SOME wildlife buffs continue to be sceptical but the fact remains that the biggest names in Indian business are now rooting for natural habitat conservation.

In the wake of recent reports of tigers disappearing from the Sariska and Ranthambore sanctuaries, the head honchos of Corporate India have decided to put their might behind the cause. A corpus may soon be formed towards realising this goal, though these are still early days.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries; Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Industries; Kumaramangalam Birla, Chairman, AV Birla Group of companies; K.V Kamath, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd; Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC Ltd; Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Soaps Pvt Ltd; Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra; S. Ramadorai, Managing Director, TCS Ltd; and Hemendra Kothari, Chairman, DSP Merill Lynch are some of the leaders who have decided to lend their support to the wildlife conservation movement.

According to the representatives of India Inc, Ramadorai and Hemendra Kothari, the next job is to try and achieve a consensus and also approach associations such as CII, Assocham and FICCI to be a part of the initiative. Their purpose is not to create a parallel initiative but to support existing efforts by NGOs and other credible organisations and individuals in combating environmental problems, they said.

The issue that dictated the course of the meeting was the rampant poaching in most sanctuaries. Among the numerous issues raised were the insufficient policing of forest sanctuaries barring a few states, the need for modern equipment and the manpower to be provided to forest guards and sufficient budget allocation.

Investments in technology such as `photo trapping,' which would provide a reasonable estimate of the number of tigers, was also discussed.

Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia, and leading conservationist said, "Though the Kaziranga sanctuary is famous for rhinos, it has the highest tiger density. We have to let nature be. If a tiger lives, other eco-systems live."

On the issue of what corporates would choose given shareholders' interests and environmental interests, Kothari said, "We have to balance the two," while Ramadorai said, "There is no easy answer. But there is an intent to address the problem."

Sahgal though had the final word: "Conflict Resolution should be the most effective conservation strategy."