October 2012:
Praveen Pardeshi, Principal Secretary, Forests, Government of
Maharashtra, has been one of the architects of wildlife conservation in
this proud state for decades. He writes here about his vision for the
future and the steps taken by the Maharashtra Government to implement
plans to secure the natural heritage of generations unborn.
The Great Indian Bustard and Nannaj
It is four a.m. in
Solapur, the year is 1996. My five-year-old daughter and I creep across
the still dark grasslands of Nannaj to sit in our little hide. As the
sun rises, casting a pinkish glow across the eastern horizon, a soft
booming call echoes across the undulating landscape. An alpha male Great
Indian Bustard (GIB) is courting females, head thrown back, gular pouch
raised, and tail up. Moments later, a covey of female bustards
shufflepast, foraging for crickets that have come to gorge on the fresh,
green grass.
Though this bustard and his countless ancestors have
exhibited their mating rituals on the small lookout plateau of
Nannaj-Mardi for millennia, there is no guarantee that our children will
still see this display 20 years from now.
The GIB sanctuary was
scattered over 8,200 sq. km., whereas a much smaller forest area needed
to be made inviolate for the bustards to breed. If even this small area
could be well protected, we could secure the future of this endangered
bird for posterity. It was vital, however, to include areas such as the
Gangewadi grasslands into this more tightly-protected bustard haven.
People had begun to turn hostile towards the birds because they
considered the declaration of a vast 8,200 sq. km. sanctuary dedicated
to bustards as illogical, since the birds were not found in most of the
areas here. What is more, entire towns such as Solapur, Mohol and
Karmala were included within the Protected Area boundary! Wildlife
conservation was proving to be an obstacle as it came in the way of the
alignments for highways, canals and even in the decisions they had to
make about how best to use their own lands. Blackbuck learned to hide in
protected forest patches in the day and then to devastate
jowar
and groundnut crops of farmers at night. Had the state government not
denotified a huge chunk of the GIB Sanctuary, neither the blackbuck, nor
the bustards would have been able to survive.
Today, a major
effort is underway to win support for organic farming in the
neighbourhood of this sanctuary, a step that will enhance the food
availability and safety of the GIB which consumes beetles and other
insects.
How quickly things can deteriorate can be judged by the
fact that as the District Collector of Solapur from 1995 to 1997, I
would see GIBs on every visit to Nannaj.
On none of my recent
visits was I able to see a bird, not even on the bird’s favourite
hillock, where my daughter and I used to see them so often. It worries
me, of course, to observe how farmers who were once happy to grow coarse
grains like
jowar now want to grow sugarcane, flowers and
pomegranates, thanks to the abundant water they obtain from the Ujjani
dam. If this trend continues, then grassland species, such as the
blackbuck, chinkara, grey wolf and the GIB face a bleak future.
The Melghat Tiger Reserve: Cattle and people
I
first visited Melghat in 1979, when it had just been brought under the
Project Tiger mantle. On night drives, we came across gaur and sambar,
but during the day all we saw were cows and buffaloes… no wild
herbivores. A decade later, I returned as Chief Executive Officer of the
Zilla Parishad, Amravati, with a clear mandate to implement programmes
to reduce poverty. The sustenance of
Korku tribal communities depended on lightly-cultivated soils on which they grew wild millets including
kodo and
kutki.
Each year roughly half their crop would be lost to deer and wild pigs,
not to mention beetles and grasshoppers. The sanctuary regulations did
not permit black topping of access roads, new dams for irrigation or
setting up cotton ginning and
dal mills, all of which were possible just a few kilometres outside the wildlife sanctuary.
Protecting
wild animals in the 1,500 sq. km. Melghat Tiger Reserve, with 28
villages, a population of 16,000 humans and 11,000 head of cattle, was a
huge challenge. Particularly, when you consider that the estimated
number of herbivores was a mere 3,500 on which 34 tigers were supposed
to depend. At that time, neither the tiger, nor the
Korku people seemed to be doing too well. The tigers would resort to cattle raiding, particularly during the monsoons, and
Korku cattle owners and farmers had to suffer not only crop losses, but bear attacks and cattle kills.
We had to cut this Gordian Knot if both people, and the reserve, were to be provided a real and sustainable future.
We
took a conscious decision to develop variegated strategies based on
local geography, social conditions and ecological circumstances. We also
aimed to involve local communities in regenerating ecosystems on which
their own lives would ultimately depend. In the last 18 months, with the
support of the Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan and Forest Minister,
Dr. Patangrao Kadam, Maharashtra’s political and administrative system,
the Forest Department has been able to put these plans to the test. And
while it is still too soon to pass judgement, the landscape-wide
approach seems to be showing results that point towards a renewal that
will benefit both livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.
Photograph by Mihir Godbole/Wild Maharashtra
The last remaining vast forests of Vidarbha: A nuanced approach to protecting Melghat, and Tadoba
The
Satpuda and Tadoba landscapes are two of the largest contiguous forests
remaining in Maharashtra. Home to source populations of tiger, gaur,
chital, sambar and endemic birds such as the Forest Owlet, the hill
forests of Melghat have relatively low herbivore and tiger populations,
in contrast to the plains of Tadoba and the Karandla, Bor and Nagzira
landscapes, all of which have dense populations of herbivores and,
consequently, tigers.
Over the past two years, we have evolved a
nuanced strategy to meet our biodiversity objectives, while
simultaneously catering to the sensitivities and the needs of local
communities. In Tadoba’s core area, we began with the voluntary
rehabilitation of villages. And to provide space for spillover
populations of tigers and herbivores, we have managed to expand
inviolate Protected Areas such as Nagzira and Navegaon and their
corridors. In Melghat, however, 15 of 28 villages will remain in the
core. Here, we are trying to promote co-existence by reducing their
dependence on forest biomass. This involves providing alternative
fuelwood, fodder and also by encouraging eco-tourism based livelihoods.
The larger Melghat Landscape: Co-existence and conservation
In
Melghat, we have been implementing a strategy of ecological development
in the buffer zone villages. Six out of 28 villages have already been
rehabilitated after they passed the necessary Gram Panchayat and Gram
Sabha resolutions. These include Vairat, Churni, Dhargad, Barukheda,
Amona and Nagartas whose rehabilitation package was specifically
tailored to fit individual requirements. Churni and Vairat, for
instance, wanted land for the land they gave up. This was done, even the
landless got land and the new village gaothan was provided water
supply, electricity, black top approach roads and access to schools.
Their farms were provided well-irrigation by tapping existing state
schemes. They all agreed to move away from free grazing of livestock in
the forest to stall feeding, which also supplies biogas-based fuel for
kitchen fires.
Amona, Nagartas, Dhargad opted to collect the
National Tiger Conservation Authority package of 10 lakh rupees per
adult in the family. The Forest Department and Collector’s Office chose
to ‘hand-hold’ the process by providing two lakh rupees for relocation
and construction of homes. To prevent men from squandering this sum,
seven lakh rupees was placed in a long-term, monthly interest-yielding
annuity, which cannot be encashed without the prior permission of a
committee headed by the District Collector. Each family thus draws a
monthly income of Rs. 6,500 (calculated at nine per cent interest with
the State Bank of India). With prior permission of the Collector, 60
families chose to encash the bank deposit, and have purchased more than
70 ha. of valuable agricultural land.
Going beyond the legal
stipulations of the ‘cash package’ to help develop the new village
sites, the administration provided drinking water, electricity to each
home, internal roads to newly-settled villages and more. All four
newly-settled villages chose their own sites next to, or as part of an
existing, developed
gaothan so that they could benefit from existing infrastructure and connectivity to larger towns.
Credible
NGOs such as the Satpuda Foundation led by Kishor Rithe worked with
dynamic forest officials such as Srinivasa Reddy, then the Deputy
Conservator, Akot and A. K. Mishra, Field Director, Melghat, because
they knew that delivering real benefits to villagers was key to the
tiger’s future.
Camera trap images reveal the return of gaur,
chital and tiger to all the meadows that magically regenerated after the
villages moved out. Following the principle of ‘nothing succeeds like
success’, villages that were initially hesitant are now flooding us with
requests for similar rehabilitation packages. This includes Semadoh,
Somthana, Talai, Rora, Gullarghat and we now need to obtain the
resources to enable this. An independent socio-economic study by the
Amravati University reveals that in the rehabilitated villages the per
capita income has tripled!
Photograph by Praveen Pardeshi
The
larger Tadoba Landscape: Inviolate core with eco-tourism and
sustainable agriculture in the buffer, inclusion of corridors in
expanded Protected Area network
“Why is the tiger coming to our
village every day? Do something about it!” That was the continual
refrain of one resident of Jamni village who kept disrupting a meeting I
was attending to discuss the park-people relationship. I imagine that
in bygone days Jim Corbett must have faced similar outcries, but the
villager no longer had the option of summoning Jim Corbett to solve the
problem his way!
Later that day I was at the Pandharpauni lake in
Tadoba, when I saw a tigress with her four cubs that showed up as if on
cue in response to the heat of summer. Ideally, villagers living around
Tadoba and similar wild landscapes should profit from the presence of
tigers. Instead today, the tourism trade and visitors benefit, while
villagers are left paying the price in terms of loss of livestock, crop
raiding and constant fear.
Tadoba, Jamni, Navegaon, and most of
the families of Kolsa have opted for voluntary rehabilitation outside
the park. Funds were allocated for Navegaon and Jamni to move to chosen
sites at Amdi and Khadsanghi on the Mul-Nagpur road with irrigation,
electricity and drinking water facilities at the
gaothan
itself.Tiger conservationist Bandu Dhotre, and the husband and wife team
Poonam and Harsh Dhanwatey who run the Tiger Research And Conservation
Trust (TRACT) have both played positive roles by working with the Forest
Department, while representing the villagers’ interests.
But this
is not enough. In the buffer zone and in forests under the Territorial
Division of the Forest Department, serious tiger-poaching incidents have
recently taken place. It is here that the spillover populations of
tigers are lost after they leave the protective care of the 10 to 12
breeding females that occupy Tadoba’s core critical habitats.
Strengthening less-protected forests such as the corridors leading to
Bhivapur, Navegaon and Bor is therefore essential. This is what has
occupied Dr. Vinay Sinha, Field Director, Tadoba, who did his PhD. in
participatory Forest Management, over the past year. Working on a
strategy to share revenues earned from tourism with villagers in the
buffer zone, he used the gate fees of Rs. 45 lakhs lying with the Tadoba
Tiger Foundation to give a sum of Rs. 51,000 to each of the 53 villages
in the buffer zone. This was used for community welfare on necessities
such as biogas plants and stall feeding of cattle.
He also placed a
moratorium on more than 51 vehicles entering Tadoba’s core, while
empowering the Junoana and Devada villages outside core areas to erect a
gate and collect fees from visitors who chose to avail of a
specially-created wildlife route managed by the village Eco-Development
Committees (EDC). Additionally, local youth were trained as wildlife
guides. With 15 more routes planned in the protected buffer, these areas
promise wildlifesightings comparable to those in the core. The
experiment seems to have succeeded. Seeds have been sown for livelihoods
that sustain people, while benefitting the tiger.
Sustainable
livelihoods linked to a rise in tiger and wildlife populations: Koyna,
Chandoli and Bhimashankar: A mix of rehabilitation and community based
eco-tourism
Villages in the Koyna Sanctuary, like Dichauli,
Punawali, Nahimbe and Ambheghar suffer a double burden. The Koyna
reservoir has cut them off from their normal economic markets in Karad
and Satara, and the declaration of the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary has led
to further restrictions on them, making transportation, livelihoods and
energy a huge challenge. Such villages have been petitioning for
rehabilitation for several years and we are trying to raise resources to
meet their demands. Over the past year, the state Forest Department has
managed to develop village infrastructure in Pulus and Babar Machi,
where nearly 200 families have already shifted, free from crop
depredation by wild pigs and sambar!
In the vast buffer zone
around Koyna, Joint Forest Management Committees have become active.
Working with the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve officials they have developed
trekking routes for intrepid hikers who will be invited to walk
designated trails on the understanding that theirs will be zero-garbage
visits, and that all waste will be carried back out of the park. Local
village guides, familiar with the area have been trained by expert
naturalists who will add to the monitoring strength of poaching squads,
particularly in the remote crest areas that are difficult to reach
daily, even for forest guards, particularly during the monsoon.
Hope for the future
In
recent years, with advancing climate change, habitat destruction and
pollution, India has been battered by bad news. But we also have news of
resurrection and recoveries – for instance, the slow return of
Gyps
vultures (with the Bombay Natural History Society taking the lead) and
olive Ridley sea turtles (thanks to Bhau Katdare and his inspirational
team of volunteers off the coast of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg).
Recognising
the wisdom of using the internal motivation of NGOs, the Maharashtra
Forest Department is adding its strength by co-financing ‘vulture
restaurants’ to ensure Diclofenac-free food. Support for collecting and
hatching of olive Ridley turtle eggs and releasing them is underway. All
the tiger reserves of the state have received support from Hemendra
Kothari’s purposeful Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), which donates
patrolling vehicles and equipment for forest staff. In the case of the
GIB and the grey wolf, the process of protecting grasslands is underway,
though the course is predictably long and uncertain.
It is my
view that Homo sapiens may well be able to reverse the destruction of
nature. This article is a plea to all of you to join hands with Forest
Departments and conservationists to make this a reality. Admittedly we
have a long way to go.But we now know the right direction.
Photograph by Anish Andheria
by Praveen Pardeshi, First appeared in: Sanctuary Asia Vol. XXXII No.3, October 2012
Early evening, and we were down to Monal at Rudraprayag. 
The next morning, we strolled through the gardens, but Vidya, Sreelata and Damayanti with Abhimanyu were more adventurous, going back down to the river and the Koteshwar temple, for a dip.
