join the roar!

Stripey the cub (in photo) has become the symbol of the tiger conservation movement and the recent Save our Tigers campaign initiated by Aircel*/WWF. The year of the Tiger rings in on 14th February and with this, there is predicted to be an increase in demand for tiger products.

India is working very closely with China to ensure that poaching is curbed on both ends of the supply chain. Beijing's co-operation is critically important in order to ensure the survival of the species. With only 50 tigers left in the wild in China, poachers are likely to intensify their efforts in India. Is someone addressing this issue?The site also gives information on tiger reserves and tiger density in each reserve - out of the 37 sanctuaries in India 17 face a collapse in tiger population. I have previously blogged about the plight of our national animal and since then nothing has changed really, in the overall scenario.

So what can you do? According to the website which is not very informative you can donate, blog, tweet, or join the Facebook page. The Aircel campaign has its heart in the right place and it is a great start to creating awareness; but its impact remains to be seen. Since Project Tiger which has been the most successful program in the 70s lost steam; tiger conservation has always had its lulls and rises. There has never been a concentrated effort to increase tiger numbers, reducing poaching and ensuring protected habitat remain that way. More importantly there has not been much transparency, advocacy or public involvement in the process. Every census releases varying numbers regarding tiger population - for example, does the site explain how the number 1411 was arrived at?

Latest technologies in animal conservation and expert consultations are the need of the hour. It is also highly essential for the public sector and civil society organizations to attack bureaucracy. More importantly it is essential that every tiger campaign, indeed every campaign keeps people in the loop. The newest WWF initiative is an interactive map that gives a status report of tigers all over the world. According to their latest numbers there are 3200 tigers are left world over in the wild. Like I have argued previously, conservation efforts are dependent on rate of biodiversity loss which is tied into economic losses. Stripey no matter how cute and how much celebrity support he garners, will not stir public sympathies for too long unless a holistic picture is provided. I hope someone from Aircel is reading this: more information is needed on their campaign objectives, how they plan on achieving them and where they're getting their numbers from - for starters.

* Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India

Photo Courtesy: www.saveourtigers.com

selling ideals

I'm puzzling about extreme environmentalism today. Is there such a thing as 'extreme environmentalism'? What does it entail? How far can environmental groups go in order to get their message across?

Most environmental groups aim for the most radical, the most eye-catching, the most headline grabbing advertisement that they can think of to get their messages across. There is a reason for this: the rationale is that unless it is that attention grabbing, people will not react. It is radical simply as a measure to over leap the bonds of apathy. However, there is a thin line between communicating to the audience and alienating them. There is also a thin line between inducing thought and invoking disgust. Where is this line? Who judges?

Greenpeace, WWF and PETA are all known for their advertisements as much as they are known for their campaigning work. Some of their ads border on creative genius, some are cryptic in their message but environmental adverts put an image to the problem. It makes it visual and sometimes, heart-wrenchingly so because everything they portray could be reality. Environmental organizations also have to be very careful in order not appear ambiguous in their campaigns. Adverts exist to get campaign messages across in a succinct manner. Being three different organizations with three different campaign goals and methods to achieve them, the common thread they have is the way they push the message out.

The recent ad campaign done by WWF to highlight global warming features polar bears, seals and penguins as homeless people due to the melting of the poles. This is both clever and gets the message across. Previous WWF campaigns have also featured the decline of wildlife, loss of rainforests and damage to oceans. More recently they focus on climate change issues. Greenpeace's ads also border on the provocative at times without directly targetting at population sector, they instead make you question your choices. The recent adverts done for the climate change campaign borders on brilliant yet they are accessible.

Greenpeace adverts include campaigns for genetically modified food, climate change, protection of oceans and ancient forests. Greenpeace adverts employ catchy slogans and like with other campaigns, stunning visuals. They sometimes have political targets but are otherwise aimed at the general public.

The ad campaign featured by PETA however antagonises a section of the public as it targets obese people. Offensive? Effective? Ridiculous? Everyone seems to have a different opinion on the billboard--no doubt one of PETA's chief aims. But referring to overweight women as 'whales' is pretty rude, no matter whom you ask. This ad campaign drew outrage from feminist groups and healthcare providers alike. PETA's never been subtle. The group's president has postmortem plans to barbeque her own body to make a point about vegetarianism.

The point to be made here is that selling a product is hard enough, selling an ideal is much much harder. If environmental groups are to continue selling ideals, they cannot afford to alienate potential target groups. Any movement is impossible to take off the ground without adequate number of people supporting the cause. The question that should be asked is whether they go after the smaller battles or the bigger wars? Should PETA be targetting animal cruelty or non-vegetarians? They are not mutually inclusive. Ambiguous ad campaigns do little to strengthen an organizations' profile and much less to convince the public of their true motives.

Photos: All images copyrighted to their organizations. Image 1: PETA©. Image 2: WWF ©. Image 3: Greenpeace©

tyger! tyger! burning bright

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake's poem aptly describes the sheer awesomeness and force of a tiger. I read this poem in the fifth grade, saw my first real live tiger in sixth grade; in eight grade I collected money to send to WWF for their tiger conservation project. Tigers are probably one of the animals that fascinate me the most. Perhaps, I am again being subliminally influenced by Disney.

The plight of this apex predator is well known world-over. Already three subspecies of tiger are extinct. The two largest subspecies currently in existence are the Royal Bengal and Siberian tigers.

Typical tiger country has three main features: It will always have good cover, it will always be close to water and plenty of prey. Bengal Tigers live in all types of forests, including Wet, Evergreen, semi-evergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the mangrove forest of Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal and thorn forests of the Western Ghats. Tiger prefers denser vegetation, for which its camouflage is ideally suited. Tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. Tigers are excellent swimmers and can swim up to 4 miles.

Tigers are mostly solitary and territorial animals. A tigress may have a territory of 20 square kilometres while the territories of males are much larger, covering 60–100 km2. The ranges of males tend to overlap those of several females. They need in larger territory in order to breed without problems.

Habitat destruction and poaching are the primary threats to tiger populations.At the start of the 20th century, it is estimated there were over 100,000 tigers in the world but the population has dwindled to about 2,000 in the wild. The tiger is India's national animal and India habours the world's largest number of tigers. Unfortunately, it also has one of the biggest populations. A major concerted conservation effort known as Project Tiger has been underway since 1973, spearheaded by Indira Gandhi. The fundamental accomplishment has been the establishment of over 25 well-monitored tiger reserves in reclaimed land where human development is categorically forbidden. The program has been credited with tripling the number of wild Bengal tigers from roughly 1,200 in 1973 to over 3,500 in the 1990s. A recent census taken in 2007 states that tiger numbers have fallen to 1,411 which indicates that poaching is the primary reason for drop in numbers.

The Siberian tiger was on the brink of extinction with only about 40 animals in the wild in the 1940s. Under the Soviet Union, anti-poaching controls were strict and a network of protected zones were instituted, leading to a rise in the population to several hundred. Poaching again became a problem in the 1990s. When the economy of Russia collapsed, local hunters had access to a formerly sealed off lucrative Chinese market and logging in the region increased. While an improvement in the local economy has led to greater resources being invested in conservation efforts, an increase of economic activity has led to an increased rate of development and deforestation. Current conservation efforts are led by local governments and NGO's in consort with international organizations, such as the WWF and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Currently, there are about 400-550 animals in the wild.

In Maharastra the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is one of the havens for tigers. However the jungle sits on rich coal reserves about to be mined. Apart from destroying tiger habitat, this will also disturb the local ecosystem which supports many other animals which include leopards, sloth bear, wild dogs and some 70 other species along with many plant varieties.

Ecosystems such as this cannot be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis. There are cleaner ways of obtaining fuel and it is a pity that industrialists and governments alike look for the quick-fix solution. The life of the working mine is projected to be 40years by which time the 'sanctuary' set aside for tigers will be desecrated.