Tiger reserves and the arduous task of conservation
The year was 1985. The late Shyam Sunder, then head of the Karnataka Forest Department, was camping in the Shettihalli forest resthouse of the Shivamogga division, deep inside the Western Ghats. As Deputy Conservator of Forests, Shivamogga, I accompanied him, along with the Conservator of Forests, for a field visit and camping. The resthouse had only two rooms. After dinner, I left for another resthouse at Sirigere, 15 km away. My half-an-hour journey was through a magnificent forest. No human, livestock, stray dog or wild animal was encountered on the way. The next morning, however, while returning on the same route to Shettihalli, my driver and I sighted a tiger crossing the road, 50 metres ahead of us. Spellbound, we watched the tiger for 10-15 seconds till it disappeared in the jungle. When I shared this experience with my seniors, they were thrilled. They said sighting a tiger was uncommon and many forest officers had retired without sighting a tiger in their entire service.
With the help of state forest departments, an all-India tiger census was regularly carried out. Tiger numbers were assessed on the basis of pugmarks.
States showed growth in numbers until the early 2000s, when it was found that the entire census was flawed and some departments had reported more tigers than they actually had. Tiger states came under heavy criticism and the Central government took strict action. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was constituted and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, amended in 2006. It coordinated with states to take legal and administrative action to revive the tiger numbers. Anti-poaching camps were established inside forests, staff were upskilled and legal training and assistance provided to ensure that the poachers who hunted tigers for skin and body parts were brought to justice.
More forest areas were brought under the purview of the NTCA. Nine areas, originally included under Project Tiger in 1973, covering nearly 16,000 sq km, were increased to 53 tiger reserves (TRs) in 2024, covering approximately 75,000 sq km. The methodology for tiger estimation, which was earlier based on pugmark count, was made more robust by Dr Rajesh Gopal, who was member secretary, NTCA, from its establishment till 2014, with the assistance of scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India.
The new methodology involved eight days’ field protocol in all tiger-bearing forests, putting in use new data-gathering techniques. The methodology is peer-reviewed globally and published in leading scientific journals. Using this methodology, the tiger number in the country, which was reported to be 10,000 in 2002, was found to be 1,411 in 2006. Thereafter, estimation was done every four years. The tiger numbers started growing — 1,710 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,682 in 2022.
The most worrying part has been the loss of area under tiger occupancy. Anthropogenic pressure, diversion of forests for infrastructure and mining projects, encroachment and forest fires account for rapid degradation and fragmentation of tiger habitats and the tigers do not survive in human-dominated areas. This is the reason why the NTCA focuses on the relocation of families from the core areas of the tiger reserves. Though it is a long-drawn process and the Forest Rights Act, 2006, has come in the way, relocation of families is still progressing at a slow pace.
Relocation of tribal families from core areas of TRs is done after taking their consent. The package is quite attractive; all male members above 18 years constitute a family and were provided Rs 10 lakh, which has been revised to Rs 15 lakh from 2018. The families not opting for cash had another option and were provided agriculture land, houses and cash (20 per cent of the whole package) and relocated. While working as Chief Wildlife Warden, Karnataka, in 2010-11, I could relocate 19 out of 25 families in a tribal hamlet named Dalimbe Kolli in Nagarhole TR. Six families who did not give their consent were left out. It became difficult for the state to provide them the basic necessities like piped water, electricity, hospital and school. The families are now repenting. The state is also in a dilemma as the families have grown to 20 in number and there are cost overruns.
Tiger is a territorial animal and has to fight another tiger to gain territory. As habitats are lost, fragmented tigers get pushed out of the reserves and are exposed to human areas. They have to depend on livestock for prey, which is detrimental to both humans and tigers. Conservation efforts get a setback if human lives/livestock are lost. Often tigers are poisoned/shot by humans. The best forests in the country are notified and included in tiger reserves. We need to conserve tiger reserves for our own welfare as vast stretches of the forests provide origin and catchment of rivers, upon which our lives depend.
— The writer is former head of Forest Force, Karnataka
