India is all set to celebrate an achievement when it will release its latest tiger census figures sometime next year. National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), apex body in India for tiger conservation authority under the Union Ministry of Forest Environment and Climate Change (MoEFC&C) will be jubilant to tell the world that India has doubled its tiger population, a target fixed by the Tiger Range Countries in 2010. In St Petersburg, Russia, the heads of the governments of 13 Tiger Range countries at St. Petersburg, Russia, had resolved to double tiger numbers across their global range by 2022 by signing the St. Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation. India then had 1636 tigers in the wild. The number in the last census 2018-19 went up to 2967. The next tiger census is expected sometime in mid-2023 but whenever it is released, India would announce achieving the target of doubling the tiger number. But this statistics will be of no use if it is not put in perspective.
The issue needs to be discussed and debated especially after the tiger carcass found hanging from a tendu tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) about 20 kms away from the famous Panna Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh two days ago shocking the wildlife and environment lovers across the country. This was not the lone case of gruesome tiger killing. It was also chilling reminder of the 2008-09 when all the tigers from Panna had vanished after alleged poaching of the big cats. In the last two years also, many more tigers stepping out from Panna tiger reserve were killed. One of the famous tigers of Panna–known as Heera among tourists–was killed brutally as it moved out of the reserve in October 2021. The de-skinned body of the male radio-collared tiger on dispersal was found in Amdari village of Satna district on Sunday, 31 October. The list is long.
Panna is just one example, tiger killing– either poaching or shooting as a result of man-animal conflict– is taking place almost across the nation.
In October this year, a strong force of about 400 security personnel was deployed to kill a man-eater near Valmiki Tiger reserve (VTR) in Bihar. In the VTR- part of the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) –the number of tigers has gone up from 10 in 2006 to over 50 in 2022. It was also a cause of concern for the conservationists. This was another case of increasing man-tiger conflict as more tigers turned pests necessitating their elimination. In the last three years, 125 people have died in India in the conflict with the cats.” The root cause behind the tiger killing was the same–more tigers, less jungle, shrinking tiger corridors and the prey base. In fact the whole TAL or the low land area of the Himalayas–mainly spread over three states of India namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar–has been facing this problem . TAL is one of the most fragmented and threatened ecosystems in Asia. The VTR runs parallel to the foothills of the Himalayas.
India may boast a rise in its tiger numbers and that 80 % of the population of the big cat is found in India, situation of the tiger habitat from corner to corner in the country is alarming. It is under tremendous stress. Many reserves in India have already touched or crossed its tiger carrying capacity leading to territorial fights among the big cats. This also leads to tiger deaths. The area of a tiger reserve cannot be increased and a tiger has to move out to create a new territory to survive. And the tiger is extremely vulnerable when it wanders in unprotected area in the absence of safe and undisturbed jungle corridors. With flourishing illegal international
Illegal trade of tiger body parts, a tiger is always a precious commodity for poachers. If it survives, a speeding truck or train may run over the animal. Then the expanding coal mines and other illegal mining activities have also threatened the tiger and its habitat. Tiger movement in the open forests also leads to man-tiger conflict, a phenomenon rising alarmingly in many parts of India.
A report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and United National Environment Programme (UNEP) last year revealed that as many as 35 % of India’s tiger ranges are outside protected areas and human-animal conflict affects over 75 per cent of the world’s wild cat species. The report “A Future for All – A Necessity for Human-Wildlife Coexistence”, examined rising human-wildlife conflicts. A report of Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had also portrayed a similar picture in 2015.
Now more and more protected areas have poor connectivity with other jungles which are fragmented from one another. The jungle corridors are under extreme anthropogenic pressure. Amidst intense human activities including farming on the fringe areas of the tiger reserves, there are several horizontal structures coming up in forest areas. They include highways and expansion of railway tracks leading to large scale tree felling shrinking further the forested area. This has threatened the environment hotspots like Western Ghats also. And all the iconic species including tiger and elephant are under threat.
After 50 years of the grand success the Project Tiger –launched on 1 April 1973– India should have a relook at this great conservation programme for the iconic cat. This has become all the more important in view of climate change. As a developing nation, we also need to strike a balance between economics and environment.
When the Project Tiger was launched, it also aimed at ensuring a viable population of the Bengal tiger in its natural habitats and “preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage that represent the diversity of ecosystems across the tiger›s range in the country”. The task force behind the Project also envisioned the tiger reserves as “breeding nuclei”, from which surplus animals would migrate to adjacent forests. “Funds and commitment were mustered to support the intensive program of habitat protection”, reminisces a former officer of Indian Forest Service. Fifty years later, it›s the right time to review and take stock of the conservation work in earnest. Can we do a repeat of Project Tiger to safeguard our forest wealth in the times of global warming when survival of forest and tiger is correlated with the survival of mankind.
Deshdeep Saxena is a Bhopal-based senior journalist. He also has an enduring interest in wildlife, its habitat and the environment. He is author of a book on tiger crisis–”BREATHLESS, Hunted and Hounded, the Tiger Runs for Its Life.”