Don’t shut wildlife parks
Tour operators and resort owners in tiger reserves across the country received a major setback with the temporary ban on Wildlife Tourism in core areas of tiger reserves across the country. Hector Dsouza, a passionate wildlife lover, spells out ten reason
1Sariska
and Panna Tiger Reserves were lesser known National Parks in the nineties, because sighting of the tigers and leopards were declining. Tourism to both these parks had fallen. Poaching, manipulation of numbers and inadequate security were the main reasons why tigers disappeared completely from the park around 2008. Tourism is not the cause; secondly there were only a handful of resorts in both the parks. This discouraged visitors from going to the park. Hence, it is being clearly made out that tourists are not the villains here. 2Forest
eco-development committees constituted in villages surrounding the park, are gaining as much as 25 per cent, from gate receipts to tiger reserves, which is further being used for the development and upliftment of the villages. For example, the Kanha National Park has contributed close to 1 crore during the last financial year to these committees. 3In
order to encourage community-based tourism parks, Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Tiger Reserve only employ local tribes to perform the role of guides and drivers. 4Activists
and naturalist point of view of prohibiting tourism in core areas gives rise to yet another question. Are tourists not naturalists as well, will their knowledge of exotic species of flora and fauna is restricted to viewing television programmes and films on wildlife? How effective will monitoring be in these parks considering visitors are not allowed? 5Don’t
close the core area on a permanent basis. Keep it closed two days a week, to reduce the pressure of constant flow of vehicles twice a day. Further safari timings can be reduced by 15 to 30 minutes depending on the season and time of the year. The most important is the number of vehicles allowed to enter the park each day. 6Regulatory
method needs to be adopted, in cases like when a rare species is spotted and crowding of vehicles take place. Systems need to be set in place, including guards equipped with means like digital cameras that can record sightings and crowd behaviour. 7In
a spirit of give and take, the tourist must be willing to make some sacrifice as well. For example, the well-known tiger shows at Kanha need to come to an end. 8It
is believed poaching will come to an end once the ban is introduced. To assume that, poaching happens because of tourism is untrue. To ban tourism in wildlife areas, will probably indulge local populations to seek alternative sources of income, considering all tourism-related activities like driving, guiding, working in resorts and acting as naturalists will come to a sudden end. 9Crowding
of dwellings and resorts in buffer areas constrict space for movement and puts strain on limited resources. This is a prime reason for wanting to ban tourism in core areas. Though justifiable, the repercussions are several and range from loss of livelihood to local communities, tour operators and resort owners. The solution lies in putting a ceiling on new development, making it mandatory for resorts to switch to solar energy for power requirement, eliminating conference facilities, and further betterment of waste disposal facilities, to name a few. 10More
attention also needs to be paid on highways. Especially the ones which crosses on state or national national parks. Only then stealing forest wealth ranging from precious wood to elephant tusks and poaching of rare and extinct species will be a distinct possibility. Here too, the tourist is not to be blamed. Unscrupulous elements interested in robbing forests of its precious reserves are the main culprits.