Lessons from Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala State, India
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TROPICS Vol. 17 (2) Issued April 30, 2008 Implementation process of India Ecodevelopment Project and the sustainability: Lessons from Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala State, India ＊ Ellyn K. DAMAYANTI and Misa MASUDA Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan ＊Corresponding author: Tel: +81−29−853−4610/Fax: +81−29−853−4761, E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Protected areas in developing involvement of local people, and it has been applied countries have been in a dilemma between to various parts of developing countries with similar biodiversity conservation and improvement of situations. Based on the varied local conditions, ICDPs local livelihood. The study aims to examine the have been applied from small to large-scale with different sustainability of India Ecodevelopment Project (IEP) degrees of people’s involvement and various types of in Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR), Kerala, through funding mechanisms. analyzing kinds of financial mechanisms that However, Wells et al. (1992) who studied the initial were provided by the project, how IEP had been stage of ICDP implementation in 23 projects in Africa, implemented, and what kind of changes emerged Asia and Latin America concluded that even under the in the behaviors and perceptions of local people. best conditions ICDPs could play only a modest role in The results of secondary data and interviews with mitigating the powerful forces causing environmental key informants revealed that organizing people into degradation. Through lessons learned from Southeast Ecodevelopment Committees (EDCs) in the IEP Asia, MacKinnon and Wardojo (2001) suggested the implementation has resulted positive impacts in factors for the success of ICDP, which can be summarized terms of reducing offences and initiating regular as: 1) clear demarcation of the area, 2) capacity of involvement of local people in protection activities. conservation agency, 3) sufficient financial support with Sustainability of the project was incorporated proper mechanisms, 4) integrated as well as flexible in financial mechanisms of EDCs, and local approaches, 5) learning process of local stakeholders, stakeholders were fully involved in the committees. 6) long term commitments of conservation authorities, Results of interviews with randomly selected including monitoring and feedback mechanisms, respondents show a change of their livelihoods from and 7) stable political environment that ensures such forest-dependent to independent. Most of them commitments. were aware of the boundary and functions of PTR. From the perspective of the project itself, these They responded well to benefits from PTR, and 26 factors can be categorized to ex-ante external conditions of totally 29 respondents wished to continue the (1 and 2), internal conditions (3, 4, and 5), and ex-post activities even after the project period. external conditions (6). Even though the project is designed in an excellent manner, it cannot be successfully Keywords: protected areas, local people implemented without pre-assumed prerequisites. involvement, participatory, Kerala, India Moreover, it is necessary to guarantee sustainability of a project in the long run as pointed out on development assistance in general (Development Assistance INTRODUCTION Committee, 1991). The political environment to make Despite growing concern on nature conservation, many much of conservation (7) involves as many of these protected areas (hereafter PAs) in developing countries factors as possible. However, it is difficult for developing are facing a dilemma between biodiversity conservation countries to fulfill all these conditions. In other words, it and livelihood improvement of local people. Integrated is developing countries that cannot fulfill these conditions. Conservation and Development Project (ICDP) has When it looks easy to list up unsuccessful projects initiated as a new approach for local forest management. of ICDP, to select a successful case can be useful to find The common idea is to conserve biodiversity with the causes behind it. Kerala state of India is one of the 148 Ellyn K. DAMAYANTI and Misa MASUDA suitable cases for this purpose, as the central government (2003); 29 % of the state’s geographical area of 38,863 km2 drastically changed the forest policy from forests for (Forest Survey of India, 2005). , , , , production to conservation in 1988 and is strengthening PTR lies 9˚15 −9˚40 N and 76˚55 −77˚25 E (Fig. the policy (condition 7), forest land as well as PAs have 1). It covers an area of 777 km2, consists of core (350 been demarcated (1), and the Kerala Forest and Wildlife km2), buffer (377 km2), and tourism (50 km2) zones, Department (KFD) has a highly stratified organization so administratively located in Idukki and Pathanamthitta that it could cover the jurisdiction even without sufficient districts. The legal status of the area is a wildlife equipment (2) (Masuda & Mishiba, 2003; Masuda et al. sanctuary established in 1950, but it has been called PTR 2005). Therefore, we selected a case from Kerala and since it was involved in Project Tiger in 1978. In 1982, practically only one ICDP was implemented in Periyar the core area was declared a national park and in 1991 it Tiger Reserve (PTR). was also selected as one of the sites for Project Elephant A study on India Ecodevelopment Project (IEP), the (KFD, 2001a), which enhanced not only its importance in so called ICDP in India, was done in PTR by Uniyal and wildlife conservation but also its economic potential such Zacharias (2001). It utilized project documents of PTR as eco-tourism. In Indian PAs system, a national park has such as the impact assessment and baseline survey. It highest status, followed by a wildlife sanctuary, while in stated that the training on participatory management IUCN’s PAs categorization, a wildlife sanctuary is the first provided for the park staff had changed their perceptions and a national park is the second category. and attitudes to villagers, and consequently interactions Major vegetation types in PTR are tropical evergreen between the park and the people became more positive and semi evergreen forests (74.6 %), moist deciduous than before. Dependency on PTR resources such as forests (12.8 %), grasslands (1.5 %), and Eucalyptus firewood and fodder collection was also reduced. These plantations (7.1 %). Periyar Lake, established in 1895 indicate the learning process (5) was also properly for irrigation, drinking, and power generation for the deployed in the case of PTR. However, another important neighboring state Tamil Nadu, forms an important factor of financial mechanisms (3) was not included in aquatic ecosystem, which occupies 3.5 % of the area. The their scope, and sustainability beyond the term of the floristic richness of PTR represents more than 50 % of project was realized but not analyzed. the entire flowering plants of Kerala. Out of 1965 species The main objective of this study is to examine of flowering plants collected from PTR, four species are whether the IEP in PTR is only successful during new to science, 4 are new records for India, and 14 are the project period or beyond the period based on the new records for Kerala. Vertebrate diversity in PTR is conditions explained earlier mainly focusing to the also rich, with a total of 38 species of fish, 16 species of financial mechanisms of the project. Success of the amphibians, 45 species of reptiles, 315 species of birds, project will be examined again through changes in and 62 species of mammals. However, such richness led threats on the protected area, and internal changes in the to poaching, particularly gaur, sambar, wild boar, Nilgiri livelihoods and perceptions of the people. langur, and tuskers. Illegal felling and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) collection, like vayana (Cinnamomum sp.), cardamom, black dammar (Canarium strictum), STUDY SITE AND METHODS firewood and thatching grass also often occurred. Sandal Study Site (Santalum album) in the drier flat areas was endangered India is one of the countries that have endeavored to due to its high economic value (KFD, 2001a; PTR, 2003b). increase PAs despite growing population pressure. The The tourism activities are centered at Thekkady Third National Report for the Convention on Biological (tourism zone). It is a 50 km2 area inside PTR, where Diversity prepared by the Ministry of Environment PTR headquarter is located and tourism facilities such and Forests (hereafter MoEF) stated that 54 national as tourist information center, hotels, boat dock, trekking parks and 372 wildlife sanctuaries in 1988 increased to paths, etc. were developed. The nearest town is Kumily, 94 and 501 respectively in 2005, covering 4.7 % of the 4 km away from Thekkady, where hotels and tourism total geographical area (MoEF, 2005). According to industries are located (KFD, 2001a). The livelihood the population census in 2001, Kerala is one of the most of thousands of local people including tribal, ethnic densely populated (819 persons per km2) states in India. minorities, who were categorized as‘ scheduled tribe’ The literacy rate is 91 %, the highest in India (Census of in the Indian Constitution and considered as to be given India, 2001). The forest cover of Kerala is 11,268 km2 special assistance by the government, depends on the Implementation process of India Ecodevelopment Project and the sustainability: Lessons from Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala State, India 149 Fig. 1. Location of Periyar Tiger Reserve. Source: Kerala Forest