Can India's Tiger Population be Saved or They are Now Doomed to Disappear?

Indira Gandhi initiated 'The Project Tiger', in 1973 which resulted in the doubling of the numbers of tigers. After she died in 1984 the number of tigers began to decline and came close to disappearance. The reason was discovered later on. These precious animals “were poisoned, shot and snared so their bones could be smuggled out of India to supply manufacturers of Chinese medicines.”

Today this question is arising because recently officials at the Panna Nature Reserve in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the so-called tiger state, disclosed that there were no longer any of the big cats in the entire park. After forest officials reported not spotting any of the animals for some time, a leading wildlife organization carried out a survey. The state's forest minister, Rajendra Shukla, confirmed that the reserve, which three years ago had up to 24 tigers, no longer had any now. Almost all are believed to have been killed by poachers. In India, this is not the first time such shocking news is coming regarding any prestigious tiger reserve. In 2005, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan was revealed of not sighting any tiger, infact it had been reported that these had been killed by the poachers.

The local authorities of Panna was always warned regarding the falling number of tigers to the reserve, but they did not take heed. Dr Raghu Chundawat, an independent scientist had been warning regarding Panna for the last six years.

Now the question is how to restore this powerful species. Indian Government has taken some initiative and last year three tigers were air lifted into Sariska reserve to restock the population. The government's National Tiger Conservation Authority has been tasked with saving the animal and they want to ban tourist in the most of the country's reserve. Sab Prakash Yadav, the organisation's joint director, recently said: "Tourism creates a disturbance through vehicles, noise pollution, garbage and the need to provide facilities."

But there is a great a contradiction of this opinion. Some experts feel that tourism is good at protecting tigers. The example of it is Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The fact is that today, parks with both tigers and tourism appear to hold the greatest density of tigers and it has a big impact on preventing cattle grazing, deterring wood choppers, and making these zones more dangerous for poachers. Further, more tourism enhances and motivates the forest guard, rangers and management for quality checking. The attention from conservationists, naturalist guides, visitors, make the forest staff to keep on their toes.

The Travel Operators for Tigers campaign (TOFT), founded in 2004 by a large group of tour operators, aims to give tourism a more proactive role in conservation. The goals of TOFT are “ to spread the implementation of best practices in tourism and its indirect and direct revenues, and help manage visitors and their experiences more effectively.” TOFT aims to start a new way of supporting forests and reforestation, rolling back tiger habitat through community tourism partnerships. For that we have to spread eco tourism further and wider and at the same time we have to avoid poor quality tourism. Similarly the communities living in surrounding areas of the park must be given greater role in protecting park and its habitats and they should also be given economic benefit that result from tourism.
The leaders of such conservation revolution are already on their way with tourism in India, but this new tourism approach needs to happen fast - 'for time is rapidly running out for the tiger and its remaining forests.'

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Four Biodiversity Parks Get Green Signal in Delhi

Delhites have been gifted with a precious gift on the world environment day this year (2009) – and the gift is 4 biodiversity parks in the city. At the time when Delhi is experiencing extreme heat and the green cover of the city is battling infrastructure expansion, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) brought a big smile on the face of the Delhites by announcing that they are planning to setup four biodiversity parks in the city. It is no doubt a cooling relief to all the citizens. Earlier Delhi was always known for its greenery but now a days because of the too much of concretization the city is loosing its green property. Thus this decision of DDA will give Delhi more green lungs. The main aim behind this proposal is to revive the bio heritage of the city.

These four parks are coming up in the areas like - Northern Ridge, Yamuna Riverfront, Neela Hauz and Tilpath Valley near Asola Wildlife Sanctuary. All the four parks are in the planning stage and expected to materialize the plan by the end of this year. Delhi University's botany department will be helping DDA in this project. DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar said: "A proposal has been made for four bio-diversity parks, which are expected to revive the old eco-systems of the city and contain pollution levels.'' Among the four parks the longest two will be the Northern Ridge park spread over 87 hectares and the one on the Yamuna riverfront. Accoring to DDA “The site for the riverfront will see a body of interlinked pockets of bio-diversity parks on both sides of the river.” In the Northern Ridge DDA is planning to revive water harvesting sites along with eco-zones and green habitats available. The interesting thing is that DDA also wants to link the seven identified heritage structures in this area in the form of walkways. These include two guard houses, a flag staff tower that is a signal monument dating back to 1857, several 14th Century structures like Chauburja mosque and Pir-Ghaib, a British era Mutiny memorial and the third century BC Ashoka Pillar. Sources said these walkways will serve as both nature and heritage trails. If every thing comes out according to the plan then it will be one of the heritage parks.

In the Neela Hauz area, DDA is planning to carve out a green space area over 5 acres. This green land will later be integrated with the Sanjay Van and made into a reserve forest land. For the neighborhood of this area, there is an added good news - the woodlands here with nature trails will be developed near human settlements for recreational purposes. Similarly the Tilpath Valley biodiversity park will be built with an intention on reviving and restoring springs, as it is a major catchment area and a ground water recharging zone. To protect the zone, grass land will also be developed here. There are also plans to develop the park along with the sanctuary into a forest ecosystem having hilltops, slope and valley forest characteristics of the Aravallis. Along the periphery there will be a nature trail with a few walk ways.

Hopefully these four biodiversity parks are really going to be great support to the Delhi's eco system.

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Sambhar Lake to be an Eco-Tourism Site

It is undoubtedly an amazing news in the tourism industry that the rich in history and salt, Sambhar lake is coming in the lime light as an eco tourism sight. The Jaipur tourism authority has taken this valuable decision to develop this precious lake in an eco tourism site, “which will showcase the salt manufacturing process in the past 50 years.” Sambhar is full of historical evidences. It is even believed that this lake was bestowed by Goddess Shakambhari to the people of the area around 2500 years ago. And with the recent development in tourism industry, this site will enable people to experience the history and also the process of salt manufacturing starting from the British rule to the present day.

In the state of Rajasthan, Sambhar is the largest salt lake in India occupying an area of 190 to 230 square kilometers. It is a very quiet and sombre place. It seems that civilization here goes long long time back. Sambhar is dotted with many historical buildings, temples and salt museum. Another attraction of Sambhar is the 90 - km stretch of rail track near the lake which is a picturesque locale for the flamingoes. These tall, dainty bird flourish here when the water reaches a medium degree of salinity. Infact Sambhar is home to many of the migratory birds like Pelican, Stork, Sandpipers, Redshanks and many more. The shifting and murmuring of the various birds in the glassy water and dark mud lure each and every tourist. The water of Sambhar is too saline to some birds thus a large variety of birds can be seen in the near by surrounding water bodies. This place is undoubtedly a paradise to the ornithologist. Besides possessing a large population of aviafauna it also supports a unique variety of flora like green alga, Dunaliella salina which is common in salt water lakes. These biodiversity in the values has made Sambhar come into the eye of the tourism department and thus as a eco tourism site.

It should be reminded here that this place has also great social and cultural values. Production of salt mainly with Sambhar Salts Ltd is said to be a very age old activity. In the past also Sindhias, Rajputs, Marathas, Mughals and the rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur jointly owned the lake and extracted salt from here. The colourfully attired local labours working in the salt pans since from the morning stand as a nice contrast to the white salt mounds all around. This is a lovely sight to enjoy how our most basic ingredient of the food is produced.

The best time to visit Sambhar is October to February. M M Bhardwaj, chairman and managing director, Hindustan Salts Ltd said that they have requested Forest Department for setting temporary huts from October to February this year and will request the Tourism Department to help them. As tourism is infusing life into Sambhar Hindustan Salts, a Union government enterprise, is planning to upgrade the infrastructure for the tourist. There is a new refinery plant which will help the lake produce one lakh MT salt annually from October 2009 and soon hit the market.

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Eco-tourism monsoon packages at Parambikulam is a step towards conserving biodiversity.

Conservation of biodiversity is an important role of the tourism industry, as biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity which is necessary to save our mother planet. Today's tourism industry accept travelers who respect nature's splendour and can spread the awareness on the preservation of nature and native cultures. India's diverse land possesses many hidden resources which are still to be discovered or still to come into limelight. One such place is the The Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary of Kerala.

Adjacent to Annamalai Tiger Reserve, the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary of Kerala has introduced eco-tourism monsoon packages to attract nature lovers and tourists. The motto behind such eco-tourism monsoon packages is to increase the earning scope for the tribals who live in these area and to protect the forest.

Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary has a charm of it own. It is a paradise for the wildlife lovers. Rich in dense forest like bamboo strands, teak, rosewood and sandalwood, this wildlife sanctuary is also home to rare fauna like Nilgiri langurs, bonnet macaques, lion tailed macaques, tigers, spectacled cobras, kraits, vipers, darters,turtles, little cormorants and black eagles. One can even spot wild animals like sloth bears, sambhars, chitals, tigers, elephants and crocodiles. But the largest population here is of gaurs or bison. Added to these flora and fauna, there are plenty of water bodies which flow through the forest and are centre of attraction to the nature lovers.

Parambikulam sanctuary came into focus because of the implementation of eco tourism initiatives through Eco Development Committees involving the tribals living in the suburb of the sanctuary. To encourage the travelers to learn, restore and enjoy Parambikulam during monsoon, the committees are now offering 25 per cent off on the tariffs on all eco-tourism packages. There are some exciting eco tourism packages, which include - Island Nest, Thellikal Nights, Tented Niche, Machan world, Tramway trek and Peep through Watch Tower.

Though it was earlier suggested not to visit Parambikulam during monsoon because the heavy rain fall makes the hill side unstable, but forest department has taken suitable provision for rest houses in this area. It is the most protected ecological piece of Western Ghat which is conserved well because of minimal human interferences thus resulting in a wide viable wildlife population. Moreover this place is also home to the different indigenous tribes who are integral part to this existing ecosystem.

These eco-tourism monsoon packages at Parambikulam sanctuary are undoubtedly a new step to attract our adventure lovers to conserve the biodiversity of Western Ghat.

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