Vol3 Issue3 2012.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BI-MONTHLY OUTREACH JOURNAL OF NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY Volume 3 Issue 3 LANDMARKS STRATEGIES GOVERNMENT OF INDIA EVALUATION ACHIEVEMENTS PERSPECTIVES Mar-Apr Mar-Apr 2012 INITIATIVES STATE-WISE RELEASE OF CENTRAL ASSISTANCE During 11th Plan Period Under Centrally Sponsored Scheme Of Project Tiger (MoEF) STATE 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Andhra Pradesh 73.918 56.983 138.254 155.645 154.406 Arunachal Pradesh 110.254 246.171 64.710 226.702 236.786 Assam 95.614 1092.379 194.290 1509.472 947.509 Bihar 98.321 49.673 8.856 158.355 172.193 Chhattisgarh 35.225 169.870 1383.502 1813.725 702.726 Jharkhand 45.160 115.377 117.139 130.616 156.347 Karnataka 1159.715 689.839 657.062 1660.050 1830.65 Kerala 153.245 267.090 311.4200 323.460 429.77 Madhya Pradesh 2975.941 6998.542 2,582.476 3962.730 5352.71 Maharashtra 295.719 411.125 373.517 2789.060 3622.342 Mizoram 82.900 241.450 2171.000 187.690 225.288 Orissa 43.280 625.990 221.740 815.290 555.076 Rajasthan 410.680 2708.950 10694.170 2368.925 67.21 Tamil Nadu 45.000 690.806 258.354 520.786 605.964 Uttarakhand 202.005 462.850 246.205 339.945 399.76 Uttar Pradesh 134.890 417.513 431.517 407.460 446.126 West Bengal 308.674 228.394 298.785 502.480 157.66 TOTAL 6,270.540 15,473.002 20,152.997 17,872.391 16,062.522 Volume 3 FUNDS Sundarbans EDITOR Issue 3 Reserve-wise Dr Rajesh Gopal March-Apr release in Status of tigers in 2012 11th Plan mangrove EDITORIAL Pg 19 landscape COORDINATOR S P YADAV Pg 4 CONTENT COORDINATOR Inder MS Kathuria Playing Northeast New Tiger FEEDBACK Father Management Reserve Annexe No 5 A unique Effectiveness A leg-up Bikaner House Shahjahan Road glimpse of Evaluation for Kawal New Delhi parenting by (MEE) of in Andhra male tigers [email protected] tiger P16 Pg 8 reserves Cover photo Pg 10 Dharm Khandal Ranthambhore BI-MONTHLY OUTREACH JOURNAL OF NATIONAL TIGER CONSERVATION AUTHORITY GOVERNMENT OF INDIA n o t e f r o m t h e e d i t o r THE mangrove habitat of Sundarbans is interesting feature on the bond between a resident unique. The normal approaches to tiger male and orphaned cubs in Ranthambhore. density estimation from camera trap The North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood population estimates are not applicable Plains is a vast landscape. This stretches across the here. It is not possible to derive the flood plains of river Torsa in West Bengal, includes effectively trapped area calculations peaks of Khangchedzonga in Sikkim, besides from the usual half mean maximum distance moved Brahmaputra flood plains and hills of Assam and by recaptured tigers. Therefore, home ranges are Myanmar. There are seven tiger reserves in the estimated from tagged tigers. The radius of home region — Buxa (West Bengal), Manas, Kaziranga, range is used to determine the effectively sampled Nameri (Assam), Pakke, Namdapha (Arunachal) and area from the camera trap polygon to calculate densi- Dampa (Mizoram). Several of these reserves share ty estimates from camera traps, which is applied to political boundaries with Bhutan, Myanmar and all tiger-occupied areas of Sundarbans. The extent Bangladesh. The 2010 Assessment has estimated a and relative abundance of tigers throughout the TR is tiger population of 148 (118 to 178) in this region. found through sign surveys in channels. The independent Management Effectiveness Tiger continues to be a predator least understood! Evaluation has highlighted the strengths and weak- The only long lasting bondage in a tiger’s lifecycle is nesses of this cluster alongwith suggestions. These the relationship between a mother and its offspring. are being considered while firming up the respective However, there have been numerous instances of a Tiger Conservation Plans. resident male (which has sired the litter) sharing a Dr Rajesh Gopal kill with the mother and cubs. This issue carries an Member-Secretary, NTCA Sundarbans LANDSCAPE undarbans is the world’s largest contiguous mangrove Status of Tigers, Co-Predators S forest created at the conflu- & Prey In India, 2010 ence of the deltas of the Rivers Brahmaputra, Ganga and Meghna. The delta spreads across the coun- tries of India and Bangladesh cov- ering 80,000 sqkm (Chakrabarti 1992) with 38% (Mitra 2000) of it in India and the remaining in Bangladesh. It comprises mudflats, creeks, tidal channels and an archi- pelago of about 102 islands of which 54 are inhabited by human population (Bera and Sahay 2010). To the north of Sundarbans are the Himalayas, Rajmahal Hills to the west and the Meghalaya plateau and Chittagong Hills to the east (Chakrabarti 1992). Geologically, this area was carved out in recent times by tidal action and silt deposition and is still under formation. As a result of neotectonic changes the Bengal basin has been tilting eastwards resulting in changes in the flow of River Ganga and subsequently the structure of this vast delta. With 1437.4 persons per sqkm (Qureshi et al. 2006) biodiversity conservation is a challenge, although the Tiger Reserve is free of human settlements. Photos: H S Negi ECOLOGICAL BACKGROUND as part of the treaty of 1737 and km2 of this area was designated a Human colonisation of this region thereafter became the jagir of Reserved Forest (Bera and Sahay happened relatively late due to Lord Clive (Chaudhuri 1989). 2010). In 1903, Sir Daniel the inhospitable conditions However, it was only in 1770 that Mackinnon Hamilton, a Scotsman, though some people did occupy serious efforts were made to bought 40 sqkm of land which the area even in the 6th century reclaim land for agriculture by included the islands of (Chakrabarti 1992). The present Claude Russell, the then collector- Rangabelia, Satjelia and Gosaba day district of the 24 Parganas general of the district (Bera and where he established religious was ceded to East India Company Sahay 2010). By 1878-79, 4856 centres, dispensaries and cooper- 4 | March-Apr 2012 | STRIPES ative societies for tribals from the pollutant levels (Sarkara et al. Chhotanagpur region belonging 2002; Guzzella et al. 2005) to tribes like the Bhumij and the effects of climate change Mundas (Chakrabarti 1992; Bera and sea level on Sundarbans et al. 2010). (Naskar and Guha & Bakshi 1987; In 1978, many Partition Mukherjee 2002; Hazra 2002) and refugees from Bangladesh geology of the area (Bhattacharya escaped from the Dandakaranya and Das 1994; Bhattacharya government resettlement camp in 1999; Sanyal 1999 (in Sen and central India and decided to Naskar 2003), few studies have establish themselves at been conducted to assess status Marichjhanpi in Sundarbans, an of tigers and their prey in the area that was until then free of Indian Sundarbans. human presence and categorised Most studies on tigers and as a Reserved Forest. This act led their prey have been conducted to violent clashes between the on the Bangladesh side of new settlers and the Left govern- Sundarbans. In 1971, Hubert ment and resulted in mass Hendrichs conducted a three deaths, brutality and disease in month study to identify reasons the region (Ghosh 2004). for man-eating by Sundarbans In 1973-74, India declared tigers. However, the project 2,585 sqkm of this area as a could not be completed but the Tiger Reserve with Bangladesh initial data indicated an associa- following suit, declaring 23.5% of tion between man-eating behav- the remaining Sundarbans as a iour amongst tigers with increas- Reserved Forest in 1977 by carv- ing salinity levels. In more recent ing out three sanctuaries viz. times, a long term study was ini- Sundarbans West, Sundarbans tiated in February 2005 by the East and Sundarbans South Bangladesh Wildlife Department under the Bangladesh Wildlife from a funding by Save the Tiger (Preservation) (Amendment) Act, Fund and the US Fish and 1974 (Barlow et al. 2008). Wildlife Service to study tiger ecology and prey availability. CONSERVATION SIGNIFICANCE Some other studies to assess The United Nations Educational, prey density have also been con- Scientific and Cultural ducted in this landscape by Reza Organisation (UNESCO) et al. (2002). However, the most in 1987 placed the Indian important contribution to infor- Sundarbans on the World mation on tiger ecology in this Heritage List for it being an out- Forest guard at Sundarbans, region is an outcome of studies standing example of ecological fully equipped to take on conducted by Adam Barlow in and biological processes in the maneaters in the mangroves Bangladesh Sundarbans, which evolution and development of includes monitoring tiger popula- coastal communities of plants India and Bangladesh form a sin- tions in mangrove landscapes and animals and for the impor- gle population, which is isolated (Barlow et al. 2008), designing tance of this region for biodiver- from other tiger populations. conservation framework to sity conservation. A decade later reduce human-tiger conflict the Bangladesh part of ECOLOGICAL STUDIES (Barlow et al. 2010) and studying Sundarbans was also added to While several studies have been the impact of sea-level rise on the same list. conducted in this region to study Sundarbans (Loucks et al. 2010). With respect to the tiger, this structure and composition of However, on the Indian side, area is a tiger conservation unit mangroves (Prain 1903; while several books have been (TCU) of level 1 importance and Champion 1936; Bhattacharyya published on this region and the only one in a mangrove habi- 2002), dependence of local com- man-eating tigers, scientific stud- tat (Dinerstein et al.