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Tiger Crisis
India's Tigers Suffer As System of Governance Fails
Courtsey EIA
Many of you will have read the shocking news regarding the current Tiger Crisis
in India – the entire tiger population has been wiped out from Sariska Tiger
Reserve, possibly 18 known individuals have disappeared from Ranthambore Tiger
Reserve, nine known individual breeding tigers have disappeared from Panna Tiger
Reserve, with a further 21 missing or unaccounted for.
This is only the news from high profile Tiger Reserves. Who knows what’s
happening in inaccessible Tiger Reserves like Indravati and Palamau, or in the
forests outside of India’s protected area system?
Sadly, it’s the same old story. The underlying reason for this crisis, the third
in 35 years, is the collapse in the system of governance. Even though the Prime
Minister recently stepped in and showed real leadership, certain government
officials are still refusing to admit there is a problem, let alone that
poaching is the main cause of it. Information from teams dispatched by WWF India
and the Wildlife Institute of India confirm that there are no signs of tigers in
Sariska. Right from the start, poaching was suspected to be primary means by
which Sariska’s tigers were wiped out so quickly.
The ensuing media frenzy prompted the Chief Minister of Rajasthan to respond to
the crisis in Sariska and Ranthambore by constituting a Special Task Force to
conduct a post-mortem of events.The Task Force enquiries continue but, in the
meantime, members of the Task Force have reported that early warnings about
tiger poaching from local NGOs and community representatives fell on deaf
bureaucratic ears. The senior management of Sariska Tiger Reserve were not
posted onsite and therefore weren’t around to ensure the park was being
patrolled.
The Task Force also unearthed detailed information on poaching gangs operating
in Sariska, information which led to arrests by the State authorities – one such
gang admitted to killing 10 tigers in Sariska alone! This information has been
used by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team who have further revealed
that at least one of the poachers has links to city-based dealer, Sansar Chand.
Gathering information on poaching activity in and around protected areas should
be an operation routinely conducted by protected area managers, but it seems
such dedicated officers are few and far between. Posting the right people in the
right place shouldn’t be too much to ask for, but all too often the State
governments post individuals who are disinterested or untrained. This is how the
system collapses and leaves parks and wildlife vulnerable to those seeking to
plunder for profit.
Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh is a case in point. The Reserve went
through a period of positive development between 1996 and 2001 when Reserve
leadership cooperated effectively with an independent research programme to
manage the habitat in such a way as to increase the prey population and
ultimately increase the tiger population. With the use of radio collars,
individual tigers and their territories were well documented. Since then, the
Management has changed, the commitment of senior staff has disappeared … and so
have most of the tigers.
Far from the forests, government officers have responded to the media reports by
denying there is a problem and preferring to accuse NGOs of stirring the media
to further their own agendas. The fact of the matter is if it hadn’t been for
NGOs bringing this matter to the attention of the politicians through the media,
then the Prime Minister may not have intervened and issued a series of orders to
start addressing the problem.
Since stepping into the battle, the Prime Minister of India has shown clear
leadership by:
• Ordering a CBI enquiry into what happened at Sariska
• Ordering the establishment of a national Task Force to conduct a full and
comprehensive tiger census
• Ordering full audits of protected areas and their management to be conducted
on an annual basis
• Recognising the need for a dedicated service to manage forests and wildlife.
In addition, the Prime Minister has given his support for the establishment of
the National Wildlife Crime Bureau. Finally, the government is considering the
creation of a multi-agency unit to combat wildlife crime. EIA believes the
Bureau will be effective if, and only if, experienced and committed professional
enforcement officers are recruited fulltime into senior positions where they can
direct operational activities such as:
• Gathering and analysis of intelligence
• Investigations and enforcement actions
• Filing and pursuing wildlife crime cases in the courts.
The National Wildlife Crime Bureau is not in place yet and there is a long way
to go before India can claim they are on top of serious and organised wildlife
crime.
India has also offered to host the next CITES Tiger Enforcement Task Force
meeting, sponsored by the UK government. The meeting will bring together
professional enforcement officers from India, Nepal and China to exchange
information on the skin trade in a bid to crack down on cross-border trade. Once
again, this will only be effective if India puts forward the right people for
the meeting who have experience in dealing with serious, organised
trans-national crime, including wildlife crime.
Despite the support from the Prime Minister, there is no room for complacency.
The government needs to get to grips with the current situation and remove
officers who have been negligent or worse still, complicit, in creating the
circumstances that have allowed poachers to sweep through the Tiger Reserves.
Committed and experienced officers need to be assigned to key tiger areas to
restore governance as a matter of priority, with a view to creating a dedicated
parks and wildlife service in the long-term.
The critical need to have the right people posted in the right place doesn’t
just extend to the civil service, but also the political leaders. Eight
officials have been suspended in Rajasthan, yet the State Minister of Forests,
who also inexplicably holds the portfolio as Minister for Mines, has not taken
any responsibility for the situation. At the very least, this extraordinary
conflict of interests needs to be addressed by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
A Minister of Forests cannot possibly effectively oversee the security of
forests, wildlife and water if they are also responsible for looking after the
economic interests of the mining industry.
What Can I Do?
Write to the Prime Minister of India supporting the call for a new and dedicated
parks and wildlife service in India.
Appreciating that such a change will take time, urge him to ensure that in the
meantime, State governments post qualified and dedicated officers with a track
record of wildlife protection and management, to Tiger Reserves across India.
In relation to the proposed National Wildlife Crime Bureau, appeal to the Prime
Minister to ensure that professional enforcement officers are posted to senior
positions in the Bureau to direct operational activities. This will require the
full support of all relevant Ministries to ensure the Bureau is effective and
independent.
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