Tiger talk with Bittu Sahgal: “If the forests are destroyed, the tiger will go and if the tiger is wiped out, the forest will be destroyed.”

Illuminem.com

April 11, 2024

A tiger in the crosshairs image from an early campaign of ‘Project Tiger’ has stayed with me forever. The initiative ensured that the tiger stays on and continues to roar & rule our jungles.

Bittu Sahgal represents a rare breed that has relentlessly worked to ensure this success. “Project Tiger turned out to be the world’s first, to scale, rewilding project and it continues to be a metaphor for the resurrection of wild nature across the world”, he tells me in this fascinating conversation.

“Fragmentation of tiger habitats, which is ongoing in India will result in a loss of genetic diversity, not only of Panthera tigris, but of uncounted species that occupy the diverse habitats”, warns Bittu.

Moreover, the choices we now make will be very critical: “It all depends on whether India believes that its own future in an era of a galloping #climatecrisis is dependent more upon the resurrection of natural infrastructures, or on the iffy technology on which Homo sapiens seems to be placing all its bets today”.

Can we really afford to ignore his wise counsel?