Issues with NTCA Circular on Shutting Down Tourism in Tiger Reserves

Synopsis: The recent NTCA Circular on tiger reserves shut down the tourism activities in tiger reserves. But the circular needs course correction.

Introduction:

India’s Project Tiger program is a globally successful initiative to conserve tigers. At present, India has 51 tiger reserves now boasts of at least 3,000 tigers.

The entire country is gearing up to relax the lockdown norms. However, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) closed the tourism activities in tiger reserves till further announcement. This deserves a wider public discussion.

The reason behind the NTCA Circular on tiger reserves:

• A lion at Chennai’s Vandalur Zoo has died of suspected coronavirus infection. Similarly, a tiger died at Jharkhand’s Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park after suffering from fever. This raised the suspicion regarding  Covid-19 disease transmission from human beings to captive wild animals.
• This is why the NTCA issued a circular to chief wildlife wardens of all the tiger range states.

Issues with the NTCA Circular on tiger reserves:

1. Encroachment into the power of States: Forests and wildlife reserves fall under the concurrent list. The state chief wildlife wardens are the ultimate deciding authority for most issues concerning state forests. Thus, the recent NTCA Circular violates decentralized decision-making. For example, the Madhya Pradesh government has challenged the decision of NTCA.
2. Against Vaccination Policy of locals: Tiger reserves were closed for almost two months during the second wave. Government and civil society organizations used this lockdown time to propagate the uses of vaccines, educate the nearby community towards testing, treating the Covid-19 diseases. All this done with one incentive, that is, faster reopening of forest reserves to the public to boost their economic activity. If this is reversed by the recent NTCA Circular, then the vaccination policies might delay in and around the tiger reserves.
3. Research on the vulnerability of animals to Covid-19: The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to zoo animals and domestic pets has been documented earlier. But these studies mention that the fatality rate in the animal is a rare case.
   • Further, these studies also point out that, direct contact with infected humans is the primary cause for infection in wild animals. That is not feasible in the majority of the wildlife reserves in the world. As Jeeps and people are required to keep a distance from park animals. Not only that, In India the masks are mandatory for visiting the tiger reserves. So, the NTCA circular failed to look into the scientific aspects of disease transmission.
4. Loss of revenue and biodiversity: The wildlife tourism economy brings in substantial revenue to the state governments. When the governments are opening up their economy, the revenues from wildlife tourism is very essential for their economic recovery.
   • The role of tribal people to live close to or inside the protected areas is very important. As they collect minor forest produce and help to conserve the forests.
   • The cost-benefit analysis shows the entire biodiversity also faces losses during the lockdown. This is due to reasons such as uncontrolled fires, poaching, etc.
5. The arbitrary reason to exclude other protected areas: The NTCA circular only protects the 51 tiger reserves in India. In India, there is an enormous presence of wildlife outside the tiger reserves.

Suggestions to improve the recent NTCA Circular on tiger reserves:

1. Training the local forest officials: Instead of a blanket ban, the government can train the local officials to decide whether to allow safaris for people based on local conditions.
2. Utilizing the opportunity: Forest departments should prepare the protected areas against future pandemics by implementing steps such as
   • Setting up Non-invasive, bio-safe protocols for Covid-19 vulnerable species under wildlife surveillance.
   • Creating Early warning systems for preventing the Covid-19 spread if any wild animal died from Covid-19.
3. Encouraging the role of environmental research organizations in conserving species during the pandemic.
4. Launching scientific research and prevention measures: State government should launch these measures to decide whether to open the protected area or not.

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The NTCA circular on tiger reserves is a centralized, non-scientific-based decision. This decision has to be replaced with decentralized, science-based decision-making to protect the bio-diversity of India. 

Source: The Indian Express