Norms allow limited tourism in core tiger areas

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday notified fresh guidelines on tiger conservation allowing "regulated low impact tourism" in the core and critical tiger habitat.

"Since, tourism has been happening in areas of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries which are designated as core and critical tiger habitat, regulated low impact tourism (visitation) would be allowed in such areas subject to site specific carrying capacity," says the guideline issued by the environment ministry.

The guidelines, however, say "no new tourism infrastructure should be permitted in such core and critical tiger habitats." Last week, the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre to notify within a week its fresh guidelines on tiger conservation and indicated that it may modify its July 24 order staying all tourism activities in the reserved areas across the country.

A bench of Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar said if aggrieved by the guidelines states are free to challenge it before the court. The guidelines say that buffer forest areas should also be developed as wildlife habitats with the active involvement of local people living in such areas. "This would provide extended habitat to tiger population for its life cycle dynamics, besides benefitting local people from ecotourism activitieswhile reducing the resource dependency of people on core and critical tiger habitats and human-tiger interface conflicts."