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India Stops Tiger Tourism
Tuesday, 30 Apr, 2010
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Move lauded by conservationists: full comment from Responsible Travel
For centuries, the prospect of spotting a Bengal tiger in the wild has been a highlight of visiting India. Now the Government is to end the spectacle amid fears that the species is being “loved to death” by visitors desperate for a glimpse of tigers in the wild. Writes Rhys Blakely in the UK Times
Tourism is to be phased out in the core regions of the 37 tiger reserves, Rajesh Gopal, the head of India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority, told The Times. “We should not forget that tiger reserves are primarily for conserving the endangered tiger and tourism is just a secondary outcome,” he said. “Our reserves are small and prone to disturbance caused by tourism. They cannot compete with large African savanna parks, which can stand large number of tourists.”
The Environment Ministry has ordered India’s states to wind down tourism in such areas and to tightly regulate it in surrounding regions where the chance of seeing a tiger is far smaller, Dr Gopal said. People who live in core tiger habitats will be moved.
A count in February 2008 showed that India’s tiger population had plummeted to 1,411 animals, down from 3,642 in 2002. The latest figure is disputed, however. Some experts say that there may be only 800 wild tigers in India today and that the species could be rendered extinct in five years.
According to government officials, the species has already disappeared or is in danger of becoming extinct in 16 reserves. A century ago, when tiger hunting was a favourite pastime of Raj-era dignitaries, there were an estimated 40,000 in India.
The decline is largely due to poaching, but habitat damage caused by tourism has also reached critical levels, experts say. “Seeing a wild tiger has become a kind of status symbol,” M. K. Ranjitsinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, said. “People do not realise the harm to the broader ecosystem. They are loving the tiger to death.”
Tourists, whether in vehicles or on top of elephants, destroy the high grassland in which the big cats hunt, and drive away their prey, Mr Ranjitsinh said. In many parks, lodges have been built in core reserve areas while hotels block the corridors that tigers use to travel from one territory or reserve to another.
Some reserves have been criticised for using radio telemetry systems for tracking tigers for the benefit of tourists. Once found by a mahout — an elephant driver — brandishing an antenna, a single tiger can be hounded by dozens of tourist vehicles.
“The parks’ priorities have become warped,” Mr Ranjitsinh said. The bamboo forests and grassland in Kanha provided inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
Experts agree that only radical action can bring back the tiger from the brink of extinction, but add that tourism is only one of several dangers. Poaching to feed Chinese demand for traditional tonics has taken a heavy toll. So too has competition for space between tigers and India’s booming human population.
Jairam Ramesh, the Environment Minister, said this month that unregulated tourism was as much a threat to tiger population as poaching. He said that he would clamp down on “mushrooming luxury resorts around tiger reserves”. He singled out Corbett National Park — named after the British hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett and a favourite destination with Western tourists — as a habitat that had degenerated because of tourism. At least four tigers have died there in the past two months, according to reports.
Tiger facts
— 832 tigers known to have been killed in India from 1994 to 2007
— 1,411 India’s remaining wild tiger population in 2008
— 21 tiger deaths so far in 2010, 10 from natural causes, 11 from poaching
— $5,000 Price paid by traders to poachers for a complete dead tiger
— $50,000 Price paid for a complete tiger at market
— $35,000 Price paid for a tiger skin at market
Sources: WPSI, National Geographic, Business Week India
From the UK Times
Said Justin Francis of ResponsibleTravel.com: “This announcement marks an historic moment in the history of ecotourism. By banning tourism the Government has effectively admitted its historic inability or unwillingness to properly manage Tiger tourism. “
“Largely unregulated tourism development has resulted in new lodges being built in sensitive areas within the Reserves, new hotels have blocked corridors between protected areas used by Tigers. There has been little or no enforcement of guidelines for wildlife guides designed to help minimise disruption to Tigers, and tourist numbers have spiralled without any real consideration of the impact on Tigers. “
“It is the creep of unregulated tourism by irresponsible tourism businesses that the Parks Board and Government have turned a blind eye to which has contributed to the reduction in Tiger numbers. Many responsible tourism businesses have worked very hard for Tiger conservation in India, and we market many of these holidays. I am extremely sad for these businesses and the communities they help support. “
“As India has been unable to manage responsible Tiger tourism responsibletravel.com reluctantly agrees that a temporary ban is necessary at this critical stage. We would hope that in the future properly regulated and managed responsible Tiger tourism can resume. The drop in tourism revenues that support such conservation measures as do exist will have to be met by the Government.”
“However it is important to remember that it is not tourists which are the biggest threat to Tigers, but poachers killing Tigers for their body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine. Efforts to educate the consumers of these products about the consequences to Tiger populations, and to tackle the poaching overlords need to be stepped up.”
“Of great concern to responsibletravel.com is loss of incomes and livelihoods for local communities who provide services to the tourism industry. They already face the ‘opportunity’ costs of NOT utilising the Reserves for firewood, grazing and water and now their ability to earn an income from the Reserves is reduced. “
“If no alternative sources of income or compensation are forthcoming we predict greater tensions between communities and Parks authorities to the detriment of Tiger conservation. The Head of India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority states that local people will be removed from core Tiger habitats. If not handled well this has the potential to further damage relations with local communities.”
“It’s very sad that it’s come to this, let’s hope it’s not too late. “ Ended Justin Francis
Reported by: Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php
Valere
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