IWC Chat on "Tiger Task Force Report"

Susan Welcome to IWC Chat on "Tiger Task Force Report"

Susan Hi Nooreen welcome!

nooreen hi

Susan Welcome Akriti!

nooreen im glad we arranged this chat

akriti hey

nooreen its an important topic

akriti so, who's the guest joining us tonight?

Susan It is Great the chat is taking place on a day the papers have reported the tiger protection body has been approved by the cabinet!

nooreen i dont know akriti ....Hmmm

Susan Well this is an open chat. No particular guest has been invited.

nooreen thats cool ....but i think we need more measures to ensure the tiger is safe

akriti and that will happen if forest guards are indeed recruited

Susan More measures like?

nooreen recruitment of forest guards .......basic change in the management ......clean accounts

Susan The National Tiger Conservation Authority is supposed to lay down more guidelines for patrolling etc.

akriti and anyway, no one really knows the number of tigers in the forest since the press always increases the number...thats one of the reasons sariska was very shocking

Susan But I know we are all sort of sceptical about these government bodies

nooreen i think its beyond the power at the center ...n the change needs to come from the feild level

akriti state is who needs to make the changes....

Susan One good thing about the report is, it has got in motion a scientific census whose results are expected in February

nooreen oh .....thats nice

nooreen i think the tiger taskforce has correctly recorded the measures needed to be taken in their report

nooreen they just have to implement them

Susan The tiger Task force Auth. was expected to be chaired by the PM That has not happened which is sad.

akriti well yeah, but it will take A LOT of time for their solutions to be implemented

nooreen i dont think the govt. has the tigers safety as a priority ......unlike indira gandhis govt.

Susan The anti poaching squad has to be continuously active -Hope the Govt and NGOs can ensure that.

nooreen i was wondering ...how long does it take to b an NGO

Susan As people who are concerned, we can keep the tiger story alive in forums . Even when media is distracted

Susan That is where clubs like IWC can play a part.

Susan The story can be kept alive only if we connect the tiger to the forest, water to wildlife in general.

nooreen OH WE DO THAT ....

nooreen akriti n I are goin to rajaji to promote awareness amongst the gujjars

Susan Tell us how you do that

nooreen Wpsi are sponsoring us

Susan How are you planning to communicate with the gujjars?

Susan Hi fi99

nooreen we are conducting a workshop with the kids in two skools

nooreen as we believe that peer to peer interaction usually works

akriti yeah, from 3rd to 5th grade

Susan It is agreat idea-finally tigers can be protected only by us- not by gun toting guards-

siddiqui Hi ALL

siddiqui I am Imran Siddiqui

nooreen yes .....this is the first time we are visiting a national park

Susan Hi Siddiqui, if you are from Hyderabad then you are the expert w e are looking for.

siddiqui I work for Tiger conservation in AP

siddiqui right I am from Hyderabd

siddiqui nooreen thats good

siddiqui But for Tiger Task force I believe

nooreen we were wondering how useful it wud b to bring in remote sensing into the parks

Susan How is the Tadoba Census group coming along-It was a great idea to call for volunteers

shashi hi everyone

shashi is the pmo making any progress on implementing some of the tiger task force recommendations?

siddiqui Tadoba there are some problems

siddiqui with forest department

siddiqui Nooreen sensing is going to play a major role in conservation

nooreen so do u think tht if it can b afforded ...we shud try using it

siddiqui Susan still permissions are not yet given

nooreen because that is wat ppl in the US are doing ..

siddiqui hey it is major tool

siddiqui GIS and Remote sensing is going to stay for ever

nooreen but how will it help exactly

siddiqui U know the patterns, change in forest cover,

akriti remote sensing causes pain to the animals too doesnt it?

siddiqui Dekho Remote sensing is using of satellite images and aerial photos to study anything from distance

nooreen isnt it practical

siddiqui Not at all

siddiqui Arey listen.

siddiqui satellites continously take pictures of earth

siddiqui we give latitude/longitude and take image of particular area

siddiqui then we analyze that area (say a Sanctuary)

siddiqui this will tell us exactly whats going on deep in the forest

nooreen ooooh ....so we should work on implementing that too

siddiqui BY this u can know for instance how forest was in 1977, 85,88,90,99....and 2005

nooreen because it isnt really used in India

siddiqui people are already using it

siddiqui Nooreen this y dont we discuss someother time

nooreen Where exaclty?

siddiqui lets talk on conservation and Tiger task force report

siddiqui I mean sometime later

nooreen alright ......

siddiqui Susan what are ur thoughts on Bill

siddiqui I feel it is designed more for people than Tigers

nooreen The tribla bill?

siddiqui Like it speaks about 7-8 lakhs spend per tiger.

siddiqui I meant report, SUSAN U THERE

nooreen ok .....i think the main crux of the report is relocation versus coexistence

siddiqui yes, It speaks in volumes about the pargadism

siddiqui I mean Human FOrest relation, But it is more people oriented

nooreen yes and in a way tht is the problem

siddiqui we cannot save tigers with thousands of cattle in forest

nooreen Sunita Narain does bring in a good point

siddiqui I feel Cattle is biggest threat,

siddiqui Hey only we two online???

nooreen no akriti is too

Susan Hi Iam listening

siddiqui But Nooreen, dont u feel that we  need to protect last remaining of forests

Susan Sorry was out of touch-Yes the Bill

akriti even though cattle is a big threat, we can't relocate each and every villiage in the core of the forest can we?

nooreen Yes we do

siddiqui See Report is a step towards so called Community Forestry of Join forest management

Susan I think the TTR is a well researched document which faces reality head on and gives practical suggestions

nooreen I think tht if we just leave our forest alone ....remove the ppl ...thats all it really needs

siddiqui Yes we cannot relocate every village, but have a alternative livelihood option for most of villages depending on forest

Susan I would not like to think of it as a people biased report---

nooreen But tht is wat most ppl think

siddiqui But easily said than done it is simply immpossible as Akriti pointed to relocate people

akriti and its not entirely false....

siddiqui Me too Susan

nooreen But the idea is what can we do INSTEAD

siddiqui but problem is that

akriti we SHOULD relocate as many villages as we can, because human tiger coexistence...well, it isnt exactly what is going on out there

siddiqui it doesnot speak scientifically I feel

Susan The web of life is what needs to be protected-the tiger is the most visible link- the other is man

siddiqui Relocation, backfires easily.

nooreen It has in almost most of the experiments

siddiqui Yes

Susan Coexistence with tiger is not possible-I do not think the TTR is in any way talking about it. I went through the report in full

nooreen but it is ...that is Sunita Narains whole point

siddiqui i m sorry got to go

Susan Relocation of Bhadra tiger reserve was successful-if compensation paid is good it can be successful

nooreen We met with her and she seemed keen on pushing with tht

siddiqui Will try to login

nooreen Bye

Susan Thanks Siddiqui

Susan Where is fi99?

akriti even in rajaji, if im not wrong,havent villages been reloacted there? thus the forest is in a good condition?

Susan  I am starting a blog on Tiger Task Force Report -a follow up

akriti bye siddiqui

Susan The Rajaji forest is recovering-but the elephant population there is in trouble as corridors are no longer there

Susan Noreen & Akriti you are welcome to write your experiences there. You can just write and upload immediately

nooreen Oh yes we did a report on that wen we were in the Juniour TTF

Susan Since Rajaji is close to Corbett, educating the people there to protect the tiger is important

akriti ah yes, isnt it something like the forest is on one side and the water source is on another? and thus elephants have 2 walk a distance to get water...

Susan So your project with schools is very important and hope you can make a difference

Susan Share your experiences with other IWC members.

nooreen we hope so too ...also it is a learning experience

Susan So, shall we log off for the day?

akriti oh its already 8 35...

nooreen Bye Susan Thank you both for logging in. Next month topic any suggestions?