his ploys are dramatic. One of his routines is to call two children on stage (usually a boy with cropped hair and a girl with a thick mop). He asks them to bend over, then pours a glass of water on their heads. Then he takes out two white handkerchiefs to wipe their hair dry. He demonstrates how the handkerchief used by the boy gets less wet than the one used by the girl. It’s Sahgal’s way of telling children how forest cover is essential for our water security.
Our forests are the source of 300 rivers and perennial streams; without forests, these water bodies would dry up.
There are many other reasons to value our remaining 64 million hectares of forests. A few years ago, the Centre put a conservative annual estimate of Rs40,000 crore as the value of assets exploited from forests— from biggies such as timber, medicinal plants and salt, to lesser derivatives such as tendu leaves, or firewood. This figure does not include minerals (around 75% of our mines are inside forests), encroached plantations or illegal wildlife trade. A more realistic estimate, based on independent studies, of the annual value of our forest produce would be around Rs75,000 crore.
The thing about the tiger is about protecting this treasure trove, ensuring our water security, and enjoying an annual dividend of around Rs75,000 crore. Anyone who has fathomed this has a very selfish reason to bother about the big cat.
The thing about the tiger is about us.
When I uncovered the local extinction of tigers at the Sariska National Park, Rajasthan, in January 2005, the government’s initial response was that of denial. But later, the Prime Minister’s office, the Supreme Court and the Central Bureau of Investigation got involved. There was a new Central legislation (the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006) and two new Central agencies (the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau). The budget for tiger conservation was increased fourfold to Rs600 crore in the 11th Plan.
Why then are tigers still dying frequent unnatural deaths? Why the disturbing headlines from Tadoba, Kanha, Pilibhit, Sunderbans or Corbett in the past few months? We can blame the lacunae in the system. But on the ground, the biggest threats are habitat loss, conflict with people and poaching.
The tiger is a territorial animal. There are gender concessions as the larger territory of a male overlaps with several smaller territories of females. But no two adult males or females usually share space.
If they are lucky to survive their first two years, tiger cubs leave their mothers and go looking for their own territories. However, these sub-adults (known as floaters) don’t easily find space unclaimed by adult tigers.
At this stage, a floater may kill or chase away a resident tiger or get killed or chased away. If alive, the displaced weakling or the young floater moves towards the forest periphery and may circle the forest till it gets lucky and finds a slot. Otherwise, it may find a patch that connects its native forest to an adjoining forest where it may try to shift. If there is no peripheral forest (known as buffer) or connecting patches (known as corridors) to temporarily accommodate these displaced weaklings or young floaters, the animals run into people. Such encounters usually trigger conflict and the animals are eventually killed or sent to zoos.
In natural circumstances, dispersal and deaths maintain the balance in a tiger population. But external disturbance such as mining or highways or habitation inside a forest reduces the size of the prime habitat (known as core area) and pushes too many tigers towards the buffer. These dispersed tigers are doomed if we allow agriculture, hotel resorts and other human activities right at the edge of the forest, if we cram the animals for space and pushes them into conflict. Over time, this combination of a disturbed core, a non-existent buffer and no connectivity between forests makes a tiger population locally unsustainable. Then, the remaining few are taken out by poachers, as in Sariska.
Poaching tigers is a highly specialized job that only a handful of traditional hunting communities are capable of. Without them, no poaching mafia can run the trade. But while the syndicates make Rs20-50 lakh per tiger, these hunters do the high-risk job for merely a few thousand rupees.
I know several tiger poachers who struggle to support a family of 8-12. When not hunting, they earn less than Rs50 a day if they get work as daily wagers. Their amazing jungle sense is a rare gift but it has little use in our legal economy.
The emphasis of our anti-poaching strategies has been on guards and guns. But guarding thousands of hectares of forests is physically impossible and financially draining. Targeted empowerment of the hunting communities is more feasible and effective. For foolproof protection, we need a carrot-and-stick policy that combines incentives for reforms with strict enforcement.
Most communities living around tiger forests are hostile to the tiger because the protection regime restricts their livelihood options and they also end up as victims of conflict. Such hostility not only leads to frequent retaliatory killings but also allows poaching mafias to make easy inroads. Our conservation policies need to be inclusive and offer these people enough incentives to support the tiger.
We cannot altogether deny the need for forest land to meet the demands of economic growth. But we must learn to distinguish between forests, between what is still pristine and what is already degraded. India’s conservation efforts will remain ad hoc till the government formulates a national policy for land use, decides what percentage of land we can afford to leave aside as inviolate forest, identifies and prioritizes the best forests within that ceiling, and protects the designated areas uncompromisingly.
Forget the government for a while. What can you do to save the tiger? Of course, you do not buy products made from wildlife. Yes, some of you send your children to rally for the tiger. But you can do a lot more:
• As an individual or a small organization or business, you can directly support effective conservation projects. Not only money, your specialized skills could help and you could devote a few weeks a year on the field.
• You can visit a hostel near Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, and teach the children of a traditional hunting community, the Mogiyas. A project here (www.tigerwatch.net) also trains Mogiya women in handicrafts, markets the products and employs Mogiya men as forest guides or anti-poaching informers.
• Another project, run by the Corbett Foundation (www.corbettfoundation.org) in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund-India, provides on-the-spot compensation (in addition to the government compensation that usually takes months) for any loss due to man-animal conflict around the Corbett National Park.
• You can choose from other innovative models of change such as setting up biogas plants or subsidizing LPG to cut dependence on firewood. But check if the projects are sound before investing time or money. Typically, any project that does not start showing results by the mid-term is suspect. It always makes sense to visit the project site, even if as a tiger tourist, once a year.
• While holidaying in the wild, you could opt for hotels that follow the ethics of wildlife tourism and generate local employment. Travel Operators For Tigers (www.toftigers.org), for example, is one such international movement that promises a light carbon footprint.
• If you have the power to decide for a big business house, why not trigger a turnaround? Why not buy strategic tracts of private land between adjoining forests, settle the rights of landless people residing or depending on those tracts, and hand over the land to the government to serve as undisturbed forest buffers or corridors?
• You can also just keep it small and simple by saying no to plastic, switching off appliances that are not in use, opting for a carpool to school or work, planting trees in your backyard—every little act that helps your future helps the tiger too.
If nothing else, talk about the big cat once in a while. And tell those who do not get this thing about the tiger.
Jay Mazoomdaar is an independent journalist. He won the International Press Institute award for exposing the extinction of tigers at Sariska Tiger Reserve in The Indian Express.
Write to lounge@livemint.com
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/23210955/The-thing-about-the-tiger.html?pg=3
Before you snigger at yet another tiger story, let me assure you that I understand your point. Yes, it is our national animal and yes, it is quite a sight even in the zoo. But in a country that is wracked by poverty, unemployment and terrorism, does the tiger deserve prime ministerial intervention?
No wonder you just don’t get this thing about the tiger.
The queen: Machhli, the famous tigress in Ranthambhore, has raised nine cubs in four litters. According to the latest national census, there are only 1,411 wild tigers left in India.
The more compassionate among us might spare a thought for it were we not repelled by rabid environmentalists who seem to value all living beings except humans. But for most, the tiger does not make the cut. It does not even make a legal pet. Is there, then, a valid case for saving the tiger?
Years ago, I was with some children at the Dhikala Complex in Corbett National Park. When I asked why they were there, they told me they had come “to see a tiger”. Why tiger? “It’s so big and powerful…even elephants are scared of it…”
At this point, a proud father prompted his seven-year-old to say “We must save the tiger” and a few other children echoed the same thought. But when I asked them why they should do so, even the parents looked foxed.
Suddenly, a tiny girl threw up her hand and said in a sing-song voice: “…because it is the king of beasts”. With a few children protesting “nooo, that’s the lion”, the parents broke into indulgent laughter.
But I had my answer. This whole thing about the tiger is not about the tiger.
Though it is indeed the king of the Indian forests, having won the territorial battle with the Asiatic lion long ago, let us not meddle with traditional titles. What children understand as king of beasts is, in fact, the ecological equivalent of the apex predator or the animal at the top of a food pyramid. In that sense, both lions and tigers are kings.
Common sense tells us that to keep the top block in place, every block down the pyramid must be in place. So a healthy tiger population typically indicates that everything is fine with the rest of the forest. The same is true of the lion, but it can serve as an indicator only for Sasan Gir National Park, Gujarat. The tiger roams much of India’s best forests. So this thing about the tiger is really about the entire forest.
In talking to children, few can match Mumbai-based environmentalist Bittu Sahgal, who runs the Kids For Tigers campaign. Some of his ploys are dramatic. One of his routines is to call two children on stage (usually a boy with cropped hair and a girl with a thick mop). He asks them to bend over, then pours a glass of water on their heads. Then he takes out two white handkerchiefs to wipe their hair dry. He demonstrates how the handkerchief used by the boy gets less wet than the one used by the girl. It’s Sahgal’s way of telling children how forest cover is essential for our water security.
Our forests are the source of 300 rivers and perennial streams; without forests, these water bodies would dry up.
There are many other reasons to value our remaining 64 million hectares of forests. A few years ago, the Centre put a conservative annual estimate of Rs40,000 crore as the value of assets exploited from forests— from biggies such as timber, medicinal plants and salt, to lesser derivatives such as tendu leaves, or firewood. This figure does not include minerals (around 75% of our mines are inside forests), encroached plantations or illegal wildlife trade. A more realistic estimate, based on independent studies, of the annual value of our forest produce would be around Rs75,000 crore.
The thing about the tiger is about protecting this treasure trove, ensuring our water security, and enjoying an annual dividend of around Rs75,000 crore. Anyone who has fathomed this has a very selfish reason to bother about the big cat.
The thing about the tiger is about us.
When I uncovered the local extinction of tigers at the Sariska National Park, Rajasthan, in January 2005, the government’s initial response was that of denial. But later, the Prime Minister’s office, the Supreme Court and the Central Bureau of Investigation got involved. There was a new Central legislation (the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006) and two new Central agencies (the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau). The budget for tiger conservation was increased fourfold to Rs600 crore in the 11th Plan.
Why then are tigers still dying frequent unnatural deaths? Why the disturbing headlines from Tadoba, Kanha, Pilibhit, Sunderbans or Corbett in the past few months? We can blame the lacunae in the system. But on the ground, the biggest threats are habitat loss, conflict with people and poaching.
The tiger is a territorial animal. There are gender concessions as the larger territory of a male overlaps with several smaller territories of females. But no two adult males or females usually share space.
If they are lucky to survive their first two years, tiger cubs leave their mothers and go looking for their own territories. However, these sub-adults (known as floaters) don’t easily find space unclaimed by adult tigers.
At this stage, a floater may kill or chase away a resident tiger or get killed or chased away. If alive, the displaced weakling or the young floater moves towards the forest periphery and may circle the forest till it gets lucky and finds a slot. Otherwise, it may find a patch that connects its native forest to an adjoining forest where it may try to shift. If there is no peripheral forest (known as buffer) or connecting patches (known as corridors) to temporarily accommodate these displaced weaklings or young floaters, the animals run into people. Such encounters usually trigger conflict and the animals are eventually killed or sent to zoos.
In natural circumstances, dispersal and deaths maintain the balance in a tiger population. But external disturbance such as mining or highways or habitation inside a forest reduces the size of the prime habitat (known as core area) and pushes too many tigers towards the buffer. These dispersed tigers are doomed if we allow agriculture, hotel resorts and other human activities right at the edge of the forest, if we cram the animals for space and pushes them into conflict. Over time, this combination of a disturbed core, a non-existent buffer and no connectivity between forests makes a tiger population locally unsustainable. Then, the remaining few are taken out by poachers, as in Sariska.
Poaching tigers is a highly specialized job that only a handful of traditional hunting communities are capable of. Without them, no poaching mafia can run the trade. But while the syndicates make Rs20-50 lakh per tiger, these hunters do the high-risk job for merely a few thousand rupees.
I know several tiger poachers who struggle to support a family of 8-12. When not hunting, they earn less than Rs50 a day if they get work as daily wagers. Their amazing jungle sense is a rare gift but it has little use in our legal economy.
The emphasis of our anti-poaching strategies has been on guards and guns. But guarding thousands of hectares of forests is physically impossible and financially draining. Targeted empowerment of the hunting communities is more feasible and effective. For foolproof protection, we need a carrot-and-stick policy that combines incentives for reforms with strict enforcement.
Most communities living around tiger forests are hostile to the tiger because the protection regime restricts their livelihood options and they also end up as victims of conflict. Such hostility not only leads to frequent retaliatory killings but also allows poaching mafias to make easy inroads. Our conservation policies need to be inclusive and offer these people enough incentives to support the tiger.
We cannot altogether deny the need for forest land to meet the demands of economic growth. But we must learn to distinguish between forests, between what is still pristine and what is already degraded. India’s conservation efforts will remain ad hoc till the government formulates a national policy for land use, decides what percentage of land we can afford to leave aside as inviolate forest, identifies and prioritizes the best forests within that ceiling, and protects the designated areas uncompromisingly.
Forget the government for a while. What can you do to save the tiger? Of course, you do not buy products made from wildlife. Yes, some of you send your children to rally for the tiger. But you can do a lot more:
• As an individual or a small organization or business, you can directly support effective conservation projects. Not only money, your specialized skills could help and you could devote a few weeks a year on the field.
• You can visit a hostel near Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, and teach the children of a traditional hunting community, the Mogiyas. A project here (www.tigerwatch.net) also trains Mogiya women in handicrafts, markets the products and employs Mogiya men as forest guides or anti-poaching informers.
• Another project, run by the Corbett Foundation (www.corbettfoundation.org) in collaboration with World Wildlife Fund-India, provides on-the-spot compensation (in addition to the government compensation that usually takes months) for any loss due to man-animal conflict around the Corbett National Park.
• You can choose from other innovative models of change such as setting up biogas plants or subsidizing LPG to cut dependence on firewood. But check if the projects are sound before investing time or money. Typically, any project that does not start showing results by the mid-term is suspect. It always makes sense to visit the project site, even if as a tiger tourist, once a year.
• While holidaying in the wild, you could opt for hotels that follow the ethics of wildlife tourism and generate local employment. Travel Operators For Tigers (www.toftigers.org), for example, is one such international movement that promises a light carbon footprint.
• If you have the power to decide for a big business house, why not trigger a turnaround? Why not buy strategic tracts of private land between adjoining forests, settle the rights of landless people residing or depending on those tracts, and hand over the land to the government to serve as undisturbed forest buffers or corridors?
• You can also just keep it small and simple by saying no to plastic, switching off appliances that are not in use, opting for a carpool to school or work, planting trees in your backyard—every little act that helps your future helps the tiger too.
If nothing else, talk about the big cat once in a while. And tell those who do not get this thing about the tiger.
Jay Mazoomdaar is an independent journalist. He won the International Press Institute award for exposing the extinction of tigers at Sariska Tiger Reserve in The Indian Express.
Write to lounge@livemint.com
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/23210955/The-thing-about-the-tiger.html?pg=3
Gujarat opposes Centre's plan to relocate lions.
23 Apr 2009, 0342 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh may be ruled by the BJP, but the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday raised serious objections in the
Supreme Court to the Centre's ambitious proposal to relocate a few lions from the Gir forest to the MP jungles.
The plan, devised to save lions from a disaster that could wipe them all in one go since they are concentrated in one place, involved relocating five of them from Gir to a 300 sq km forest at Kunopalpur in Sheopur district of MP, amicus curiae Raj Panjwani informed a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices L S Panta and P Sathasivam.
He said residents of as many as 24 villages falling within the identified area were relocated in 2003, but the plan mooted by Wildlife Institute of India and approved by National Board for Wildlife was still hanging fire.
Appearing for Gujarat, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi said the state's opposition to the plan is based on solid environmental grounds. He said even the wildlife experts feel that lions could not be relocated to experimental surroundings already habited by tigers. "You cannot mix cheese with chalk," he said.
He said the number of Asiatic lions was increasing whereas the number of tigers in the MP forests was steadily decreasing. "The number of poachers caught in Gir forest are all from MP," he said hinting at the lack of anti-poaching measures in MP.
Panjwani said Gir has more than 350 lions as against its holding capacity of around 270 and no harm would come if five lions were relocated to MP.
However, the Bench asked the Gujarat government to place the new objections it had raised before the National Board for Wildlife, which would take a fresh decision on the contentious issue.
The study for the relocation of some of the Asiatic lions to MP took into account the disaster at Seringeti forest in Africa where a disease, canine distemper, wiped out 80% of the lion population within a short span.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Guj-opposes-lions-relocation/articleshow/4437564.cms
NEW DELHI: Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh may be ruled by the BJP, but the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday raised serious objections in the
Supreme Court to the Centre's ambitious proposal to relocate a few lions from the Gir forest to the MP jungles.
The plan, devised to save lions from a disaster that could wipe them all in one go since they are concentrated in one place, involved relocating five of them from Gir to a 300 sq km forest at Kunopalpur in Sheopur district of MP, amicus curiae Raj Panjwani informed a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices L S Panta and P Sathasivam.
He said residents of as many as 24 villages falling within the identified area were relocated in 2003, but the plan mooted by Wildlife Institute of India and approved by National Board for Wildlife was still hanging fire.
Appearing for Gujarat, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi said the state's opposition to the plan is based on solid environmental grounds. He said even the wildlife experts feel that lions could not be relocated to experimental surroundings already habited by tigers. "You cannot mix cheese with chalk," he said.
He said the number of Asiatic lions was increasing whereas the number of tigers in the MP forests was steadily decreasing. "The number of poachers caught in Gir forest are all from MP," he said hinting at the lack of anti-poaching measures in MP.
Panjwani said Gir has more than 350 lions as against its holding capacity of around 270 and no harm would come if five lions were relocated to MP.
However, the Bench asked the Gujarat government to place the new objections it had raised before the National Board for Wildlife, which would take a fresh decision on the contentious issue.
The study for the relocation of some of the Asiatic lions to MP took into account the disaster at Seringeti forest in Africa where a disease, canine distemper, wiped out 80% of the lion population within a short span.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/Guj-opposes-lions-relocation/articleshow/4437564.cms
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Forest Rights Act: A blueprint for future conservation.
By Tushar Dash
The Forest Rights Act has been opposed by those who fear it will pave the way for the destruction of forests and wildlife. But in Orissa there is evidence that the Act is in fact being used by local communities to strengthen their conservation initiatives
The Badrama Wildlife Sanctuary in Sambalpur district is one of 18 protected areas in the state of Orissa. Around 30 villages are located inside the sanctuary area, inhabited mainly by tribal communities that depend on the forest for their livelihood. As in other forest areas of the state, the livelihoods of these forest-dwellers had been severely disrupted because of the absence of legal recognition of their right to access common forest and land resources.
Badrama Abhyaranya Vikas Parishad, a people’s organisation formed by youth from villages inside the sanctuary area, has been working on issues like non-settlement of rights of tribal communities, restrictions on collection of minor forest produce, recognition of community conservation initiatives, and participatory management of protected areas for a number of years and has tried to evolve a framework to balance conservation and livelihood.
The Forest Rights Act of January 2008 has created an opportunity not only to secure local communities’ right to access forests but also to set out a rights-based framework for conservation and natural resource governance. Under the aegis of the Parishad, people from around 30 villages inside the sanctuary area, who are actively involved in the protection of forests and wildlife, have used the Act to strengthen their conservation initiatives. The villages already have forest protection groups with well developed rules and regulations for the protection of forests and sustainable use of resources.
In these villages, the rights determination process has gone hand-in-hand with another process – the setting up of conservation and development committees in each village, under Section 5 of the Act. This section empowers the gram sabha and the community to protect, conserve and manage community forest resources and also to stop activities that are detrimental to local resources. They also plan to chalk out community biodiversity management plans to protect and use forest resources and biodiversity sustainably. These plans will be based on existing traditional practices, knowledge, rules and regulations on conservation developed and evolved by each community. When the plans are developed, the Parishad hopes to advocate for mainstreaming them in the management of the sanctuary and adjoining areas. This will necessitate changes in the existing management and working plans formulated by conservation agencies of the government.
The Parishad also aims to explore how other provisions of the law, like the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA), National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Biological Diversity Act (BDA), and government watershed and soil conservation programmes can be used with the Forest Rights Act to strengthen community conservation initiatives and make productive use of community forest resources. For example, volunteers from village-level committees are actively involved in fire management work during the ‘fire season’. They are now demanding that conservation-related work such as forest fire management be included in the NREGS so that productive work can be generated out of the conservation process which, in turn, could provide incentives to the local community to participate in the community conservation process. Such integration could also lead to the realisation of ecological objectives of the NREGA that are neglected in the implementation plan and programmes. In addition, the organisation will try to influence panchayati raj institutions to integrate community-based resource management plans with the local governance agenda.
Badrama is not the only example in Orissa where the Forest Rights Act has helped the community conservation process. There are over 10,000 self-initiated forest protection groups in the state that have been fighting for legal rights over the community conservation process. Using this Act, community conservation groups in other parts of Orissa have also claimed rights over community forests and resources that they have traditionally been protecting. In Nayagarh district, forest protection groups have claimed rights over community forests under their protection. As have groups in other areas where the community forest management (CFM) process has been struggling for recognition and has held out against the joint forest management (JFM) process which often conflicts with the community conservation approach and practices. The Forest Rights Act now provides an opportunity for various community conservation groups to assert their rights over conservation in line with their own diverse management practices.
While the Act has directly helped the conservation process by recognising the rights of communities to conserve and manage community forest resources, it has also built hope for endangered communities to renew their efforts to save forests and resources threatened by massive industrialisation and mining. Niyamgiri, in Orissa’s Kalahandi district, is a case in point where primitive tribal groups like the Kutias and Dongrias have long protected the sacred forests and have fought to assert their traditional rights over them, in order to save them from unsustainable development projects. The Forest Rights Act’s particular provisions on the rights of primitive tribal groups, traditional and customary rights, and rights over community forest resources have given these people a chance to claim rights over sacred groves and sacred hills that are on the verge of destruction thanks to ongoing development projects in the area.
There are many such examples of how the law has created an opportunity to address issues of livelihood and the rights of forest communities. More importantly, the important issue of forest conservation.
Since its enactment, the Forest Rights Act has been challenged on grounds that it does not have any conservation potential and that recognition of rights would adversely affect forests and wildlife. But, as seen in the above examples, the emerging situation at the grassroots level is encouraging. The fact is that, until now, the conservation potential of the Forest Rights Act has either been overlooked or not yet fully explored. By securing the rights of communities over common property resources, the law has not only secured livelihoods for communities, it has also provided a framework for the protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. This framework of rights and empowered conservation can be sustained and strengthened if, in addition to community and civil society efforts, the government focuses on the emerging opportunities.
The latest status report released by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) reveals that only 271,352 individual claims and 20,172 community claims have been filed at village-level committees so far. This means that the Act has reached only 20% of dependent communities; most have been left out of the process.
What is worrying is that community rights, which form a key component of the Act, are lagging behind. In many places, implementing agencies have not responded positively to community claims and have dealt only with individual rights. This suggests that there is a clear lack of commitment on the part of the implementing agencies to ensure rights over common lands and forest resources to the community. There is a need to renew work on this neglected aspect of the Act.
The following are some areas that require collective work among communities, civil society and government authorities.
* There are a number of empowering provisions in the Forest Rights Act that have not yet been fully explored and implemented. There is a need to focus on rights such as a) right of protection and conservation of community forest resources, b) right of access to biodiversity, and community rights to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity, c) other traditional and customary rights of forest communities, d) rights of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities.
* Community rights secured under the Act, along with the empowered authority vested in the community and the gram sabha to protect forests and biodiversity, have brought about significant changes in the paradigm of conservation governance by laying a framework for rights-based conservation that encourages community participation and ownership and includes community conservation practices. This is a landmark shift in the process of conservation governance; its importance and potential must be appreciated by the government, conservation agencies and the community at large. Future conservation strategies need to be worked out on the basis of this changed framework. Ironically, government agencies have not yet come to terms with the conservation opportunities offered by the Forest Rights Act, let alone begun working on them. In Orissa, the government has recently embarked on a capacity-building programme which aims to cover all JFM committees within the next one decade, and will involve a huge investment. Government and conservation agencies need to appreciate opportunities in the Forest Rights Act, in the form of CFR rights and the empowered role of the community in conservation, and go beyond the JFM approach to strengthen the self-initiated community conservation process in the state. This would also require a role change for conservation agencies, in the changing scenario.
* There is a need for creative integration of laws like the Forest Rights Act, the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, the Biological Diversity Act, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and programmes for watershed development and soil conservation to provide greater space for community conservation groups to assert their rights over community forest resources and evolve ways for productive and sustainable use of resources.
* Even after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, forest clearances have been issued on forest land in areas claimed to be community forest resources. As the process of recognition and vesting of rights continues, and communities claim rights over common forest resources, the government authorities must refrain from giving away common resources over which communities have a substantial claim. Consultations must be held with the concerned gram sabha and with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs before any forest clearance for development projects goes ahead.
* Finally, the political leadership must realise the importance of the Forest Rights Act in solving longstanding issues of rights, livelihood and conservation. It is unfortunate that in the 2009 elections, the issue of forest rights and implementation of the Forest Rights Act does not figure in the priorities of any political party as is evident from the election manifestos released so far, both at the state and national level.
(Tushar Dash works with Vasundhara, a Bhubaneswar-based research and policy advocacy body focusing on natural resource governance)
InfoChange News & Features, April 2009
http://infochangeindia.org/200904207698/Environment/Features/Forest-Rights-Act-A-blueprint-for-future-conservation.html
The Forest Rights Act has been opposed by those who fear it will pave the way for the destruction of forests and wildlife. But in Orissa there is evidence that the Act is in fact being used by local communities to strengthen their conservation initiatives
The Badrama Wildlife Sanctuary in Sambalpur district is one of 18 protected areas in the state of Orissa. Around 30 villages are located inside the sanctuary area, inhabited mainly by tribal communities that depend on the forest for their livelihood. As in other forest areas of the state, the livelihoods of these forest-dwellers had been severely disrupted because of the absence of legal recognition of their right to access common forest and land resources.
Badrama Abhyaranya Vikas Parishad, a people’s organisation formed by youth from villages inside the sanctuary area, has been working on issues like non-settlement of rights of tribal communities, restrictions on collection of minor forest produce, recognition of community conservation initiatives, and participatory management of protected areas for a number of years and has tried to evolve a framework to balance conservation and livelihood.
The Forest Rights Act of January 2008 has created an opportunity not only to secure local communities’ right to access forests but also to set out a rights-based framework for conservation and natural resource governance. Under the aegis of the Parishad, people from around 30 villages inside the sanctuary area, who are actively involved in the protection of forests and wildlife, have used the Act to strengthen their conservation initiatives. The villages already have forest protection groups with well developed rules and regulations for the protection of forests and sustainable use of resources.
In these villages, the rights determination process has gone hand-in-hand with another process – the setting up of conservation and development committees in each village, under Section 5 of the Act. This section empowers the gram sabha and the community to protect, conserve and manage community forest resources and also to stop activities that are detrimental to local resources. They also plan to chalk out community biodiversity management plans to protect and use forest resources and biodiversity sustainably. These plans will be based on existing traditional practices, knowledge, rules and regulations on conservation developed and evolved by each community. When the plans are developed, the Parishad hopes to advocate for mainstreaming them in the management of the sanctuary and adjoining areas. This will necessitate changes in the existing management and working plans formulated by conservation agencies of the government.
The Parishad also aims to explore how other provisions of the law, like the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA), National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Biological Diversity Act (BDA), and government watershed and soil conservation programmes can be used with the Forest Rights Act to strengthen community conservation initiatives and make productive use of community forest resources. For example, volunteers from village-level committees are actively involved in fire management work during the ‘fire season’. They are now demanding that conservation-related work such as forest fire management be included in the NREGS so that productive work can be generated out of the conservation process which, in turn, could provide incentives to the local community to participate in the community conservation process. Such integration could also lead to the realisation of ecological objectives of the NREGA that are neglected in the implementation plan and programmes. In addition, the organisation will try to influence panchayati raj institutions to integrate community-based resource management plans with the local governance agenda.
Badrama is not the only example in Orissa where the Forest Rights Act has helped the community conservation process. There are over 10,000 self-initiated forest protection groups in the state that have been fighting for legal rights over the community conservation process. Using this Act, community conservation groups in other parts of Orissa have also claimed rights over community forests and resources that they have traditionally been protecting. In Nayagarh district, forest protection groups have claimed rights over community forests under their protection. As have groups in other areas where the community forest management (CFM) process has been struggling for recognition and has held out against the joint forest management (JFM) process which often conflicts with the community conservation approach and practices. The Forest Rights Act now provides an opportunity for various community conservation groups to assert their rights over conservation in line with their own diverse management practices.
While the Act has directly helped the conservation process by recognising the rights of communities to conserve and manage community forest resources, it has also built hope for endangered communities to renew their efforts to save forests and resources threatened by massive industrialisation and mining. Niyamgiri, in Orissa’s Kalahandi district, is a case in point where primitive tribal groups like the Kutias and Dongrias have long protected the sacred forests and have fought to assert their traditional rights over them, in order to save them from unsustainable development projects. The Forest Rights Act’s particular provisions on the rights of primitive tribal groups, traditional and customary rights, and rights over community forest resources have given these people a chance to claim rights over sacred groves and sacred hills that are on the verge of destruction thanks to ongoing development projects in the area.
There are many such examples of how the law has created an opportunity to address issues of livelihood and the rights of forest communities. More importantly, the important issue of forest conservation.
Since its enactment, the Forest Rights Act has been challenged on grounds that it does not have any conservation potential and that recognition of rights would adversely affect forests and wildlife. But, as seen in the above examples, the emerging situation at the grassroots level is encouraging. The fact is that, until now, the conservation potential of the Forest Rights Act has either been overlooked or not yet fully explored. By securing the rights of communities over common property resources, the law has not only secured livelihoods for communities, it has also provided a framework for the protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. This framework of rights and empowered conservation can be sustained and strengthened if, in addition to community and civil society efforts, the government focuses on the emerging opportunities.
The latest status report released by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) reveals that only 271,352 individual claims and 20,172 community claims have been filed at village-level committees so far. This means that the Act has reached only 20% of dependent communities; most have been left out of the process.
What is worrying is that community rights, which form a key component of the Act, are lagging behind. In many places, implementing agencies have not responded positively to community claims and have dealt only with individual rights. This suggests that there is a clear lack of commitment on the part of the implementing agencies to ensure rights over common lands and forest resources to the community. There is a need to renew work on this neglected aspect of the Act.
The following are some areas that require collective work among communities, civil society and government authorities.
* There are a number of empowering provisions in the Forest Rights Act that have not yet been fully explored and implemented. There is a need to focus on rights such as a) right of protection and conservation of community forest resources, b) right of access to biodiversity, and community rights to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity, c) other traditional and customary rights of forest communities, d) rights of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities.
* Community rights secured under the Act, along with the empowered authority vested in the community and the gram sabha to protect forests and biodiversity, have brought about significant changes in the paradigm of conservation governance by laying a framework for rights-based conservation that encourages community participation and ownership and includes community conservation practices. This is a landmark shift in the process of conservation governance; its importance and potential must be appreciated by the government, conservation agencies and the community at large. Future conservation strategies need to be worked out on the basis of this changed framework. Ironically, government agencies have not yet come to terms with the conservation opportunities offered by the Forest Rights Act, let alone begun working on them. In Orissa, the government has recently embarked on a capacity-building programme which aims to cover all JFM committees within the next one decade, and will involve a huge investment. Government and conservation agencies need to appreciate opportunities in the Forest Rights Act, in the form of CFR rights and the empowered role of the community in conservation, and go beyond the JFM approach to strengthen the self-initiated community conservation process in the state. This would also require a role change for conservation agencies, in the changing scenario.
* There is a need for creative integration of laws like the Forest Rights Act, the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, the Biological Diversity Act, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and programmes for watershed development and soil conservation to provide greater space for community conservation groups to assert their rights over community forest resources and evolve ways for productive and sustainable use of resources.
* Even after the enactment of the Forest Rights Act, forest clearances have been issued on forest land in areas claimed to be community forest resources. As the process of recognition and vesting of rights continues, and communities claim rights over common forest resources, the government authorities must refrain from giving away common resources over which communities have a substantial claim. Consultations must be held with the concerned gram sabha and with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs before any forest clearance for development projects goes ahead.
* Finally, the political leadership must realise the importance of the Forest Rights Act in solving longstanding issues of rights, livelihood and conservation. It is unfortunate that in the 2009 elections, the issue of forest rights and implementation of the Forest Rights Act does not figure in the priorities of any political party as is evident from the election manifestos released so far, both at the state and national level.
(Tushar Dash works with Vasundhara, a Bhubaneswar-based research and policy advocacy body focusing on natural resource governance)
InfoChange News & Features, April 2009
http://infochangeindia.org/200904207698/Environment/Features/Forest-Rights-Act-A-blueprint-for-future-conservation.html
World's major rivers 'drying up'.
By Matt McGrath
BBC environment reporter
Water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have declined significantly over the past 50 years, US researchers say.
They say the reduced flows are linked to climate change and will have a major impact as the human population grows.
The only area with a significant increase in water flows was the Arctic due to a greater snow and ice melting.
The study was published in the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Journal of Climate.
Rainfall patterns 'altered'
From the Yellow river in northern China to the Ganges in India to the Colorado river in the United States - the US scientists say that the major sources of fresh water for much of the world's population are in decline.
The researchers analysed water flows in more than 900 rivers over a 50-year period to 2004.
They found that there was an overall decline in the amount of water flowing into the world's oceans.
Much of the reduction has been caused by human activities such as the building of dams and the diversion of water for agriculture.
But the researchers highlighted the contribution of climate change, saying that rising temperatures were altering rainfall patterns and increasing rates of evaporation.
The authors say they are concerned that the decline in freshwater sources will continue with serious repercussions for a growing global population.
While some major rivers, including the Brahmaputra in South Asia and the Yangtze in China, have larger water flows, there is concern that the increased volume comes from the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas.
This means that in future these rivers might decline significantly as the glaciers disappear.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8011497.stm
BBC environment reporter
Water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have declined significantly over the past 50 years, US researchers say.
They say the reduced flows are linked to climate change and will have a major impact as the human population grows.
The only area with a significant increase in water flows was the Arctic due to a greater snow and ice melting.
The study was published in the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Journal of Climate.
Rainfall patterns 'altered'
From the Yellow river in northern China to the Ganges in India to the Colorado river in the United States - the US scientists say that the major sources of fresh water for much of the world's population are in decline.
The researchers analysed water flows in more than 900 rivers over a 50-year period to 2004.
They found that there was an overall decline in the amount of water flowing into the world's oceans.
Much of the reduction has been caused by human activities such as the building of dams and the diversion of water for agriculture.
But the researchers highlighted the contribution of climate change, saying that rising temperatures were altering rainfall patterns and increasing rates of evaporation.
The authors say they are concerned that the decline in freshwater sources will continue with serious repercussions for a growing global population.
While some major rivers, including the Brahmaputra in South Asia and the Yangtze in China, have larger water flows, there is concern that the increased volume comes from the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas.
This means that in future these rivers might decline significantly as the glaciers disappear.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8011497.stm
Environment takes a back seat.
Ashwin Aghor
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 3:12 IST
Mumbai: While the ever worsening problem of global warming and climate change has already started showing its effects, future rulers of the nation have completely ignored it.
Manifestos of political parties have all the colours, but green. Almost all the political leaders have conveniently forgotten the issue and no one is even talking about it.
"There is not a single political leader who is talking about the issues like state and Central grazing policy and man-animal conflict in Vidarbha. Cattle from Gujarat and Rajasthan migrate to the state for fodder and add to the already existing fodder problems here," said Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation, an NGO working for environment and forest conservation in central India.
He said that grazing policy has not changed since 1968. "A faulty grazing policy has resulted in acute fodder shortage, and has led to steep decline in cattle population and subsequently milk production," said Rithe. He said that people's representatives, who created much hue and cry when the man-animal conflict was on peak in Chandrapur district, have totally forgotten it during the election campaign.
"Almost all of them are after destroying rich forest cover in the district by supporting various coal mines proposed in the area. They are deliberately delaying formation of eco-sensitive zones around protected areas in the state. Once the eco-sensitive zones are announced, they would not be able to bring in coal mines," said Rithe.
Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust alleged that the NCP leaders are determined to allot a coal mine near Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve to Adani Mining Private Limited. "The mine will destroy 1,800-hactare rich forest in Chandrapur. Surprisingly, no political leader is opposing it despite it being against national forest policy.
Climate change expert Nishikant Kale from Amravati said, "Vidarbha needs an urgent revolution through clean energy sources doing away with coal. Global warming has already started showing its effects in Vidarbha, especially on agriculture sector."
He opined that delay in implementation of national bio-fuel policy would further worsen the problem. "It is high time the policy was implemented which was announced in March 2008," said Kale.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1249248
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 3:12 IST
Mumbai: While the ever worsening problem of global warming and climate change has already started showing its effects, future rulers of the nation have completely ignored it.
Manifestos of political parties have all the colours, but green. Almost all the political leaders have conveniently forgotten the issue and no one is even talking about it.
"There is not a single political leader who is talking about the issues like state and Central grazing policy and man-animal conflict in Vidarbha. Cattle from Gujarat and Rajasthan migrate to the state for fodder and add to the already existing fodder problems here," said Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation, an NGO working for environment and forest conservation in central India.
He said that grazing policy has not changed since 1968. "A faulty grazing policy has resulted in acute fodder shortage, and has led to steep decline in cattle population and subsequently milk production," said Rithe. He said that people's representatives, who created much hue and cry when the man-animal conflict was on peak in Chandrapur district, have totally forgotten it during the election campaign.
"Almost all of them are after destroying rich forest cover in the district by supporting various coal mines proposed in the area. They are deliberately delaying formation of eco-sensitive zones around protected areas in the state. Once the eco-sensitive zones are announced, they would not be able to bring in coal mines," said Rithe.
Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust alleged that the NCP leaders are determined to allot a coal mine near Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve to Adani Mining Private Limited. "The mine will destroy 1,800-hactare rich forest in Chandrapur. Surprisingly, no political leader is opposing it despite it being against national forest policy.
Climate change expert Nishikant Kale from Amravati said, "Vidarbha needs an urgent revolution through clean energy sources doing away with coal. Global warming has already started showing its effects in Vidarbha, especially on agriculture sector."
He opined that delay in implementation of national bio-fuel policy would further worsen the problem. "It is high time the policy was implemented which was announced in March 2008," said Kale.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1249248
Wildlife tour India: Unveil the exuberant and astonishing Wildlife of India.
Submitted by sharma.rajendra on April 21, 2009 - 10:16pm.
Wildlife tour India takes you on a breathtaking journey through some of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and world heritage sites, which are home to numerous big and small creatures having made this part of the earth their habitat for thousands of years. There are close to over four hundred wildlife sanctuaries and about eighty national parks in India, and it will indeed be an eye-opening experience for you to get acquainted with some of the most fascinating species living in the midst of an amazing and mesmerizing natural setting.
The land of India is dotted with some of the most beautiful wild life sanctuaries housing some unique animal and bird species. Wildlife tour India gives you an opportunity to experience first hand the habitat of Asiatic lions in the Gir National Park in Saurashtra region, Royal Bengal tigers in Sunderbans in Bengal, the unique one-horned rhinoceros on the swampy floodplains of Brahmaputra river, the Indian elephant in the north-eastern part of the country, blue-eyed white tigers in Nandan Kanan of Orissa, snow leopard in Nanda Devi National Park in the Himalayan range, the black buck found exclusively in India in a number of wildlife reserves all across northern and western parts of the country.
Source: http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/28126
Wildlife tour India takes you on a breathtaking journey through some of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and world heritage sites, which are home to numerous big and small creatures having made this part of the earth their habitat for thousands of years. There are close to over four hundred wildlife sanctuaries and about eighty national parks in India, and it will indeed be an eye-opening experience for you to get acquainted with some of the most fascinating species living in the midst of an amazing and mesmerizing natural setting.
The land of India is dotted with some of the most beautiful wild life sanctuaries housing some unique animal and bird species. Wildlife tour India gives you an opportunity to experience first hand the habitat of Asiatic lions in the Gir National Park in Saurashtra region, Royal Bengal tigers in Sunderbans in Bengal, the unique one-horned rhinoceros on the swampy floodplains of Brahmaputra river, the Indian elephant in the north-eastern part of the country, blue-eyed white tigers in Nandan Kanan of Orissa, snow leopard in Nanda Devi National Park in the Himalayan range, the black buck found exclusively in India in a number of wildlife reserves all across northern and western parts of the country.
Source: http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/28126
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
All’s fair in love and roar.
Dudley Zoo's New LionEvery new relationship has its up its downs, and it turns out things are no different in the animal kingdom.
Dudley Zoo’s newest resident Itar the lion found the road to romance can be rocky during a lovers’ tiff over an old bucket.
Gir the lioness took offence to her new suitor paying more attention to the bucket than to her.
But it was nothing more than a storm in a teacup and the two cats were soon back to frolicking in the sunshine.
Since they were introduced last week, keepers at the zoo in Castle Hill have been delighted by how well they have been getting on.
Initially, Itar was housed in a cage within the newly-completed Lion Ridge enclosure to give him and Gir a chance to get used to each other’s company.
But the keen lioness spent much of her time lying right next to his cage and they were regularly seen playing together through the bars.
He is now free to roam around the £150,00 enclosure and zoo staff say there is a definite animal attraction between the new couple.
Itar arrived at the Dudley tourist attraction last week following a gruelling 14-hour trip by boat and road from Holland. Sourcing, securing and transporting him from a safari park in Holland was a big job, but it’s one staff at the attraction have relished.
The Asiatic lion, who weighs more than 17 stones, arrived on site in the early hours of last Thursday morning.
His arrival followed a lengthy process, which chief executive Peter Suddock explained.
“For every animal in captivity, there is a coordinator of that species,” he said.
“For Asiatic lions, the coordinator is based at Twycross Zoo so the first port of call was to contact them.
“They then use a piece of special software to trace available cats. It is important at this stage to trace the lion’s family tree as you cannot breed with cats which are too closely related.”
The zoo was lucky to receive Itar as there is a long waiting list for young males who may be capable of fathering cubs. But their previous breeding success and the investment in the new enclosure stood them in good stead.
Staff then had to fill out all of the relevant paper work – a process that can take months – but it was done and dusted in just two weeks after Dr David Beeston, from the Zoo’s education and research department, stepped in.
Itar was brought by road and boat – docking in Dorset. “Like any animal entering the UK from Europe, Itar is deemed to be at risk of having rabies,” said senior curator Matt Lewis.
“So he has to go in to quarantine for a period of six months. But as they are sharing the enclosure, the whole of Lion Ridge is now a designated quarantine zone – it basically means there is a lot of foot washing and segregating of rubbish.”
Source: http://www.expressandstar.com/2009/04/21/alls-fair-in-love-and-roar/
Dudley Zoo’s newest resident Itar the lion found the road to romance can be rocky during a lovers’ tiff over an old bucket.
Gir the lioness took offence to her new suitor paying more attention to the bucket than to her.
But it was nothing more than a storm in a teacup and the two cats were soon back to frolicking in the sunshine.
Since they were introduced last week, keepers at the zoo in Castle Hill have been delighted by how well they have been getting on.
Initially, Itar was housed in a cage within the newly-completed Lion Ridge enclosure to give him and Gir a chance to get used to each other’s company.
But the keen lioness spent much of her time lying right next to his cage and they were regularly seen playing together through the bars.
He is now free to roam around the £150,00 enclosure and zoo staff say there is a definite animal attraction between the new couple.
Itar arrived at the Dudley tourist attraction last week following a gruelling 14-hour trip by boat and road from Holland. Sourcing, securing and transporting him from a safari park in Holland was a big job, but it’s one staff at the attraction have relished.
The Asiatic lion, who weighs more than 17 stones, arrived on site in the early hours of last Thursday morning.
His arrival followed a lengthy process, which chief executive Peter Suddock explained.
“For every animal in captivity, there is a coordinator of that species,” he said.
“For Asiatic lions, the coordinator is based at Twycross Zoo so the first port of call was to contact them.
“They then use a piece of special software to trace available cats. It is important at this stage to trace the lion’s family tree as you cannot breed with cats which are too closely related.”
The zoo was lucky to receive Itar as there is a long waiting list for young males who may be capable of fathering cubs. But their previous breeding success and the investment in the new enclosure stood them in good stead.
Staff then had to fill out all of the relevant paper work – a process that can take months – but it was done and dusted in just two weeks after Dr David Beeston, from the Zoo’s education and research department, stepped in.
Itar was brought by road and boat – docking in Dorset. “Like any animal entering the UK from Europe, Itar is deemed to be at risk of having rabies,” said senior curator Matt Lewis.
“So he has to go in to quarantine for a period of six months. But as they are sharing the enclosure, the whole of Lion Ridge is now a designated quarantine zone – it basically means there is a lot of foot washing and segregating of rubbish.”
Source: http://www.expressandstar.com/2009/04/21/alls-fair-in-love-and-roar/
Three money-saving tips for Earth Day 2009.
Earth Day offers great opportunities to protect the environment — as well as our pocketbooks.
Some of the familiar admonitions really do work: Recycle and reuse, drive less and ride the bus more often, install programmable thermostats, take reusable shopping bags to grocery stores, pay bills online.
Given the tough economic times, more people on this Earth Day will look extra hard at how they can whittle down their energy bills or otherwise save money. Among the ideas:
•Unplug unused electronic appliances.
For instance, unplugging a DVD player could save 12 cents a week in electricity, based on the price of power in the Kansas City area. Doesn’t sound like a lot?
Then add in game consoles, computers, printers, radios, phone chargers and other gear, and a family could save around $70 a year by unplugging unused appliances. Or by turning off power strips connected to the appliances. And the savings could jump an additional $100 a year by unplugging a turned-off plasma TV.
•Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
They cost more up front, but in the Kansas City area one compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb can save about 40 cents a week — or more than $20 a year — in electricity costs compared with a traditional light bulb.
If 100,000 households each use a dozen CFL bulbs, the savings could reach $24 million, and even more dramatic reductions in electrical demand.
•Fix water leaks.
The average Kansas City homeowner pays $20 a month for water. But that figure could drop by $6 to $7 a month with just a few actions, or up to $84 a year. The top priorities are to fix leaky toilets, buy energy efficient clothes washers and use low-pressure shower heads.
If 100,000 households adopted these changes, it could total $8.4 million in savings.
Earth Day 2009 will make a profound difference if area residents commit to changing their behaviors and protecting the environment.
Source: http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/1155183.html
Some of the familiar admonitions really do work: Recycle and reuse, drive less and ride the bus more often, install programmable thermostats, take reusable shopping bags to grocery stores, pay bills online.
Given the tough economic times, more people on this Earth Day will look extra hard at how they can whittle down their energy bills or otherwise save money. Among the ideas:
•Unplug unused electronic appliances.
For instance, unplugging a DVD player could save 12 cents a week in electricity, based on the price of power in the Kansas City area. Doesn’t sound like a lot?
Then add in game consoles, computers, printers, radios, phone chargers and other gear, and a family could save around $70 a year by unplugging unused appliances. Or by turning off power strips connected to the appliances. And the savings could jump an additional $100 a year by unplugging a turned-off plasma TV.
•Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
They cost more up front, but in the Kansas City area one compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb can save about 40 cents a week — or more than $20 a year — in electricity costs compared with a traditional light bulb.
If 100,000 households each use a dozen CFL bulbs, the savings could reach $24 million, and even more dramatic reductions in electrical demand.
•Fix water leaks.
The average Kansas City homeowner pays $20 a month for water. But that figure could drop by $6 to $7 a month with just a few actions, or up to $84 a year. The top priorities are to fix leaky toilets, buy energy efficient clothes washers and use low-pressure shower heads.
If 100,000 households adopted these changes, it could total $8.4 million in savings.
Earth Day 2009 will make a profound difference if area residents commit to changing their behaviors and protecting the environment.
Source: http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/1155183.html
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Two lions and a wedding in western India.
ROOM AT THE INN: Roger Allnut | April 18, 2009
Article from: The Australian
IT is still cool in the early morning as the safari vehicle jolts along a dusty road in Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Above the noise of the engine I can hear the twittering and calls of birds greeting the new day. A couple of monkeys swing from branches and I glimpse a small group of spotted deer in the undergrowth.
Sasan Gir is famous as the last place where Asiatic lions can be found; only about 300 remain and I am on edge, hoping I might be lucky to see one (safari groups the previous day were disappointed). The guide steers the vehicle along a bewildering maze of roads, although he clearly knows exactly where he is within the confines of the sanctuary. Suddenly the air is pierced by a great roar and, quickly diverting towards the sound, we come across two magnificent male lions strolling unconcernedly along the road ahead of the vehicle.
The lions stop occasionally to strut, pose and spray their scent while I hang out the open window trying to get a decent photo. Losing interest in these invaders of their territory, the two lions amble into the undergrowth.
The sanctuary is also known for its (nocturnal and rarely seen) leopards, jackals, wild boar, spotted deer, monkeys and birds, including large numbers of peacocks and peahens. At the end of the game drive it is back to the Lion Safari Camp outside the sanctuary's borders; this is the base from which the game drives leave each morning and evening. The Lion Safari Camp provides comfortable tented accommodation beside a small river. Water buffalo splash about in the reedy ground beside the river, while a bit further downstream women from a nearby village vigorously wash clothing and other household items before spreading them on the grass to dry in the sunshine.
A small causeway links the banks of the river, and my wife and I are asked to pose for some publicity photos being shot for a new website. We eat breakfast at a small table carefully laid with white tablecloth, sparkling silverware and even a large vase of flowers. Later I discover one shot has made it to the website.
During breakfast the sound of loud drums reverberates across the land, but any sign of habitation is shielded by the tall crops growing in the field. We are drawn by the sound to the nearby village of Bhachal to discover a local wedding in progress.
The village is a maze of tiny alleys lined with quite substantial rural houses and other buildings. Outside the entrance to a small enclosure the men are gathered, four of their number beat frenetically on drums as the time for the wedding draws close. Inside, the enclosure is packed with local women, all dressed in brilliantly coloured saris. I am always hesitant at intruding on private functions but the men of the group usher us inside, parting the crowd so I can take photos. The women all love posing and since they are dressed in their most colourful saris, the results are good. They enjoy looking at their images on the digital screen, laughing as they see themselves on camera.
We watch as the nervous groom and beautifully dressed bride tie the knot: literally so, as part of the ceremony involves tying together two lengths of material attached to bride and groom. The ceremony is long and involves many exchanges of gifts and other tokens, and we slip away, not wanting to intrude too long on their special day.
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25333341-5013903,00.html
Article from: The Australian
IT is still cool in the early morning as the safari vehicle jolts along a dusty road in Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Above the noise of the engine I can hear the twittering and calls of birds greeting the new day. A couple of monkeys swing from branches and I glimpse a small group of spotted deer in the undergrowth.
Sasan Gir is famous as the last place where Asiatic lions can be found; only about 300 remain and I am on edge, hoping I might be lucky to see one (safari groups the previous day were disappointed). The guide steers the vehicle along a bewildering maze of roads, although he clearly knows exactly where he is within the confines of the sanctuary. Suddenly the air is pierced by a great roar and, quickly diverting towards the sound, we come across two magnificent male lions strolling unconcernedly along the road ahead of the vehicle.
The lions stop occasionally to strut, pose and spray their scent while I hang out the open window trying to get a decent photo. Losing interest in these invaders of their territory, the two lions amble into the undergrowth.
The sanctuary is also known for its (nocturnal and rarely seen) leopards, jackals, wild boar, spotted deer, monkeys and birds, including large numbers of peacocks and peahens. At the end of the game drive it is back to the Lion Safari Camp outside the sanctuary's borders; this is the base from which the game drives leave each morning and evening. The Lion Safari Camp provides comfortable tented accommodation beside a small river. Water buffalo splash about in the reedy ground beside the river, while a bit further downstream women from a nearby village vigorously wash clothing and other household items before spreading them on the grass to dry in the sunshine.
A small causeway links the banks of the river, and my wife and I are asked to pose for some publicity photos being shot for a new website. We eat breakfast at a small table carefully laid with white tablecloth, sparkling silverware and even a large vase of flowers. Later I discover one shot has made it to the website.
During breakfast the sound of loud drums reverberates across the land, but any sign of habitation is shielded by the tall crops growing in the field. We are drawn by the sound to the nearby village of Bhachal to discover a local wedding in progress.
The village is a maze of tiny alleys lined with quite substantial rural houses and other buildings. Outside the entrance to a small enclosure the men are gathered, four of their number beat frenetically on drums as the time for the wedding draws close. Inside, the enclosure is packed with local women, all dressed in brilliantly coloured saris. I am always hesitant at intruding on private functions but the men of the group usher us inside, parting the crowd so I can take photos. The women all love posing and since they are dressed in their most colourful saris, the results are good. They enjoy looking at their images on the digital screen, laughing as they see themselves on camera.
We watch as the nervous groom and beautifully dressed bride tie the knot: literally so, as part of the ceremony involves tying together two lengths of material attached to bride and groom. The ceremony is long and involves many exchanges of gifts and other tokens, and we slip away, not wanting to intrude too long on their special day.
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25333341-5013903,00.html
Friday, April 17, 2009
Cowatch: Royal conservationist.
By Bittu Sahgal
‘We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability...
Driven by a passionate dedication to wildlife, Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala (joint-winner with Dr Qamar Qureshi of a Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife Service Award, 2008) is one of India’s most outstanding field biologists. He speaks to Bittu Sahgal about the origins of his interest in wildlife, India’s new, path-breaking tiger enumeration techniques and his hopes for the future of conservation in India.
How come the scion of one of India’s royal families wound up as one of the country’s premier conservation biologists?
It’s a complicated story. My grandfather Joravarsinh was indeed, the ruler of the Wadhwan state in Saurashtra but I was actually brought up in Bombay. Most of my vacations, however, were spent in Gujarat following herds of blackbuck, on horseback. In grade 1, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I had the oddest ambition - of becoming a zookeeper! I guess the jump from that to what I do was not so huge.
What about academics? You need to be steeped in academia to do what you do.
I actually enjoyed school and studying. I happened to top the BSc and MSc degrees in zoology and started my career as a lecturer in the subject at St Xavier’s College. After a training stint at the Smithsonian, I obtained my Ph.D from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, on wolves and blackbuck in Gujarat. I also secured a post-doctoral fellowship on reproductive energetics at the Smithsonian and moved on to teach wildlife science in different parts of the world. I joined the faculty of the Wildlife Institute of India in 1993 and have since continued my research on wolves and blackbuck and expanded to study hyenas, lions and tigers.
That’s quite remarkable. Is this going to be a trend in India? Is the scope for this kind of career expanding?
It must be. Over the years I have personally trained over 300 professionals from several developing countries and supervised 25 Masters and 10 PhD students. There are many like me who take great satisfaction from imparting scientific training to those who could, in the future, help restore ecosystems and help species to recover.
Were there specific individuals who triggered the direction you took?
I think it was always within me to pursue wildlife as a career. As a child, my mother, Iladevi, goaded me into academics while my father instilled a love for nature in me. Although my parents were keen I take up medicine, I had my heart set on wildlife science. At the Smithsonian Institution, I met primatologist par excellence Dr. Rudy Rudran who quickly became my mentor. He is one of the many outstanding people I have met who moulded me to become the person I am. Dr. Robert Giles Jr., a legend in wildlife management, was also a key influence.
How did the remarkable all-India tiger enumeration project conducted by you for the National Tiger Conservation Authority come about?
In 2002, Qamar Qureshi and I were approached by Dr. Rajesh Gopal, then Director, Project Tiger to assist him in developing a holistic monitoring programme for the tiger and its habitat, keeping pace with modern conservation biology. We worked with field managers and Forest Departments to devise a monitoring protocol that met the scientific and statistical rigor needed and yet would be practical and simple to implement by the front line staff. We demonstrated the working of this monitoring system in about 50,000 sq. km. of the Satpura-Maikal landscape. At this time, the Sariska debacle hit the news. The WII was asked to implement our protocol on a countrywide scale.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh, the then secretary MoEF, personally ensured total independence of this scientific exercise from any external pressures. Director of the WII, P R Sinha gave us free rein and facilitated all the needed logistics. Over 491,000 man days were spent to collect this massive data for tiger occupancy and limiting factors. Over 50 wildlife biologists worked for another two years to estimate tiger and ungulate densities. An unprecedented effort for any wildlife survey in the world!
Can you tell us how the enumeration techniques evolved by you differ from the unreliable pugmark methods in use for decades?
First of all I believe that the pugmark method was a landmark in itself at that time; we had a system that strived to assess populations of low density, cryptic, carnivores across the country. The problem was the lack of professionalism and ethics in reporting the results of the pugmark enumeration - not so much the method. The current method uses pugmarks or other signs such as scat and scrapes, as evidence that the tiger occupies that patch of forest. However, the converse is not necessarily true, i.e. failure to detect tiger signs does not necessarily mean absence of tigers. This problem is addressed by occupancy models wherein due to replicate sign surveys, we are able to determine the detection probability of tigers and estimate corrected area occupied by tigers within each landscape. Simultaneously, prey abundance is estimated by transect survey, habitat variables sampled and anthropogenic pressures in the beat, quantified in simple protocols.
How is this information analysed?
The information is all mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS) along with several remotely-sensed attributes, essentially 21 variables that depict the ‘human footprint’ such as infrastructural development and night lights. Tiger distributions (occupancy) are then modeled in relation to all these variables to develop habitat suitability models for tigers and their prey. These models then permit us to assess the potential of forested landscapes to harbour tigers and act as conduits for movement of tigers from one population to another.
How are individual tigers identified and how then does the larger picture emerge?
Landscapes are stratified as per the intensity of tiger signs and in each strata replicate samples of about 200 sq. km. are sampled by camera traps to estimate tiger population and density. The tiger takes a self portrait when it passes in front of the camera trap triggered by a heat, motion detector, or an infra-red beam. Since the stripes of each tiger are unique, like fingerprints in a human, we are able to identify individual tigers from their photographs. As time passes and tiger pictures accumulate, the number of new individual tigers being photo-captured decreases. This trend is modelled statistically (mark-recapture models) and a population estimate is arrived at for the area in which the camera traps are deployed.
What did state governments do when confronted with the data thrown up by this project? Did they even accept the reality of the new tiger numbers and status?
It would be rather naive to believe that state wildlife departments were unaware of the current tiger status before our work. Many of the problems (though not all) the tiger faces are beyond the control of the wildlife departments - beyond their jurisdiction and capability to address, for example, international demand for tiger parts, growing demand for forest land, biotic pressures, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the reason for denial of the truth. The greatest disservice an agency can do is not to acknowledge a problem in time, this precludes any effective mitigation or solution from being implemented until it is too late.
Do you think tigers will survive to see the next century?
The extinction of the tiger is not imminent. The question of how many free-ranging tiger populations will survive to see the next century is another matter. Our objective as conservationists should be to strive to conserve all the genetic, behavioural and ecological adaptations of the tiger in such a manner that the species continues to perform its natural role in the ecosystem. We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability. Free-ranging tiger populations as nature intended them to be, where evolutionary process could still be operative to give this living planet a new lease to life, would be a rarity if not lost all together. It is these tigers - the wilderness that they represent - that we should fight to preserve, not just the mockery of the species that we make of it. Science and technology will only help in preserving the ghost of these species, not what their roles were intended to be in intact natural ecosystems. This is a choice which society has to make now, as no amount of science or technology will be able to turn the clock back.
If you had a magic wand, what would you change in terms of wildlife policy in India?
It is not the wildlife policy I would like to change. I believe our policies and legislations are the envy of many a developed nation. However, it is the land use and indiscriminate ‘development’ that needs coordination. Conservation objectives rarely feature in decision making and while it is true that legally, various environmental clearances are needed, there is a lack of coordination within agencies, between the wing that obtains these clearances and the one that implements conservation measures. Conservation issues are not a priority and they rarely feature on the agenda to win vote banks - the primary force that drives a democracy.
— Sanctuary Features
Source: Cowatch: Royal conservationist
By Bittu Sahgal
‘We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability...
Driven by a passionate dedication to wildlife, Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala (joint-winner with Dr Qamar Qureshi of a Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife Service Award, 2008) is one of India’s most outstanding field biologists. He speaks to Bittu Sahgal about the origins of his interest in wildlife, India’s new, path-breaking tiger enumeration techniques and his hopes for the future of conservation in India.
How come the scion of one of India’s royal families wound up as one of the country’s premier conservation biologists?
It’s a complicated story. My grandfather Joravarsinh was indeed, the ruler of the Wadhwan state in Saurashtra but I was actually brought up in Bombay. Most of my vacations, however, were spent in Gujarat following herds of blackbuck, on horseback. In grade 1, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I had the oddest ambition - of becoming a zookeeper! I guess the jump from that to what I do was not so huge.
What about academics? You need to be steeped in academia to do what you do.
I actually enjoyed school and studying. I happened to top the BSc and MSc degrees in zoology and started my career as a lecturer in the subject at St Xavier’s College. After a training stint at the Smithsonian, I obtained my Ph.D from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, on wolves and blackbuck in Gujarat. I also secured a post-doctoral fellowship on reproductive energetics at the Smithsonian and moved on to teach wildlife science in different parts of the world. I joined the faculty of the Wildlife Institute of India in 1993 and have since continued my research on wolves and blackbuck and expanded to study hyenas, lions and tigers.
That’s quite remarkable. Is this going to be a trend in India? Is the scope for this kind of career expanding?
It must be. Over the years I have personally trained over 300 professionals from several developing countries and supervised 25 Masters and 10 PhD students. There are many like me who take great satisfaction from imparting scientific training to those who could, in the future, help restore ecosystems and help species to recover.
Were there specific individuals who triggered the direction you took?
I think it was always within me to pursue wildlife as a career. As a child, my mother, Iladevi, goaded me into academics while my father instilled a love for nature in me. Although my parents were keen I take up medicine, I had my heart set on wildlife science. At the Smithsonian Institution, I met primatologist par excellence Dr. Rudy Rudran who quickly became my mentor. He is one of the many outstanding people I have met who moulded me to become the person I am. Dr. Robert Giles Jr., a legend in wildlife management, was also a key influence.
How did the remarkable all-India tiger enumeration project conducted by you for the National Tiger Conservation Authority come about?
In 2002, Qamar Qureshi and I were approached by Dr. Rajesh Gopal, then Director, Project Tiger to assist him in developing a holistic monitoring programme for the tiger and its habitat, keeping pace with modern conservation biology. We worked with field managers and Forest Departments to devise a monitoring protocol that met the scientific and statistical rigor needed and yet would be practical and simple to implement by the front line staff. We demonstrated the working of this monitoring system in about 50,000 sq. km. of the Satpura-Maikal landscape. At this time, the Sariska debacle hit the news. The WII was asked to implement our protocol on a countrywide scale.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh, the then secretary MoEF, personally ensured total independence of this scientific exercise from any external pressures. Director of the WII, P R Sinha gave us free rein and facilitated all the needed logistics. Over 491,000 man days were spent to collect this massive data for tiger occupancy and limiting factors. Over 50 wildlife biologists worked for another two years to estimate tiger and ungulate densities. An unprecedented effort for any wildlife survey in the world!
Can you tell us how the enumeration techniques evolved by you differ from the unreliable pugmark methods in use for decades?
First of all I believe that the pugmark method was a landmark in itself at that time; we had a system that strived to assess populations of low density, cryptic, carnivores across the country. The problem was the lack of professionalism and ethics in reporting the results of the pugmark enumeration - not so much the method. The current method uses pugmarks or other signs such as scat and scrapes, as evidence that the tiger occupies that patch of forest. However, the converse is not necessarily true, i.e. failure to detect tiger signs does not necessarily mean absence of tigers. This problem is addressed by occupancy models wherein due to replicate sign surveys, we are able to determine the detection probability of tigers and estimate corrected area occupied by tigers within each landscape. Simultaneously, prey abundance is estimated by transect survey, habitat variables sampled and anthropogenic pressures in the beat, quantified in simple protocols.
How is this information analysed?
The information is all mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS) along with several remotely-sensed attributes, essentially 21 variables that depict the ‘human footprint’ such as infrastructural development and night lights. Tiger distributions (occupancy) are then modeled in relation to all these variables to develop habitat suitability models for tigers and their prey. These models then permit us to assess the potential of forested landscapes to harbour tigers and act as conduits for movement of tigers from one population to another.
How are individual tigers identified and how then does the larger picture emerge?
Landscapes are stratified as per the intensity of tiger signs and in each strata replicate samples of about 200 sq. km. are sampled by camera traps to estimate tiger population and density. The tiger takes a self portrait when it passes in front of the camera trap triggered by a heat, motion detector, or an infra-red beam. Since the stripes of each tiger are unique, like fingerprints in a human, we are able to identify individual tigers from their photographs. As time passes and tiger pictures accumulate, the number of new individual tigers being photo-captured decreases. This trend is modelled statistically (mark-recapture models) and a population estimate is arrived at for the area in which the camera traps are deployed.
What did state governments do when confronted with the data thrown up by this project? Did they even accept the reality of the new tiger numbers and status?
It would be rather naive to believe that state wildlife departments were unaware of the current tiger status before our work. Many of the problems (though not all) the tiger faces are beyond the control of the wildlife departments - beyond their jurisdiction and capability to address, for example, international demand for tiger parts, growing demand for forest land, biotic pressures, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the reason for denial of the truth. The greatest disservice an agency can do is not to acknowledge a problem in time, this precludes any effective mitigation or solution from being implemented until it is too late.
Do you think tigers will survive to see the next century?
The extinction of the tiger is not imminent. The question of how many free-ranging tiger populations will survive to see the next century is another matter. Our objective as conservationists should be to strive to conserve all the genetic, behavioural and ecological adaptations of the tiger in such a manner that the species continues to perform its natural role in the ecosystem. We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability. Free-ranging tiger populations as nature intended them to be, where evolutionary process could still be operative to give this living planet a new lease to life, would be a rarity if not lost all together. It is these tigers - the wilderness that they represent - that we should fight to preserve, not just the mockery of the species that we make of it. Science and technology will only help in preserving the ghost of these species, not what their roles were intended to be in intact natural ecosystems. This is a choice which society has to make now, as no amount of science or technology will be able to turn the clock back.
If you had a magic wand, what would you change in terms of wildlife policy in India?
It is not the wildlife policy I would like to change. I believe our policies and legislations are the envy of many a developed nation. However, it is the land use and indiscriminate ‘development’ that needs coordination. Conservation objectives rarely feature in decision making and while it is true that legally, various environmental clearances are needed, there is a lack of coordination within agencies, between the wing that obtains these clearances and the one that implements conservation measures. Conservation issues are not a priority and they rarely feature on the agenda to win vote banks - the primary force that drives a democracy.
— Sanctuary Features
‘We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability...
Driven by a passionate dedication to wildlife, Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala (joint-winner with Dr Qamar Qureshi of a Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife Service Award, 2008) is one of India’s most outstanding field biologists. He speaks to Bittu Sahgal about the origins of his interest in wildlife, India’s new, path-breaking tiger enumeration techniques and his hopes for the future of conservation in India.
How come the scion of one of India’s royal families wound up as one of the country’s premier conservation biologists?
It’s a complicated story. My grandfather Joravarsinh was indeed, the ruler of the Wadhwan state in Saurashtra but I was actually brought up in Bombay. Most of my vacations, however, were spent in Gujarat following herds of blackbuck, on horseback. In grade 1, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I had the oddest ambition - of becoming a zookeeper! I guess the jump from that to what I do was not so huge.
What about academics? You need to be steeped in academia to do what you do.
I actually enjoyed school and studying. I happened to top the BSc and MSc degrees in zoology and started my career as a lecturer in the subject at St Xavier’s College. After a training stint at the Smithsonian, I obtained my Ph.D from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, on wolves and blackbuck in Gujarat. I also secured a post-doctoral fellowship on reproductive energetics at the Smithsonian and moved on to teach wildlife science in different parts of the world. I joined the faculty of the Wildlife Institute of India in 1993 and have since continued my research on wolves and blackbuck and expanded to study hyenas, lions and tigers.
That’s quite remarkable. Is this going to be a trend in India? Is the scope for this kind of career expanding?
It must be. Over the years I have personally trained over 300 professionals from several developing countries and supervised 25 Masters and 10 PhD students. There are many like me who take great satisfaction from imparting scientific training to those who could, in the future, help restore ecosystems and help species to recover.
Were there specific individuals who triggered the direction you took?
I think it was always within me to pursue wildlife as a career. As a child, my mother, Iladevi, goaded me into academics while my father instilled a love for nature in me. Although my parents were keen I take up medicine, I had my heart set on wildlife science. At the Smithsonian Institution, I met primatologist par excellence Dr. Rudy Rudran who quickly became my mentor. He is one of the many outstanding people I have met who moulded me to become the person I am. Dr. Robert Giles Jr., a legend in wildlife management, was also a key influence.
How did the remarkable all-India tiger enumeration project conducted by you for the National Tiger Conservation Authority come about?
In 2002, Qamar Qureshi and I were approached by Dr. Rajesh Gopal, then Director, Project Tiger to assist him in developing a holistic monitoring programme for the tiger and its habitat, keeping pace with modern conservation biology. We worked with field managers and Forest Departments to devise a monitoring protocol that met the scientific and statistical rigor needed and yet would be practical and simple to implement by the front line staff. We demonstrated the working of this monitoring system in about 50,000 sq. km. of the Satpura-Maikal landscape. At this time, the Sariska debacle hit the news. The WII was asked to implement our protocol on a countrywide scale.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh, the then secretary MoEF, personally ensured total independence of this scientific exercise from any external pressures. Director of the WII, P R Sinha gave us free rein and facilitated all the needed logistics. Over 491,000 man days were spent to collect this massive data for tiger occupancy and limiting factors. Over 50 wildlife biologists worked for another two years to estimate tiger and ungulate densities. An unprecedented effort for any wildlife survey in the world!
Can you tell us how the enumeration techniques evolved by you differ from the unreliable pugmark methods in use for decades?
First of all I believe that the pugmark method was a landmark in itself at that time; we had a system that strived to assess populations of low density, cryptic, carnivores across the country. The problem was the lack of professionalism and ethics in reporting the results of the pugmark enumeration - not so much the method. The current method uses pugmarks or other signs such as scat and scrapes, as evidence that the tiger occupies that patch of forest. However, the converse is not necessarily true, i.e. failure to detect tiger signs does not necessarily mean absence of tigers. This problem is addressed by occupancy models wherein due to replicate sign surveys, we are able to determine the detection probability of tigers and estimate corrected area occupied by tigers within each landscape. Simultaneously, prey abundance is estimated by transect survey, habitat variables sampled and anthropogenic pressures in the beat, quantified in simple protocols.
How is this information analysed?
The information is all mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS) along with several remotely-sensed attributes, essentially 21 variables that depict the ‘human footprint’ such as infrastructural development and night lights. Tiger distributions (occupancy) are then modeled in relation to all these variables to develop habitat suitability models for tigers and their prey. These models then permit us to assess the potential of forested landscapes to harbour tigers and act as conduits for movement of tigers from one population to another.
How are individual tigers identified and how then does the larger picture emerge?
Landscapes are stratified as per the intensity of tiger signs and in each strata replicate samples of about 200 sq. km. are sampled by camera traps to estimate tiger population and density. The tiger takes a self portrait when it passes in front of the camera trap triggered by a heat, motion detector, or an infra-red beam. Since the stripes of each tiger are unique, like fingerprints in a human, we are able to identify individual tigers from their photographs. As time passes and tiger pictures accumulate, the number of new individual tigers being photo-captured decreases. This trend is modelled statistically (mark-recapture models) and a population estimate is arrived at for the area in which the camera traps are deployed.
What did state governments do when confronted with the data thrown up by this project? Did they even accept the reality of the new tiger numbers and status?
It would be rather naive to believe that state wildlife departments were unaware of the current tiger status before our work. Many of the problems (though not all) the tiger faces are beyond the control of the wildlife departments - beyond their jurisdiction and capability to address, for example, international demand for tiger parts, growing demand for forest land, biotic pressures, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the reason for denial of the truth. The greatest disservice an agency can do is not to acknowledge a problem in time, this precludes any effective mitigation or solution from being implemented until it is too late.
Do you think tigers will survive to see the next century?
The extinction of the tiger is not imminent. The question of how many free-ranging tiger populations will survive to see the next century is another matter. Our objective as conservationists should be to strive to conserve all the genetic, behavioural and ecological adaptations of the tiger in such a manner that the species continues to perform its natural role in the ecosystem. We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability. Free-ranging tiger populations as nature intended them to be, where evolutionary process could still be operative to give this living planet a new lease to life, would be a rarity if not lost all together. It is these tigers - the wilderness that they represent - that we should fight to preserve, not just the mockery of the species that we make of it. Science and technology will only help in preserving the ghost of these species, not what their roles were intended to be in intact natural ecosystems. This is a choice which society has to make now, as no amount of science or technology will be able to turn the clock back.
If you had a magic wand, what would you change in terms of wildlife policy in India?
It is not the wildlife policy I would like to change. I believe our policies and legislations are the envy of many a developed nation. However, it is the land use and indiscriminate ‘development’ that needs coordination. Conservation objectives rarely feature in decision making and while it is true that legally, various environmental clearances are needed, there is a lack of coordination within agencies, between the wing that obtains these clearances and the one that implements conservation measures. Conservation issues are not a priority and they rarely feature on the agenda to win vote banks - the primary force that drives a democracy.
— Sanctuary Features
Source: Cowatch: Royal conservationist
By Bittu Sahgal
‘We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability...
Driven by a passionate dedication to wildlife, Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala (joint-winner with Dr Qamar Qureshi of a Sanctuary-RBS Wildlife Service Award, 2008) is one of India’s most outstanding field biologists. He speaks to Bittu Sahgal about the origins of his interest in wildlife, India’s new, path-breaking tiger enumeration techniques and his hopes for the future of conservation in India.
How come the scion of one of India’s royal families wound up as one of the country’s premier conservation biologists?
It’s a complicated story. My grandfather Joravarsinh was indeed, the ruler of the Wadhwan state in Saurashtra but I was actually brought up in Bombay. Most of my vacations, however, were spent in Gujarat following herds of blackbuck, on horseback. In grade 1, when we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, I had the oddest ambition - of becoming a zookeeper! I guess the jump from that to what I do was not so huge.
What about academics? You need to be steeped in academia to do what you do.
I actually enjoyed school and studying. I happened to top the BSc and MSc degrees in zoology and started my career as a lecturer in the subject at St Xavier’s College. After a training stint at the Smithsonian, I obtained my Ph.D from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, on wolves and blackbuck in Gujarat. I also secured a post-doctoral fellowship on reproductive energetics at the Smithsonian and moved on to teach wildlife science in different parts of the world. I joined the faculty of the Wildlife Institute of India in 1993 and have since continued my research on wolves and blackbuck and expanded to study hyenas, lions and tigers.
That’s quite remarkable. Is this going to be a trend in India? Is the scope for this kind of career expanding?
It must be. Over the years I have personally trained over 300 professionals from several developing countries and supervised 25 Masters and 10 PhD students. There are many like me who take great satisfaction from imparting scientific training to those who could, in the future, help restore ecosystems and help species to recover.
Were there specific individuals who triggered the direction you took?
I think it was always within me to pursue wildlife as a career. As a child, my mother, Iladevi, goaded me into academics while my father instilled a love for nature in me. Although my parents were keen I take up medicine, I had my heart set on wildlife science. At the Smithsonian Institution, I met primatologist par excellence Dr. Rudy Rudran who quickly became my mentor. He is one of the many outstanding people I have met who moulded me to become the person I am. Dr. Robert Giles Jr., a legend in wildlife management, was also a key influence.
How did the remarkable all-India tiger enumeration project conducted by you for the National Tiger Conservation Authority come about?
In 2002, Qamar Qureshi and I were approached by Dr. Rajesh Gopal, then Director, Project Tiger to assist him in developing a holistic monitoring programme for the tiger and its habitat, keeping pace with modern conservation biology. We worked with field managers and Forest Departments to devise a monitoring protocol that met the scientific and statistical rigor needed and yet would be practical and simple to implement by the front line staff. We demonstrated the working of this monitoring system in about 50,000 sq. km. of the Satpura-Maikal landscape. At this time, the Sariska debacle hit the news. The WII was asked to implement our protocol on a countrywide scale.
Dr Prodipto Ghosh, the then secretary MoEF, personally ensured total independence of this scientific exercise from any external pressures. Director of the WII, P R Sinha gave us free rein and facilitated all the needed logistics. Over 491,000 man days were spent to collect this massive data for tiger occupancy and limiting factors. Over 50 wildlife biologists worked for another two years to estimate tiger and ungulate densities. An unprecedented effort for any wildlife survey in the world!
Can you tell us how the enumeration techniques evolved by you differ from the unreliable pugmark methods in use for decades?
First of all I believe that the pugmark method was a landmark in itself at that time; we had a system that strived to assess populations of low density, cryptic, carnivores across the country. The problem was the lack of professionalism and ethics in reporting the results of the pugmark enumeration - not so much the method. The current method uses pugmarks or other signs such as scat and scrapes, as evidence that the tiger occupies that patch of forest. However, the converse is not necessarily true, i.e. failure to detect tiger signs does not necessarily mean absence of tigers. This problem is addressed by occupancy models wherein due to replicate sign surveys, we are able to determine the detection probability of tigers and estimate corrected area occupied by tigers within each landscape. Simultaneously, prey abundance is estimated by transect survey, habitat variables sampled and anthropogenic pressures in the beat, quantified in simple protocols.
How is this information analysed?
The information is all mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS) along with several remotely-sensed attributes, essentially 21 variables that depict the ‘human footprint’ such as infrastructural development and night lights. Tiger distributions (occupancy) are then modeled in relation to all these variables to develop habitat suitability models for tigers and their prey. These models then permit us to assess the potential of forested landscapes to harbour tigers and act as conduits for movement of tigers from one population to another.
How are individual tigers identified and how then does the larger picture emerge?
Landscapes are stratified as per the intensity of tiger signs and in each strata replicate samples of about 200 sq. km. are sampled by camera traps to estimate tiger population and density. The tiger takes a self portrait when it passes in front of the camera trap triggered by a heat, motion detector, or an infra-red beam. Since the stripes of each tiger are unique, like fingerprints in a human, we are able to identify individual tigers from their photographs. As time passes and tiger pictures accumulate, the number of new individual tigers being photo-captured decreases. This trend is modelled statistically (mark-recapture models) and a population estimate is arrived at for the area in which the camera traps are deployed.
What did state governments do when confronted with the data thrown up by this project? Did they even accept the reality of the new tiger numbers and status?
It would be rather naive to believe that state wildlife departments were unaware of the current tiger status before our work. Many of the problems (though not all) the tiger faces are beyond the control of the wildlife departments - beyond their jurisdiction and capability to address, for example, international demand for tiger parts, growing demand for forest land, biotic pressures, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the reason for denial of the truth. The greatest disservice an agency can do is not to acknowledge a problem in time, this precludes any effective mitigation or solution from being implemented until it is too late.
Do you think tigers will survive to see the next century?
The extinction of the tiger is not imminent. The question of how many free-ranging tiger populations will survive to see the next century is another matter. Our objective as conservationists should be to strive to conserve all the genetic, behavioural and ecological adaptations of the tiger in such a manner that the species continues to perform its natural role in the ecosystem. We shall have tigers a hundred years from now, but these are likely to be fenced-in populations, like in mega-safari parks, intensively managed for genetic and demographic viability. Free-ranging tiger populations as nature intended them to be, where evolutionary process could still be operative to give this living planet a new lease to life, would be a rarity if not lost all together. It is these tigers - the wilderness that they represent - that we should fight to preserve, not just the mockery of the species that we make of it. Science and technology will only help in preserving the ghost of these species, not what their roles were intended to be in intact natural ecosystems. This is a choice which society has to make now, as no amount of science or technology will be able to turn the clock back.
If you had a magic wand, what would you change in terms of wildlife policy in India?
It is not the wildlife policy I would like to change. I believe our policies and legislations are the envy of many a developed nation. However, it is the land use and indiscriminate ‘development’ that needs coordination. Conservation objectives rarely feature in decision making and while it is true that legally, various environmental clearances are needed, there is a lack of coordination within agencies, between the wing that obtains these clearances and the one that implements conservation measures. Conservation issues are not a priority and they rarely feature on the agenda to win vote banks - the primary force that drives a democracy.
— Sanctuary Features
NGO opens itself to public scrutiny.
Paras K Jha
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:30 IST
Ahmedabad: Even as questions are being raised about the lack of transparency in usage of funding in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and volunteer organisations (VOs), working for social causes, Paryavaran Mitra (PM) - an NGO, has set an example by organising a public hearing on the issue. Ahmedabad-based Paryavaran Mitra, which is working in the field of environmental-legal and social sector for past ten years, organised a public hearing for itself at Gujarat Vidhyapith on Tuesday.
The organisation has made its mark, by its efficient working and advocating against industrial pollution that affects environment. However, the organisation undertook a novel initiative of coming forward and making itself a subject of public scrutiny, asking for their suggestion and judgements on its style of working. It asked for public's suggestion to make it work more effectively.
A committee of reviewers consisting of RN Das, chief information commissioner, Gujarat state, SK Nanda, principal secretary, forest and environment department, prof Sudarshan Iyengar, vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidhyapith, Shailesh Patwari, chairman of Naroda Enrio Project and Neeta Hardikar, trustee of Anandi Sanstha attended the public hearing. More than 250 people from industry, NGOs, academics and government departments took part in the event.
Mahesh Pandya, senior member of the organisation said, "We, as a Paryavaran Mitra have attended nearly 303 industries public hearings. While we have asked lots of questions to industries, to the state government through RTI Act, we believe it is our responsibility to show our accountability to the society as well. And while, we are working on behalf of people, we should talk to them also. Today, there are many NGOs, which are spending lavishly on public funding, but because of them, many NGOs have to suffer from the ire of the society. So, we have come up with our accounts and expenditures, incurred during the last 10 years."
He further said, "We have spent nearly Rs9 lakh/year that is Rs90 lakh in a decade and, in return, we have also provided the work, which we undertook during the same period. It is a way of showing our competence to the people, society. We had called all those industries' representatives, to whom we had raised serious questions on violations of norms and its impact on pollution level."
Gagan Sethi, former trustee of the organisation said, "Social sector and NGOs are politically abused on the issue of accountability. This public hearing is aimed at bridging the divide on the issue of accountability. By showing our accounts and results of our work done, which is nearly in the ratio of 1:100, meaning against for every one rupee we spent, the society has got return of Rs100. Let other NGOs come forward and establish better benchmarks than us. If someone is giving donation or providing funding to NGOs for tax saving purpose, it is the money which is for public works. It is routed to NGOs for undertaking development work."
All the experts in the reviewer committee appreciated the initiative and wished other NGOs could follow the same path.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1247947
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:30 IST
Ahmedabad: Even as questions are being raised about the lack of transparency in usage of funding in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and volunteer organisations (VOs), working for social causes, Paryavaran Mitra (PM) - an NGO, has set an example by organising a public hearing on the issue. Ahmedabad-based Paryavaran Mitra, which is working in the field of environmental-legal and social sector for past ten years, organised a public hearing for itself at Gujarat Vidhyapith on Tuesday.
The organisation has made its mark, by its efficient working and advocating against industrial pollution that affects environment. However, the organisation undertook a novel initiative of coming forward and making itself a subject of public scrutiny, asking for their suggestion and judgements on its style of working. It asked for public's suggestion to make it work more effectively.
A committee of reviewers consisting of RN Das, chief information commissioner, Gujarat state, SK Nanda, principal secretary, forest and environment department, prof Sudarshan Iyengar, vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidhyapith, Shailesh Patwari, chairman of Naroda Enrio Project and Neeta Hardikar, trustee of Anandi Sanstha attended the public hearing. More than 250 people from industry, NGOs, academics and government departments took part in the event.
Mahesh Pandya, senior member of the organisation said, "We, as a Paryavaran Mitra have attended nearly 303 industries public hearings. While we have asked lots of questions to industries, to the state government through RTI Act, we believe it is our responsibility to show our accountability to the society as well. And while, we are working on behalf of people, we should talk to them also. Today, there are many NGOs, which are spending lavishly on public funding, but because of them, many NGOs have to suffer from the ire of the society. So, we have come up with our accounts and expenditures, incurred during the last 10 years."
He further said, "We have spent nearly Rs9 lakh/year that is Rs90 lakh in a decade and, in return, we have also provided the work, which we undertook during the same period. It is a way of showing our competence to the people, society. We had called all those industries' representatives, to whom we had raised serious questions on violations of norms and its impact on pollution level."
Gagan Sethi, former trustee of the organisation said, "Social sector and NGOs are politically abused on the issue of accountability. This public hearing is aimed at bridging the divide on the issue of accountability. By showing our accounts and results of our work done, which is nearly in the ratio of 1:100, meaning against for every one rupee we spent, the society has got return of Rs100. Let other NGOs come forward and establish better benchmarks than us. If someone is giving donation or providing funding to NGOs for tax saving purpose, it is the money which is for public works. It is routed to NGOs for undertaking development work."
All the experts in the reviewer committee appreciated the initiative and wished other NGOs could follow the same path.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1247947
As food chain breaks, lions move out of Gir.
15 Apr 2009, 2201 hrs IST
JUNAGADH: Fifteen years ago, if a lion accidentally reached within 10 km of the Gir forest fringes, it made headlines. Today, cases of lion
sighting show that over 40 per cent of Asiatic lions have not only reached border villages, but have travelled 50 km away from Gir in search of food.
The reason, as many experts believe, is because Maldharis are moving out of Gir forest with their cows and buffaloes easy preys of the lions. A retired forest department officer, who worked in Gir, said, "Gir is a place that is identified by Asiatic lions and Maldharis. They co-existed naturally in the forest. This chain of natural co-existence chain has been broken."
"In the past, in a 1,400-sq km area of Gir, there were 150 to 200 Nes (a Maldhari dwelling), with thousands of Maldharis living there. One lakh cattle of these Nes provided 4 lakh litres of milk daily," the official explained, adding, "Whereas today, only 54 of these dwellings exist, with a mere 25,000 cattle. In a 30-km stretch, between Dhari and Kodinar, only eight Charan families, 7 Koli Maldharis and some Ahir and Rabari families live, that comprise only 20 families.
The ex-official said, "It's a fact that all those places from where Maldharis have moved out, the lions, too, have left. The diminishing cattle has definitely had an impact on habitation pattern."
Kana Gadhvi, president of Maldhari Sangh, living in Biliyad Nes of Gir, said, " When lion kills our cattle, we don't like it, but we know we exist due to the lions. We protect each other." Karsan Gadhvi, another Maldhari living in deep forest at Sap Nes, said, "Without sufficient cattle, the Gir lion has become restless. Lion, Maldharis, cattle and the forest make a natural cycle, which is breaking."
Experts believe, like in countries of Tanzania and Kenya, where gypsies are resettling, the time has come to relocate the Maldharis to their old habitats.
Another interesting fact that comes out is that of the Ahir, Charan, Bharwad, Rabari, Makrani, Saiyad and some other caste Maldharis, mostly Rabari, Charan and Ahir have stayed back.
source : sandesh
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rajkot/As-food-chain-breaks-lions-move-out-of-Gir/articleshow/4406602.cms
JUNAGADH: Fifteen years ago, if a lion accidentally reached within 10 km of the Gir forest fringes, it made headlines. Today, cases of lion
sighting show that over 40 per cent of Asiatic lions have not only reached border villages, but have travelled 50 km away from Gir in search of food.
The reason, as many experts believe, is because Maldharis are moving out of Gir forest with their cows and buffaloes easy preys of the lions. A retired forest department officer, who worked in Gir, said, "Gir is a place that is identified by Asiatic lions and Maldharis. They co-existed naturally in the forest. This chain of natural co-existence chain has been broken."
"In the past, in a 1,400-sq km area of Gir, there were 150 to 200 Nes (a Maldhari dwelling), with thousands of Maldharis living there. One lakh cattle of these Nes provided 4 lakh litres of milk daily," the official explained, adding, "Whereas today, only 54 of these dwellings exist, with a mere 25,000 cattle. In a 30-km stretch, between Dhari and Kodinar, only eight Charan families, 7 Koli Maldharis and some Ahir and Rabari families live, that comprise only 20 families.
The ex-official said, "It's a fact that all those places from where Maldharis have moved out, the lions, too, have left. The diminishing cattle has definitely had an impact on habitation pattern."
Kana Gadhvi, president of Maldhari Sangh, living in Biliyad Nes of Gir, said, " When lion kills our cattle, we don't like it, but we know we exist due to the lions. We protect each other." Karsan Gadhvi, another Maldhari living in deep forest at Sap Nes, said, "Without sufficient cattle, the Gir lion has become restless. Lion, Maldharis, cattle and the forest make a natural cycle, which is breaking."
Experts believe, like in countries of Tanzania and Kenya, where gypsies are resettling, the time has come to relocate the Maldharis to their old habitats.
Another interesting fact that comes out is that of the Ahir, Charan, Bharwad, Rabari, Makrani, Saiyad and some other caste Maldharis, mostly Rabari, Charan and Ahir have stayed back.
source : sandesh
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rajkot/As-food-chain-breaks-lions-move-out-of-Gir/articleshow/4406602.cms
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Protecting species, people.
The New Indian Express
First Published : 28 Mar 2009 02:25:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 28 Mar 2009 08:26:51 AM IST
A spate of poaching incidents in the country of late as well as encounters between wild animals and human beings have once again drawn attention to the need for implementing a policy that will protect endangered species.
This applies not just to tigers and lions — the showpiece of conservation policy in India — but all other wild animals that perforce have to share their habitat with human beings and with whom, therefore, they come into conflict.
The latest incident involved the shooting of a tiger in Kaziranga after it had strayed outside the reserve and killed one man and mauled another. Such incidents are, however, routine from the Sunderbans in the east to Gir in the west. The problem of poaching is no less ubiquitous as, in the case of tigers, Sariska had most dramatically demonstrated a few years ago. The point here is that the ends of conservation have to be achieved without infringing on the rights and livelihoods of those who also depend on the resources of the forests, especially since they are almost by definition among the most vulnerable and marginalised of people.
Given this, a policy framework that seeks to create inviolate spaces for wild animals from which people dependent on forests will be forcibly excluded is neither feasible nor desirable.
The pressure on land and resources is too intense for that to work, despite the frenetic advocacy of doctrinaire conservationists. The people dependent on the forests must be given recognition of their rights — the Act that has, in fact, conferred these rights since 2007 is, therefore, a step in the right direction. Implementation is, however, key. The grant of such rights must be accompanied by the institution of a system of policing that will also protect the wild animals. It has been suggested, not unreasonably, that this end can best be secured by giving forest dwellers a stake in conservation — for example, by ploughing back the proceeds of wildlife tourism into forests and contiguous areas to benefit the people who live there, apart, of course, from employing local people in anti-poaching/conservation activities.
A pilot project to work out the modalities is called for, keeping in mind, for instance, the example of successful conservation in Bishnoi- dominated areas.
Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Protecting+species,+people&artid=a%7CH2L4Gpyls=&SectionID=RRQemgLywPI=&MainSectionID=XT7e3Zkr/lw=&SectionName=XQcp6iFoWTvPHj2dDBzTNA==&SEO=Kaziranga,%20Sunderbans
First Published : 28 Mar 2009 02:25:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 28 Mar 2009 08:26:51 AM IST
A spate of poaching incidents in the country of late as well as encounters between wild animals and human beings have once again drawn attention to the need for implementing a policy that will protect endangered species.
This applies not just to tigers and lions — the showpiece of conservation policy in India — but all other wild animals that perforce have to share their habitat with human beings and with whom, therefore, they come into conflict.
The latest incident involved the shooting of a tiger in Kaziranga after it had strayed outside the reserve and killed one man and mauled another. Such incidents are, however, routine from the Sunderbans in the east to Gir in the west. The problem of poaching is no less ubiquitous as, in the case of tigers, Sariska had most dramatically demonstrated a few years ago. The point here is that the ends of conservation have to be achieved without infringing on the rights and livelihoods of those who also depend on the resources of the forests, especially since they are almost by definition among the most vulnerable and marginalised of people.
Given this, a policy framework that seeks to create inviolate spaces for wild animals from which people dependent on forests will be forcibly excluded is neither feasible nor desirable.
The pressure on land and resources is too intense for that to work, despite the frenetic advocacy of doctrinaire conservationists. The people dependent on the forests must be given recognition of their rights — the Act that has, in fact, conferred these rights since 2007 is, therefore, a step in the right direction. Implementation is, however, key. The grant of such rights must be accompanied by the institution of a system of policing that will also protect the wild animals. It has been suggested, not unreasonably, that this end can best be secured by giving forest dwellers a stake in conservation — for example, by ploughing back the proceeds of wildlife tourism into forests and contiguous areas to benefit the people who live there, apart, of course, from employing local people in anti-poaching/conservation activities.
A pilot project to work out the modalities is called for, keeping in mind, for instance, the example of successful conservation in Bishnoi- dominated areas.
Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Protecting+species,+people&artid=a%7CH2L4Gpyls=&SectionID=RRQemgLywPI=&MainSectionID=XT7e3Zkr/lw=&SectionName=XQcp6iFoWTvPHj2dDBzTNA==&SEO=Kaziranga,%20Sunderbans
'Dearth of animal trackers'
29 Mar 2009, 0057 hrs IST, TNN
Ahmedabad: The state has insufficient experts to keep track of wildlife literally. There are just 10 expert trackers, all based in Sasan Gir in Junagadh. And, they come to the rescue if operations need to be carried out in any other region.
Recently, for rescue of two leopards in the outskirts of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, teams were called from Gir. After this and an operation in Panchmahals, the government decided to train more forest staff for rescue and tracking the movements of leopards and lions.
"We have just five teams of two people each and they have to be sent to south, central and north Gujarat apart from Girnar and Bhavnagar areas," said conservator of forests (wildlife), Gir, MM Sharma.
The department has sanctioned the proposal and allocated funds under Gujarat State Lion Conservation Society. An additional team will be based in Surat and experts will train others.
Officials said that in the past too such training was organised but since wildlife division staff were not involved in day-to-day tracking or rescue they didn't develop the expertise needed. Trained trackers need to spend time in Gir area for at least a year in constant touch with wildlife to hone their skills, they added.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Dearth-of-animal-trackers/articleshow/4328717.cms
Ahmedabad: The state has insufficient experts to keep track of wildlife literally. There are just 10 expert trackers, all based in Sasan Gir in Junagadh. And, they come to the rescue if operations need to be carried out in any other region.
Recently, for rescue of two leopards in the outskirts of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, teams were called from Gir. After this and an operation in Panchmahals, the government decided to train more forest staff for rescue and tracking the movements of leopards and lions.
"We have just five teams of two people each and they have to be sent to south, central and north Gujarat apart from Girnar and Bhavnagar areas," said conservator of forests (wildlife), Gir, MM Sharma.
The department has sanctioned the proposal and allocated funds under Gujarat State Lion Conservation Society. An additional team will be based in Surat and experts will train others.
Officials said that in the past too such training was organised but since wildlife division staff were not involved in day-to-day tracking or rescue they didn't develop the expertise needed. Trained trackers need to spend time in Gir area for at least a year in constant touch with wildlife to hone their skills, they added.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Dearth-of-animal-trackers/articleshow/4328717.cms
This man gets his very own ballot box.
14 Apr 2009, 1018 hrs IST, AFP
AHMEDABAD: Only one of India's 714 million eligible voters can be sure he will not have to queue up to vote in elections that start this week.
Bharatdas Darshandas
Bharatdas Darshandas talks on his mobile phone. (AFP Photo)
Bharatdas Darshandas knows there will be no wait because he has his very own ballot box.
The Hindu priest lives a life of solitude in a lion sanctuary in a remote corner of Gujarat, but he is determined to have his say on who governs the country after the nationwide polls close on May 13.
It is not easy enabling Darshandas to exercise his democratic right, with three polling officials and two police men lugging an electronic voting machine over a river and sand dunes that cars cannot cross.
"I am sorry that the officials have to walk for hours to seek my vote but every single vote counts in democracy. Casting my vote is very precious to me," he said by telephone.
Living in a small temple deep in the forest for more than a decade, Darshandas, 58, has a list of concerns that he wants the government to tackle.
"There is no electricity, running water or access to healthcare here. I have to walk for two hours to reach the nearest village," he said. "Sometimes, lions come and sit outside my house. All I can do is wait for them to leave."
Darshandas lives off donations from pilgrims who come to visit his temple in the 1,400 square kilometre (540 square mile) Gir sanctuary, where a few hundred Asiatic lions survive, despite the threat of poachers.
He is also given food by the pastoral Maldhari community, who live in the protected forest area but do not have voting rights due to a row over their legal status.
In return, he teaches their children about Hindi religious scriptures.
"It is because of our vigil that the lions are safe. The pastoral community keep an eye on every movement within the forest but they have not been given the right to vote," he said.
At least six of the endangered lions were poached in 2007 for bones, used in traditional Chinese medicines, and for their claws, to make amulets.
The priest has received an unexpected burst of attention since he was mentioned by the head of the election commission at the official declaration of the election dates in March.
Since then, Darshandas, who keeps track of politics by listening to news on the radio, has been hailed in the national media as a "lion among voters" who personifies India's proud commitment to the democratic process.
Now he is preparing to cast his ballot on April 30, when it is Gujarat's turn to vote.
"No politician has ever come to meet me. A single vote might not be of great importance to them but it is my duty to cast it," he said.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Heads-and-Tales/This-man-gets-his-very-own-ballot-box/articleshow/4398678.cms
AHMEDABAD: Only one of India's 714 million eligible voters can be sure he will not have to queue up to vote in elections that start this week.
Bharatdas Darshandas
Bharatdas Darshandas talks on his mobile phone. (AFP Photo)
Bharatdas Darshandas knows there will be no wait because he has his very own ballot box.
The Hindu priest lives a life of solitude in a lion sanctuary in a remote corner of Gujarat, but he is determined to have his say on who governs the country after the nationwide polls close on May 13.
It is not easy enabling Darshandas to exercise his democratic right, with three polling officials and two police men lugging an electronic voting machine over a river and sand dunes that cars cannot cross.
"I am sorry that the officials have to walk for hours to seek my vote but every single vote counts in democracy. Casting my vote is very precious to me," he said by telephone.
Living in a small temple deep in the forest for more than a decade, Darshandas, 58, has a list of concerns that he wants the government to tackle.
"There is no electricity, running water or access to healthcare here. I have to walk for two hours to reach the nearest village," he said. "Sometimes, lions come and sit outside my house. All I can do is wait for them to leave."
Darshandas lives off donations from pilgrims who come to visit his temple in the 1,400 square kilometre (540 square mile) Gir sanctuary, where a few hundred Asiatic lions survive, despite the threat of poachers.
He is also given food by the pastoral Maldhari community, who live in the protected forest area but do not have voting rights due to a row over their legal status.
In return, he teaches their children about Hindi religious scriptures.
"It is because of our vigil that the lions are safe. The pastoral community keep an eye on every movement within the forest but they have not been given the right to vote," he said.
At least six of the endangered lions were poached in 2007 for bones, used in traditional Chinese medicines, and for their claws, to make amulets.
The priest has received an unexpected burst of attention since he was mentioned by the head of the election commission at the official declaration of the election dates in March.
Since then, Darshandas, who keeps track of politics by listening to news on the radio, has been hailed in the national media as a "lion among voters" who personifies India's proud commitment to the democratic process.
Now he is preparing to cast his ballot on April 30, when it is Gujarat's turn to vote.
"No politician has ever come to meet me. A single vote might not be of great importance to them but it is my duty to cast it," he said.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Heads-and-Tales/This-man-gets-his-very-own-ballot-box/articleshow/4398678.cms
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