Sanctuary |Conservation Action
What makes Bawanthadi all-important is its spatial location – the block forms a vital corridor connecting the
Pench (across Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) and Nagzira-Nawegaon Tiger Reserves.Wildlife biologist and wildlife-connectivity
conservationist, Aditya Joshi heads
Conservation Research at WCT, and is a
member of the IUCN-WCPA Connectivity
Conservation Specialist Group. Rizwan
Mithawala is a Conservation Writer with
WCT and a Fellow of the International
League of Conservation Writers.is vital; we fi rst need to know what is
happening to the tiger population outside
PAs. Without taking stock, we will never
know what we really stand to lose when
large chunks of forests get denotifi ed
for development projects,” suggests
our colleague and wildlife biologist
Vivek Tumsare.LONG-TERM MONITORING
Monitoring eff orts outside PAs yield
additional insights too. Camera traps
set up for wildlife also capture humans,
cattle and domestic dogs. This helps
assess the extent of anthropogenic
pressures on the forests. Analysis of
scats (faecal samples) reveals information
on the diet of large carnivores, which in
turn indicates the presence or absence
of prey species, and the extent of the
carnivores’ dependence on cattle and
other livestock.Continuous, intensive monitoring over
an extended period provides information
on resident individuals, changes in the
distribution of diff erent species, and
increase or decrease in anthropogenic
pressures. This helps to formulate
science-based recommendations for
landscape-scale conservation. Our
studies suggest, for instance, that a 325
sq. km. forest patch from the larger
Bawanthadi forest block, adjacent to the
Pench Tiger Reserve, would be an ideal
addition to the reserve’s buff er zone.
This would bring a prime tiger breeding
site under the protective ambit of the
tiger reserve.
Forest blocks like Bawanthadi,
that link tiger reserves and facilitate
gene fl ow, have immense potential to
contribute to the conservation of the
tiger and all the species that call tiger
habitat home. The Tiger Task Force, in
its fi rst report (the original blueprint
of Project Tiger) submitted in August
1972, was conscious “that maintaining
a genetically viable population of tigers
would require larger areas than the
reserves and their contiguous forests
provided.” Since then, the ecological
situation in tigerland has become evenmore critical with rapid deforestation
and persistent resource mismanagement.
India is currently experiencing
the early stages of a climate crisis.
Connecting, protecting and valuing
forest corridors as bridges essential
to the survival of wildlife is one of
the practical, tried and tested ways
to moderate the negative impacts of
climate change.
If we succeed in maintaining
the linkages to the green islands of
tiger reserves with healthy corridors
that off er safe passage to wildlife,
and also have the potential to
emerge as prime conservation
sites, the storm
clouds of extinct
just might
disappear. tABOVE LEFT Despite anthropogenic pressures, forest corridors harbour elusive mammals such as
the rusty-spotted cat – the smallest of all wild cats.
ABOVE RIGHT Every year, 10 per cent of WCT’s camera traps are lost to forest fi res and theft.
Images like these indicate the extent of anthropogenic pressures on forests outside Protected Areas.
LEFT Analysis of scat (faecal samples) reveals vital information about the diet of large carnivores,
which indicates the presence or absence of prey species in the area, and the carnivores’ dependence
on cattle and other livestock.WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUSTADITYA JOSHItion