If we make sure tigers live, we have to make sure that deer, antelope and all other animals that the tiger eats (its prey base) live. To make sure that these herbivores live, we must make sure that all the trees, grass and other plants that these prey animals need for food are protected. In this way, the whole forest gets saved! Saving the tiger means saving its entire forest kingdom with all the other animals in it.
Also forests catch and help store rainwater and protect soils. In this way we protect our rivers and recharge groundwater sources. Areas with less trees lead to floods, killing people and destroying homes. It takes away the precious soil, leaving behind a wasteland. The soil jams up our lakes and dams, reducing their ability to store water. By destroying the tiger's home, we not only harm tigers, but also ourselves.
The tiger thus becomes the symbol for the protection of all species on our earth since it is at the top of the food-chain. This is why we sometimes call the tiger, an apex predator, an indicator of our ecosystem's health. No doubt tiger has become a symbol of wilderness and well-being of the ecosystem.
Keeping this in view the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India has entrusted itself with the works of saving the wildlife and the ecosystem with Project Tigers in its core.
The challenge
Tigers are facing major population losses & extinction. Tigers are killed for sport, skins & body parts. The 1950s saw extinction of the Caspian tiger. The Bali and Java tiger are also extinct. The last Bali tiger was killed in 1937; the last Javan tiger was seen in 1972. India today has the largest number of tigers - between 3,600 to 4,000 as per the old system of counting by pugmarks. However, counting by new system suggests that there are only 1411 (mid-value) tigers, the lower and upper limits being 1165 and 1657 respectively. The South China tiger (20-30 are remaining), is nearly extinct in the wild.
The steps taken
1. Tripartite MoUs with all tiger states, to ensure reciprocal commitments to address ecological and administrative issues have been signed, with the Central and State Governments and Field Directors as signatories with clear responsibilities.
2. Guidelines for the Special Tiger Protection Force have been revised to include role for local communities in protection and conservation of tiger reserves.
3. In principle approval for four new Project Tiger Reserves has been granted - Ratapani (MP), Sunabeda (Orissa), Pilibhit (UP) and Sahyadiri (Maharashtra).
4. Special crack-teams have been sent for improving the status of tiger reserves affected by left wing extremism.
5. 'mStripes', a state-of-the art monitoring programme for tigers, to ensure better protection and forecasting of the ecological status in the surrounding areas has been launched.
6. TigerNet, a website for real time monitoring of tiger- related crime has been launched and all such information is being put in the public domain.
7. Several steps taken to strengthen the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and increased resources have been provided for the organisation.
Policy and legal measures
India has enacted a national legislation titled the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Biological Diversity Rules, 2004 to give effect to the provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which, India is a party. The salient features of the Act include:
- Ensure conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;
- Regulate access of biological resources, associated knowledge for fair and equitable benefit sharing;
- Respect and safeguard the knowledge of local communities regarding biodiversity;
- To secure sharing of benefits with local people as conservers of biological resources and associated knowledge;
- Declare areas of conservational relevance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites;
- Protect and rehabilitate threatened species through a three-tier institutional structure in consonance with the Panchayati Raj system of India. The three-tier institutional structure includes the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs), and the local-level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs). NBA performs the functions of laying down procedures and guidelines to govern the activities provided under the Biological Diversity Act. The other functions of NBA include:
- Building up database and documentation system;
- Creating awareness through mass media;
- Training of personnel;
- Taking necessary measures in the areas of intellectual property rights (IPR);
As prescribed under the Act, every local body shall constitute a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC). The main function of the Committee is to prepare People's Biodiversity Register (PBR) and advise State Boards or concerned authorities on decisions relating to the use of biological resources and associated knowledge. The BMCs are intended to be part of the Panchayati Raj system of the Indian Government at the village level. The Act also provides for a Biodiversity Fund at national, state and local levels.
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 amended from time to time provides for a strong legal instrument for the creation of protected areas and conservation of wildlife in the country. A vast protected area (PA) network has been instrumental in the conservation of biodiversity, especially wildlife in India. These PA networks consist of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries (WLS), conservation and community reserves. At present, India has 661 PAs, covering about 4.76% of the country's geographical area. There are 39 Tiger Reserves and 27 elephant reserves. Five PAs have been declared as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, in view of their uniqueness and richness in flora and fauna. Some of the landmark initiatives taken to protect and conserve wildlife in the country are: the launch of Project Tiger (1973) and Project Elephant (1992) and the implementation of CSS of 'Assistance to National Park and Sanctuaries'. The latter scheme is now modified and renamed as 'Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats' to include programmes for conservation of wildlife outside Pas and programmes for recovery of endangered species like snow leopard, hangul, vulture, sanghai deer, gangetic dolphin, wild buffalo, and bustards. India is signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), International Whaling Commission, Convention of Migratory Species, and the World Heritage Convention.
As per the findings of the recent (2008) all India estimation of tigers using the refined methodology, the total country-level population of tigers is 1411 (mid-value); the lower and upper limits being 1165 and 1657 respectively. The recent assessment of the tiger population is based on determining spatial occupancy of tigers throughout potential tiger forests and sampling such forests using camera raps in a statistical framework. This assessment is not comparable to the earlier total count using pugmarks owing to several shortcomings in the latter method. The new findings indicate a poor status of tiger population in areas outside tiger reserves and protected areas. By and large, the tiger population in tiger reserves and protected areas of such states is viable, though it requires ongoing conservation efforts. Reintroduction of tigers in Sariska and Panna are the programmes, which are unique and first of its kind in the world.
In the past one decade, there has been a shift away from state control to a more peoplecentric approach, for management of PAs, mainly to elicit community participation and foster harmony amongst all concerned stakeholder, and hence achieve the overall aim of conserving biodiversity.
Also, the relocation package, following the report of the Tiger Task Force, has been enhanced to Rs 10 lakh per family from the earlier norm of Rs 1 lakh. This is expected to facilitate creation of inviolate areas, at least in the core area to begin with.