Four MP tiger reserves contribute Rs 75 crore to community: Study

Four tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh jointly contribute Rs 75 crore to the local community and Rs 19 crore to the state government, a wildlife report said on Friday.

The report, 'The Value of Wildlife Tourism for Conservation and Communities', documented financial and other key benefits that the wildlife tourism brought to the tiger reserves and communities living around them.

It was released by tiger scientist Raghu Chundawat here.

In the four tiger reserves, the total revenue generated from wildlife tourism's entry fees alone was Rs 19.42 crore. This was more than the state's contribution of Rs 18.76 crore to these reserves.

The central allocation for these reserves in 2016-17 was Rs 40 crore.

Chundawat, who led the research team, said most tiger reserves in the country are small and the tiger populations protected within their boundaries are not viable.

"Exclusionary models of conservation are no longer feasible over a larger landscape," he said.

"To build on the success of the protected areas and take tiger conservation beyond their boundaries, we need to look at new, parallel and complementary models for saving and restoring forests," an official statement quoting him said.

"Our findings show that wildlife tourism can provide one way of doing this; with support and improved sustainable practices, tourism could provide a paradigm to spread benefit to tigers and people over a much broader area."

"If nature tourism is seen as a conservation tool rather than a threat, it has the potential to bring sustainable and significant economic development to many remote areas." Chundawat said.

The report highlighted that revenues generated by small business enterprises is eight times higher in villages with tourism infrastructure than in those without.

As well as enhancing the local economy generally, the report said in the tourism affected villages employment is significantly higher and health and education is greatly improved.

Furthermore, the dependency of these communities on the forest is much reduced and their positive attitude to wildlife conservation much enhanced, a significant win-win for conservation efforts.

"The study has found that many of the criticisms leveled at the tourism community are not correct here when examined closely. For instance 80 per cent of jobs are held by locals, 45 per cent of all the direct revenue goes to the local economy and 90 per cent of available accommodation caters to the budget travelers," Julian Matthews, founder of charity, TOFTigers, said.

--IANS

vg/vm