After the shock, hope for the tiger...editorial in the HINDU newspaper.

With his personal stewardship of the mission to restore the viability and health of tiger populations in the wild, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has raised hope that there will be decisive action on the ground in the coming months. The mystery of the decline in tiger numbers exposed by Sariska has only begun to unravel and everyone including the Prime Minister seems convinced that poaching has played a major role in the decimation of India's best-known species. A clear diagnosis and prescription should be in hand when the Tiger Task Force, aided by field reports from scientists and enforcement departments, completes its job. In her preliminary observations, the task force chairperson, Sunita Narain, has taken note of the enormous challenges faced by the tiger, such as extensive and organised international poaching networks, unprofessional law enforcement to tackle wildlife crime syndicates, and a low rate of conviction of poaching offenders. The multi-disciplinary bureau proposed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests will have to involve all law enforcement agencies in the country and international policing organisations to successfully stop the illegal trade in wildlife. While a far-going study is on, it is important that the country's protected areas are insulated from further pressure in the form of conversion of forests, mining, and road building. Such activity, often carried out by commercial interests, has altered the ecology of several protected areas. Scientists and environmentalists have argued that easing the regulatory `brakes' to facilitate ill-conceived economic activity has removed safeguards for the environment and, by extension, for the tiger. Nationally, tigers have a habitat of a mere 300,000 square kilometres — this is the grim estimate offered by a team of scientists led by K. Ullas Karanth in a 2003 paper published in the journal Animal Conservation. It will be unconscionable to allow policy aberrations to degrade even this meagre refuge.

Access to protected areas is a contentious issue with no simple answers. In its early observations, the Tiger Task Force has made it a priority to call for a review of restrictions on local communities to enter forests. The Prime Minister has also acknowledged the importance of these citizens in conservation. Such communities, it is argued, have turned hostile to the conservation agenda because they are prevented from finding sustenance through collection of minor forest produce. Few will quarrel with the idea of safeguarding the right of tribal folk to gather minor produce or enlisting them as partners in forest protection. A good practical solution will be to create sustainable livelihood options for the communities in expanded buffer zones around sanctuaries and national parks — but not inside core forests. This approach will also partly address issues of human-wildlife conflict and the loss of economic assets. In a scheme of this kind, it should be feasible to form a corps of trained forest guards drawn from local communities. The Centre, in partnership with the States, must create a professional and well-equipped wildlife service patterned after similar forces in developed countries such as the United States. Such a cadre needs to be national in character and have a clear mandate to protect forests, conserve biodiversity, aid science, and produce independent research. With such a system in place, it should be possible to come up with a more scientific and accurate assessment of the state of the 27 Project Tiger reserves in the country.