Opportunities for Establishing Informal Conservation Arrangements in the Periyar-Agasthyamalai Corridor of the Southern Western Ghats

Opportunities for establishing informal conservation arrangements in the Periyar-Agasthyamalai Corridor of the southern Western Ghats Meera Anna Oommen Dakshin Foundation Suggested citation: Oommen, M.A. 2012. Opportunities for establishing informal conservation arrangements in the Periyar-Agasthyamalai Corridor of the southern Western Ghats. Dakshin Foundation.15 pages. Introduction This project is among the first attempts that look at practical conservation solutions for landscapes lying proximate to but outside the formal protected area network. The project focused on human modified areas within the Periyar-Agasthyamalai landscape in the southern Western Ghats which has been identified as a critical corridor under the CEPF assessment. Opportunities for informal conservation in the region were evaluated from multiple perspectives: a) Identification of ground realities and challenges relating to conservation in the region, b) Discussion of key conservation interventions with local landowners and their willingness to conserve (particularly with respect to increasing/ maintaining native tree cover to enhance connectivity), and, c) Identification of preferences of landowners in terms of institutional partners and development related linkages that currently exist within the area. The results of this project are not only relevant for the Ranni Forest Division and surrounding areas. The sites that were surveyed are migrant settlements occupied by the poor and the landless during the a period of severe food shortage post Independence. These sites are part of a wider network of sites which are found in many forest fringe areas in the Western Ghats that are important for biodiversity conservation primarily due to their proximity to forests. Although it is important to underscore the relevance of context and place specificity in the context of conservation, some of the lessons from these evaluations can be of value to other settler pockets in the Western Ghats. As an output of this project, an awareness handbook for modified and forest-fringe landscapes of the southern Western Ghats has been prepared. Initially, although a brief awareness brochure was envisaged, a number of participants including local administrators, officials, bureaucrats, and key informants requested a detailed document on conservation in modified landscapes. Being a politically aware and literate community, their interest is not limited to the operational aspects of conservation interventions; participants also expressed a desire to understand these approaches within a wider political and socioeconomic context. 'Balancing human needs and ecological function in forest fringe and modified landscapes of the southern Western Ghats' was prepared for this purpose. It is hoped that this handbook will provide an introduction to landscape level planning incorporating biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as make people aware of the need for planning interventions that are socially just and equitable and ecologically appropriate. Additional contributions: This exercise also filled an important gap relating to our understanding of political ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation in the region. Although the project itself was of an exploratory nature, sufficient groundwork has been carried out under this project to enable actual interventions in the near future. As a follow up to this work, this investigator is exploring options for working with local landholders and institutions for designing conservation projects. The Periyar-Agasthyamalai corridor located between two large protected area complexes is a human-modified landscape that has the potential to contribute to both biodiversity conservation and livelihood generation. The Ranni Forest Division situated within this region has extensive forests, and modified landscapes including forest and cash crop plantations, and home gardens. This project focused on human-modified landscapes bordering the forest division. Proximity to protected areas and significant tree cover has enabled the presence of significant levels of biological diversity in this landscape. However, at the same time, a number of conservation related challenges need to be overcome for successful. Review of the ground situation and policy related challenges In the context of forest-fringe landscapes in the southern Western Ghats, it is also important to understand the origins of some of the ongoing challenges which have the potential to bring about rapid landscape-level transformations. Although there has been previously documented transformations of significance, the history of settlement in this region that is of interest to the present study begins with the late 1940s and early 1950s. An extensive period of food grain shortage following India's independence from colonial rule and land reform saw the influx of large landowners, marginal farmers, kudikidappukars (formerly attached agricultural labourers who were hutment dwellers), and the landless from other regions of Central Travancore to the forests which were till now the realm of a few forest-dwelling nomadic tribal groups such as the Malampadaram. This migration - which was prompted by calls from the government to clear forest and cultivate rice - was widespread and continued over a period of time. Settler colonies became a typical feature of many forested districts in the Western Ghats. Although derived from different regional, caste and community denominations, a unique settler identity and livelihood ethic emerged, fostered by common experiences and obstacles which they surmounted as a group (e.g. abject poverty during the initial years, conflict with wildlife, etc.). Over a period of time, the Forest Department which emerged as the custodian of these lands persuaded some settlers to move elsewhere and others who remained were given title deeds with numerous restrictions. The intervening period also witnessed the implementation of far reaching forest related legislation (described in the next paragraph) which was protectionist in scope, and decades after their arrival in the area, a number of settler families are yet to receive title deeds to their lands. Much of this revolves around the issue of encroachments (in addition to allotted lands) which is contested both by the local people and the Forest Department. More recently, in an effort to preserve these forests, there has been a tendency by conservationists to downplay factors such as historical use of forests in the area. Surveys in this landscape indicate that uncertainty over property rights have resulted in wariness of conservation schemes, especially those which promote the maintenance of native tree cover. From an ecological perspective, a significant challenge in the region relates to the preservation of native vegetation within individual plots of land. A number of far reaching laws enacted by the state government relating to the vesting of private forests, protection of valuable trees and taking over by resumption of leased lands laid the ground for the Kerala Preservation of Trees and Regulation of Cultivation in Hill Areas Ordinance, 1983, and the Kerala Preservation of Trees Act, 1986. The latter legislations were brought about to curb rampant and indiscriminate clearing of tree cover from private lands and to promote soil and water conservation in ecologically fragile upland areas. In a marginalised region already troubled by land tenure related issues, these restrictions have been viewed by local people as unfair and has resulted in a negative attitude to tree planting. Commentators on forest legislation in Kerala have pointed out that in contrast to large scale tree planting drives by the farm and social forestry sectors, the provisions of this legislation make people wary of cultivating trees in their homesteads (Thomas and Johnson 2008). In the study area a number of direct confrontations between the local people and authorities were recorded over tree felling from private properties. Surveys in the region also reveal that local people often inhibit the regeneration of native species as they see no benefits from trees, the use of even common species such as jack and anjili (Artocarpus hirsutus, a Western Ghats endemic) for household purposes is restricted or problematic (bribes demanded for genuine use permits, extended court cases for illegal felling, etc.). Human-wildlife conflict is a defining feature of many forest-fringe communities. High levels of crop depredation has been reported by many households living proximate to forests in the southern Western Ghats. In the agricultural landscapes adjoining the Ranni FD, crop damage by wild boar, elephants, giant squirrels, flying squirrels porcupines and bonnet macaques have been reported. The highest degree of crop depredation is attributed to wild boar which is known to travel the furthest distance from forests into agricultural landscapes. Bonnet macaques are more frequently encountered in modified landscapes than within forests. Crop damage by elephants, although potentially catastrophic is less frequent. Compared to most other species, people appear to have a greater degree of tolerance towards elephants. Extended periods of conflict have prompted most farmers to prefer crops such as rubber and kolinji which are less palatable and therefore less prone to depredation. In fact, a number of survey respondents were of the opinion that the current agricultural land use pattern was primarily a response to an extended period of conflict. A recent government order

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