Viewing poaching with cross-border linkages as a “major problem” to wildlife conservation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asked intelligence and enforcement agencies to co-ordinate bette

1,706 tigers today, up from 1,411 in 2007

Should the approximately 1,700 tigers left in India be treated as sacrosanct, not to be exploited by India’s tourism industry? Or, should they be looked at as valuable commodities, responsible for filling the coffers of the state? This is the firestorm of a debate that Ajay Dubey sparked off, when he, through a public interest litigation filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court in September 2010, asked that tourism be banned in ‘core’ tiger areas — zones where tiger density is particularly high — in line with the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and its 2006 amendment.

Jaipur: Conservation with people's participation seems to be the salient feature of the eco-tourism guidelines released by the state government on Thursday. From seeking their help in the actual implementation of the guidelines to involving them with conservation work, the guidelines have paved way for community participation in a variety of ways.

As a first step, the guidelines seek the involvement of honourary wildlife wardens wildlife experts, NGOs and other independent stakeholders for assisting the Tiger Conservation Foundation and the forest department for the implementation of these guidelines in tiger reserves.

Jaipur: A day after the Supreme Court invited suggestions and objections for framing guidelines for conservation of tigers, Rajasthan on Thursday came up with its own guidelines, the first state to do so.

The guidelines, to be submitted to the court as an affidavit by Friday, seeks to promote tourism but disperses it over a wider area than just confine to the national park only. It also seeks to promote eco-tourism in lesser known areas, non-forest areas and even on private lands adjoining tiger reserves by developing them into alternative wildlife land use options. Currently tourism in the state has been confined to areas of government ownership and is managed solely by the forest department.

BAN extended, centre told to frame revised guidelines

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which has been set up to protect the striped animal, is looking for a '˜ferocious wild cat' for its flagship logo.

NEW DELHI: Extending the ban on tourism activities in the core areas of tiger reserves, the Supreme Court today pulled up the Centre for the depleting population of the wild cats in the country.

New Delhi: The Union environment ministry’s eco-tourism guidelines, which promote community-based activities in the core of tiger habitats, could become a collateral victim of hectic lobbying from

The Supreme Court has extended the ban on tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves. It also pulled up the Centre for the depleting the population of the wild cats in the country.

The Central Government made a fresh plea urging the Supreme Court to review its July 24 order banning tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves. But the Supreme Court remained firm, with justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar asking some searching questions: