CSE recommends immediate protection of tiger reserves

New Delhi, Nov 27 (UNI) A day ahead of the first meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today proposed a ten-point action plan on tiger conservation, including tightening internal security within reserves and involving local communities in the initiatives.

''The agenda for the Authority must include urgent steps towards immediate protection of each tiger reserve, as well as steps to safeguard tiger in the long run by deliberately sharing the benefits of conservation with the local people,'' CSE Director Sunita Narain told a news conference.

Stressing that poaching was not the only only threat to the tigers, she said the biggest threat to the animal is a ''deadly combination'' of the poachers' guns and the growing anger of people who live in and around tiger habitats.

''In these circumstances if the defences are down, protection will fail, like it did in Sariska. The challenge is to ensure that the siege can be lifted so that tigers can survive,'' she added.

After the Sariska-crisis came to fore in March 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May appointed a Tiger Task Force, which was headed by Ms Narain, to investigate tiger crisis in the country and to suggest ways to safeguard the animal.

The Tiger Task Force had recommended constitution of the National Tiger Conservation Authority-- a statutorily empowered decision-making body-- for effective implementation and monitoring of tiger conservation initiatives.

Ms Narain pointed out the reserves needed specific strategies for protection.

''The Task Force had provided information on the number of guards, their vacancies, the area covered by them, the patrolling camps in each reserve,'' she said.

''Each reserve must have a carefully designed strategy to suit its local conditions. It had also asked for urgent recruitment of guards, to be done as far as possible from among local villagers,'' she pointed out.

The key agenda for the Authority, headed by Union Environment and Forest Minister A Raja, is to develop and implement the specific strategies for protection of each tiger reserve, particularly in insurgency and Naxalite-affected areas, the CSE Director said.

''The Authority must also procure a list of vacancies in each reserve and route money through the Tiger Conservation Foundation to pay for forest guards, hired from among local communities," she added.

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