Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (Cltc) Kudremukh
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COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP FOR TIGER CONSERVATION (CLTC) KUDREMUKH FINAL REPORT July 2001 – June 2002 Submitted to SAVE THE TIGER FUND A project of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION NIREN JAIN Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation Mangalore, Karnataka, India K. ULLAS KARANTH Wildlife Conservation Society Bangalore, India PRAVEEN BHARGAV Wildlife First Bangalore, India SANJAY GUBBI CENTRE FOR Centre for Wildlife Studies WILDLIFE STUDIES Bangalore, India CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Acknowledgements 4 3. Project Leaders 5 4. Collaborators and other Institutional Partners 5 5. Project Need 6 6. Description of Activities 8 7. Exploratory activities 10 8. Goals/activities for the next year 10 FINAL REPORT TO STF REPORTING PERIOD – 1ST July 2001 to 30th June 2002 PROJECT TITLE: Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (CLTC) Kudremukh EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The precarious conservation status of the tiger has aroused global concern in recent years. Tigers are under threat from many factors include depletion of prey, direct killing and pressure on their habitat due to fragmentation and degradation of habitat quality. From 1998, the Karnataka Tiger Conservation Project (KTCP), supported by Save the Tiger Fund of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Exxon Mobil Corporation and other Wildlife Conservation Society donors, attempted to address the threats. The long term conservation process evolved under KTCP have seamlessly continued at Kudremukh National Park under the Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (CLTC) implemented by Niren Jain of the Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation from July 2001in association with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), India program. Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (CLTC) aims to build upon the foundation laid by the earlier implemented Karnataka Tiger Conservation Project (KTCP). CLTC (Kudremukh) aims at the following • Reducing human pressures inside the park • Improving protection system through training and motivating field staff • Campaign against continuation of mining activity in the national park • Mobilise public support and build local conservation leadership for long-term conservation of the park • Explore opportunities for buying and consolidation of enclosures within the park 60 field-monitoring activities have been taken up to reduce human pressures and improve protection system. The project leader has continuously liased with senior forest department officials and the field staff to improve effectiveness of protection mechanism. 142 formal and informal meetings were held with forest department personnel to monitor and improve the effectiveness of protection mechanism. One training camp on effective use of wireless radios was organised under the project. To motivate the field staff 80 sets of field kits and 64 insurance policies were donated to the field protection staff. Five motivational awards were presented to field protection staff for exemplary protection work. The multi-pronged campaign against the continuation of iron ore mining in Kudremukh Reserve was carried on through intensive interactions with decision makers, community leaders and the media. The 12-minute video documentary earlier 2 Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation produced with funding from 21st Century Tiger is being effectively used to educate people about the negative impacts of mining. Several violations of wildlife and forest laws by the mining company were brought to the notice of the forest department resulting in initiation of action against the mining company. A hydrological study on sedimentation of River Bhadra due to mining has been taken up in collaboration with Centre for Wildlife Studies and hydrologist Jagdish Krishnaswamy of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment. Wildlife Conservation Society, India Program, funds this project. The CLTC project leader in association with government departments has carried out a detailed survey on the number of people living inside the reserve. This will form the basis in preparing the voluntary rehabilitation project proposal to consolidate tiger habitat. The project leader has already liaisoned with villagers inside the reserve about voluntary rehabilitation many of whom are willing to move out. The project leader has also initiated conflict resolution activities to negate the misinformation campaign about the reserve and voluntary rehabilitation. Over 250 families living inside the reserve have been reached through these conflict resolution meetings. Dialogue has been carried out with two prominent rural development organisations who have expressed support for the reserve and the voluntary rehabilitation project. The project leader has explored possibilities to acquire private land enclosures inside the reserve. A total of 400 ha of land has been identified by the project leader for land purchases to consolidate prime tiger habitat within the reserve. A detailed framework has been worked out in consultation with senior government officials. 12 slide talks and other community education programs were taken up under the project to reach out to students, school children and teachers living around the reserve. This will mobilise community support for the reserve. Five field exposure visits to journalists were carried on to sensitise journalists about the reserve. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation (Kudremukh) was made possible with the funding support from Save the Tiger Fund of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation created in partnership with Exxon Mobil Corporation. The project team wishes to thank all the donors. The project team also wishes to thank the Chief Wildlife Warden, Reserve Warden, Kudremukh National Park and all other staff of the Karnataka Forest Department for their kind co-operation. 3 Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation PROJECT LEADERS: Project Design and Overall Guidance: K.Ullas Karanth, Conservation Zoologist, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York. Project Co-ordination: Praveen Bhargav, Wildlife First Sanjay Gubbi, Centre for Wildlife Studies Project Leader: Niren Jain, Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation COLLABORATORS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS: I. Wildlife Conservation Society – India Program II. Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore. III. Wildlife First, Bangalore IV. Nagarahole Wildlife Conservation Education Project (NAWICOED) V. Nature Conservation Guild, Chikmagalur VI. Wild Cat-C, Chikmagalur VII. Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore VIII. Arohana, Mangalore IX. Dharmasthala Rural Development Project PROJECT DURATION: Start date : July 01, 2001, End date : June 30, 2002 PROJECT BUDGET: $ 14,500 4 Community Leadership for Tiger Conservation PROJECT NEED: The Kudremukh National Park is the largest declared wildlife Protected Area (600 sq. km) of a tropical wet evergreen type of forest in the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is one of the twenty-five hot spots identified for bio-diversity conservation in the world (Myers Norman et. al., 1988, Conservation International). The Kudremukh National Park comes under the Global Tiger Conservation Priority I, TCU-55 (Wikramanayake E.D. et. al., 1998), under the format developed jointly by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and World Wide Fund-USA. The western & southern sides of the Park form a steep slope with an altitude varying from 100m - 1880m. This has made the forest difficult to access and consequently has not been subjected to intensive human exploitation or clear felling to make space for cultivation in its more remote parts. The main vegetation type in the Park (Pascal J.P., Meher-Homji, 1982) is mainly evergreen or semi-evergreen climax & potentially related forests. The central, northern & eastern portions of the Park comprise a formation of rolling hills with a mosaic of grasslands and sholas. The northern end of the Park borders on the Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary and the southern end is linked to Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary through a narrow stretch of Reserved Forests. A diverse assemblage of endangered large mammals is found in the Park supporting three large mammal predator species Tiger (Panthera tigris-EN as listed in the IUCN threatened species list, EN- Endangered) Leopard (Panthera pardus) and Wild Dogs (Cuon alpinus-VU, Vulnerable). The important tiger prey base found within the Park are Gaur (Bos gaurus-VU), Sambar (Cervus Unicolor), Wild Pig (Sus scrofa), Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac), Chevrotain (Tragulus memmina), Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata), Common Langur (Presbytis entellus -LR, Lower Risk) and the Lion Tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus - EN). In 1916 the Government declared the area as Reserved Forest, to stop rampant slash and burn cultivation practices. Later, the Government of Karnataka declared these Reserved Forests as a National Park in 1987 based on the presence of the highly endangered Lion Tailed Macaques in these forests (Karanth K.U., 1985). Threats to tigers and its habitat 1. Poisoning Tiger Kills: Livestock depredation by tigers from human settlements within the Park and in the villages surrounding the Park, have driven people to taking preventative measures by eliminating the large predators through poisoning the half eaten kill. Such acts pose a threat to the tiger population over the years. 2. Threat to Tiger's Prey Base: Hunting of large mammals by the local community mainly for meat, has substantially depleted the tiger prey population in the Park. Hunting intensities in Kudremukh National Park have been estimated as 218