Eyes on or hands on? A discussion of human interference

[Pckts]

(10-02-2014, 10:58 AM)'GuateGojira' Wrote:

(10-02-2014, 09:58 AM)'peter' Wrote: Very interesting points neglected by most debating, so it seems. You're definitely right about the developments in the reserves you mentioned. I agree Panna has shown research only has an effect when government is interested. The Aldrich-snare article seems to have had an effect as well in that the method now seems to have been abandoned. The Russian research-project also gets more attention than the Siberian Tiger Project of the WCS. The question is how interest is triggered on the level of politics and we might need to explore purpose in order to find answers. 

In the last decade, things have changed to an extent in some countries. There are many photographs with Putin and Amur tigers featuring. Russia also hosted the meeting in St. Peterburg some years ago. It is a fact it got a lot of attention and it also had some results.

Based on what I see, and in that (descending) order, India (cultural pride and tourism too), Russia (a combination of cultural and political pride, so it seems), China (the need to quickly clean the reputation regarding wildlife in general and tigers in particular), Thailand (tigers as unknown national treasures) and Malaysia (same reason) seem to be interested in some way, with Kazachstan not that far away (tourism). 

There's zero activity in Vietnam (no more tigers), Laos (not many tigers left), Cambodja (same) and Indonesia (tigers and conservation oppose economic development), although it has to be admitted that Indonesia now has a number of individuals with some influence interested in the tiger. They are able to get to private initiatives, but seem unable to change policies in general.

I was most interested in your remarks on the motives of governments, the connection with research and the 'self-motivation' based on cultural and/or political identity. I also noticed the relation between these motives and the way conservation is conducted. I propose to explore this new dimension.


 

In fact, according with Dr Dinerstein, most of those “parks” that make pride India, are just “dead end” situations, they NEED to be connected. Those places like Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh and Kanha, are only islands with no future, IF India don’t manage to connect them with other parks and reserves.
 
In fact, scientists agree that the only areas that have some hope for tiger survival are:
 
1. The Terai belt: North India (from Corbett to the Assam), Nepal and Buthan together. Kazirange, Chitwan and Corbett are great examples.
 
2. The Western Ghats region: Beginning with Nagarahole and Bandipur, up to the Anamalai region. That entire area has at least 500 tigers and is the best tiger population in India at this time. However, it is still not entirely interconnected.
 
3. The Russian Far East: Russians are making an excellent work on tiger conservation. Now, the Autonomous Jewish region have they own tigers and that is of great hope for conservation.
 
These three areas have both, scientific presence and Government interest.
 
Sumatra needs political interest and direct scientific studies, “together” like Tigerlover mentioned. It is the ONLY way that the wild population could survive, if not, they are already doomed. Interestingly, the captive population of Sumatran tigers is very well and safe at this day.
 
Indochina population is doomed, and there are practically no hopes for them. The only government that is beginning to make efforts is Thailandia and Malaysia, but they are still in “diapers” on the methodology.
 
Finally, China is the great “hypocrite” here. They preach conservation, especially for Amur tigers, but they still promote tigers farms like the famous Harbin breeding center, which is only a hoax for tiger conservation.
 

 

Guess how Bhutan was found out as being the Largest tiger corridor in India...
Camera traps.
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