Nurturing a tiger economy, literally

Reintroduction of a tigress in West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve Forest earlier this month is a milestone in the effort to restore the viability of India's 15th tiger reserve. But the real test will be making conservation the driver of the region's economic growth and development. Buxa, declared a tiger reserve in 1983, provides ecological connectivity with forests and protected areas in Bhutan and Assam. Its revival is integral to a landscape approach to conservation adopted by National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Relocation of villages in the tiger reserve, ending commercial timber logging, improving grassland and prey base will create an ecosystem that can sustain tiger population. But making Buxa sustainable requires strengthening the Dooars' economic landscape. Leveraging tourism for tea and sustainable timber industries, two other prongs of the region's economy, should be the way forward. The return of the tiger should provide a lifeline to the tea industry, by shifting tea from being a basic commodity to a premium, eco-branded experience, like the certified 'Elephant Friendly Tea' initiative on the India-Bhutan border. Integrating tea and tourism could boost income for plantation owners and workers. Making pesticide-free tea cultivation mandatory would make plantations part of buffer zone stabilisation efforts, with apex predators providing protection against rampaging wild boars.

Commercial timber extraction is illegal in tiger reserves, but economic boost from tourism in Buxa can be used to fund high- yield timber plantations beyond the boundaries in transition zones of Alipurduar. As apex predators, tigers are the barometers of a healthy ecosystem. In the Dooars, they can emerge as the measure of a sustainable economy.