Similipal reserve under threat,panel to keep eye

A two-member team of NTCA,which toured the reserve between June 6 and 11 to probe the elephant deaths,found proof of seven deaths. A few days later,wildlife conservationists from Mayurbhanj district found three more elephant carcasses. The committee has already submitted its report to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

With such a bleak scenario of the wildlife there,the NTCA last week formed a seven-member committee comprising experts,senior police officers and the chief wildlife warden to monitor the status/progress of the recommendations made by tiger reserve officials.

Apart from monitoring the implementation of recommendations made by the NTCA team that probed the elephant deaths in Similipal,the team comprising wildlife experts like Biswajit Mohanty and Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner B K Sharma would monitor the implementation of recommendations made by a four-member probe team of NTCA that assessed the conservation status of the reserve after last year’s Maoist attacks on the sanctuary.

The committee will also advise the chief wildlife warden and the field director of the tiger reserve on protection and managerial issues,and update the NTCA regarding the status of Similipal on a monthly basis.

NTCA sources said the committee was formed after the state wildlife department grossly failed in implementing the recommendations of the NTCA team that visited the reserve in August last year to do an appraisal of the damage to infrastructure/habitat due to the March 2009 Maoist attacks. The team comprising experts like Bibhas Pandav of World Wildlife Fund suggested several things to strengthen protection measures. It had made 13 important recommendations (see box).

However,only two of the recommendations have been implemented,that too partially. Some of the infrastructure destroyed by the Maoists were rebuilt while a hostel was built for the forest staff in the name of welfare policy. But they are yet to get medical insurance.

Important recommendations like having the field director as the only authority in-charge of the tiger reserve is yet to be implemented. The field director is only in charge of core zone,not the massive buffer zone that houses a good number of tigers and a huge

prey base. The range officers of

the reserve report to the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests,bypassing the field director thus creating a dual control system. The staff vacancies still persist with 45 of the 281 sanctioned staff strength still vacant.

However,Orissa chief wildlife warden P N Padhi said “most of the recommendations of NTCA” have been implemented. “The NTCA is yet to give the Tiger Protection Force. But despite handicaps,we are trying to strengthen protection measures inside the reserve,” Padhi said.

Meets to set save-tiger agenda

NEW DELHI: It is not just the Year Of The Tiger but also the year of tiger summits. Close on the heels of a Global Tiger Forum (GTF) meet hosted by India,another meeting will now be held in Bali,Indonesia. The GTF is a consortium of all tiger range countries,with the exception of China and Russia.

The Bali summit will see the participation of Bhutan,China,India,Indonesia,Cambodia,Laos,Malaysia,Myanmar,Nepal,Russia,Thailand and Vietnam as well as representatives from the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative. The meet is a precursor to the first conference of heads of state from tiger countries in St Petersburg,Russia in September and is expected to come up with a draft for it.

With 2010 being the Chinese year of the tiger,demand for tiger parts is set to shoot up and the concerned nations are bracing themselves to put preventive measures in place. “The main thing is to create a policy against poaching and check the movement of contraband through different countries. Other airports need to know about poaching contraband that goes through. We need to get all the countries on board,” said an official from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Recently,10 kilos of tiger bones were recovered from Guwahati airport.

But the co-operation is clearly not easy to achieve. The GTF which currently has India at the helm,does not include China,the biggest market for illegally poached tiger products. It has even been proven repeatedly that Indian tigers are poached mainly to cater to the Chinese market. However,India is wary of getting China on board since it fears making China a member may lead to the freezing of talks. ENS