The more tigers we have the bigger the worry

India now was 2,226 tigers, a whopping 30 per cent increase from the 1,706 counted in the last four-yearly estimate of 2010. Sounds almost too good to be true. So, is it... Is the question that is being asked. Well, it is difficult to say without looking into the details of the report — expected only about a month later - which articulates how the numbers were arrived at. The last census had shown a jump as well, from the previous 1,411, one reason being more intensive and extensive enumeration. The current rise cannot be attributed to more areas being included in the estimation, the only additional reserves counted this time is Indravati in Chhattisgarh, and those in Arunachal Pradesh, which could not have contributed very much to the kitty. I admit to being surprised at the sharp jump, but I have no doubts that tiger numbers have increased. We need to understand what factors may have enabled this increase: dedicated field efforts, more focused and consistent attention on tiger reserves and its protection, inviolate habitat, political will, and a strong policy, legal framework that has enabled tigers to thrive.

Yes, there has been poaching, and each tiger in India is vulnerable, as long as there is a market. Any trader in tiger "products" will look to India, given that we have, if we are to go by the new census, 70 per cent of the world’s wild tigers. There are about 22 recorded cases of poaching in 2014, the actual number could be more, as tiger skins and bones — like other smuggled goods, could be crossing borders, unchecked, and undetected.

But equally, tigers are breeding, and new cubs recruited ie cubs that are reaching adulthood.

And therein lies a key reason for the increase — inviolate space for tigers, which allows them to breed and flourish.

The voluntary relocation of villages from within core critical tiger habitats, has freed up fecund habitats devoid of anthropocentric pressures — which tigers have taken over. Given a good, enhanced package for rehabilitation, many communities tired of the hardships of living in remote forests, in constant conflict with wildlife, deprived of basic facilities like health care, education, electricity, roads; have opted to shift out, to areas with access to healthcare, education and other opportunities.

It’s worked well for tigers as well, with more inviolate space in core habitats, tigers have flourished. We have a good breeding populations outside of Protected Areas as well - in the Corbett landscape, the Western Ghats complex, the Kanha-Pench-Tadoba landscape are some examples. This 2014 estimation exercise has done a more rigourous count of such tiger habitats outside reserves.

Excuse me for being a party pooper — but my joy is tinged with worry.

Even as our tigers are thriving, now, they are being pushed into a corner, as their reserves are increasingly hemmed in by human habitation, industry, mining, infrastructure. Tiger landscapes are being pillaged by mining, submerged by dams, broken up by roads, taken over by industry, exploited for their wood, fodder and other minor forest produce. And this will be the tiger’s undoing.

Most of our reserves are tiny, and are increasingly getting islanded. Such isolated tiger populations eventually hit a genetic dead end, and succumb to inbreeding depression, causing them to collapse.

If we want the tiger graph to rise, or even remain stable, conserving tiger corridors and landscapes is crucial, and this is the weakest link in this success story.

The steady erosion of rules and regulations that govern wild habitats, weakening of conservation policies, and the overhauling of wildlife and forests laws - all geared to accommodate an aggressive growth agenda, and increasing demand for land — forests — for roads, power projects, mining, industry, infrastructure, will further fragment tiger habitats.

If we are to retain global leadership in tiger conservation, the way forward is clear: We must retain strong political will, enable and empower its protectors, have zero tolerance for poaching, and conserve the sanctity of tiger habitats and corridors.