Conference organized by the Union environment ministry on February 12 in the national capital came out with the Tiger Census 2008 and the State of India's Forests Report 2005. Both came out with dismal figures: a little more than 1,400 tigers are left in the county; and over 725 sq km of forests have vanished between 2002 and 2004. Add to that forestland diverted between 2004 and 2007-over 2,750 sq km according to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests' data.

The common questions conservationists and wildlife experts are asking are: where did the forests vanish; where did the tigers go?

The tiger census 2008, among other things, highlighted the following:

* 1,410 tigers are left in the wild

* No tigers outside protected areas

* Habitat degradation, poaching and reduced prey base are the problem areas.

The census, carried out jointly by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, is being considered the "first scientific assessment" because used the camera trap method. Wildlife experts say it cannot be compared to the 2001 tiger census. The census was carried out using the pug mark method. It had estimated the number of tigers at 3642; around 1,500 tigers within protected areas and the rest outside such areas. The Prime Minister- appointed Tiger Task Force in its report in 2005, had called the census unscientific and said that it had overestimated the tiger population.

"We had said long ago that tigers are restricted to protected areas," says K Ullas Karanth, director, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore. Rajesh Gopal, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, agrees. "The tiger remains threatened within tiger reserves and protected areas," he says.

The current survey classified tiger habitats into six regions. Each region had a group of tiger reserves under it. The Central Indian Landcape which includes Kanha, Pench and other reserves, has the potential for sustaining long-term population of tigers, the report said. "Providing connectivity among individual tiger habitats through wildlife corridors and creating inviolate areas and buffer zones surrounding tiger reserves will add to conservation of tigers and other wildlife," says Gopal.

The report revealed that tigers and their prey are often poached in reserves where Naxals have a strong presence: such as the Indravati reserve in Chhattisgarh and Palamau in Jharkhand. The report said it was important to involve local communities in tiger conservation, especially in buffer and corridor areas.

According to Karanth, certain areas have higher population of tigers because prey is available in plenty there- Corbett, for instance, which has 174 tigers. Hence the priority should be to protect the prey and the tiger population by creating inviolate areas; the rest of the measures can follow.

The State of India's Forest 2005, revealed by the Forest Survey of India, highlighted:

* 728 sq km of net loss of forests during 2002-04 (0.11 per cent of India's total forest cover) * Madhya Pradesh lost 132 sq km of forests (The state has 11 per cent of country's total forest cover); Gujarat lost 99 sq km * Nagaland lost 296 sq km of forests; Manipur, 173 sq km (North-eastern states account for over 25 per cent of forest cover) * Compared to the 2003 assessment there is a loss of 635 sq km of forest cover in 188 tribal districts (The 2003 assessment is the forest survey carried out for the period 2000-2001; the 188 tribal districts constitute about 60 per cent of the total forest cover) * 124 hill districts suffered a loss of forest cover of over 250 sq km compared to the 2003 assessment

* Between 1997 and 2002, the total forest cover inside tiger reserves and outer surrounds decreased by 94 sq km and 124 sq km (outer surrounds include strip of about 10 km outside tiger reserves)