The tiger is one of the most visible icons of conservation in India, and massive investments have been made for its conservation for over five decades. While there have been a few, well-documented success stories at the scale of individual reserves, there have been no concerted efforts to assess the efficacy of long term conservation programs at large regional scales (> 10,000 sq km). In a recent paper titled “Tigers against the odds: Applying macro-ecology to species recovery”, published … Read More
Opportunity to Build Conservation Support: Local People’s Perceptions of Parks in India and Nepal
Protected areas and parks in South Asia are tasked with protecting biological diversity and supporting local livelihood needs, particularly so in human-dominated landscapes of India and Nepal. Krithi K. Karanth and Sanjay Nepal examine attitudes and perceptions of local residents living around five well known parks in South Asia, namely Annapurna, Chitwan, Ranthambore, Kanha and Nagarahole. These are the highlights of their study from a paper published in the journal Environmental Management.
- Surveys and interviews with 777 local residents
Lantana in India: A Losing Battle?
Lantana (Lantana camara) has become one of the world’s most invasive weeds. Shonil Bhagwat and others analyze the history of lantana invasion and management in India, Australia and South Africa. These are the highlights from their study published in the journal PLoS One, summarized for Conservation India by Krithi K. Karanth.
- The authors examined 75% of known historical records for the species in India, Australia and South Africa.
- Aggressive extermination measures taken by the government over the
Wildlife Tourism in India — New Challenges for Park Management
Wildlife or Nature-based tourism is growing in many countries across the world including India. Krithi K. Karanth and Ruth DeFries examine trends and practices in wildlife tourism for ten parks across India. These are results of their study from the forthcoming paper in the journal, Conservation Letters.
Study Sites in India
Ten parks were selected across India – Ranthambore, Sariska, Pench, Kanha, Anshi-Dandeli, Bhadra, Nagarahole, Bandipur, Periyar and Mudumalai. These protected areas vary in tourist numbers, access to cities, and … Read More
Replenishing Water Tanks in Wildlife Reserves: How Scientific?
A recent decision by the Karnataka Forest Department to replenish drying waterholes in Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserves with water brought in from outside using water tankers, has been opposed by several experienced conservationists, who have worked in these areas for several decades. Sometime ago, CI carried a letter to the PCCF (WL), Karnataka, from K.M. Chinappa, former Range Forest Officer, Nagarahole, and President, Wildlife First, and Praveen Bhargav, Trustee, Wildlife First. Here we present the views of Dr. K. … Read More
Artificial Filling of Waterholes Decried – Wildlife First Writes to CWW, Karnataka
Shri Dipak Sarmah, IFS
PCCF & Chief Wildlife Warden
Karnataka Forest Department
2nd Floor, Aranya Bhavan
Malleswaram, Bangalore – 560 003
Sub: Request to reject the proposal to artificially replenish water holes
It is with great concern that we are observing the developments with regard to the proposal to artificially fill up water holes by transporting water in tankers. While we do welcome your decision to constitute an expert committee which is currently carrying out field inspections, we wish … Read More
Q: What must a reserve forest fulfill to be protected as a wildlife sanctuary or a national park?
Answer from Praveen Bhargav, Trustee, Wildlife First:
Typically, most Sanctuaries or National Parks in India have been created by amalgamating two or more Reserved Forests. In the preamble of the notification it is stated that the area is being constituted as a National Park or Sanctuary based on its ecological, floral, faunal, zoological, geomorphological significance. Such forest areas are identified/recommended either by forest officers and/or scientists, expert committee members, conservation NGOs… with sufficient justification on conservation values. Since India … Read More
A Note On India’s Protected Areas
Here’s an interesting document from the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) which provides details on the Protected Area (PA) network of the country. While the figure of 668 PAs appears to be a large number, in reality these are small areas (just 4.9% of total geographic area) scattered across India’s landscape under severe pressure. Obviously, there needs to be a sufficiently large administrative infrastructure to protect and manage PAs. While the document has no details on this, here’s a … Read More
Nobody’s Heroes: Our Forgotten Forest Watchers
It was an hour after dawn. Siddarama, a forest watcher, was walking to the Tiger Reserve’s headquarters from his village a good six kilometres away, when he heard the faint sound of voices. Suspicious, he approached quietly, and saw three men sitting by a stream, smoking and chatting. Two guns leaned on the rocks behind them and a dead giant squirrel lay on a sackcloth. Siddarama was alone and unarmed, but all he could think of then was that he … Read More
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