The Hindu Business Line : Survival International concerned over poaching in Jarawa reserves

SURVIVAL International has sent a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands expressing concern about poaching in Jarawa reserves.

Mr Stephen Corry, Director-General of the organisation wrote, "Survival has received reports that poaching in the Jarawa reserve is currently at a high level. We are very concerned about this depletion of the resources on which the Jarawa depend for their survival." Survival is also concerned about the sudden influx of outsiders who would expose the isolated tribes to disease and exploitation. Mr Corry also expressed the hope that rehabilitation of the islands would be "sensitive to the needs (of the tribal people), and undertaken with their participation and informed consent."

Survival is a worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights. The organisation has for some years been urging the Indian government to respect the Jarawa's rights to their land and to self- determination, and protesting against threats. The organisation's link with the Jarawas goes back to 2000 when more than 200 letters were sent to the Indian Government protesting against plans to relocate Jarawas. In response, the Government abandoned the plans.Survival believes that forced resettlement has been "fatal for other tribes in the Andaman Islands, and has always been so for newly contacted tribal peoples worldwide: it introduces diseases; destroys the sense of identity and society; robs tribes of their self-sufficiency; and leaves them vulnerable to alcoholism and despair".

The main threat to the Jarawas is encroachment on their land, sparked by the building of a road through their forest in 1970. The road has increasingly brought settlers, poachers and loggers into their land.An earlier petition filed by the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, Kalpavriksh and the Bombay Natural History Society asking, among other things, for closure of the Andaman Trunk road where it passed through Jarawa land was granted by the Supreme Court in 2002. However, the local administration never implemented the court order.

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