Interim ban on tourism activities in reserves will continue

Even as it extended its interim order banning tourist activities in the core areas of tiger reserves, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for inaction on protecting the tiger population. A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar extended the ban when Wasim A. Qadri, counsel for the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, drew the court’s attention to its fresh affidavit filed on Tuesday for review of the July 24 ban order.

The Supreme Court has extended the ban on tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves. It also pulled up the Centre for the depleting the population of the wild cats in the country.

The Central Government made a fresh plea urging the Supreme Court to review its July 24 order banning tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves. But the Supreme Court remained firm, with justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar asking some searching questions:

New Delhi: A month after the Supreme Court relied on the government’s guidelines to ban tourism in core areas of tiger reserves making popular destinations like Corbett National Park out of bounds

Jaipur: A month after the Supreme Court banned tourism in core areas of tiger reserves on the basis of Union environment ministry's guidelines, the ministry did an about turn on Tuesday, telling the court that it needed to rethink the guidelines.

The SC order banning tourism in core areas had led to loud protests from states and thriving commercial ventures in and around tiger reserves. In an affidavit, the Centre cited loss of livelihood and a threat to wildlife and forests in the event of a ban on tourism.

‘States feel ban will affect local people dependent on tourism for livelihood’

Under pressure from various States, the Central government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking permission to review the guidelines issued under the Wildlife (Protection) Act for the States to ban all tourism activities in core areas of tiger reserve forests. On July 24, a Bench of Justices Swatatner Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifulla imposed the ban, when told that most of the States had not complied with the directions contained in the guidelines.

Communist Party of India MP D. Raja has expressed concern at the State governments notifying buffer zones in tiger reserves. He argued that the move would violate the livelihood rights of lakhs of people.

In a letter, he asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to halt the exercise and ensure that the Supreme Court is informed of the actual legal and ground positions. Failure to do so will amount to violation of the rights of lakhs of people and ensuring that tiger conservation is once again seen as an excuse by the forest bureaucracy to empower and enrich itself.

The increased tiger population in the three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the last census is seen as the result of better conservation efforts. But now, some of the tiger reserves and sanctuaries in these regions are facing increased threat from the poacher gangs, which were until now very much active in other parts of the country.

After the recent arrest of a poaching gang near the BRT Tiger Reserve in Karnataka and the arrest of an Odisha native from Muthanga in Kerala for allegedly entering the forest region without permission, officials now suspect that hardcore tiger poachers and gangs are shifting their focus to the southern part of the country,

Ranchi, Aug.

State delegation will soon meet Jayanthi Natarajan: Yogeshwar

Much against the wishes of the Karnataka State government, Union Minister for Environment and Forests (MoEF) Jayanthi Natarajan on Tuesday announced in Parliament that final approval had been accorded to declare Kudremukh National Park as a tiger reserve. The State government is against declaration of the Kuderamukh National Park as a tiger reserve, and heritage tag accorded to 10 sites of the Western Ghats. With the Union government’s final approval, the Kudremukh National Park has become the fifth tiger reserve in Karnataka and 41st in the country.

The spurt in tiger poaching in India is being directly attributed to the increasing demand of tiger parts especially in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Indonesia.

India has been vociferous in demanding that both China and Vietnam end all tiger farming as these are known to be fronts for a thriving illegal market in tiger parts. Vietnam has 11 registered tiger farms while China has 20 large farms, which are breeding nearly 5,000 tigers in captivity. The US also has an estimated 5,000 tigers in captivity (owned largely by individuals) and it is well known that captive tigers are easy targets for black market sales.