Rajaji National Park - Forest in a rat trap

Trapped from all sides by expanding towns, heavy traffic highways and railway tracks, mining and poaching, can the precious little strip of Rajaji National Park save its tigers?
Akash Bisht Chilla/Rishikesh

As the tussle between the Union ministries of environment and surface transport intensifies over environmental clearances for 17 highways across tiger reserves in the country, two choked highways - NH-58 and NH-72 - are piercing through the heart of the ecological hot spot, Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand. It is effectively killing the twin hopes of repopulating tigers in the entire Shivalik Forest Region, while maintaining a healthy core population at the Jim Corbett National Park.

NH-58 connects Haridwar to Delhi, while NH-72 (A) connects Haridwar to Dehradun. Both witness heavy traffic and vehicular movement every day. Increasing tourism and developmental activities in recent years have led to massive increase of vehicles plying on these highways. "They bifurcate the park and obstruct the passage of animals from one forest division to another. This traffic is like a cancer which is spreading and eating into the park's vital organs," says SS Rasaily, Project Director, Rajaji National Park.

In 2007, park authorities conducted a survey to calculate the number of vehicles that pass through the two highways everyday. The results were shocking: 29,000 vehicles ply on these highways on a daily basis and as many as 600 from 1:30am to 2:30am. According to the National Highways Authority of India, these two highways witness a vehicular traffic growth of nearly 7 per cent each year. Rasaily pegs the current numbers at close to 50,000.

This virtual wall of fast moving vehicles deters the animals from passing through their natural habitat or even going to the nearby rivers to quench their thirst. Additionally, 40 trains plying on the same route during early mornings and late evenings - peak time for animals to move around the forests - are inflicting daily and long-term damage on their free movement.

"Human expressions are rude and animals do not understand them. Their natural environment is shrinking by leaps and bounds while traffic and railways play havoc on their well-being in Rajaji. A train engine's sound or a loud horn can be very discomforting for animals, but do we care?" asks SK Chandola, former Chief Wildlife Warden of Uttarakhand.

Nestled in the foothills of the Shivalik Range of Himalayas, Rajaji is blessed with some of the most pristine and picturesque forests in India. This 820 sq km park is precious ecological heritage that is home to magnificent biodiversity, flora and fauna, water bodies and streams. Wild animals like the tiger, elephant, leopard, sloth bear, deer and king cobra, among other species, inhabit the forest. The pristine wilderness is unmatched. Covering three districts of Uttarakhand, the park has more than 400 species of birds, including rare ones.

http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2010/07/3618

13 nations pledge to double tiger population by 2022

2010-07-14 14:20:00

, July 14 (DPA) Thirteen nations, including India, Wednesday agreed to step up their conservation efforts with the aim of doubling the wild tiger population by 2022, officials said. Officials and conservationists from the tiger-range countries met in the Indonesian resort island of Bali from Monday through Wednesday to hammer out plans to be discussed at the Tiger Summit in Russia in September. 'This meeting was crucial in that it gave more focus to conservation plans drawn up at previous meetings in Nepal and Thailand,' said Harry Santoso, director of biodiversity conservation at Indonesia's forestry ministry. 'We are confident that with concerted efforts, the global tiger recovery programme will be successful,' said Santoso, who also headed the Indonesian delegation. The global wild tiger population has been reduced to an estimated 3,200 animals, including 400 Indonesian Sumatran tigers, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). They are being threatened by habitat fragmentation and destruction, loss of prey, poaching and illegal trade. At the meeting, countries presented their national tiger recovery programmes and outlined commitments to meet the target of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022. The meeting also endorsed a draft declaration to be adopted by leaders at the Tiger Summit in Russia. The proposed declaration stated that tiger conservation efforts are primarily a national responsibility but that 'financial and technical support of the international community' is still needed to save wild tigers. It also called for increasing enforcement efforts to reduce the trafficking of tiger parts and to eradicate poaching and identifying and protecting key tiger habitats, such as breeding areas. 'Coming to this meeting and agreeing to some key plans represents a strong indication that these 13 governments are ready to make commitments and be held accountable for their efforts to save tigers and sets clear goals for how to do that,' said Michael Baltzer, leader of the WWF tiger programme. 'The outcomes of this meeting will provide a foundation for success at the Tiger Summit in Russia,' he said in a statement. The 13 tiger-range countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. The countries' national plans were expected to cost more than $356 million for immediate implementation, the WWF said. Indonesia would need $75 million to build 30 tiger recovery centres on Sumatra island, train personnel and improve management, Santoso said. Some of the money would come from the national budget but financial support from donors countries and international conservation groups is needed, he said. http://sify.com/news/13-nations-pledge-to-double-tiger-population-by-2022-news-international-khooudebaif.html

Buxa Tiger Reserve to conduct joint exercise with Bhutan

Kolkata: The Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal will undertake a joint exercise with neighbouring Bhutan for monitoring and protection of tigers and other wild life.

"Bhutan's joint participation with the Buxa Tiger Reserve will be mutually beneficial in the conservation of biological corridors and protection of big cats," field director of the reserve R P Saini said.

Saini, who had participated in a meeting of the Global Tiger Forum in Delhi on June 28, said it had been decided to forge close cooperation among officers of adjoining reserves of neighbouring counties for better monitoring and protection of tigers and other wild life.

It was also decided that training facilities of all member-countries would be mutually shared, he said.

Asked about the time line of the programme commencing, he said first a study had to be conducted to find out facilities in the member-countries.

"One country may have better facilities for training range officers, while some other country may have better facilities for training forest guards," he pointed out and said it would take some time.

Saini said at present there was no pact with Bhutan for joint monitoring or sharing of each other's facilities.

"Only a bi-annual meeting was held between the two countries in which everything from trade to law and order and wildlife was discussed," he said.

A sub-adult tiger was photographed for the first time in Buxa in March this year.

"There was never a doubt that the forest had tigers. The only worry was that sightings had become rare. So, this was very reassuring," Saini said.

A tiger census was held in the 761-square-kilometre reserve this year using scat analysis and camera trapping method and the outcome is expected to be known by the end of the year, sources in the Buxa reserve said.

At the meeting of the Global Tiger Forum representatives of various countries had discussed the issues confronting tiger threadbare and underlined the need for trans-boundary cooperation to check poaching.

They also expressed concern that habitat loss, unabated smuggling of animal parts and bones and declining prey base continued to take toll on the tiger population which is now estimated to be less than 3,000 worldwide.

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