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A meeting of all the Field Directors of the Tiger Reserves and the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the States is being convened in early May to discuss the measures that need to be taken for enhancing the management of Tiger Reserves in light of the final results of the independent expert monitoring of the reserves, the immediate steps necessary to address the problem of poaching during the monsoon, the implementation of enhanced methodology of tigers census, and other relevant issues.
This was stated by the Minister of Environment and Forests, Thiru A. Raja, here today, while interacting with a group of Parliamentarians, who have constituted a Forum called 'Tiger And Wilderness Watch' to save the tiger in particular and to promote the cause of forests and wildlife in general.
Stating that this interaction would provide strong support to the efforts of the Ministry in precisely identifying and addressing the problems of management of tiger reserves and conservation of tigers in the country, the Minister apprised the members of the interim findings of a group of experts, independent monitors set up by Project Tiger in July 2004 to conduct an exhaustive, rigorous survey and evaluation of the state of management of all 28 tiger reserves in the country by April 2005, in terms of an internationally accepted methodology developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), involving 45 different evaluation parameters. The composition and terms of reference of these monitors have been accepted by the Supreme Court.
“So far, they have completed the task for 14 of the reserves, and the results showed that out of these, 4 are rated as “satisfactory”, 7 as “good”, and 3 as “Very Good” in terms of predetermined norms”, the Minister said, adding that the entire process would be peer reviewed by the national and international experts.
Thiru Raja also apprised the Forum members of the work that has been done so far with respect to improvements in the tiger estimation methodology and the specific plans for application of the improved methodology during the forthcoming tiger census from November 2005 to February 2006.
The members emphasized the need for taking urgent action to prevent poaching in ten critical tiger reserves - Manas Tiger Reserve Assam; Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh; Simplipal Tiger Reserve, Orissa; Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Bihar; Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand; Nagarjuna Tiger Reserve, Andhra Pradesh; Indravati Tiger Reserve, Chattisgarh; Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh; Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh; and Tadoba Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra - in the country by deploying additional forces prior to the onset of the monsoon, as it is during this period that poachers are most active. They also proposed a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the concerned States to identify the specific problems and persuade them to deploy additional force in these vulnerable areas.
The members of the Forum gave strong support to the Ministry’s efforts in ensuring sustainable management of wildlife protected areas by securing the livelihoods of the people in the forest fringe villages by involving them in providing eco-tourism services, setting up of the Wildlife Crime Bureau to comprehensively address the issues of wildlife crime, and establishing secure corridors between wildlife protected areas in order to ensure that the habitats have viable gene pools of the wildlife species.
The members of the Forum, who met Thiru Raja, include: Smt. Renuka Chowdhury, Minister of Tourism; Shri B.J. Panda, MP; Shri Suresh Prabhu, MP; Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ex-MP; Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia, MP; Shri Anand Sharma, MP; and Shri Manvendra Singh, MP.
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