Project Tiger
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Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation project initiated in India in 1972 to protect the Royal Bengal Tigers. It was launched on April 1, 1973 and has become one of the most successful conservation ventures in modern history. The project aims at tiger conservation in specially constituted 'tiger reserves' which are representative of various bio-geographical regions falling within India. It strives to maintain a viable tiger population in their natural environment.
Today, there are 27 Project Tiger wildlife reserves in India covering an area of 37,761 km².
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[edit] History
At the turn of the 20th century, one estimate of the tiger population in India placed the figure at 40,000. Subsequently, the first ever all-India tiger census was conducted in 1972 which revealed the existence of only 1827 tigers. Various pressures in the later part of the 20th century led to the progressive decline of wilderness resulting in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats. At the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) General Assembly meeting in Delhi in 1969, serious concern was voiced about the threat to several species of wildlife and the shrinkage of wilderness in the India. In 1970, a national ban on tiger hunting was imposed and in 1972 the Wildlife Protection Act came into force. A task force was then set up to formulate a project for tiger conservation with an ecological approach.
The project was launched in 1973, and various tiger reserves were created in the country based on a 'core-buffer' strategy. The core areas were freed from all sorts of human activities and the buffer areas were subjected to 'conservation oriented land use'. Management plans were drawn up for each tiger reserve based on the principles outlined below:
- Elimination of all forms of human exploitation and biotic disturbance from the core area and rationalization of activities in the buffer zone.
- Restricting the habitat management only to repair the damages done to the eco-system by human and other interferences so as to facilitate recovery of the eco-system to its natural state.
- Monitoring the faunal and floral changes over time and carrying out research about wildlife.
Initially, 9 tiger reserves were established in different States during the period 1973-74, by pooling the resources available with the Central and State Governments. These nine reserves covered an area of about 13,017km² -- viz Manas (Assam), Palamau (Bihar), Similipal (Orissa), Corbett (U.P.), Kanha (M.P.), Melghat (Maharashtra), Bandipur (Karnataka), Ranthambhore (Rajasthan) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).
The project started as a 'Central Sector Scheme' with the full assistance of Central Government until 1979-80: later, it become a 'centrally Sponsored Scheme' from 1980-81, with equal sharing of expenditures between the center and the states.
The World Wide Fund For Nature has given Project Tiger assistance in the form of equipments, expertise and literature worth US $ 1 million . The various States have given up forestry operations in the reserves leading to a loss of revenue.
Project Tiger was a pet project of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Because of this, it is suspected that the number of tigers might have been exaggerated until her death in 1984. The funding and political support for Project Tiger has also declined since her death. Reports of widespread poaching of tigers in two of the premier Tiger Reserves of North India - Sariska and Ranthambore have prompted a high level inquiry by CBI and also the constitution of a National level supervisory committee to supervise the implementation of the project. Senior wildlife scientists and conservationists have been chosen for this committee to be headed by the Prime Minister himself.
The main achievements of this project are excellent recovery of the habitat and consequent increase in the tiger population in the reserve areas, from a mere 268 in 9 reserves in 1972 to above one thousand in 28 reserves in 2006. Tigers, being at the apex of the food chain, can be considered as the indicator of the stability of the eco-system. For a viable tiger population, a habitat should possess a good prey base which in turn will depend on an undisturbed forest vegetation. Thus, 'Project Tiger' is basically the conservation of the entire eco-system and apart from tigers, all other wild animals population have also increased in the project areas. In the subsequent 'Five Year Plans', the main thrust was to enlarge the core and buffer zones in certain reserves, intensification of protection and eco-development in the buffer zones of existing tiger reserves, creation of additional tiger reserves and strengthening of the research activities.
[edit] Present organisation and aims
The management strategy of Project Tiger was to identify the limiting factors and to mitigate them by suitable management. The damages done to the habitat were to be rectified so as to facilitate the recovery of eco-system to the maximum possible extent. Management practices which tend to push the wildlife populations beyond the carrying capacity of the habitat were carefully avoided. A minimum core of 300 km² with a sizeable buffer was recommended for each project area. The overall administration of the project is monitored by a 'Steering Committee'. The execution of the project is done by the respective State Governments. A 'Field Director' is appointed for each reserve, who is assisted by the field and technical personnel. The Chief Wildlife warden in various States are responsible for the field execution. At the Centre, a full-fledged 'Director' of the project coordinates the work for the country.
Wireless communication system and outstation patrol camps have been developed within the tiger reserves, due to which poaching has declined considerably. Fire protection is effectively done by suitable preventive and control measure Voluntory Village relocation has been done in many reserves, especially from the core area. In Kanha, Bandipur and Ranthambhore, all the villages have been shifted from the core, and after relocation, the villagers have been provided with alternate agricultural lands and other community benefits. This has resulted in the improvement of the carrying capacity of the habitat. Live stock grazing has been controlled to a great extent in the tiger reserves. Various compensatory developmental works have improved the water regime and the ground and field level vegetations, thereby increasing the animal density. Research data pertaining to vegetational changes are also available from many reserves. In general, the 'restorative management' and 'intense protection' under 'Project Tiger' have saved many of our eco-typical areas from destruction. The area around the buffer is now contemplated as a zone of multiple use, to bring compatibility between the reserves and the neighbouring communities.
[edit] Future plans
[edit] Use of information and communication technology and crime risk management
Wildlife protection and crime risk management in the present scenario requires a widely distributed Information Network, using the state-of-art information and communication technology. This becomes all the more important to ensure the desired level of protection in field formations to safeguard the impressive gains of a focused project like 'Project Tiger'. The important elements in Wildlife protection and control are: Mapping/plotting the relative spatial abundance of wild animals, identification of risk factors, proximity to risk factors, sensitivity categorization, crime mapping and immediate action for apprehending the offenders based on effective networking and communication. Space technology has shown the interconnectivity of natural and anthropogenic phenomena occurring anywhere on earth. Several Tiger Reserves are being linked with the Project Tiger Directorate in the GIS domain for Wildlife Crime Risk Management.
[edit] GIS based digitized database and MIS (Management Information Systems) development/networking in Tiger Reserves
With the advanced IT tools, a wide gamut of software solutions are available to improve wildlife related information capture process, its analysis and informed decision making. Geographic Information System (GIS) is the most relevant of these technologies for natural resource management projects, including wildlife management. The mandate of project tiger is to conserve tigers in a holistic manner. The GIS based database at PTHQ is being linked with the microcomputers in the Tiger Reserves, so that a dynamic linkage for rapid information flow is established using Arc IMS (Information Management System) facility.
[edit] Tiger habitat and population evaluation system for the Indian Subcontinent
A 'Tiger Atlas of India' and a 'Tiger Habitat & Population Evaluation System' for the country is being developed using the state-of-the-art technology. This involves:
- Mapping , data acquisition and GIS modeling
- Field data collection and validation
- Data Maintenance , Dissemination and Use
The following potential tiger habitats in the country are being covered:
- Shivalik-Terai Conservation Unit (Uttaranchal, UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Nepal)
- North east Conservation Unit
- Sunderbans Conservation Unit
- Central Indian Conservation Unit
- Eastern Ghat Conservation Unit
- Western Ghat Conservation Unit
Satellite data is being used and classified into vegetation and land use maps on a 1:50,000 scale, with digitized data relating to contour, villages, roads, drainage, administrative boundaries and soil. The spatial layers would be attached with attribute data, viz. human population, livestock population, meteorological data, agricultural information and field data pertaining to wildlife, habitat for evolving regional protocols to monitor tiger and its habitat.
[edit] Future activities
The dynamics of forest management and wildlife conservation have been distorted due to need for income, lack of awareness, lack of landuse policy approach in landscapes having Tiger Reserves is of utmost importance in the country. It should be viewed as a mosaic of different landuse patterns, viz, tiger conservation and preservation, forestry, sustainable use and development, besides socio-economic growth.
Tiger habitats exist in environments of thousands of indigenous communities which depend on them. Therefore we cannot view these protected areas in isolation from the surrounding socio-economic realities and developmental priorities of the Govt. This calls for a cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary approach.
Tigers now need a "preservationist" approach. Regional planning is important around Tiger Reserves to foster ecological connectivity between protected areas through restorative inputs with integrated landuse planning. The management plan of a Tiger Reserve, therefore, needs to be integrated in larger regional management plans.
[edit] Criticism
In an Animal Planet special named Tiger Zero, Indian naturalist Valmik Thapar has said that for several years, Project Tiger officials have inflated India's wild tiger census so as to save their jobs. Valmik's team of Ranthambhore reserve claims to have been backfired by them on the pretext that the census counting method is totally imperfect, when strict action was expected by Project Tiger, to curb poachers especially Sansaar Chand. Project Tiger is now itself being threatened by government activities like the newly passed Tribal Bill. Furthermore, all the tigers in Sariska Tiger Reserve have been poached, showing the ineffectiveness of Project Tiger now.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gov. India - Project Tiger
- Tiger Conservation Securing a future for Tigers in the wild
- Why India's tigers may yet survive Scientist Ullas Karanth on the road ahead
