In 1973, the government of legendary Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi realized that Bengal tigers were in immediate danger of becoming extinct. There were fewer than 1800 tigers left in the wild — a number thought to be an overestimation due to poor counting methods.
That year, Project Tiger was born–and in the 50 years since then, a remarkable recovery of tiger populations has been observed. Preservation of tiger habitats was undertaken, a concerted effort to curtail poaching was made, and a worldwide effort to save the tiger brought atttention and money to the project.
The results were celebrated by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the southern city of Mysuru. After 50 years, India’s tiger population had climbed to more than 3100 — a 6.4% rise since 2018.
“India is a country where protecting nature is part of our culture,” Modi proclaimed. “This is why we have many unique achievements in wildlife conservation.”
Tigers have disappeared in Bali and Java and China’s tigers are likely extinct in the wild. The Sunda Island tiger, the other sub-species, is only found in Sumatra. India’s project to safeguard them has been praised as a success by many.
“Project Tiger hardly has a parallel in the world since a scheme of this scale and magnitude has not been so successful elsewhere,” said SP Yadav, a senior Indian government official in charge of Project Tiger.
But critics say the social costs of fortress conservation — where forest departments protect wildlife and prevent local communities from entering forest regions — is high.
Indeed, just a few miles from Modi’s celebration, several hundred indigenous people known as the Adivasi, representing more than 70 tribes and 100 million people, are not nearly as happy. The preservation of tiger habitats has forced many of them off their historic tribal lands.
“Nagarahole was one of the first forests to be brought under Project Tiger and our parents and grandparents were probably among the first to be forced out of the forests in the name of conservation,” said J. A. Shivu, 27, who belongs to the Jenu Kuruba tribe. “We have lost all rights to visit our lands, temples or even collect honey from the forests. How can we continue living like this?”
The activists say that the Indian government is taking its cues from American environmentalists.
The fewer than 40,000 Jenu Kuruba people are one of the 75 tribal groups that the Indian government classifies as particularly vulnerable. Adivasi communities like the Jenu Kurubas are among the poorest in India.
Some experts say conservation policies that attempted to protect a pristine wilderness were influenced by prejudices against local communities.
The Indian government’s tribal affairs ministry has repeatedly said it is working on Adivasi rights. Only about 1% of the more than 100 million Adivasis in India have been granted any rights over forest lands despite a government forest rights law, passed in 2006, that aimed to “undo the historical injustice” for forest communities.
Yes, let’s “Save the Tiger.” But at what cost? The indigenous people in India’s vast forests were undisturbed for thousands of years until U.S. greens told the Indian government that the people had to be sacrificed to save the tiger.
Environmentalists tell us that there’s no choice to be made and that both humans and tigers can co-exist as long as they’re kept apart. This is snake oil. Tiger boundaries and human boundaries are never clearly delineated. And when the two species are in close proximity, there are tragedies for both humans and tigers.
There are always consequences to mucking around with nature. Just as there are always consequences when animal welfare is placed ahead of human welfare. In the case of the Adivasis, it’s clear that there are many in the Indian government who see indigenous people as less than human — or at least, less than a tiger.
Fifty years from now there are probably going to be tigers. But how many Adivasis will be left?
