NAGARAHOLE TIGER RESERVE: While the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has made it mandatory for digital documentation of all data, the Forest Department officials standing in the core forest area are left without the network needed to accomplish this.
The exercise of uploading data for the tiger census was delayed because of bugs in the portal and a lack of ground data being accumulated from all the forests of India, but department officials state that they forgot the most important aspect, which is network. There is no network available in most of the forest patches, so the requirement to feed information on real-time basis cannot be met.
“This was one of the major questions raised at the meeting held in August 2021, during the all-India tiger census meeting in Mudumalai. The matter was echoed by all the reserves in South India. So it was decided that the information will be uploaded on the app, but will reach the centre when there is a proper network. Since each bit of information of any sample collected and the footsteps are all geo-tagged, the posibility of errors is being ruled out,” said a forest official.
Another official pointed out that the next time the same has to be done, as suggested by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, it should be improvised. They should ensure that radars and internet is provided. One even quipped that ISRO can be roped in as it is already helping report forest fires on real-time basis through satellite images.
“Forests are places where people come to see and learn about nature. Having full network, 4G and 5G network, will not just effect conservation efforts, but will also have a major impact on safaris. This is because already, all tourists coming in are keen on sighting tigers and uploading pictures immediately on social media. This discussion of ensuring network in forests, especially safari areas will only dilute conservation efforts,” admitted a senior forest official.