Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■department, or through support from otherorganisations. Once they have a stake in the area,there will be a much better understanding of the needfor conservation there.The Nature Conservation Foundation, which hasbeen working in the area for several years, hasalready launched a plan on these lines. The plan, inprinciple, is simple and based on the logic theexisting social and ecological set-up demands. Itproposes a creation of a protection force for thereserve that is based upon the talent and knowledgeof the community. This requires creation of a trainedforce of Lisu hired by the forest department andworking in collaboration with the department tomonitor the biodiversity as well as accord protectionto the area. The Nature Conservation Foundationsuggests a way to reduce the burden of hiring andmaintaining such a force: investments can be madeto bolster the tourism infrastructure, and the revenuefrom tourism can be shared with the community.Eco-tourism is the most tangible benefit the Lisucan get out of the park; through eco-tourism, they cancreate a direct and positive affiliation with the parkas well as a case for protection of wildlife. Touristinflow into the park is right now relatively low. Butthe area is known to bird watchers around the worldand needs to be marketed and projected as a uniquedestination. Most Indian tourists are from Assam andonly visit Deban, which is seen more as a picnic spot.Infrastructure and other tourist facilities are, as yet,limited to Deban. Building the tourism system is achallenge, but not an insurmountable one; it is easilymore viable than positioning more guards andinfrastructure in that region. Moreover, theinvestments made in tourism will be of the nature ofcapital investments, leading to revenue generationfor the cash-strapped department as well assustainable livelihoods for the people. Suchinvestments, in a climate of political volatility andrising unemployment, are the need of the hour: toinvest in creating livelihoods rather than than inbringing in more administration, guards, arms,ammunition which encourage attendant alienation ofthe people.The Task Force has received representationsfrom the Nature Conservation Foundation. Itsresearchers have been engaging with Project Tigerofficials as well, to see how the initiative, at presenta private one, can be up-scaled into an official mascotfor Project Tiger to experiment as an alternative.This will require the following at the minimum:● A formal pact of reciprocity between the Lisuand the forest department with consensus beingthe binding element;● A clear delineation of rights, privileges andbenefits for the people even before such a pact isprepared;●●●A clear benchmarking of indicators to monitorthe health of the habitat as well as theeffectiveness of the Lisu protection force;A collaborative effort between the state, thecommunities and interested research groups tospearhead the effort; clear demarcation of roles,and responsibilities between the stakeholders;A definitive time frame to set forth this processand, thereafter, to review the effectiveness andlook for mid-course corrections if necessary.While all this is easily done on paper, at the fieldlevel it demands the best of staff and the mostmotivated of personnel. Therefore, both the peopleas well as the forest department need to be givenadequate training in setting up an experiment thatdemands skills to manage the protection force as wellas run it as a profit-making exercise.But it clearly needs to be encouraged, becauseunless we experiment and innovate, how will wesucceed?Periyar: where poachers turned protectorsIn Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala, there has been aninteresting effort to provide people — erstwhileelephant poachers and smugglers of cinnamon bark— with an alternative source of livelihood fromtourism in the park. These ex-vayana bark smugglers,as they were once called, now engage with the forestdifferently. 10Today, former poachers are companions to theforest guards who patrol the Periyar tiger reserve.Information about tree-felling and smuggling isquickly relayed to the ranger by these formerpoachers over a walkie-talkie, the patrol team isreinforced and the forest thief is overpowered.Every day at dusk, one of the former poacherssurveys the crowds at the local bus stop in the townof Kumily for suspicious elements from his old days.The old network now works for the forestdepartment, not against it: powerful allies in this waragainst wildlife crime.In the past, these villagers depended upon theforest for firewood and thatching grass for their ownuse and for sale. Illicit smuggling of cinnamon wascommon as was poaching of bison, buffalo and smallgame. In 1997, when a few illicit collectors of thevayana bark were caught by the forest department,they were offered a deal: the cases against themwould be dropped in return for their services inprotecting the park. Twenty-two poachers agreed.They said they needed a regular income; the parkmanagers, therefore, worked with them to startoperations in offering a tourist service to ‘trail tigers’.The aim was to explore the wilderness of Periyar,and to become guides inside the park. As therevenues from this ‘business’ grew, forest offencesThe way ahead 67