Tiger project needs relook: Activists

BANGALORE : With the World Bank (WB) all set to announce an ambitious tiger project for India next week, wildlife conservationists across the country have urged WB president Robert Zoellick to take a relook at a few aspects of the initiative.

In a letter written to Zoellick, representatives of leading wildlife conservation groups have welcomed the move, but expressed apprehension about its adverse effects on tiger habitat. They point out the adverse impact of earlier projects like the India Eco-development Project, implemented by World Bank-GEF in the 1990s. As a result of that project, officials drifted away from the core mission of tiger protection, the letter says.

They said there is neither an honest acknowledgement of these mistakes by the government. The letter goes on to cite WB���s infrastructure projects (highways, forestry plantations) that had an adverse impact on habitat.

The representative point out that contrary to promises of transparent prior consultations, WB officials proactively push the project concept note to get the Indian government���s endorsement and involvement, even before its contours are clear to the tiger conservation community. ���This vigorous pressurization of the Indian government is still taking place,��� the letter says.

���This has resulted in a misleading impression both in India and within the Bank that signatories to this letter are in full support of these ongoing Bank initiatives to get the Indian government���s involvement,��� it says.

The representatives say there is a distortion of facts and they don���t endorse any tiger-related initiative from the Bank in India.