EAZA Tiger Campaign 2002/4
Target projects: Project 8
Tiger Habitat Consolidation, Kudremukh Reserve, India
Kudremukh is a part, are a hotspot
of biodiversity and an important
habitat for the survival of wild
tigers, but the Ghats are fragmented
by many privately held areas of land
deep in the interior. These cause
immense impact on the wildlife
and biodiversity through
population growth, agri-
cultural expansion, mining,
forest fires, poaching,
illegal removal of timber
and other forest products,
human-wildlife conflict,
and restriction of animal
movements. Unfortunately,
the government procedures to
buy back the land and merge it
with the protected reserve are expensive and very slow.
The Centre for Wildlife Studies has come up with an innovative idea of compensating landowners for surrendering their land through private funds. Substantial groundwork has already been done and the legal framework drawn up. A community project working with local people in the reserve has already successfully negotiated the relocation of villages to outside the reserve, and so has the skills to carry out this project's aims. Interior enclosures deep in the forest have been identified and targeted on priority for acquisition. The overall project budget is very large and funds are being sought from a range of sources; the EAZA Tiger Campaign is targeting a specific piece of land, which won't be identified here for fear of driving up the price.
The project will:
- Reduce the intensity of human interference in the reserve. Illegal road building has increased the access to human intrusion. Unregulated hiking inside the reserve has caught the attention of commercial tour operators and some resorts are planned
- Reduce the number of cattle and level of commercial exploitation within the reserve. Overgrazing of domestic cattle and mining have affected the habitat and water supply.
- Prevent agricultural expansion in the reserve. Lack of alternative livelihoods and family partitions of land have increased forest encroachment. Pesticides and artificial fertilisers are a serious threat to smaller organisms.
- Eliminate human-wildlife conflict in the reserve. A study has been initiated to monitor the trends of wildlife population once people have left the area.
- Help villagers living deep inside the forests to shift
to other areas. Eviction of illegal settlers without alternative livelihoods would not be humanitarian, so they will have to be adequately compensated, helped to buy other land and transported
to the new site. Many landholders have already
shown their willingness to dispose of their property
in return for compensation. - Create a model private land acquisition project for crucial tiger habitat in other areas of India. Families inspired by the project may volunteer to surrender property through other government rehabilitation projects.
Gangkikal hillrange was earlier earmarked
for iron ore mining, but is now notified as
a wildlife reserve © Praveen Bhargav
for iron ore mining, but is now notified as
a wildlife reserve © Praveen Bhargav
