I. Tale of the tiger: other Sariskas waiting to happen?

Tale of the tiger: other Sariskas waiting to happen?
Why did tigers suddenly vanish from Sariska? The issue has been covered extensively, but some aspects still need a closer examination.

(a) What is the correct estimate of India's tiger population? In other words, did the tigers of Sariska vanish or did the government never really know how many tigers there were in Sariska? The question is how reliable is the currently practised methodology of counting tigers in the county. The case of the missing tigers of Sariska immediately puts the veracity of the tiger census -- which India's forest bureaucracy swears by -- in grave doubt. At best, the census methodology of searching for pugmarks is
Inadequate: India's tiger habitat extends over 300 million hectares, but only a fraction of it is intensively searched. India has 28 tiger reserves: Sariska-type decimation might be happening in most or all of them, while we remain in blissful ignorance and incomprehension. When we researched this issue for Down To Earth we found a huge gap in understanding and in fact, what we are worried about is if our methodology/census for tigers is a question mark, then what are the implications of this in other sanctuaries as well?

(b) The Sariska tragedy brings to the fore issues which are much larger than the apparent loss of 18-odd magnificent creatures that (once?) prowled the reserve. It is about the entire philosophy, policy and practice of conservation as we see it today. It is about the imperative of trying out alternatives to prevalent ways of forest and wildlife management. When will our forest bureaucracy and conservation experts understand that in India, unlike the West, wilderness areas are where millions of people actually live? When policy imbues the principle of exclusion, people inhabiting the protected areas are discounted and displaced. Their livelihoods are destroyed. From being protectors of forest, they turn into poachers. We must realise that the extraordinary diversity of our flora and fauna is not about 'pristine nature', but the result of millennia of human-nature interaction. It is, therefore, imperative to find ways not to isolate but to incorporate the conflicting demands of wildlife and humans.

You can read more about the issue in Down To Earth (March 15, 2005). For your convenience, we are also providing free online access to the story - just check it out on www.downtoearth.org.in. Some key resource persons who can be contacted for the story are:

a. Rajesh Gopal, Inspector General of Forests and Director (Project Tiger), Union ministry of environment and forests, New Delhi, Ph 011-23389645

b. R S Chundawat, independent wildlife researcher, Ph 98101 53998 (mobile), an expert on the science of tiger conservation

c. Gopal, Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), Tarun Ashram, Bhikhampura, Kishoree, via Thangazi, Alwar-22, Rajasthan, Ph 01465-225043. Local villagers of Sariska can be reached through TBS.

Appeared in Media Alert 4, March 7, 2005