The Hindu : Front Page : Project Tiger not a failure, says official

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
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Project Tiger not a failure, says official

Special Correspondent

Call for more livelihood opportunities for people near reserves

CHENNAI: The source populations of tigers are still available in the designated Project Tiger areas, and this can help in maintaining the population of the big cats in the wild, said Rajesh Gopal, Member Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, here on Monday.

Speaking at the opening session of the two-day ‘The Bengal Tiger — Fourth Consultation’ organised by Sanctuary Asia Magazine and South Indian Chamber of Commerce, Chennai, Dr. Gopal said many thought that the Project Tiger had not helped in protecting the big cats. In his opinion the project was not a failure, although the present status of the tiger was “not all that good.”

Tiger conservation was a collective responsibility, although Forests were a State subject, he said. Through various programmes the Government of India is providing financial assistance to 37 tiger reserves in the country. Four new Project Tiger areas would be announced soon, he said.

On providing financial assistance to the State governments for protecting the Project Tiger areas, Dr. Gopal said funds were now being disbursed under a memorandum of understanding with the States. Guidelines have been laid down with regard to spending of funds provided by the Union government. Release of funds would be made available only if the guidelines were followed, he said. In the coming financial year, Project Tiger will use new refined MoUs that the States would have to sign, to bring about better conservation outcomes.

More livelihood opportunities should be provided to people to protect the Project Tiger areas, he said. Lack of professionalism, absence of incentives for those working in wildlife areas were some of the important issues that needed to be addressed. There should be only minimum interventions in the core areas of tiger reserves, he said.

Strategy for incentives

He also urged the authorities to evolve a strategy to provide incentives to the local people who participate in the protection work.

K. Ullas Karanth, research scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society suggested that the traditional successes achieved by empowered and long-serving forest field staff should not be ignored while making new conservation efforts. The knowledge gained by committed forest staff had helped tigers flourish in many places.

Speaking on Climate Change and the effects on various habitats, Romulus Whitaker, herpetologist, said amphibians were the first ones to be affected. In his observation in 1950s cobras could be sighted within 1,000 metres in the Palani Hills area. But, now one could see them above 2,000 metres, he said. Sea-level rise would inundate nesting sites of sea turtles, he added.

Debendranath Sarangi, Secretary, Environment and Forests, C.K. Sreedharan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force, Tamil Nadu, M. Balasubramanian, president, SICCI and B. Sridhar of Bengal Tiger Lines were among those who spoke.

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