Tour operators and conservationists have reacted angrily to a ruling from the Indian government that will severely restrict access to its 37 national tiger reserves.
The ban was imposed after the state-run National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) revealed that India’s tiger population had dropped from 3,642 in 2002 to just 1,411 last year, a decline it blames squarely on tourists.
“Tourism creates a disturbance through vehicles, noise pollution, garbage and the need to provide facilities,” said the NTCA’s director.
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But Tour Operators for Tigers, a conservation group, denounced the attack on tourism as a crude attempt to disguise government failure to protect forest habitats from burning and from woodchoppers, grazers and poachers.
“This decision is extraordinary,” agrees Paul Goldstein, of the tour operator Exodus. “Parks such as Panna, with little tourism, lose their tigers. Parks like Bandhavgarh, which Exodus supports, have had no poaching in four years. It’s no coincidence.”
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“Tourists don’t kill tigers, poachers do,” said Rajan Jolly, of Naturetrek. “When tourists are denied access to national parks, the infrastructure collapses and tigers are dramatically depleted through poaching.”