Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■and organised with the help of GeographicalInformation Systems (GIS) is a most valuable sourceof information pertaining to the status of the tigerhabitat spanning the entire distribution range of thetiger. Given the fact that a substantial proportion ofthe tiger population occurs outside tiger reserves, weare increasingly beginning to appreciate thesignificance of conservation efforts focusing on thewhole landscape. GIS using satellite-derived andother spatial information would be a key tool in thiscontext.The various kinds of information thus generatedthrough such an extensive effort would provide abroad picture of the status of the tiger habitat. Thiswould help partition the overall tiger habitat into aseries of strata representing different states ofparameters of interest, such as habitat fragmentationand prey densities.Intensive studiesThis broad understanding of the entire tiger rangewould be the starting point of designing morethorough investigations. A set of sample localitiesmay then be chosen from the overall tiger range formore intensive, rigorous investigations.These focused, intensive investigations may alsocover all the aspects considered at the earlier stage(state of tiger habitat, abundance of tiger preyspecies, etc).These intensive investigations may draw on thewhole arsenal of scientific hardware such as cameratraps and DNA sequencing, as well as software such asstatistical techniques and computer simulations (seebox: Checking DNA). Their focus should not beconfined to trees, ungulates and larger carnivores,but also include many other significant elements ofbiodiversity. They should not view humans only as anuisance, but also as the only species to have evolvedpractices of deliberate conservation of biodiversity.An inclusive, cooperative effortRecognising that a main difficulty so far has been theopaqueness and exclusivity of the efforts at assessingtiger populations, both the extensive as well as theintensive investigations should be conducted in thespirit of science. The main ingredients of thescientific enterprise are:● Open access to all facts and inferences● Rejection of all authority other than that ofempirical facts, and● Welcoming all interested parties to question allassertions as to facts as well as logicThis would not only involve following theestablished scientific scheme of peer review inprofessional journals, but would entail welcominginvolvement of all interested parties in the endeavorof assessing tiger populations and their habitats.Such involvement, at the level of the extensive effort,should bring on board, alongside wildlife managers,scientists as well as local community members andamateur naturalists. The more intensive effort wouldcall for involvement of scientists and wildlifemanagers to a much greater extent, though there willstill be scope for involving local communitymembers and amateur naturalists.In fact, a point of view debated during the TigerTask Force hearings is that such ecologicalassessment is like an audit of a business concern. Anaudit is best conducted by an independent externalagency. If this is accepted, the wildlife managersshould not participate in the ecological assessment atall, leaving it in the hands of an independent groupof scientists. However, so long as the wholeassessment process is inclusive and transparent,ensuring that there is no undue manipulation of dataas happened in the case of Sariska, it may beappropriate to involve the wildlife managers in theprocess. Such involvement would contribute tofurther building up of their capacities at all levelsfrom forest guards and watchers upwards.Multidisciplinary effortTiger conservation is not simply a matter of ensuringa healthy prey population base for the carnivores. Itis a far more complex process that will have toinclude attempts at positively involving thousands ofhuman beings that share the tiger habitat. The effortat assessment of tiger populations and their habitatswould, therefore, have to look at whole landscapes,as also at a range of ecological, social, economic,political as well as ethical issues. Such an effortwould have to engage natural and social scientists aswell as resource managers, and be open toparticipation of all interested public as well. As afirst step in this direction, an expert group of peoplewith expertise in relevant technical disciplines suchas wildlife management, population and communityecology, statistics, remote sensing, resourceeconomics, common property resource managementand anthropology may be constituted to devise aproper methodology and protocol for analysis of thedata and basing management decisions on theresultant understanding.We do have substantial Indian capabilities in thiscontext, but it is important to bring it together towork as a team and to focus their efforts. There is agreat deal of expertise abroad as well and we mustalways keep ourselves open to their inputs. However,modern communication technologies make it veryeasy to obtain these inputs even in the absence offace-to-face contacts. We, therefore, suggest that weconcentrate on building up an indigenous teamThe way ahead 73