ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION

WILDLIFE

Saving the tigers land

A stable tiger population in India in the past four decades sends out a clear signal
that there is a need to establish conservation zones where all development
activity is prohibited. By RAKESH SHUKLA
IT was a summer morning in the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The rising
temperature had begun to alter the spring panorama of wilderness. The famous Kanha
meadows, dotted with trees, had turned greyish-yellow. Except for the sal, almost all the
other tree species of this tropical dry deciduous landscape were in various stages of
denudation. It was going to be a rather long summer this year. We drove past a large
mixed herd of barasingha and chital grazing near a grove. The vehicle took a sharp turn,
descended to cross the watercourse, and climbed up the slope to meet the plain. And, lo
and behold, we spotted Munna the tiger. I adjusted my field glasses to confirm that it was
indeed Munna. He was walking leisurely along the forest road towards us. Interestingly,
the markings on Munnas forehead had contrived at birth to read CAT. The black
lettering had become more prominent now as Munna had grown bigger. Some Munna
fans even discovered the letter M below CAT, which stood for macho or male in their
view. It was so unsettling when Munna continued to come towards us. All romantic
feelings that forests evoke suddenly vanished into thin air. We were in an open vehicle,
and I started having butterflies in my stomach. Munna, however, ignored us in a most
royal way. He left the road to move on to the meadows without losing any of his majesty.
This handsome and ferocious cat is one of the most photographed tigers in India and has
taken social media by storm.
The sighting of Munna coincided with the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger
Conservation held in New Delhi in April, which was a logical and significant continuation
of past international conferences on tiger conservation. The majesty and flamboyance of
the tiger, arguably the most iconic wildlife species of our times, defies all description, and
the significance of its conservation needs no elaboration.
The tiger population in countries where the big cat occurs had a chequered existence.
Although assiduously conserved, tiger populations in some of the range countries are
awfully precarious; their numbers lie around the presumed ecological thresholds as far as
their viability is concerned. The world has already lost three of the nine subspecies of this
charismatic species, further restricting its world population genetically to only six
subspecies or geographical variations. Tiger numbers vary in six countries where the
animal occursfrom 103 in Bhutan to 433 in Russia. Laos, Vietnam and China have
between two and seven tigers. In some of these countries, tiger populations are unviable
and in others they are almost functionally extinct.
India, despite a wide range of problems and issues, supports 2,226 tigers, which is 57 per
cent of the world population of around 3,900 tigers. The rest occur in the other 12 tigerrange countries. Against all odds, these 13 countries remain committed signatories to a
joint resolution to double their tiger populations by 2022 under the Global Tiger Recovery
Programme.
The Indian government resolved to protect the diminishing tiger population by launching

The Indian government resolved to protect the diminishing tiger population by launching
Project Tiger in 1972. The project has been commendable despite a plethora of problems
thrown up by the countrys increasing population and its consequences, and the sheer
constraints of development. In spite of the best efforts of conservationists, the tiger
population has remained almost stable in the past 44 years. If one takes the numbers at
face value, the journey from 1,827 tigers in 1972 to 2,226 in 2016 has been an arduous and
slow one. In the 1980s, the tiger population did record an increase for some time, a hardearned achievement in which conservationists played a big part.
Tiger habitat
India has all along initiated a wide range of tiger conservation measures. Slowly but
consistently, the protected areas network has been strengthened. The protected areas
support a significant percentage of the wildlife population. The country has around 530
sanctuaries, 100 national parks, 65 conservation reserves and 25 community reserves.
Among these protected areas, there is a special network of around 50 tiger reserves,
wherein 40protected areas have been notified as the core, or critical, tiger habitat (CTH).
While Indias forest area constitutes around 21 per cent of the countrys total geographical
area, the protected area network is around 1.56 lakh square kilometres, which is, of
course, less than the targeted 5 per cent of the countrys geographical area.
The National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-16) recommended that 10 per cent of the total
landmass be covered under the protected area network. Despite improvements in the
national conservation situation, and the existence of a firm legal framework, clear
policies, a cooperative judiciary and a scientific approach, inherent constraints and
challenges hamper the achievement of higher tiger conservation goals and the mechanism
for pursuing them.
Conservation and Development
It has to be conservation and development, rather than the other way round. It does not
mean that conservation should prevail over development. Some critical wildlife areas and
their surrounds should be excluded from development and the remaining protected areas
should be treated with such consideration as envisaged in the various Acts and laws.
Cliches such as development should coexist with conservation and conservation is not a
drag on development abound and their tone is always in favour of development rather
than conservation. Understandably, as only human interest is involved in development,
conservation is automatically marginalised as a sort of cerebral pursuit of a contrived
philosophy with hardly any immediate relevance. The cliches will start making sense only
when areas that are valuable from the conservation and environment standpoint are
declared conservation zones, where all activity relating to development is prohibited.
Besides, there is a need to save forests in general for the around 10 crore tribal people and
40 crore rural people who are fully or partially dependent on them. Around 275 million
heads of cattle also graze in the fringe forests. Even nature, owing to climate change, is
taking its toll on forests, pushing them towards drier conditions and making them
unstable.
The projection that Indias population could double by 2050 is horrifying because the
consequent demand for more land can discourage conservation efforts.
Tiger conservation basically demands stringent protection laws, vast landscapes and a
good prey base. While these demands may sound innocuous, they are in conflict with the
countrys land-use planning for development, and as a result conservation is sidelined in
favour of more human-centred priorities.
The home truth is that as things stand now, tiger conservation in India will keep all the
players seriously occupied in the foreseeable future (and beyond). It will be self-delusional
to expect the tiger population to reach such a high mark that conservationists can lower
their guard for some years. India lost 69 tigers in 2015 and 52 in 2016. While poaching did
not claim all these tigers, it does remain a serious threat to the tiger population. Among
the tiger conservation practices, protection and intelligence gathering should be accorded
priority and made more professional.
The multidisciplinary Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau should
be staffed well and expanded to coordinate more frequently and effectively with the
conservation efforts of States. Complacency and disregard of laid-down procedures can
play havoc with a protected area. The member countries of the bureau should strengthen
agreements to control cross-border wildlife offences, including smuggling of tiger parts.
Tiger corridor conservation
Effective tiger conservation needs large landscapes. Evolutionary tendencies and
historical fate impel tigers to claim large tracts of forest land for survival. While there is
nothing better than inviolate habitats, a large forested landscape, even supporting human
habitations, with good functional connectivity can strengthen conservation under the
source-and-sink population concept. There is an urgent need to expand protected areas
in good and even modest tiger landscapes. Large protected areas make for robust wildlife
ecosystems and conserve large populations of prey base more effectively. While India has

ecosystems and conserve large populations of prey base more effectively. While India has
around 700 protected areas, the average size is no more than 300 sq km.
Currently, only around 20 per cent of the protected areas are larger than 1,000 sq km, and
around half of the 49 tiger reserves have CTH zones smaller than 700 sq km. Some are
even smaller than 500 sq km. It is also hoped that the habitat quality for the tigers prey
base in these protected areas is good.
There is also a dire need to expand some, if not all, of the geographically representative
protected areas by means such as offering attractive monetary packages along with
incentives of permanent government jobs and loans for business for relocation of villages.
Besides, while effective habitat corridors have been identified on the map and on the
ground, the actual action to restore and strengthen them needs to be taken up early. This
task is enormous and requires new approaches and ideas, especially to deal with the
human/livelihood aspect of this undertaking. The success of corridor conservation
depends on the effectiveness of the collaborative project of the forest department and
non-governmental organisations with expertise on site-specific human and social aspects.
Even in a well-protected area, there is a clear correlation between tiger density and the
ungulate population. Factors such as a good ungulate population, water and stringent
protection against all forms of poaching make for high tiger density areas. There are
several tiger reserves in the country commanding areas with 20 or more tigers per 100 sq
km. Ungulate populations should be monitored seasonally, at least twice a year, to
understand their growth trends and to take managerial steps accordingly.
A viable tiger population needs a good prey base, whose survival itself depends on healthy
habitats. Wildlife habitats need regular attention for improvement, depending upon their
types and management objectives. They also need to be monitored regularly for any
adverse ecological change such as weed infestation, appearance of unpalatable grass
species, change in grassland communities and insect attack/disease in forest habitats.
Wildlife managers should take an interest in conservation science in the protected areas.
This is important and can be ignored at the managers peril. Besides using basic field
instruments and computer programmes, undertaking standard management techniques
and reviewing monitoring data, they should also welcome new ideas/field methodologies
emanating from premier forest and wildlife institutions.
A lot of patience and persuasion is needed to inculcate the culture of tiger conservation
practices outside protected areas and tiger reserves. It is, however, crucial that the staff of
forest divisions surrounding the protected areas are trained in stringent protection and
basic wildlife-monitoring practices. Burdened with multifarious responsibilities of pure
forestry and forest management activities, the staff of managed forests cannot be expected
to do much more in the near future. Training and skill development have to be pursued
regularly.
No conservation project can be successful without public support. Therefore, people,
especially those living in tiger landscapes, should be encouraged to participate fully in
conservation efforts. On the lines of the joint forest management programme, which
involves local communities in the Forest Departments conservation efforts, those
dependent on forests at the village level should be involved in the management of
protected areas. Conservation practices should create employment throughout the year
for the local communities. Ecological development of villages and the involvement of local
communities in ecotourism will also help strengthen tiger conservation efforts.
Rakesh Shukla is Research Officer, Kanha Tiger Reserve.