(IN) Tribal rights and tiger conservation

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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41562

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Tribal Rights Won't Trouble Tiger Health

By Keya Acharya

 

 

Tiger in an Indian national park

 

Credit:NIC-India <http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41562>

 

*BANGALORE, Mar 12 (IPS) - Walking through morning sunlight streaming

through tall teak trees, A.K. Singh deputy conservator of forests, points

out the 'core, critical tiger habitat' in the heart of this sprawling

national park. *

 

" As per government of India mandate, we have identified Nagarhole as a

critical tiger habitat and are now relocating tribals outside core areas, "

says Singh describing conservation efforts in this 5,500 sq km area,

officially called the Rajiv Gandhi National Park, in the southern Karnataka

state.

 

A 2008 report, 'Status of Tigers, Co-Predators and Prey in India', brought

out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute

of India (WSI) at Dehra Dun, has thrown up a dismal scene of decimation of

tiger populations in India, mainly due to poaching and shrinking of wildlife

habitats.

 

India's rare Royal Bengal Tiger population has plunged down to 1,411 of the

big cats, a drastic decline from earlier estimates, the report says. The

last survey, in 2002, had placed the number of tigers in India at 3,700,

with the population of those in protected sanctuaries estimated at 1,500.

 

But, the earlier census was made using the inaccurate method of counting pug

marks.

 

Karnataka currently has one of the country's largest concentration of tiger

populations -- 290 inside four identified forests in Nagarhole, Bandipur,

Dandeli and Bhadra. Central Madhya Pradesh state has a similar number.

 

Karnataka's tigers, though, are down from 401 at the last census five years

ago. In the state capital, Bangalore, principal chief conservator of forests

Indu Bhushan Srivastava discounts the earlier census, which used pugmarks,

as misleading.

 

" There were too many assumptions in the last census. As per the current

report, our tiger populations are quite healthy. "

 

However, India's Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act of 2006, granting forest land to tribals

residing within them for at least three successive generations, has come

under criticism from wildlife activists as detrimental to the viability of

both tigers and forests.

 

The Act however does have a clause stipulating that critical tiger habitats

be free of human habitation. The Act is currently in the process of

implementation with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in Delhi and the states

have been asked to submit lists of legitimate candidates by Mar. 15.

 

Srivastava says the Act's mandate will not interfere with tiger conservation

in Karnataka.

 

" We are proceeding to secure core tiger habitats and remove all human

habitation within them to outside tiger reserves " , says Srivastava. " We have

no option but to make arrangements for relocation " , he says.

 

At Nagarhole, approximately 320 of the 1,750 tribal families have been

relocated out of the park. The target is to shift 100 families in a year.

 

Srivastava believes the relocation package of 3 acres of land and Rs. 1

million (25,000 US dollars) being offered by the Indian government to each

family is attractive enough to stop all protests on relocation.

 

At Nagapara relocation camp in Nagarhole, 25-year-old community leader

Harish says they are all " a little adjusted now " , having been moved here in

2002 from core areas inside the national park.

 

Singh says adjustment takes time because settled agriculture and the raising

or poultry and cattle is new for them.

 

At the latest relocation camp in Sollepura outside Nagarhole, there is

discontent and frustration at the lack of water, electricity and food

facilities.

 

" Our mandate is to provide land, housing and seeds for crops; our work here

is over. Now it is up to the district authorities and tribal welfare

department to take over " , says DCF Singh.

 

Srivastava agrees that the relocation process 'takes time and moves in

stages', agreeing that the forest department needs to initiate co-operation

with the administrative authorities for better facilities in the relocated

zones.

 

In New Delhi meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has recently issued a

memorandum to all chief ministers of tiger-inhabited States to personally

oversee conservation efforts.

 

The federal government has allocated Rs. 500 million (125,000 dollars) for

tiger conservation in its current budget.

 

In January, the Prime Minister set up a national wildlife crime prevention

bureau in a bid to control poaching.

 

But the 2008 tiger-census report still holds out hope for India's

beleaguered tigers, saying that there is potential, within each identified

geographical unit to manage some of the tiger populations as

'meta-populations.'

 

" This enhances the conservation potential of each of the single populations

and probability of their long-term persistence,'' said the report.

 

(END/2008)