The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India is hearing a PIL with an appeal to ban all wildlife tourism activities in core areas of the Protected Areas in the State of Madhya Pradesh. While I do support disciplined and controlled tourism, it must be noted that livelihoods of many people living in and around these PAs are dependent on tourism. If tourism activities inside PAs were indeed bad for tiger conservation, then how come tigers are doing well in areas like Corbett, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambhore, Bandipur, etc. where wildlife tourism exists. It is also important to note that tigers in Sariska and Panna were exterminated not by tourism but by poachers. The forest departments here failed completely in protecting tigers, and Panna or Sariska were certainly not one of those PAs with high tourism activities.
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