CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

• International agreement with aim to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

• Created at 1963 meeting of IUCN; designates three categories with associated rules and licensing– Appendix I - species threatened with extinction. Trade in

specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

– Appendix II - species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled

– Appendix III - species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade.

Lacey Act (U.S)• Originally authored in 1900 in response to the

decline of the passenger pigeon• Beginning with revisions in 1981, focused

attention on illegal international trafficking in flora and fauna

• CITES lacks enforcement; the Lacey Act allows federal and state wildlife officials to prosecute US citizens if they violate international wildlife laws

IUCN Red list (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

• Comprehensive, global database detailing the conservation status of plant and animal species.

• Plays role in guiding conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions.

IUCN Red list

https://archive.org/details/landofthetigerreel2

The Indian or Bengal tiger

In China, all the farmed tigers and remaining tigers in the wild are Amur (Siberian) tigers

Bengal tiger

• Found in India with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar.

• Most numerous of all tiger subspecies• Classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List

History of tigers in India

• Large scale hunting of Bengal tigers by Mughal rulers of India beginning 500 years ago

• British tiger hunts during colonial era from 1850’s until 1947, the year India gained independence from Britain.

“Tigers also represented for the British all that was wild and untamed in the Indian natural world. Thus, the curious late Victorian and Edwardian spectacle of British royals and other dignitaries being photographed standing aside dead tiger carcasses depicted the staging of the successful conquest of Indian nature by "virile imperialists". More generally, tiger hunting was an important symbol in the construction of British imperial and masculine identities during the nineteenth century. Precisely because tigers were dangerous and powerful beasts, tiger hunting represented a struggle with fearsome nature that needed to be resolutely faced "like a Briton“. Only by successfully vanquishing tigers would Britons prove their manliness and their fitness to rule over Indians.

British colonial rule over India and tigers

http://vimeo.com/7586728

History of tigers in India

• 10,000 – 20,000 tigers at start of 20th century• Project Tiger

– Began in 1973 when census revealed only 2000 tigers– Prohibitions set on hunting, poaching– Set up tiger reserves

• Started with 9 tiger reserves in an area of 16,000 sq km and approximately 300 tigers.

• At present 27 tiger reserves over 38,000 sq km and 1500 tigers. – Established ‘core-buffer' strategy in reserves

• Human settlements were removed from core areas and the buffer areas were subjected to 'conservation-oriented land use'.

• Tourism could take place in core areas, but none of the original inhabitants could live there.

India’s tiger reserves

History of tigers in India• Up to 4,000 tigers in the

wild in India during the 1990s

• Declined steeply to about 1,400 in 2006 due to poaching

• Poaching driven by entry of China into global economy and their internal demand for tiger products

• Demand has continued to this day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLErn5gKfWA

History of tigers in India

• Ranthambhore National Park is the most esteemed of India’s tiger reserves

• In 2003 – 2004 poachers killed half of all the tigers in the park

• Indian Supreme Court banned tiger tourism in core areas of reserve but has been slowly opening them back up

• This is because the government, local economies, and conservationists are dependent upon tigers for tourist dollars

India’s Forest Rights Act (2006)

• Recognizes the rights of forest dwelling communities to access forest areas in reserves and continue coexistence with tigers.

• Local management of reserves must contend with:– International pressure to protect tigers– Allowing access that does not result poaching– Facilitation of tiger tourism

Green neocolonialism?

• Tiger conservation in India has long depended upon funds from international conservation organizations

• These can exert considerable influence on Indian politics

• Consequently, number of tigers in reserves gets overestimated to secure international funding

History of tigers in India

• Election of new prime minister in 2014

• Conservation laws are being weakened and funding for conservation is declining

• High tiger numbers would appease criticisms of these policies

Paper parks

Numbers of tigers intentionally overestimated to get international conservation money. Reservemanagers may be pressured to allow some entry and resource utilization in core areas to depressurizelocal resource conflict

Human-tiger conflicts• Conservation areas

increase tiger populations and likelihood of attacks on livestock and humans

• Recovery goals may bring about more conflict

• 85 people per year die in India each year from tiger attacks, (but still less than deaths from snakebite or rabies)

Green neocolonialism?

• Pro-tiger sentiments strong in rich countries

• But the burden of living with tigers is often born by rural poor

Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7TG4SIy3dg

Revenge killings account for more tiger declines than poaching in the Sundarbans

Revenge killings

• Other factors are also important – killings are not simply retaliatory– Perceptions of risk of tiger attacks falsely elevated – Perceived failings of local officials whom villagers

may consider responsible for preventing or resolving tiger incidents

– Enhanced social status of villager who kills a tiger– Value of tiger parts

Solutions

• Address crowd formation behavior (tiger attacks can be a defensive behavior in response to being surrounded by people)

• Tiger proof houses and livestock pens• Address development issues and enhance social capital

– Provision of solar electricity grids (nighttime lighting may thwart tigers and enhance their detection)

– Build village capacity to respond to tigers through non-lethal means

– Empower villagers to organize and respond on their own rather depending solely upon officials

Village Tiger Response Team (VTRT)

Conserve large carnivorous megafauna on earth?

• No, we don’t need these animals. They destroy livestock and threaten human lives

Yes, conserve them.• Without predators,

ecosystems may undergo trophic cascades

• Herbivore prey may increase in abundance

• Sets up a cascade of changes when large apex predators are no longer present

Conserve large carnivores on earth?

• If yes then how, especially since many of the places where large carnivores remain are not in the US?

Conserve large carnivores on earth?• We in developed

countries are stuck with the contradiction of simultaneously wanting wildlife, desiring to protect it, recognizing its ecological importance, but not having to live with it directly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/world/africa/american-hunter-is-accused-of-killing-cecil-a-beloved-lion-in-zimbabwe.html

Costs of living with large predators may not be uniformly shared and impact the poor more.

Sanctioned hunts can provide funds for conservation of habitat and to provide incomes for locals

1. Integrate animals with humans in conservation areas and develop coexistence strategies and market incentives to protect wildlife?

1. Integrate animals with humans in conservation areas and develop coexistence strategies and market incentives to protect wildlife?

2. Fence animals in and humans out to conserve habitat and species?

3. Farm the animals, breed them in captivity for release into the wild or to harvest for the market to take pressure of wild populations. Farm tourism can be used to raise money for habitat conservation. Farmed animals can be released and hunted on sanctioned hunts.

4. Use zoos to maintain and build up tiger populations given their track record with breeding programs.

5. Allow them to expand in numbers as pets, distant wildlife sanctuaries, and private zoos? Zoos are often unable to house large numbers of the same species.

6. Rewilding?

6. Rewilding?