Sunita Narain: Guns, saws and hypocrisy

DOWN TO EARTH

Recently, the Rajasthan High Court, concerned about the lessening numbers of tigers in the Ranthambore tiger reserve, directed that all vehicles should be denied entry into the park. Conservationists, tiger lovers and tourist operators all combined to argue that the ban would destroy the hotel industry and hit livelihoods of tourist operators. The pressure worked. By December end, the court had lifted the ban.

Jambudwip, a small island in the West Bengal delta, is used by local fisherfolk to dry their catch each season for roughly four months. The Supreme Court, petitioned by conservationists against such use of this partially forested island, banned all fish drying. The fisherfolk explained why this island was critical to their livelihood: they needed a transient docking facility in the middle of the deltaic sea. But conservationists "" ironically, the same who argued for the opening of tourism in the tiger reserve "" did not budge. The ban continues.

Let us understand why conservationists would argue that tourism is good and subsistence fishing is bad. The cynical response would be that conservationists have business interest in tourism, which they do. It is their livelihood that is threatened when tourism is banned in the park.

But I believe there is more to it. There is a strong belief that tourism will benefit the park. On the other hand, people who use the island, and other forested regions, will destroy the habitat. The fact is that both answers are correct and both are wrong. Tourism can be good for the park, but it can equally be disastrous. Human use can be sustainable, or it can be destructive. The question is how it is managed.

In Ranthambore, tourism management is a nightmare. This is the first national park that has been taken out of the hands of the forest department and given to the tourism department. The trade is now steeped in nepotism and corruption, as operators fight for the most tiger-sighted route, get the maximum entries into the park and do everything else to pull off a sighting for their rich clients. Forest department officials say that this intensive human presence in the reserve's protected core area may be why tigers are straying from the park.

The hotels which ring the park, in many cases, are built on disputed land and would contravene regulations for eco-sensitive areas. The irony is that while fisherfolk in the vicinity of mangroves were denied permission to set up habitations, in Ranthambore, hotels have been "allowed" in the very buffer of the park. The Ranthambore way of tourism also does not bring financial benefits to conservation. Local people, who are denied development and livelihood benefits because of the tiger sanctuary, do not even get anything in return. Their anger grows. The tiger becomes more vulnerable. Tourism can work, but differently.

In Jambudwip, fisheries also can work. The passes issued by the forest department can control the numbers who get access to the area. The monitoring can be done using satellite imagery. The fact also is that there is no real evidence to show that this prolonged human use of the island has devastated its vegetation. At the same time, there is evidence to show tourism in Ranthambore has impaired its sustainability.

Poachers' guns and the saws of timber smugglers are hateful. But remember, we have used half-baked science and bad politics to decide what is allowed and what is not. That is our real tragedy.