Tiger Conservation for Dummies:

Why should we save The Tiger? Well, the explanation is as simple as this.

 (A bag with a message on conservation made by the women of a village near Pench National Park. These bags were made as part of the alternate livelihood program by Satpuda Foundation Volunteers) 

There’s always a predator on the top of the food chain in an eco-system....in India it’s the big cat. From the tiniest microbes found in the soil to the main predator, everybody and everything has a role in the eco-system and each is dependent on the other. So, predators help in keeping a check on the growth of the herbivorous population who then will not over-graze the forest land as a result of which many plants, trees, fungi, ferns, insects, birds and microbes etc can flourish and make the forest healthy or balanced. A healthy forest is always rich in water as trees help retain and conserve water. And a healthy food chain means a healthy forest which means lots of water!

So when people like us shout ‘Save the Tiger’, we actually mean ‘Save your life by saving the forests’.

Simply put, if there are lesser forests, there will be lesser rain and lesser water (surface and ground) leading to many seasonal rivers and lakes drying up. And for urban city people whose educated children think water comes from tankers, this learning will come way too late. 

We, the human species, are an aberration on Earth. We do not contribute to any eco-system. Instead we have always taken and destroyed the very place we are dependent and live on... just like parasites. As E.O. Wilson said, ‘If all of mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.’

We need our Earth and nature to live and survive. Nature does not need us.

The sooner we understand and respect this, the better for all of us.  

Some of the key and the last of the virgin forests / bio-diversity regions in India like Western Ghats, Central India Forest belt and the Eastern Himalayas are under deep threat from rampant illegal mining, giving out forest land for SEZs, power plants and other projects and increasing human population which have already greatly reduced these forests and key animal corridors. To top this, the government wants to destroy whatever is left to dig out coal for electricity.  If you want to do your bit to save the forests, start by being a part of this.