17 May 2012 The Supreme Court has directed all states to demarcate and notify buffer zones around each of their tiger reserves within three months. While conservationists say the order would curb commercialisation of revenue land around tiger habitats, tribal rights activists think its implementation will result in repression of forest dwellers by forest departments. Click on date for more details

15 May 2012 A forest ranger and a forester were recently beaten up by the illegal mining mafia in the core area of the Rathambhore reserve. For more information click on date

08 May 2012 Aptly titled, 'Corbett, now on sale', a story in a weekly magazine brought an open secret out in print: The land around - and even inside - the Corbett Tiger Reserve is up for grabs, controlled by the country's Who's Who. It highlighted how tourism resorts have destroyed the Kosi river corridor, cutting off access for animals to a crucial water source. This matter had in fact first come to light in a report, 'Impact of tourism on tigers and other wildlife of Corbett', published in January 2010. Click on date for more details

Wildlife trade hits Karnataka

from

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/state-fear-wildlife-trade-hits-karnataka-613

Karnataka seems to be the place being increasingly mentioned in wildlife trade circles in China. According to a wildlife researcher from Bengaluru, China, whose market in wildlife trade is extensive especially for tiger parts, seem to be now looking at Karnataka for its supply. A problem that was earlier concentrated in the national parks of Central India, seems to have permeated into the forests of Karnataka.

The worrying factor is the thin line between human-animal conflict and the resultant poaching and trade that is gaining momentum across India. Poaching is on the rise be it of elephants, tigers, leopards, snakes, monitor lizards and even tortoises. The unresolved conflict in many of the forests is leading to local villagers teaming up with poachers; weak law enforcement further enables this, feels Surendra Varma, Research Officer and Member-International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Asian Elephant Specialist Group.

He added: "The involvement of locals in poaching, due to a lack of conflict mitigation, is a very dangerous trend that is hampering conservation. "While all species of wildlife stand to lose in this trade, big cats, especially tigers, are in grave danger as every part, from the skin to teeth and claws, have a market. Karnataka has among the healthiest forest cover that supports an ecosystem, but is not aggressively protected and here lies the challenge as the forest department is still battling a lack of manpower, while also having to brave growing issues of conflict."

According to a wildlife conservationist who tracks wildlife trade in India and China, the future of conservation, especially that of the big cats and pachyderms, at a time when poaching and conflict is on the rise is like a double-edged sword and unless conflict is mitigated, fighting poaching that leads to wildlife trade is a challenge