Indian Wildlife Club Forum

The Tiger Task Force has submitted its report. The report brings out some glaring facts.

"In the last 30 years, only 80-odd villages have been relocated from all 28 reserves. There are another 1,500 existing inside, of which 250 are within core areas of tiger reserves, which must be relocated. Relocating them will cost Rs 660 crore at the minimum, in terms of the meager relocation package government works with today, and without accounting for land costs. If this is taken into account, then the estimated cost is Rs 11,000 crore.

What is suggested is a time-bound programme to identify those villages that must be relocated because of they are located inside crucial tiger habitats. It is also suggested that, unlike the past, this relocation must be done speedily and sensitively, with careful consideration of the needs of people."

The chair person also says that if we do not make peace with the communities who share the tigers’ home, we will lose the war of conservation tiger by tiger. Identifying the cause for a crisis situation is certainly the first step towards a solution.

Let us think solutions now! How can we have the communities become stakeholders in tourism for example? Any suggestions?

I appreciate the view of Bahar Dutt on the need for support for Community reserves. Moreover, those communities need more appreciation and acknowledgement from the governmental and scientific community.

Often the community forests such as sacred groves are kept for religious values and the rules and regulations governing them might widely vary from community to community. Only a local level management approach involving informed participants mainly from the specific community/communities involved in the conservation only can promot the conservation of community reserves.

Probably the Kalpavriksh's data (mentioned by Bahar Dutt) on various community reserves should be studied thoroughly for making some umbrella rule that should serve only as some sort of a broad guidelines for the management of these reserves at National level.

I read the article by Bahar Dutt at

http://www.indianwildlifeclub.com/AboutUs/OurConcerns/Community-Reserves.aspx

I completely agree with her views on community reserves. Until and unless the government also helps and encourages these local tribes and residents, they will find it difficult in the long-run to protect valuable wildlife and natural resources, given illegal use of these resources.

These local residents must feel that their efforts are not going wasted because then only many more people will want to work for such causes without thinking about the adverse repercussions of legal loopholes on the environment.