WWF'S CAMPAIGN FOR TIGER CONSERVATION



ver two decades ago a Rajasthan forest officer and director of India's Delhi Zoo, the late Kailash Sankhala, sounded an alarm that was heard around the globe: the world's tigers were on the brink of extinction.

In 1969, at the 10th Triennial General Assembly of IUCN-The World Conservation Union in New Delhi, Sankhala made impassioned pleas, together with other Indian conservationists, that the Bengal tiger be recognized as endangered. It must, he said, be placed alongside seven other subspecies of tiger already in the IUCN Red Data Book of Threatened Species. Its numbers, together with those of tigers in other range states, were dropping fast, from 40,000 at the turn of the century to no more than 2,500.

Shortly thereafter, India placed a ban on tiger shooting, and other countries followed its example. In 1972 a census of all Indian tigers was conducted. The results were shocking. India probably had fewer than 2,000.

Alarmed by India's rapidly declining tiger population, Guy Mountfort, a founder-trustee of WWF and well-known British conservationist, announced a plan for WWF to raise US$1 million for the world's vanishing tigers. Dubbed Operation Tiger in 1972, WWF's g lobal campaign has funnelled nearly US$11 million to tiger conservation in the past 24 years. Direct funding is about US$5.5 million and indirect tiger-related conservation support (to areas where tigers and other species live) is around US$5.5 million. W ithin the next three years (1996-1998) WWF hopes to provide at least US$1 million per year to support tiger conservation measures.

In 1972, Mountfort launched WWF's ambitious fundraising and publicity campaign by visiting first India, then Bangladesh and Nepal, to persuade government officials to launch tiger conservation programmes and to back the WWF effort. India's then prime mini ster, Indira Gandhi, agreed immediately. Within 24 hours she formed a Tiger Task Force, ordering it to report to her personally.

The Task Force began selection of India's first tiger reserves, each including a core zone free of human use and a buffer area in which conservation-oriented land use was to be regulated.

The reserves were chosen to include different types of tiger habitat, ranging from the teak and bamboo forest of Madhya Pradesh to the dry scrub jungle of Rajasthan and the tropical mangrove estuaries of Bengal.

The spearhead of WWF's Operation Tiger was the government of India's Project Tiger, launched on 1 April 1973, at a ceremony in Corbett National Park in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Mrs Gandhi appointed Kailash Sankhala, who had championed the tiger at the 1969 General Assembly, as director of the project. One of her most dynamic cabinet ministers, Dr Karan Singh, was selected as chairman of the Project Tiger steering committee. Pete r Jackson, co-author of this report, was nominated by WWF as its project officer for Operation Tiger.

WWF pledged US$1 million for India's Project Tiger, with a commitment by the Indian government of US$16 million over the first 10 years. At the same time, the Indian states with tiger reserves forfeited US$14 million in lost forest revenue.

Within the first three years of WWF's Operation Tiger campaign, WWF raised US$800,000 for tiger conservation in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia. Over half of the funds came from a children's campaign in eight European countries.

Conservation of entire ecosystems, including all species, is the objective of India's Project Tiger. So far 23 tiger reserves have been established. India declared the tiger as its national symbol, as did Bangladesh, which placed the symbol on its currenc y and established three small reserves in order to protect its tigers. In addition, Bangladesh formed a National Wildlife Board and its prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, issued a five-year moratorium on the extraction of forest products and an indefi nite ban on all hunting.

In Nepal, three tiger reserves were established and equipped with WWF assistance, while the first major ecological study of the species was conducted under the auspices of the US-based Smithsonian Institution with support from WWF.

TEN YEARS AFTER - WINS AND LOSSES
THE HUMAN DILEMMA