Project Tiger – a conservation marvel

INDIA’s national animal

A Background –

About a hundred years ago, an estimated 58,000 – 100,000 tigers roamed India’s lush, unbroken forests. But centuries of hunting and habitat destruction left fewer than 2,000 wild individuals by the 1970s. In 1973, the government declared the tiger India’s national animal, banned hunting, and set up a conservation scheme called Project Tiger. There are 50 reserves today under the program, and about half are well-managed, according to a government assessment. The reserves are small, averaging less than 1,500 sq. km. — much smaller than many protected areas in Africa. These are unfavorable conditions for the solitary tiger. Male Bengal tigers need a home range of about 60–150 sq. km., whereas females use about 20–60 sq.km. depending on prey density. And tigers do not share easily, even with siblings or kids. So, when a cub hits adolescence at about one and a half years, it begins roaming to find territory in which to live and hunt. If the tiger reserve is already full, tigers don’t have many options. They either push out an old or weak tiger and take over the space or move outside the reserve until it finds unoccupied territory. It is thought that 70–85% of India’s tigers are inside reserves.

Historically, tigers roamed India and 29 other nations, from the Indonesian swamps to the Russian taiga. There were once Balinese, Caspian, and Javanese subspecies, all now considered extinct. Today, only six subspecies remain. IN 2014 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that there are only about 2,200 to 3,200 individuals in the wild. This placed the animal on the world’s endangered species list. About 93% of the tiger’s historic range has emptied owing to habitat loss, poaching, and depletion of prey.

The specter of a world without tigers led 13 nations to meet in 2010 in St. Petersburg, Russia. A declaration was signed, to double wild tiger numbers by 2022 as part of the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative (GTI). However, all except India, Nepal, and Bhutan are struggling to save their tigers, even in protected reserves.

Against this backdrop, India is the beacon. It has roughly two-thirds of the world’s tigers in less than one-quarter of its global range. By 2019, India had invested 3.5 billion rupees (US$49.4 million) in tiger conservation, and relocating villages outside protected areas. India has also built the world’s largest animal underpass to funnel tigers safely beneath a highway in central India.

About 3% of the spending on tigers is flowing to government-sponsored science. Government scientists are studying all aspects of the animal. They are heading a large tracking study to understand tiger behavior. Today India has entered the Guinness World Records for the largest camera trap wildlife survey.

The efforts have paid off, according to the government. It announced in July 2021 that the number of wild tigers in the country had doubled from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,967 in 2018. India met the St. Petersburg target 4 years ahead of the 2022 target. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that tiger conservation could go hand in hand with development plans. As adapted from Nature.

The Journey –

Having spent my childhood reading National Geographic, it was a delight to spend time traveling across India, and Africa. Experiencing wildlife first-hand, filming it, showed how beautiful the natural world is. After spending close to two decades in the corporate world, it was welcome. Experiences touch the soul and there was a wish to help deteriorating ground conditions. When I compare my life across the U.S. and India, the first has 3 times the landmass but one-third the population. This gives a density difference of 9 times. It indicates a severe crunch on natural resources. In India, the huge population base and growing middle class’s resource requirements are not trivial. This has caused the wildlife to live on a much-reduced landmass today as compared to a hundred years ago.

After my African odyssey, the resolve to help nature and wildlife was strong, but the question was where to begin? Being a big cat lover Africa provided a lot of opportunities, but then the thought ‘Why not do something for India as a give back to the country?’ prevailed. The answer revealed itself overnight. I remembered National Geographic featuring an article in 1984 on Rajasthan’s Tiger Reserve. At 12 years of age, it was etched in my memory. The wonderful tiger pictures, some looking down fort ramparts upon vehicles driving through the forest. Then the thought, why not approach them? I visited the NGO/office of the ex-Field Director who was featured all over in the 1984 issue. Hearing my narrative to help conservation, given my life path and realizing it was 25 years since that article – was surreal to him. The gentleman, retired since was impressed but I could see he was more touched by my coming out there in an individual capacity to help make a difference…. That’s how it all started… As the saying goes ‘All good things start small and most importantly ‘All good things take time’, I lived that experience! I regard myself as a patient individual, but nothing could have prepared me for the experiences in this journey. It needed so much more and in so many directions at one time, that I had no idea or ever dealt with.

Thereafter, contributing since 2010 as a Goodwill Ambassador to Project Tiger, Rajasthan has been a good endeavor. Something that cannot be described in words given the experiences. Magical landscapes of the state that we grew up seeing in the movies, and then traveling to. The rich culture, heritage, and wildlife aspects was a coming together of many karmic wishes. Born and raised in India and having worked in the U.S., I was concerned to see the condition of rural communities and their landscapes. It strengthened my resolve to go above and beyond professional capacity to address these conditions. Working with the state government, for benefit of communities, and wildlife brought about a lot of learning. So much so that it changed perspectives and approach to life. Somewhere inside it gave a feeling that God was too kind to some and not so to many others. These socio-economic human divides have been the bane of human existence for millennia. They have become severe in the post-industrial times. In the developing world, there is a big divide between the haves and have-nots. This subject area was beyond the realm of my professional world, but it showed the path to resolving these challenges lay in the sustainable Rural Development paradigm.

In 2005, the Indian Prime minister initiated a tiger task force to study the decline of tiger numbers. See Report. The main recommendations were around the problems arising out of the human pressures within the park. This caused the decimation of nature and a lack of inviolate space amongst many others. The report helped the government’s resolve to address the issue of the human influx by introducing a voluntary relocation program. This was a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) launched in 2008. The scheme paid a million rupees per family (husband, wife, and non-adult kids) to move away from the protected areas and to live in civil/revenue areas. This amount has since been revised to 1.5 million in 2021. In a multi-family rural household, there are many families under the same roof, resulting in a much higher amount being paid. They were therefore quite supportive of the relocation. However, resistance to change however good is a well-known human peril. In the absence of ‘motivation‘ or ‘know-how‘, most families and communities, were apprehensive of a move. Not knowing what to expect as the outcome, more so for the older generations in the family than younger ones.

To undertake such a relocation exercise is not trivial, that’s why the government requested my liaison in goodwill. I said, ‘Why not?’ After my involvement, I realized their true peril. They lacked the required HR skillset and bandwidth for such a massive exercise. Also, relationships are required with the villagers for deep dialogues to help such a transition. The ground reality being, traditionally the forest staff and villagers were always at loggerheads. This was due to non-compliance on grazing, tree felling, farming, rights, hunting, and other rules. The need for ‘soft skills’ to action a change on the ground is not acknowledged or provided to the required extent within the CSS. Only fiduciary and procedural responsibilities across revenue and forest departments existed.

It took our team time over weeks, months, and years thereafter to bring about this change. It required dialogues with village communities. Discussing their challenges, and explaining what they could expect in a life outside the forest areas. Value of relocation to helping children’s education, and their access to health care. Provisions of electricity, water, amongst many other things could better their life. In the process, I was exposed to what it meant for them to live in their primal and primitive ways that were very sustainable and culturally rich. So while I stepped in to help them, this was indirectly helping me grow in ways I never imagined. To let go of worldly worries, relax internally, detox the soul, and most importantly slow down. I could breathe better, indulge, and be a part of the natural system, and processes that we are born and meant to live in (away from the rat race). Most importantly since all this happened without asking, it has been a true blessing!

I started by contributing about a week each month to this effort in an advisory and catalytic role. The rigorous and steadfast follow-up by the ground staff has facilitated the relocation of 1,300 families / 6,000+ individuals since. All this was under the CSS at a capital expenditure of USD 25M. There were other operational expenses under the forest and revenue department budgets. Today, I am humbled to say that my association with the communities since 2010 has helped more than double the state’s tiger numbers. It also added to the inviolate space in the National Park by about 150-200 sq. km. This is all by far, thanks to the hard work and unending efforts of the forest staff (and the villager’s cooperation). It won us the ‘Protect the Species Awards’ on the backdrop of the 2012 UN-CBD COP11.

Additionally, my role encompassed outreach to state, and central ministers to address issues. This helped challenges that could not be done via government channels. Over time we could get NGOs to work with the communities for their development and benefit. However, while a lot changed for the better – I realized so much more was still needed. Here’s a list of some official communications from the period

↓ May 2011 to MoEF Mr. JaiRam Ramesh,
↓ December 2012 to CM Mr. Ashok Gehlot,
↓ March 2013 to Chief Wildlife Warden Rajasthan,
↓ February 2014 to CM Smt. Vasundhara Raje,
↓ August 2014 to CM Smt. Vasundhara Raje,
↓ March 2016 to CM Smt. Vasundhara Raje,
↓ February 2020 to CM Mr. Ashok Gehlot,

The joy of contributing to this, and the delight of each day spent with the communities is enriching. More than any profession could ever give – due to exposure to so many multi-faceted disciplines. I must say I am thankful for the opportunity and humbled by the ‘richness of the heart of these simple and hardworking rural communities. They own so little, and work so hard, but are so much happier than it would put a lot of city folk who have much more to shame. Here’s SVP’s narrative after a visit to the park in early 2020.

After these experiences, I felt rural communities and their landscapes could develop much more. Larger initiatives need to come together to help community livelihoods. That will help preserve the value systems, skills and arts, culture and heritage, and bring wellness into the landscapes. If only we could help such progress and enrich landscapes, we would go a long way to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Landscape management is the key to ensuring communities prosper and biodiversity thrive. Healthy landscapes, ecosystems, and human populations are inextricably linked. The Network for conserving Central India, is convened to help connect science, biodiversity, and sustainability. During a 2014 conversation with John Seidensticker, his experiences completely echoed my thoughts. The big picture is highlighted in his opening address at the Kanha Pench Landscape Symposium. This further increased my resolve to help build policies for better landscape management. Such policies would then directly help communities, biodiversity, and landscapes.

The successes achieved on the ground in this journey always left me wishing for more. Envisioning what would be required to have similar results across Project Tiger sites in different states of India. If operational models are developed then they could be uniformly applied across multiple landscapes. With a profession managing large IT organizations, and prior exposure to advocacy/policy reform with Capitol Hill in the US, my mind was connecting the dots. We need holistic solutions in the landscape management and sustainability space. Providing livelihoods to communities in the green economy and increasing the green cover, involving the private sector are key to achieving scale. All this needs to be provisioned now, then actioned via sound policy framing at multiple levels across national to territorial governments. If it can be done in a way that community requirements (human well-being) gets addressed first, then landscape, and biodiversity benefit (landscape wellness). All this gives a strong emphasis for a bottom-up strategy. It can then meet with the traditional top-down sectoral outlays in our institutional setup to achieve sustainability. This Approach & Strategy is the next big step to be worked out and help achieve sustainable goals that we have not systemically developed till date. More on this under my G.A.L.L.O.P. initiative – to build, back, better post Covid-19. Outcome remains to be seen!!

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