Published by the Press, Information & Culture Wing, Embassy of India

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(March 1999)

South Asia Region

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Opinion - Arundhati Ghose

Feature: Tiger Conservation

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March 5, 1999
New Delhi

India would take necessary steps to ensure future survival of the tiger, said Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, here today. Addressing the valedictory session of the three day Millennium Tiger Conference organised by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Shri Prabhu said that a drastic change in the mindset of people across the world is necessary in dissuading consumer countries from using tiger products and derivatives. The Millennium Tiger Conference recommended a number of steps for conserving the tiger population all over the world, which include:

• The countries of the region that share international borders must co-operate in time bound programmes to manage both tiger populations and habitats in and outside transborder areas and other protected areas.
• The tiger range countries pursue innovative land use policies that recognise the vital importance of tiger habitats in the sustainable development of the country.
• That international donor agencies support innovative tiger conservation initiatives and fund programmes to discourage the use of tiger derivatives in traditional medicine, including finding renewable alternatives and encouraging interface between technical/scientific experts and user groups.
• That national legislation in tiger range and other countries across the world be strengthened and enforced in order to eliminate the illegal trade in wildlife and its consumption in medicines and other derivatives. All countries of the world must enter into proper international conventions like CITES to ensure elimination of this illegal trade.
• That NGOs all over the world focus and intensify their campaigns and interventions to educate and increase public awareness, create political will, lobby for conservation and join hands to save the tiger on the eve of this millennium. That effective mechanisms for transboundary co-operation be ensured through communication networking, exchange of information and expertise, training, research and capacity building, wildlife trade monitoring and control and compatible management plans for transboundary Pas for coordinated management.About 150 participants from all over the world participated in the conference.

NEED FOR MULTI-PRONGED STRATEGY TO SAVE TIGERS EMPHASISED TIGER MILLENNIUM CONFERENCE INAUGURATED

March 3, 1999

Shri Krishan Kant, Vice President of India has said that the encroachment on tiger habitats by humans is acknowledgly the most serious challenge to the tiger’s survival, but we need multi-pronged strategies to successfully resolve this issue. He said, out of the eight sub-species of tigers in the world, three have become extinct. The protection of the tiger cannot be a function of a few concerned individuals, organisations, departments or a project here and a project there. The tiger needs to be protected in the very implementation of a country’s socio-economic policies and plans, including the schemes for habitat protection, he said. Inaugurating the Tiger Millennium Conference here today, Shri Krishan Kant said that we have to evolve policies where the people in and around the forests develop a vested interest in the preservation and regeneration of the forests and wild life. The people’s relationship has to be made interdependent rather than exploitative. Their legitimate requirements must be met where possible and alternatives provided in other cases. The local people are the best guardians of our forest wealth and we must facilitate this role, he added. He said that India has more than half the world’s population of tigers and today we are nearly a billion people. However, in recent years, the pressures of a growing human population and the poaching of tigers for its body parts have become grave threats to our ecological security. I am happy to note that the Ministry of Environment and Forests is addressing these problems urgently and is creating new and innovative strategies to counter some of these threats. I am sure all of you are taking similar initiatives in your respective countries. We need to reform and restructure some of the mechanisms that govern our wilderness areas. It is through such a process that we will, hopefully, provide a healthy environment for the tiger and all other living organisms to flourish in the next millennium, he said. Shri Krishan Kant said that the progressive commercialisation of the global society has taken an awesome toll of the defenceless animals. There are people in some parts of the world who are willing to pay huge sums of money for tiger bones, skins and other parts which has put enormous pressure on this species. A stuffed tiger head mounted on the wall of a neo-rich mansion is a damning commentary on the insensitivity and the depravity of human beings and the culture of consumerism. What we urgently require on the eve of this millennium is a new mental attitude and a global effort not only of tiger range-countries but also of all other developing and developed countries directly or indirectly connected with this issue, he added. Shri Krishan Kant said that the tiger is not just a symbol of the bio-diversity of India. It is the symbol of global bio-diversity. The forests, which comprise the tiger’s natural habitat, are vital water catchment areas for our rivers. It is these forests that support a wide variety of wild life, absorb carbon dioxide, thus preventing global warming, prevent soil erosion and promote agricultural productivity. So, saving tigers has far-reaching implications. The natural habitat of the tiger nurtures life-sustaining resources for the continued survival of humankind on this planet, he added.