EAZA Tiger Campaign 2002/4
Target projects: Project 9
Support for Anti-poaching in Project Tiger Reserves
India's "Project Tiger" was launched in 1973 and was at that time considered one of the biggest conservation efforts in the world. It consists of a system of special "Tiger Reserves"; in 1973 there were nine and there are now 27, covering nearly 38,000 km2. Threats to the reserves include grazing pressures, summer fires, poaching of flora and fauna and wildlife-human conflicts.
A combination of shortages of funds, insufficient political will and cumbersome bureaucracy has meant that most of the
time official resources are inadequate for the running costs of the Tiger Reserves. In the 2001 Project Tiger Status Report, almost 50% of the Tiger Reserves reported mobility problems due to lack of vehicles. The authorities do have sufficient resources to provide maintenance and running costs for vehicles donated by foreign agencies.
Reserve staff and donated vehicle © GTP
Global Tiger Patrol propose to purchase project vehicles during 2003 in response to needs identified, often at short notice, by the Director of Project Tiger and the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the relevant States. Use of the vehicles will be monitored under an MoU with the relevant authorities, and checked annually for up to three years.
The project will:
- Improve general patrolling capabilities
- Enable rapid response to incidents eg forest fires or reports of poaching or other illegal activity
- Improve the morale of reserve staff
