Wildlife issues: India
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Land diversion
2020: wildlife board clears land diversion for 48 projects’
Vishwa Mohan, July 5, 2021: The Times of India
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), an apex body which takes a call on use of land from different conservation areas for development activities, had approved diversion of around 1,792 hectares — an area equal to the size of 3,349 football fields — of wildlife habitat for 48 projects in 2020, the year of the pandemic which severely restricted ground visits for taking crucial decisions.
A study, analysing all the clearances granted by the Standing Committee (SC) of the NBWL last year, has found that the SC-NBWL considered 82 proposals, out of which 25 were for diversion within wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
Most of the projects cleared were for linear diversion within sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves, said the study, carried out by a New Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation, Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE). Linear projects are land-disturbing activities that are linear in nature such as roads, railways, transmission lines, pipelines or any utility lines. It said, “Linear projects are known to be especially destructive because they fragment the entire landscape and interrupt movement range of animals.”
Around 1,040 hectares was approved for diversion from eco-sensitive zones while nearly 594 hectares were approved from within tiger habitats for linear projects, defence and infrastructure development. Remaining around 158 hectares were diverted in wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and conservation reserves, it said.
The SC-NBWL is headed by Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar. It consists of a member secretary and different members, including a non-official, nominated by the minister.
The SC-NBWL had also approved deletion (de-notification) of 1,08,983 hectares (around 1,089 sq km) of protected areas (PA) from Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS) in UP and Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in MP. Analysis by LIFE shows PA of over 38,303 hectares was denotified in 2018 which involved de-notification of the entire Turtle Sanctuary in Varanasi, while 5,445 hectares of PA was de-notified in 2019.
Though the ministry did not respond to TOI’s questions on findings of the study, an official who requested anonymity said the decision to de-notify area of the HWS was taken to simply rationalise the boundary of the sanctuary as the portion was basically non-forest land and it’s being used for agriculture and habitation for years. He said, “The forest area will continue to be part of the sanctuary.”
Survey of wildlife
2018–19, “most comprehensive”
After recording robust growth in the numbers of tigers in the 2018 census, India recorded yet another feat by entering the Guiness Book of World Record for conducting what has been referred to as the “largest camera trap wildlife survey”, yet. The fourth edition of the tiger census, in 2018–19, was the “most comprehensive” to date, “in terms of both resource and data amassed”, the Guiness World Record team said.
“Camera traps (outdoor photographic devices fitted with motion sensors that start recording when an animal passes by) were placed at 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres (46,848 square miles). In total, the camera traps captured 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife (76,651of which were tigers and 51,777 were leopards; the remainder were other native fauna). From these photographs, 2,461 individual tigers (excluding cubs) were identified using stripepattern-recognition software,” the Guiness team that announced India’s feat added. Welcoming India’s entry into the Guiness World Records, Union environment and foreign minister Prakash Javadekar said, “We are happy that the proactive measures taken in the area of conservation and environment under the leadership of PM Modi have been endorsed formally and India has been lauded for conducting the most comprehensive survey yet.”
In addition to camera trap usage, India’s 2018 “Status of Tigers in India” assessment also conducted extensive foot surveys that covered 522,996 km of trails and sampled 317,958 habitat plots for vegetation and prey dung. It is estimated that the total area of forest studied was 381,200 sq km and cumulatively the collection and review of data equated to some 620,795 labour-days.
The assessment was carried out over three phases, with the various datasets then combined to be extrapolated via statistical computation. A positive outcome of the survey was that it concluded that India’s tiger population had increased by roughly onethird: from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,927 in 2018, though the Guiness team says “some have cautioned that this rise may in part reflect more comprehensive surveying as opposed to purely a population surge”.
Wildlife deaths
Roadkills: App(lication) to report
Be it tigers or toads, roads that cut through their habitats can be deathtraps for wild animals. Now, a mobile-based application, ‘Roadkills’, launched on January 21 by the Wildlife Conservation Trust, will help citizens to report such wildlife deaths by uploading geo-tagged photographs to a public forum. This can be used to identify crucial road or rail stretches that urgently require mitigation measures.
The app
‘Roadkills’, an easy-to-use android app, accesses location information from phones and permits users to upload photographs of a dead wild animal on a road or railway line. With the resulting geo-tagged photographs, users can also include what taxon the animal belongs to (bird, mammal, reptile or amphibian), the species’ name (if known) and the area where the roadkill was seen.
The information from all records reported from across India with this citizen science initiative will be compiled as a database, which can soon be viewed on a map on the campaign’s website (www.roadkills.in). The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), a wildlife NGO which developed the app, will also share detailed data free of cost and under a Creative Commons licence to students, wildlife researchers or infrastructure agencies who may need it to study patterns of wildlife deaths on roads and railway lines.
How this can help
The information generated from the application can help identify crucial sections of roads or railway lines where animal deaths are high to pinpoint regions that require urgent mitigation measures. The data can also help determine what species are more at risk on specific road or rail stretches and plan the ideal mitigation measures suited for the location – from underpasses or overpasses for large mammals to canopy bridges for arboreal ones such as monkeys.
“Unplanned development of roads and railway lines is the major cause of wildlife roadkills,” wildlife biologist Milind Pariwakam of WCT said.
“We hope that the information from the campaign will help plan our infrastructure needs better and devise win-win solutions for wildlife to make our infrastructure development smart and green,” he added.
The app has had 500 installations so far and will soon be launched as an IOS application. It will also cater to regional language users in future.
The Wildlife Economy
As in 2024
Krishnendu Mukherjee, May 28, 2024: The Times of India
Kolkata : From man-eater to a resource option, the tigers in Indian Sundarbans seem to have undergone an image makeover over the past one decade as the big cats now provide alternative livelihood to hundreds of people on the delta in West Bengal.
The forest villages in Sundarbans — a delta formed by the confluence of Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal — mostly fall under Joynagar Lok Sabha constituency which has over 8 lakh voters. As the Sundarbans is set for elections on Saturday, ecotourism guides and tour operators feel a slew of protourism measures such as opening more routes and entry points post elections will not only lead to a rise in footfall but also prevent incidents such as the killing of a guard inside the forest recently.
A good number of villagers, who used to sneak into the woods on illegal fishing trips, now either steer tourism boats, act as nature guides or cook food on boats during photography tours of the mangroves in the delta.
Four human deaths have been reported so far this year, in addition to over 10 last year, from the swampland due to tiger attacks. The figure was 21 in 2022. In all cases, victims had ventured into the core area where fishing is banned. The stats are official, actual figures may be higher.
A 12km forest stretch under Sundarbans Tiger Reserve where human settlements are located just opposite got a fresh cover of nylon net fencing recently so that straying tigers won’t disrupt the poll process.
In a terrain where humananimal conflict is on the rise, tiger tourism has come as a silver lining.
Satadal Manna (name changed), who used to venture into the woods for crabs a couple of years ago, now cooks delicious food for tourists on boats.
The stories of his family members getting into forest for livelihood never attracted 20-year-old Ananda Mondal (name changed), who got behind the wheels of a boat at just 13 years. He is now a trusted name in the mangroves tourism sector as far as sighting of wildlife is concerned.
Asked if he had ever seen the elusive swamp tiger in the mangroves, he replied: “Can’t keep count.”
A rise in annual tourist footfall — from about 1 lakh until 2012-13 to more than 2 lakhs now — keeps the boatmen and guides busy.
Film crews, both national and international, have set their sights on Sundarbans. Soumyajit Nandy, a photographer, naturalist, and tour operator, said: “Sundarbans, on the Indian side (other on Bangladesh side), was never known for tiger sightings. Not even one was sighted in a month. Now multiple sightings take place in a month.”
Nandy said opening more routes and multiple entry points would help villagers of more islands reap the benefits of tourism. The department can thus disperse the tourism pressure, which is concentrated now on a single zone in the reserve — the Sajnekhali eco-tourism zone, he said.
“The activity is limited now to villages near the Sajnekhali tourism zone. If multiple entry points are opened in places like Basirhat, Kakdwip or Namkhana, more villagers can be brought under the ambit of tourism which will also result in less depen- dency on forest,” he added.
Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve director Nilanjan Mullick said: “The sightings show tiger numbers are stable in the Sundarbans. There are reports of tiger sightings almost every day now.”
He said the situation has gradually changed with the increase in the number of tourists visiting the mangroves in the last few years.
“Initially, the infrastructure wasn’t very good, but it has been developed in the last few years. Besides, management protocols have borne fruit and led to a rise in tiger population,” he said, adding that steps would also be taken in due course keeping an eye on tourist inflow.
“Now, tiger sightings have increased and a pointer towards the fact is sighting of cubs. Steps, including opening of a few more routes that help serious wildlife tourism flourish, are welcome,” said naturalist and tour operator Nityananda Chowkidar.
“With an increase in tourism activities, people have also stopped venturing into the forest to a large extent,” Chowkidar added.
They need not. The returns are attractive. From a three-night, four-day photography tour (with five persons) costing Rs 85,000, an operator can make a profit of at least 15%-20%. If the operator owns a boat and homestay, it can go up to 25% after making payment to naturalists, cooks, boatmen and for forest permits. Political parties, particularly Trinamool Congress, have highlighted these issues during their poll campaigns. South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad deputy speaker Animesh Mondal of Trinamool Congress said they have been highlighting the importance of homestays to boost wildlife tourism in the area. “We had approached the tourism department to open new homestays in the last financial year. We will do it again this year. Also, we are focusing on promoting birding hot spots in the buffer areas and near the villages,” Mondal said.
Another guide said since tourists are considered additional eyes and ears of the forest, the department should take a pro-tourism approach as it can keep incidents such as the killing of the guard inside the forest at bay.
Wildlife trafficking
2013-15
See graphic:
Wildlife traffcking cases-states with over 10 cases, 2013-15, year-wise
