Finally the Cabinet acts

In line with the announcement made by the Minister the Union cabinet passed a resolution maknig tri partite agreements betweeen the Centre, state govt and tiger parks mandatory before funds flow through to the parks. As news reports say this is an important step towards making all stake holders more accountable. Lets hope this is just the first step towards bringing more accountability in the entire system.

Cabinet approves MoU on tiger conservation

NEW DELHI: In fresh move to strengthen tiger conservation efforts, the Union cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal for implementing the agreement among the environment ministry, state governments and tiger reserves

The MoU seeks to ensure effective tiger conservation by laying out respective responsibilities and reciprocal commitments linked to fund flow to foster public accountability.

The MoU aims at strengthening tiger conservation initiatives and developing approaches to strengthen efforts for conserving tigers in the identified reserves and other tiger-bearing forests of the country.

"It will address the growing concern among the public for saving the tiger," I&B minister Ambika Soni said after cabinet meeting.

Funds are now being disbursed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under a pact with states for protecting the animal under Project Tiger.

However, under the new agreement, tiger reserves will also be made accountable for fund utilisation given that many states had failed to fully spend money provided by the Centre.

Excellent piece on Tiger Conservation by Deebie Banks on BBC website

Earning their stripes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8124176.stm

Next week in Geneva, a prime issue for a UN endangered species committee called Cites will be illegal trade in wild tigers. In this week's Green Room, Debbie Banks argues that a handful of businessmen want to reduce the tigers to nothing more than a luxury commodity.

Business interests have continued to breed tigers speculating that the ban would one day be lifted and that they would be sitting on a valuable stockpile of body parts

"Bagh Bachao, Jungle Bachao, Bharat Bachao" is the rallying cry of NGOs and activists across India, and they're right: Save the Tiger, Save the Forest, Save India.

The future of the tiger and its jungle home are inextricably linked to the survival of all of us, not just the people who live in tiger country.

The forests that are protected in the name of the tiger are vital to mitigate climate change and to secure water resources.

The tiger is an indicator of the health of the ecosystem and thus a symbol of good governance and political commitment to an equitable and sustainable future.

It is also a cultural and religious icon, venerated, feared and revered by communities across Asia and the world.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has been investigating and exposing the illegal trade in tigers and other Asian big cats for over 10 years. We have documented the changes in the markets and the increasing role of organised criminal networks.

We have campaigned for more effective enforcement initiatives to disrupt their operations, and know there is so much more that governments could do if they wanted to.

Hijacked conservation

Looking to the future, it is essential to plug some of the gaps in conservation strategies.

Many people living alongside tigers have yet to benefit from the millions of tourist dollars that the "world's favourite animal" generates; but in India, home to the largest remaining population of wild tigers, investment, policy and practice are at least moving in the right direction.

The same cannot be said for other countries, where business interests are hijacking the tiger conservation agenda, calling for the relaxation of trade bans so they can flood the market with farmed tiger parts.

The logic behind such a move is that since tigers breed well in captivity, farming them is an economical solution to satisfying demand whilst alleviating pressure on wild populations.

It's a simplistic logic that rests on critical assumptions about the complex nature and dynamics of the illegal trade in tigers and other Asian big cats.

Can farming tigers reduce pressure on their cousins in the wild?

Assumptions about the motivations of those involved in the trade, the costs of the trade, the scale and type of consumer demand: all plugged in to economic models and squirted out the other side as gospel.

What the followers of this faith have failed to acknowledge is that their version of events does not hold true in the real world. The risk of proceeding with this as an experiment is enormous, and the stake is no less than the extinction of the wild tiger.

So who are these disciples and what is their motivation? There are tiger farms in Thailand but by far the biggest ones are in China, where there are reportedly around 5,000 animals in captivity.

Despite a 1993 ban prohibiting the sale and use of tigers in China, business interests have continued to breed them, speculating that the ban would one day be lifted and that they would be sitting on a valuable stockpile of body parts.

'Conflict of interest'

Some argue that they want to sell tiger bone to save lives. Yet the Chinese medicinal community has long since promoted alternatives to tiger bone, which was never considered a life-saving ingredient in the first place.

Others just want to sell tiger bone wine. In fact, some businessmen are so keen they have already been found in breach of Chinese law, illegally selling the wine in tiger-shaped bottles and in one case, selling tiger meat.

EIA and others have found tiger bone wine being marketed as a general tonic and packaged as the gift that wins promotions and seals deals. Call it a conflict of interest, but there has been no meaningful enforcement action by the relevant authorities to stop this trade.

The very existence of these farms, and the persistent lobbying of the business community, is a distraction which deflates and undermines real tiger conservation efforts.

We're being asked to believe that those who have already dabbled in illegal trade have a real interest in limiting their market, and that the enforcement authorities who have failed to stop them so far will be able to regulate a legal trade to prevent the laundering of poached tiger parts.

A tiger- and bear-themed park in China is used for farming the animals

In June 2007, the international community spoke with one voice; it declared that tigers should not be bred for any trade in their parts and derivatives.

Delegates at the 14th meeting of the Conference of Parties to Cites voted by consensus on a decision to phase out commercial tiger farms.

The move was championed by the governments of tiger range states such as India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan, all desperately appealing to the international community to remove the farm threat once and for all.

Two years on however, those countries with tiger farms have failed to provide any evidence of progress.

In fact, China's response to a notification from Cites seeking information on what steps they have taken to fulfil the agreed decision was met with a curt and derisive response that told us nothing. All eyes will be on China once again during the Cites meeting in Geneva next week.

EIA firmly believes that if China is truly committed to saving the wild tiger, it should close down the tiger farms and invest in more effective and meaningful enforcement co-operation with range states.

Changes in attitudes and markets show that consumers are responsive to targeted education and outreach, and indeed several markets in China have declined dramatically in the last few years.

Now is not the time to abandon efforts but to reinvest, financially and politically, in their continued success.

In so doing, we bring far greater benefits - not just to the survival of the wild tiger, but also to other endangered species, to the fight against corruption and organised crime and to a better world for all of us. Who doesn't want that?

Debbie Banks is a senior tiger investigator with the EIA.

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website.

Broken radio-collar of Sariska tiger replaced

This is today's piece in Hindu, not much news otherwise. The sea link in Mumbai has finally opened so I guess reporters across newspapers are busy with the opening.

New Delhi (PTI): The broken radio-collar of a tiger in Sariska has been successfully replaced with a hi-tech and light-weight gadget by a team of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India and Rajasthan forest officials.

"We executed the operation of replacing the collar successfully on Monday. Though it was raining heavily we managed to locate the wild cat after five days of intense search," K Shankar, a WII scientist, who was the part of the team, told PTI.

The animal was tranquilized and a new radio-collar put around its neck.

Mr. Shankar said the gadget would help in keeping track of the movement of the striped animal in the Rajasthan forest, the two tigress already being radio-collared.

"This time we have used the radio-collar having in-built antenna unlike the earlier one which had external antenna and vulnerable to damages," Mr. Shankar added.

The collars weighing around a kg was given free of cost by Canada-based firm Lotek after its previous gadget failed to function.

"As per norms, the weight of the collar is much less than 5 per cent of the body weight of the animal which is usually around 150 kgs."

Mr. Shankar said collars were an important part of the animal recovery species plan as it would keep a track on the movement of the royal predators-- two female and a male big cat and ward off the poachers.

The wild cats were shifted phase-wise since July last year from Ranthambore tiger reserves in the Northen state. Two more tigers are planned to be relocated to Sariska reserve before 2010.

The scientist explained that the collar contains transmitters that send out information in short pulses, which is picked up by a satellite, which in turn transmits the data to dedicated centres, in this case Argos centres for processing.

Relocating predators to a new habitat — a first of its kind experiment — is aimed at reviving the tiger population at Sariska which had lost all its big cats to poaching by 2004.

Taking cue from Sariska, Madhya Pradesh Government too recently translocated two tigress in Panna reserve where no big cat is left.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200907011254.htm

Recission now hits Tiger relocation !!

TOI had an interesting bit today. Given the high cost of airlifting involved, Govt of Rajasthan has decided to shift the next few big cats to Sarika from Ranthambore by road.

Road route likely for Sariska-bound tigerJAIPUR: It could be economy-class for the male tiger that has to be translocated from the Ranthambore tiger reserve to Sariska some time this July.

The state forest department is seriously contemplating using a custom made trailer for relocating the tiger this time. Till now, all the three big cats that have been relocated to Sariska have had the "luxury" of an air ride on board an IAF helicopter.

Officials of the forestdepartment disclosed that the move is being considered so as to cut costs. "Air travel requires a lot of expenses. For it is not just the one-time ride with the big cat but sometimes the tiger proves elusive, specially in the monsoon season, and the helicopter has to wait for a long time," the official said.

In fact, during the relocation of the second tigress, the third in a row, the helicopter had to fly off without completing the mission as the tigress proved elusive on two occasions. Officials of the WildlifeInstitute of India (WII) had failed to locate the earmarked tigress in a correct position to tranquillise it.

But more than the cost, the state forest department is thinking of betterways to transport the tiger being emboldened by three successful translocations to Sariska. Sunday marked the completion of a year of the first relocation of a tigress to Sariska.

"During these relocations what we learnt was that if the big cat is sedated in a controlled way tit behaves in a docile manner. However, in the event we use a trailer we would take proper precautions so that the tiger is well protected not only from the bumps on the road but from climatic conditions too," said the official hinting at the use of an air-conditioned vehicle or water sprays during travel. In fact tigers have been relocated from Panna to Kanha by road.

However, travel by road from Ranthambore to Sariska would take longer and the cat would have to travel about 50 km extra. "That is not a worry. Once sedated, the tiger remains in that condition for at least 4 to 6 hours. In fact, by road we will be able to monitor the animal better," the official reaffirmed.

The forest department is looking forward to relocating at least two big cats this financial year and three more in the next two years. "Along with this the process of supplementing five big cats every two years will be on," he added.

The relocation this time would also see the forest department use satellite radio collars that would have an embedded antenna and is manufactured by a Canadian company. The standard radio collars suffer from the weakness that the antenna are susceptible to damage. Besides, the relocation would also put into practice the fresh set of protocols for relocation as issued by the Centre.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jaipur/Road-route-likely-for-Sariska-bound-tiger/articleshow/4717940.cms

States and centre are both complicit

As per the story carried in Indian express yesterday the centre had given a clean chit to the Forest Dept team in charge of Panna National Park as late as last year when it was clear that tigers had been disappearing from the sancturary at an alarming rate.r Even more surprisingly the head of the central team was the same person who as the head of SIT now has slammed the state government and the officials for dereliction of duty. What is not surprising how ever is that now the buck is being passed around to cove up the tracks. Might be a good idea for the new minister to fix accountability for this serious oversight. Charity afterall begins at home.

Central team slams MP for missing tigers but year ago, it sang praises

A Special Investigative Team (SIT) set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests submitted a damning report early this week saying the Panna Tiger Reserve lost most of its big cats to poaching and blamed Madhya Pradesh government authorities for “being in denial” and failing to see the impending disaster despite repeated warnings.

However, just a year ago, P K Sen, who headed the SIT, submitted a glowing report to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) praising those manning the park as motivated, dedicated and knowledgeable and applauding the support from state officials.

That report put the tiger count at seven — and possibly two more — and observed that there were no incidents of poaching in the recent past. The latest report says there may be no tigers left.

Sen, the former director of Project Tiger, along with Secretary General and CEO of WWF-India Ravi Singh, visited Panna on January 8-10, 2008, for an appraisal of the “Status of Tiger Population” in the reserve.The field director and his staff appeared to be quite motivated and, therefore, their continuity is a must. Even if the field director is promoted, he should be allowed to stay in the park for a considerable period as he has been able to motivate the subordinate staff to a large extent. The staff appears to be quite dedicated, knowledgeable about the terrain and enthusiastic in their work,” was the first recommendation made in the six-page report, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express.

“The highest authorities in the state appear to be supporting the field director in his initiative. The proposed new areas to be included as a buffer of the park should be notified as early as possible,” was the second recommendation.

Sen went on to applaud the park management for a series of steps including setting up 71 patrol camps each managed by a forest guard; 33 wireless-set-equipped Nigrani (vigil) camps for round-the-clock vigil at strategic locations that cover 95 per cent of the area; rehabilitation of 13 villages outside the park; rehabilitation of 91 children of Baheliya and Pardhi tribes — traditionally engaged in poaching — by admitting them in two schools.

However, in his new report, Sen makes an about turn to blame the park management and top state officials in Bhopal, including the Principal Secretary (Forests). This despite the fact that between the first report and the latest one, the top brass of the state Forest Department has remained virtually unchanged. H S Pabla, who was Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) in 2008, is now PCCF (Wildlife) while P G Gangopadhyay who was PCCF (Wildlife) is now PCCF. IAS officer Prashant Mehta was Principal Secretary (Forests) in 2008 and is now Additional Chief Secretary (Forests). Panna, however, has seen three directors during the same period. During the team’s visit in 2008 it was G Krishnamurty followed by L K Chaudhary and now R S Murthy. Sen’s 2008 report, based on pugmarks, suggested the presence of seven tigers, mostly males, in the areas seen by the team members and maybe two semi-adult tigers. The observation came with a rider: “It must be noted that the team has relied mostly upon pugmarks on PIPs (pugmark impression pads). Other evidences recorded are of a kill, scats and alarm calls. Tigers have been sighted by tourists and staff in the beginning of January, therefore any absence of tiger from the Reserve is not correct.” The report recommended that verification of the population/presence of tigers be done by camera-trapping. “There is a need to bring out more information regarding the reserve and specifically of tigers in the public sphere. This will also underline the good work that has been observed in the Panna Tiger Reserve,” Sen’s report said. The team covered four ranges and found the maximum numbers of pugmarks in the Madla range. On the first day (January 8) of their visit, the team-members saw 30 pugmarks; 50 on the second day, and 10 the last day. The team admitted to seeing over 150 pugmarks but after analyzing them suggested the presence of only seven tigers and the possibility of two sub-adults. When asked to explain this turnaround, Sen said: “There are differences in the two reports because the mandate was different. Moreover, the team hardly spent two days in 2008. The SIT’s investigations extended over three months.” Asked what this difference in mandate was, Sen said: “This time the mandate was to specifically find what went wrong in Panna unlike the last time when the brief was general.” He claimed that in 2008 the team was never “cent per cent sure” about the presence of tigers because the analysis was based on pugmarks, an outdated system. “That’s why we suggested camera trapping to confirm the exact number of tigers and the male-female ratio,” he said. As for his earlier comment that there was no evidence of poaching, Sen said that was “general comment.”

He said the blame lies with the senior officers based in Bhopal because they failed to act in time. “They failed to effectively monitor what was going on in the park.”

“Even we want to figure out what went wrong and that’s why we have set up an expert committee,” said PCCF Pabla. “Either the committee was not serious then (2008) or its latest report amounts to witch-hunting by talking about fixing accountability,” he said.

“We are not disputing the latest report but we don’t want to jump the gun. There could have been mortality — either by poaching or natural deaths or migration. It could be a combination of several factors. It’s a systemic failure that suggests failure of the present conservation strategy,” he said.

Two tigresses were translocated to Panna, one each from Bandhavgarh and Kanha in March, but there was no mating because the lone male tiger, which forest authorities claimed was there, disappeared.

Now the NTCA has cleared a proposal to shift two tigers and two tigresses to the reserve, preparations for which have already begun.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Central-team-slams-MP-for-missing-tigers-but-year-ago--it-sang-praises/482260

Accountability for disappearing Tigers

In country where millions go to bed hungry every night and where people, especially those living in & around forest areas, have to scratch for a decent living it is hardly a surprise to see the local villagers not completely on board in the government's efforts to save tigers. Accountability is the name of the game these days what with newspapers full of statements made by our new minister on Fixing responsibility on forest officials for dereliction of duty in the case of missing tigers of Panna. As early as 2002 conservationists working inside the park have been warning the state of government of the danger signs. As if to prove to the country that they couldnt care less, officials in the MP Forest Department did not just continously look the other way but went out of their way to cover up for the fact that big cats were disppearing from under their noses when they were writing in magazines on how all the tigers were safe and were scattered in the jungles nearby when the census was carried out. Accountability in isolation is a dangerous sword. What needs to be addressed to avoid reccurance of such cases is to address the root cause of cover ups. State governments, most of them on the brink of a financial crisis, are burdended with the task of meeting basis aspirations of people. If Madhya Pradesh or for that matter any other state has little drinking water available to quench the thirst of its population then it is unfair to expect the chief minister to focus on Tiger Conservation. Priorities are set at the top and officials down the line take a cue from the leader. Hence is it imperative that the Centre takes a larger leadership role in this issue. From quickly raising the tiger protection force to ensuring inter state poaching cases are solved at the earliest, quick and transparent justice will bring in as much benefit to tiger protection as any other step. If, as the centre says, repeated warning of tigers disappearing were ignored by the state government between 2002 & 2008 then the central goverment is also complicit in not ensuring that the poachers were quickly caught and brought to book. With most poaching syndicates operating across state boudaries it is impossible for a state goverment to alone act and apprehend wildlife criminals and thats where the centre has to play a crucial role. Making people living in and around the forests a stake holder in the development is another aspect on which reams has been written but the results achieved have been mixed. Tadoba National park in Maharashatra has been in news recently for many tiger deaths around the peiphery. My recent there relvealed that there are still many villages inside the park and some of the villagers who had moved out earlier have reentered demading better compensation from the goverment. Official apathy, bureaucracy, corruption and confused policies both at the central and state levels is a deadly cokctail that is the biggest impediment to tiger conservation efforts. If the minister has to fixaccountability let him start with removing these ills atleast at the central level, the states will take care of themselves.

Important step towards Tiger conservation

Well after yesterday's news, Indian Express today carried the following report. Apart from the translocation of new tigers which has been widely reported an important step towards making the system more effective is the move to give the NTCA more teeth. As the story says, NTCA has so far acted as an advisory body with no definite say in forest conervation affairs which is state subject. With the proposal to bring NTCA member secretary at par with the Chief Wildlife Warden at the state level, state governments can not ignore NTCA dictats any more. NTCA was set up by the Prime Minister after the Siriska disaster and its efforts so far to galvanise tiger conservation efforts hav been mixed at best what with the state governments not treating the matter with the priority it deserves. With the new evnironment minister making all the right noises within days of taking over, the green lobby clearly sees new hope.

Centre clears translocation of 4 big cats to Panna

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/centre-clears-translocation-of-4-big-cats-to-panna/481822/1

The states ignoring NTCA’s warnings is a common occurrence since wildlife is a concurrent subject. This is now set to end as the Cabinet has okayed bringing the position of NTCA member secretary at par with the Chief Wildlife Warden at the state-level. “This will strengthen the NTCA’s position,” Ramesh told The Indian Express. In the past, states have often ignored NTCA advisories on issues like transfer of officials, culling of maneaters and notifying buffer zones for tiger reserves. This had reduced the NTCA to little more than a fund-giving body for the Centrally sponsored Project Tiger scheme.

Kaziranga tiger attack video - Must watch

Finally some one has woken up !

After the shifting of two female tigers to Panna a few months back by the state govt the centre has finally allowed Male tigers to be shifted there as 'The Hindu' post below says . One hopes the two tigresses shifted earlier have not been poached already. The environment minister Jai Ram Ramesh has thus far shown the vigour needed to get the job done to save tigers in India from extinction but state governments need to play along. Today's other news about a tripartite MOU to be signed now on between the Centre, state govt and the tiger reserve is a good step in the direction of creating an accountable and responsible system with long term needs and interests in mind.

Centre gives nod for translocation of tiger into Panna Reserve

Bhopal (PTI) The decks have been cleared for the translocation of a tiger into the Panna Tiger Reserve, with the Centre permitting the Madhya Pradesh Forest officials to go ahead with its plan to shift a big cat into this sanctuary to revive the wild cat population.

"We got permission to translocate the tiger from the Centre yesterday," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) H.S. Pabla told PTI on Friday.

"We are going to shift the big cat either from Bandhavgarh or Kanha as both have a good number of tiger population," he said.

The PCCF said that the translocation will be done in accordance with the Centre's guidelines adding that a Wildlife Institute of India (WII) biologist will be present during the shifting process of big cat.

Mr. Pabla said that the translocation will be carried out as soon as possible, adding that field directors of Bandhavgarh and Kanha are going to be contacted soon in this regard.

In March, two tigresses from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and Kanha Tiger Reserve, had been translocated to Panna, spread over 542 sq km in Panna and Chhatarpur districts in East Madhya Pradesh, where the big tiger population had become zero following poaching, according to a Special Investigation Team of National Tiger Conservation Authority recent report.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200906261414.htm