Whole village to be moved from elephant corridor in India

Villagers voluntarily relocate from elephant corridor 

The region is home to some 1800 elephants

May 2013. Marking a significant milestone in efforts to secure a crucial elephant corridor in northeast India, residents of an entire village have literally put down in stone their willingness to relocate voluntarily outside the corridor to provide a clear passage for elephants.

Modern traditional houses

The foundation stone for a model ethnic village was laid down, marking the site of relocation of the Ram Terang villagers from the Kalapahar Doigurung Elephant Corridor. The village will have traditional style houses reflecting the culture of the area, but it will also be equipped with modern facilities and necessities such as electricity, health care and education.

Unveiling the foundation stone in the relocated area

Laying the foundation stone, Rechno Haising Ronghang, the 40th King of Karbi Anglong said, "This is a new step that will benefit wildlife as well as people. There should be no barrier when it comes to wildlife conservation. We need to think of it as something that is necessary for human survival too." He congratulated the team for the initiative that will benefit the people of the corridor areas.

People of the village celebrating their impending move

The Kalapahar-Doigurung Elephant Corridor connects Kalapahar with Doigurung-Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park. For 30 years the village of Ram Terang, named after the head of the village, has been situated in the middle of the corridor. As a result, human-elephant conflicts have been common and with regular loss of property and life for both the elephants and the humans.

1800 elephants

"There are about 1800 elephants in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape making it the habitat of about 8% of India's elephants. Securing this corridor is not just about the right of passage for these elephants but also to relieve local people of losses caused due to conflicts", said Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, Regional Head (Assam).

The process of course, reaching up to this milestone was not an easy one. It began about three years ago.

"The villagers were very hesitant at first when we approached them with the idea of relocation, and naturally so, as it involved their complete overhaul of their livelihoods. However, eventually they understood the need and benefits of the efforts for animals as well as themselves. Many individuals and agencies played a very crucial role in achieving this, and we are extremely grateful to all of them," said Dilip Deori, Assistant Manager, WTI, while expressing his appreciation for the support and cooperation being shown by the local community and organisations.

The project was supported by Elephant Family, IUCN - Netherlands and Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, and implemented by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), to assist the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Assam Forest Department in wildlife conservation in the region.

Source: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/elephant-village013.html#cr

Why New Home Can Save India’s Lions

By Saptarishi Dutta

Asiatic Lions, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh

Conservationists say splitting India’s small population of Asiatic lions will help prevent the endangered animal from being wiped out.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled that some of the 411 Asiatic lions that live exclusively in Gir Forest in Gujarat state will be moved to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

“I am all in favor of it,” said M. K. Ranjitsinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-governmental organization. “They should have a second home,” he added.

Experts argue restricting the lions to a single geographical area puts them at greater risk of extinction.

“If they are hit by a disease, there is a possibility that the entire population could be wiped out,” said Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

“It is best for the species that a second and third location is established,” Ms. Wright added, warning of the risk of extinction.

“India would be a devastated place without this incredible cultural and heritage symbol,” she said.

The court said the lions will move to Madhya Pradesh within the next six months. A special panel comprising wildlife experts will decide how many lions will be move to Kuno Palpur, one of the most suitable habitats in India for Asiatic lions, according to a study by the Wildlife Institute of India.

The court’s ruling puts an end to a long-running interstate dispute. Gujarat has been reluctant to let go of a share of its lion population, a major tourist attraction in the state.

Around 460,000 tourists visited the Gir Forest in 2012 generating revenues of 50 million rupees ($914,745) for Gujarat’s forest department, according to Sandeep Kumar, a forest official at Gir.

The government of Gujarat had opposed the relocation of any of its lions to Madhya Pradesh, citing rampant poaching there.

According to Madhya Pradesh’s forest department, there are between 250 and 300 cases of poaching of all types of animals in Madhya Pradesh every year.

Asiatic lions are smaller than their African counterparts, and have visible ears and a thinner mane. Asiatic lions also have a thicker elbow tufts and a longer tail tuft.

While dividing the lion population between two states will likely help conservation efforts, experts say other worries remain.

Lions have difficulty finding enough to eat, as their prey – mainly deer and antelopes – is frequently killed by humans. “This is an overriding problem throughout India,” Ms. Wright said.

The loss of natural habitat through deforestation caused by a rising human population is also detrimental to the lion population, said Naresh Kadyan, Indian representative of International Organization for Animal Protection, a body affiliated to the United Nations.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the court’s decision: “I welcome Supreme Court’s verdict on Asiatic Lions. We are well-equipped to welcome them in their new home. #MP,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Follow Saptarishi and India Real Time on Twitter @saptarishidutta and @indiarealtime.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/04/16/why-new-home-can-save-indias-lions/

Tribal relocation proves tricky

K. JEEVAN CHINNAPPA

As the debate on the pros and cons of tribal relocation from different ranges in the Nagarahole National Park goes on, 487 tribal families have moved out of the Park areas since the relocation scheme was introduced by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1999.

Initially, 280 families were relocated from different ranges to Nagapura in Hunsur taluk of Mysore district under the beneficiary-oriented tribal development scheme by the Forest Department, in association with LIFT (Living Inspiration for Tribals), an NGO. Each family was given Rs. 1 lakh in cash and five acres of land to take up agriculture. In 2007, 60 tribal families were relocated at Sollepura in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysore district, each getting Rs. 1 lakh but only three acres.

Under a National Tiger Conservation Authority-sponsored scheme in 2010, every family agreeing to relocate was offered Rs. 10 lakh (cash and land value). Thereafter, 147 families, including seven non-tribal families moved over to Shettalli in Hunsur taluk. As a result, all tribals who lived in Bogapura, Murkal, Ganagur, Madenur and Kallalla moved out, P.M. Muthanna of LIFT said. As on date, there were 300 pending applications for rehabilitation.

Tribals unhappy?

According to J.P. Raju, president of the Kodagu Budakattu Krishikara Sangha, which works for the welfare of tribals , the relocated tribals are not happy. Many leased out their lands to others for cultivation. On the one hand, the relocated tribals went back to the Kodagu coffee plantations for work, and on the other, measures to provide revenue records for the land were yet to be taken.

Mr. Muthanna said that during the lean period, even the tribals who did well in the rehabilitated areas went to work on plantations. Tribals who had grown maize at Shettalli sold the commodity worth Rs. 66 lakh this year.

Under the Forest Rights Act, of the total 5,387 individual applications received from tribals in Mysore district, 555 were regularised, said M.N. Ajay Nagbhushan, Deputy Commissioner (in-charge). Out of the total 107 applications received for community rights, 19 were regularised in the district. In Kodagu, 3,102 individual claims and nearly 57 community rights claims were received, and 1,112 and 45 claims respectively were cleared, said Deputy Commissioner N.V. Prasad.

Has the tiger population gone up in Karnataka? “There are 10-12 tigers in every 100 sq. km. area of the tiger reserves such as Nagarahole, Bandipur, BRT, parts of Wayanad, Mudumalai, covering around 2,500 sq. km. area,” said B.J. Hosmath, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, and Field Director, Project Tiger.

Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee of NGO Wildlife First, said parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were fantastic habitat for tiger-breeding and conservation.

Fifteen tigers have died of various causes in Bandipur, Nagarahole and BRT reserves since 2010-11 to 2012-13.

Of this, nine have died in Bandipur, five in Nagarahole and one in the BRT reserve, Mr. Hosmath said. Significantly, no case of poaching was reported in the same period.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/tribal-relocation-proves-tricky/article4277189.ece

Forest dept seeks funds from State for Project Tiger

Ashwini Y S, Bangalore
Rehabilitation programmes stalled owing to severe financial crunch

Left high and dry by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the State Forest department has been forced to approach the State government in the hopes of getting funds for rehabilitation projects under Project Tiger in Karnataka.

The department, the nodal agency responsible for Project Tiger, claims it is in the throes of a financial crisis as it has suffered a poor flow of funds for rehabilitation projects aimed at reducing human presence in tiger habitats.

Now, the department is placing a proposal for the release of Rs 300 crore in the 2013-14 State budget. Officials from the department, however, are sceptical about the proposal’s acceptance, as the scheme is Centrally sponsored. Furthermore, the Karnataka government has already declined to respond to a similar request made in the last financial year.

Funds needed

The department has sought Rs 92.40 crore for Nagarhole from the State government. It also hopes to get Rs 3.60 crore for Anshi-Dandeli, Rs 4.01 crore for Bhadra, and Rs 200 crore for the Kudremukh National Park. “During the last few years, despite our continued efforts, we have been able to secure funds only for Nagarhole. As a result, we are approaching the Karnataka government. The lack of funds, coupled with continued efforts by NGOs who are persuading forest dwellers not to relocate, has impeded effective rehabilitation,” explained Dipak Sharma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.

Karnataka has five tiger reserves: at Bandipur, Bhadra, Nagarhole, Anshi-Dandeli and the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple area — together containing over 285 tigers. An additional 40 to 50 tigers have been identified as residing in other forests, including at the Kudremukh National Park (KNP).

Incidentally, Karnataka has rejected proposals calling for KNP to be declared a tiger reserve despite the Centre’s approval to do so.

Project Tiger aims at ending human interaction in tiger-populated areas and offers a rehabilitation package to help relocate families found in “core” and “buffer” areas. Families in “core” areas are offered Rs 10 lakh as compensation.

A total of 8,374 families have been identified in tiger reserves and national parks, of which 856 families have been relocated till date. The Forest department is yet to begin a survey at the Biligiri Ranganatha Temple, which was declared a tiger reserve in 2011.

Successful beginning

The most successful rehabilitation project has been at Bandipur, which in 1973, became the first forest area to be declared a tiger reserve. A total of 154 families resided in the area — all of whom were rehabilitated and relocated to Sollepur in HD Kote over a period of time.

In Nagarhole, the department has spent around Rs 19 crore — of the total Rs 29 crore released by the NTCA — and has relocated 496 families to Shettihalli Lakkapatna in Hunsur. As many as 133 families have agreed to move, and the department is in the process of completing new homes at the rehabilitation site.

In Bhadra, the department has shifted 418 families to MC Halli and Kelagur near Chikmagalur by spending Rs 17.65 crore till date. At Anshi-Dandeli, of the 4,114 families, only 36 have come forward to accept the package. At Kudremukh National Park, of the 1,382 families which lived there, the department spent Rs 5.59 crore to shift 61 families. Recently, an additional 531 families have volunteered to be relocated.


Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/303432/forest-dept-seeks-funds-state.html

Tribal families reoccupy forestland in Wayanad

E.M. MANOJ

Seek compensation for land given up by them

Sixteen families, including 12 tribal families, which left the Kottamkara hamlet in June, a settlement inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS), reoccupied the place on Saturday under the aegis of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Rehabilitation Action Council.

(The council had been seeking compensation for the land abandoned by the tribespeople).

The flaws in implementing the voluntary relocation project of the government left the tribespeople with no choice but to reoccupy the land, council convener S. Shobhankumar said.

Under the project, 40 families had been relocated on June 24. Only 24 of the families got the promised compensation of Rs.10 lakh each, he said.

When the project was announced on April 9, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had assured the tribespeople that they would get compensation as per the guidelines of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat Scheme in three months. But the Chief Minister could not keep his word, Mr. Shobhankumar said.

The guidelines said male children over 18 years of age; unmarried female children above the age of 18; physically and mentally challenged persons irrespective of their age and sex; minor orphans; and widows or women divorcees would be treated as ‘separate families.’

A survey conducted by the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, a few years ago had identified 96 eligible families in the hamlet. But many families were excluded from the final list prepared by the Forest Department, Krishnan Kottamkara, 57, a tribal farmer of the hamlet said.

Krishanan Kottamkara was born and brought up in the hamlet and he had 520 acres of leased land there.

The authorities failed to include him on the final list as he was hospitalised following cardiac arrest. Many others who were not present at the hamlet during an inspection by the authorities had also been excluded, Mr. Shobhankumar said.

There were six ‘eligible families’ in his house according to the KFRI list, he added. “When the forest officials prepared the final list, I was undergoing eye surgery in a Coimbatore hospital,” Elias, another resident of the hamlet, said.

He was later included on the list after he could convince the officials about the issue but, was yet to get any compensation, he added.

They had left the hamlet in June expecting that they would get the compensation soon, Mariyil Kuriakose, who had been living outside the forest since, said.

“Hence, we decided to live in our land till we get compensation,” he added. As many as 12 tribesmen had got possession certificates for their land under the Forest Rights Act in 2010.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tribal-families-reoccupy-forestland-in-wayanad/article4278845.ece

Looks like mistrust, greed, lies & unfulfilled promises has lead to this situation. There are many who encourage them to occupy forest land.
- Mac Mohan