Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■Independent audits of the tiger reservesAn independent audit of any enterprise is thesubstratum of a good review and method forseeking mid-route corrections, if needed. A tigerreserve, too, with its several facets, must be lookedupon as an enterprise that requires constant reviewagainst a specific dynamic plan. The Project Tigerdirectorate has began a system of independentaudit of the working of the tiger reserve. Thisprocess needs to be taken forward.Amongst the criteria, the experts havegenerated a ranking-based system of measuringeach tiger reserve for its performance and thepossible problems that weaken the protected area.Legal status, compatible land use, pressure frompeople, status of management plans, staff situationand equipment are some of the criteria that havebeen used to rank the reserves. 4 This is a good start.But it needs to be taken beyond the first step.A good audit is as good as the parameters andthe protocols behind filling up the information tomeasure a reserve against those parameters. TheProject Tiger directorate must, in a time-boundfashion, build up a complete dossier of informationon the process of audit and the method by which theranking on each parameter is used. It is essentialthat both the officials in each reserve and otherinterested people know well in advance whatinformation is used to measure the reserve againstwhat parameter. This benchmarking will be critical.The parameters with appropriate weightagesmust be then used to create a ranking of thereserves.Confidence in the auditThe audit in itself cannot be the end of the process.The audit must be carried forward and merged intothe management of the plan by linking theresources that Project Tiger provides to thereserves. The rankings must be used to also giveweight while devolving Central funds to the tigerreserves. This shall ensure that there is an incentivefor the tiger reserves to improve upon the rankings.At the same time there must be a reputationaladvantage to gain for the parks by ranking higher.The Task Force, in its deliberations, has beenadvised by many field officers that parks likeKaziranga national park and Gir wildlife sanctuaryand national park have gained a lot by the statesand their people holding the areas in high regard asstate treasures. 5 The ranking system developed onbasis of this audit too should feed into suchreputational credit.To ensure that the system retains a reputationfor fairness as well as academic caliber, it mustbe completely put out in public domain, includingthe protocols, methodology and periodic results.And to ensure the system also undergoes acomplete governmental review, it must form part ofthe report that the directorate makes to theParliament.that the panels must be required to meet every twomonths and clear all pending decisions.The Tiger Task Force recommends that thesepanels perform the following functions:● Develop broad guidelines governing all wildliferesearch by wildlife managers as well as otherresearchers; such guidelines would pertain, forinstance, to the collection of plant specimens,creation of grazing enclosures and such likepertinent areas of research.● Create online databases (Web-based) of allrelevant research findings, so that both managersand researchers are aware of the state-of-the-artresearch and can direct their energies in the mostfruitful channels.● Suggest areas of research relevant to managementdecisions — for instance, what the bona fidefuelwood needs of villages still inside tigerreserves are. There should, however, be no banon undertaking projects that may seem to haveno immediate relevance to the park management.After all, understanding of what is relevant islimited. Despite his many years of work, for●●●instance, Salim Ali had not understood the vitalrole of buffaloes in maintaining bird habitats atBharatpur.Arrange dialogues between researchers andmanagers so that research findings relevant tomanagement are taken on board.Examine and decide on according permissionsfor research, along with any conditions that theresearchers must observe. Since the state panelswould be chaired by the chief wildlife wardens,no further clearance from the forest departmentshould be necessary. In case either a researcheror local forest officials have any grievances, thesame panels should serve as a dispute resolutionforum. In case the disputes persist, the centralpanel should serve as an arbitrator.Ensure that the researchers make their dataavailable to the public within some specifiedtime frame. While it is legitimate for theresearchers to claim intellectual property rightsover their research, it is important that they agreeto release their original data within somespecified period (such as three years from theThe way ahead 85