Saving Tigers in Sunderbans

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ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Turning Poachers Into Conservators

By Ranjita Biswas

 

 

Credit:Ranjita Biswas

 

Sunderbans: Where people live and let live with tigers

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*SUNDERBANS, West Bengal, Oct 22 (IPS) - " I grew up in these jungles. Like

many others, my father came over from (what is now) Bangladesh to farm here.

Clearing the forests and killing animals was a common activity and we saw

nothing wrong. Today, we help prevent others from doing that, " says Anil

Krishna Mistry, 40. *

 

This poacher-turned-conservationist has been at the forefront of wildlife

activism since 1999. He lives on the Bali island of the Sunderbans, a

deltaic region to the south of India West Bengal state (WB) and adjacent

Bangladesh, famous as the natural habitat of the Royal Bengal tiger and

forming the largest mangrove area in the world.

 

Mistry was one of the key organisers of a World Wildlife Week (Oct. 1- 7 )

campaign called 'Bagh Bachao' (Save the tiger) centred on the playground of

a local school on Bali, Bijoynagar Adarsha Vidyamandir. Most of the

participants were school children from around the area. Hiren Jotdar of

Sashibhushan Uchha Vidyalaya, Satynarayanpur, walked for two hours to reach

the venue by mid morning. " We are members of our school's Nature Club, " he

said proudly.

 

The headmaster, Sukumar Poira, says his school was one of the first to

initiate creation of nature clubs with a view to inculcating the idea of

conservation among schoolchildren in an ecologically sensitive area. Now

there are 22 nature clubs around the Sunderbans which teach students about

wildlife conservation, the value of medicinal plants, the use to

bio-fertilisers and the importance of " no plastic " campaigns.

 

" The enthusiasm among the local people for saving the tiger is something one

couldn't imagine just a few years ago. Such was the hositility towards the

predator that officials from the forest department dared not talk to

villagers about the need to protect the animal,'' recalls Neeraj Singhal,

field director at the Sundarban Tiger Reserve.

 

The Sunderbans is a vast area of creeks and islands, 54 of them inhabited.

It is the point where the mighty Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers meet

before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The Indian side alone is spread over

9,630 sq. km. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and a

Biosphere Reserve in 1989.

 

Since 1973, the Sunderbans has been an important part of the Indian

government's Project Tiger. In 1973, the government established Project

Tiger to cope with the dwindling tiger population. But tiger killings and

poaching have continued: there were 38 poaching cases reported in 1999, 39

in 2000, 35 in 2001 and 47 in 2002.

 

Remarkably though, in the Sunderbans, where tigers live in close proximity

to human habitations, there have been no tiger-killings since 1990.

 

According to the 2004 census (based on the pugmark method) there were 271

tigers in the Sunderbans. The results of the January 2006 census, conducted

using the more accurate sign survey approach, is still awaited.

 

Man-animal conflict has a long history in the Sunderbans. Having to survive

in this difficult terrain, the Sunderbans tiger has adapted to drinking

saline water, eating anything available, even crabs. Killing of humans,

honey-collectors, wood-cutters, fishermen etc. were frequently reported.

Tiger legends, tiger-deity worship to allay the attacks, are common among

both the Hindu and Muslim populations.

 

As the human settlements increased, the conflicts quickly turned into open

confrontation. But with persuasion from forest officials the tiger-killings

stopped so much so that when a tiger began stalking a village this July

forest officials were called in to save the animal.

 

" Not a single tiger has been killed since 1990, " affirms Pradeep Vyas, chief

conservator of forests and a director of the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve.

" This year alone about 100 animals, spotted deer, wild boar and other

species have been rescued with the help of the local people. Considering

that people here are generally impoverished and non-vegetarian, it's

significant indeed. "

 

Awareness campaigns have also resulted in officials using tranquilizer darts

on captured tigers and to be set free later. " This is a great change, " says

Gopal Tanti, a legendary figure in local lore for his prowess to " face the

tiger. " Working with the forest department, he is on call for the job of

tranquilising animals that stray into human habitations.

 

The Sunderbans project is now being projected as a good example of

conservation, says Vyas, adding that in a survey report by the Wildlife

Institute of India for IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature

and Natural Resources), the Sunderbans has been adjudged 'the best managed

park' in the country.

 

Strict monitoring of human activities in the reserve area has contributed

too. Honey is collected only in demarcated area, wood-cutting is strictly

prohibited and fishing is allowed only in buffer zones. For the last three

years, has also been introduced a 'tiger monitoring protocol' whereby all

mammal sightings are recorded every month. Previously, many of the sighting

of tigers went unrecorded.

 

This positive result has meant sustained work at the grassroots. The

officials understood that to make the Project Tiger in the area successful,

the people had to be involved. They formed village committees and invited

people like Anil Mistry to be part of the campaign. That initiative has paid

rich dividends. " Today little children who are members of the Nature Clubs

tell their parents, don't kill the deer; otherwise the tiger will have no

food and then the tiger will attack us. It's the children who will carry the

message of conservation in this are, I firmly believe, " says Belinda Wright,

executive director, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), a non

governmental organisation.

 

WPSI supports the Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society of which

Anil Mistry is the principal field officer. It runs various activities,

informs Sagar Banerjee, project coordinator, like helping needy girl

students to continue studies, running a library from where poor children can

borrow school books.

 

It also runs a six-cottage eco-tourism complex built in tandem with local

ambience and facilitated by Help Tourism, a group that invests in

sustainable tourism projects. This project has generated around a hundred

direct and indirect jobs for local people. Pintu Mirdha, who works in the

kitchen, admits, " I used to be a poacher too. "

 

The place is popular with tourists and is booked through the year, says

Shakti R. Banerjee, honorary secretary, WPSI. A former army officer,

Banerjee was one of the main movers behind the concept of a tourism complex.

" Sitting on the riverfront one evening I thought, why not involve those who

hunt due to poverty in conservation activities so they have an alternate

livelihood? ''

 

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by

Inter Press Service and IFEJ-International Federation of Environmental

Journalists.)