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Project Tiger - India
Past
Project Tiger, launched in 1973-74, is one of our most successful conservation
ventures in the recent times. The project aims at tiger conservation in
specially constituted 'tiger reserves', which are representative of various
bio-geographical regions falling within our country. It strives to maintain a
viable tiger population in the natural environment.
An estimate of the tiger population in India, at the turn of the century, 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 last century led to the progressive decline
of wilderness, resulting in the disturbance of viable tiger habitats. At the
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 country. 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 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:
1. Elimination of all forms of human exploitation and biotic disturbance from
the core area and rationalization of activities in the buffer zone.
2. 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.
3. 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 13,017sq.km-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 till 1979-80: later, it become a 'centrally Sponsored Scheme'
from 1980-81, with equal sharing of expenditure between the center and the
states.
The W.W.F. has given an assistance of US $ 1 million in the form of equipments,
expertise and literature. The various States are also bearing the loss on
account of giving up the forestry operations in the reserves.
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 1576 in 27 reserves in 2003. Tiger, 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 also have increased in number 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 ecodevelopment in the buffer zones of existing tiger reserves,
creation of additional tiger reserves and strengthening of the research
activities.
The management strategy 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 sq. km. 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.
Present
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.
Future
a) Use of Information and Communication technology in Wildlife Protection and
Crime Risk Management in Tiger reserves.
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.
b) GIS based digitized database and MIS 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 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 facility.
c) Tiger Habitat & Population Evaluation System for the Indian Sub Continent
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:
1. Mapping , data acquisition and GIS modeling
2. Field data collection and validation
3. 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)
> Nort 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.
Vision For the Future
The dynamics of forest management and wildlife conservation have been distorted
due to need for income, lack of awareness, lack of landuse policy and population
pressure. Since the traditional use systems of people are neither static nor
benign, these should not be overlooked.
A regional development approach in landscapes having Tiger Reserves is of utmost
importance in our country. It should be viewed as a mosaic of different landuse
patterns, viz, tiger conservation / 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 Reservetherefore, needs to be integrated in larger regional
management plans.
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