Wildlife Conservation India Project #51283

Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence

by Born Free Foundation

Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence

Project Report | Dec 19, 2024
Updates from Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership

By Born Free | Born Free Foundation

One of the key reasons for the success of the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership is the diversity of conservation efforts undertaken by the partners involved. A collective of NGOs working across the Satpuda landscape, brought together by Born Free and joined by the common goal of tiger conservation, each partner aims to encourage peaceful coexistence between local communities and tigers and reduce conflict situations.

Despite the added challenge of heavy rains and flash floods in July to September this year, the SLTP partners have all conducted some fantastic work in the last 6-months.Here is just some of the work they have done:

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), one of the oldest and largest conservation and research NGOs in India, works in the Chandrapur District to provide conservation education. Some of the schools where BNHS operates are in the fringes of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve. Since April:

BNHS have conducted conservation education lectures in 50 schools, reaching over 2000 pupils. By the end of the school year, they aim to complete 250 activities across all 50 schools.

Over 1000 pupils in 25 schools participated in a conservation knowledge pre-test. These test scores will be comparedagainst the scores achieved in the post-test, undertaken at the end of the school year. This helps measure the impact of the conservation education programme on improving the conservation knowledge of school children.

50 wildlife ambassadorshave beenchosen across the 25 schools, including one girl and one boy from each school. Wildlife ambassadors assist in the classroom during conservation activities and help spread conservation messages to their classmates and among fellow residents in their village.

The Nature Conservation Society Amravati (NCSA) uses public health outreach clinics to build trust with local communities and gain support for tiger conservation in the buffer areas of four tiger reserves. In the last 6-months they have:

Conducted 156 health camps in villages across four tiger reserves, treating 5311 patients.

Interacted with more than 14,000 villagers at health camps, to gain useful information regardingtiger movements, conflict situations, and illegal activities such as poaching and logging. The team also raised awareness among villagers about simple methods for crop protection, avoiding human-wildlife conflict, sustainable farming practices, the benefits of keeping a few high-yielding cattle, and stall-feeding practices.

Provided healthcare to 320 forest staff. This includes forest guards, fire watchers and range forest officers, who can sometimes live deep within the forest and have very limited access to health services. By providing health services to the forest staff, the NCSA aimsto improve their wellbeing and healthenabling them to carry out their duties and improve forest protection in the tiger reserves.

The Satpuda Foundation, set-up in 2001, runs a Landscape Monitoring Unit and aims to reduce human-wildlife conflict with tigers and leopards in the Satpuda landscape. Recently, they have:

Supported the deployment of India’s first AI-supported camera system for forest fire detection in Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, set-up a dedicated control room and trained the forest-department staff on how to use this camera system.

Distributed 500 light deterrent systems to 480 farmers in the buffer areas of Pench and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserves. These lights have been found to reduce crop damageincidents by herbivores, such as wild boar and sambar, and help to scare off large predators such as tigers and leopards at night, helping to promote coexistence between people and wildlife.

Assisted Government Departments in their response to several conflict situations, including ensuring transparency in tiger-post mortems, and conductinga detailed survey of the effectiveness of highway infrastructure and mitigation measures in ahuman-tiger conflict hotspot, to provide guidance on action needed to help reduce tiger attacks.

Conducted various meetings with local stakeholders, forest department officials, and policymakers to discuss policy updates and ensure tiger conservation efforts align. The team also supported the drafting of two government resolutions,which would make it mandatory for all infrastructure projects, such as roads or railways, in tiger reserves and corridors to have sufficient mitigation measures to reduce negative impacts on tigers.

The Corbett Foundation takes a holistic approach to human-wildlife conflict mitigation in the Kanha Tiger Reserve. Their stall-feeding project helps establishfarm plots to grow nutritious green fodder for cattle in the village so that livestock are not taken into the forest to graze. This helpsreduce cattle depredation by tigers and leopards. They help to encouragesustainable sources of income, such as through high milk yielding cows, that helpsto reduce dependency on forest resources, helpingto conserve big cats and their habitat. As of September, they have:

Helped feed 257 cattle green fodder in two villages.

Supported35 households in harvesting fodder this season, despite heavy rains and flash flooding damaging some maize crops.

Provided treatment to 15 cattle following big cat attacks, at no cost to the farmer. By providing free treatment, The Corbett Foundation, helps to reduce outrage towards tigers and leopards and reduce the risk of retaliatory killings.

Held regular meetings to encourage villagers to benefit from the green fodder project.

The Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT) works hard to protect tigers and their prey species in the NawegaonNagzhira Tiger Reserve landscape and facilitate a peaceful coexistence between humans and large carnivores through a range of awareness initiatives. They also trains selected local community members residing in forest fringes as leaders for human-wildlife conflict mitigation, who are designated Tiger Ambassadors.Within the last 6-months, TRACT have:

Held awareness raising seminars in 25 villages in June and July.

Hosted workshops, attended by over 350 people fromvulnerable groups who are at increased risk of attack by tigers. These groups include women entering the forest to collect forest produce, grazers who accompany their livestock into the forest and farmers who work the fields along the fringes of the forest.

Conducted refresher workshops for the 175 Tiger Ambassadors from the 25 project villages and monitoredlarge carnivore presence with their help.

Successfully rescued an injured leopard from a guest house, after it was detected by one of the Tiger Ambassadors. The TRACT team, alongside the Tiger Ambassadorsassisted the Forest Department in controlling the crowds, while the leopard was taken to a rescue centre for further treatment and observation.

As you can see, all the partners in the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership contribute valuable and diverse efforts to tiger conservation in India and Born Free is proud to partner with them, helping support the wonderful work they do.

Links:

https://www.bornfree.org.uk/animals/tigers/

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Sep 5, 2024
REPORTING FROM THE FIELD

By Yashvardhan Dalmia | Network Support Officer for the Satpuda Landscape

Tiger Yashvardhan Dalmia

Yashvardhan Dalmia, the Network Support Officer for the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership (SLTP), reports on his recent field visits to talk to the people impacted by our conservation work in India.

Visits to the field provide an opportunity to talk to the people on the frontline fighting for the protection of wild animals. As the SLTP Network Support Officer, field visits offer a unique opportunity for me to talk to the field teams and local communities engaged in our work that are living alongside wildlife to understand their concerns and the challenges they face every day. This helps maintain effective communication and coordination between SLTP partners and helps identify ways to improve our conservation activities. During my most recent field visits to villages located in the buffer of Nawegaon Nagzhira and Kanha Tiger Reserves, I caught up with two of our SLTP partners – Tiger Research and Conservation Trust (TRACT) and The Corbett Foundation (TCF).

Along with all our SLTP partners, TRACT and TCF are conducting vital work in the Satpuda Landscape to secure habitat and reduce human-wildlife conflict to enable tigers to thrive:

TRACT implements innovative conservation methods to protect tigers in Central India. Through research, science-based conservation and networking within and outside protected forests, TRACT works closely with the Maharashtra Forest Department and Central Government to monitor wildlife activity and mitigate human–wildlife conflicts.

TCF primarily work with the communities living in and around several Tiger Reserves in central India including Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Satpura. They are involved in grassroots conservation programmes, working with local communities to reduce dependency on the forest and to mitigate human-wildlife conflict issues such as livestock depredation by carnivores, including tigers and leopards, and crop-raiding by herbivores.

The first half of my field visit focussed on catching up with Aman Sahu, TRACT’s new Programme Manager, and meeting Hivraj, TRACT’s experienced field team member. TRACT runs a highly successful Tiger Ambassador scheme that covers an incredible 95 villages in the buffer of the Nawegaon Nagzhira Tiger Reserve. Through the scheme, individuals from the local community are recruited and trained as Tiger Ambassadors to liaise between the community and TRACT, help raise awareness of conservation issues, assist community members in receiving compensation and gather information on human-carnivore conflicts. Tiger Ambassadors also facilitate village discussions about the movements of wildlife, conflict issues and strategies to enable co-existence.

I was invited to join the team on a patrol in the local village of Koshanghat to help determine wildlife presence and identify threats to people in the local area. We observed signs of gaur, wild boar and sloth bears during the patrol, highlighting the importance of the Tiger Ambassador team to the village in supporting people and wild animals to coexist. Furthermore, I met with a number of Ambassador teams to discuss their work and understand the positive conservation outcomes they have observed due to this programme.

During the second half of the trip, I visited TCF’s stall-feeding project in Kanha Tiger Reserve. The project seeks to cultivate ‘green fodder’ (nutritious and fast-growing crops) to feed cattle. By practicing stall feeding, herders do not have to graze their cattle in the forest, reducing the risk and number of livestock attacks by carnivores Furthermore, it also helps reduce the grazing pressure on the forest leading to reduced loss of wildlife habitats. The project also encourages villagers to keep fewer but more productive cattle and helps villagers in purchasing high milk-yielding cows at a subsidized cost. The TCF vet provides regular health check-ups for cattle, as well as treats cattle that have been attacked by large carnivores.

I was able to speak to some of the beneficiaries to understand the impact the project had had on them. All the beneficiaries I spoke to mentioned that the milk yields from their cattle had increased because of the project, whilst simultaneously increasing the overall health of their cattle. They also all agreed that the project had helped provide them with an alternate source of income, giving them greater economic security.

In addition to the high milk yielding cow provided as a part of the programme, I now have two more cows for my diary business. I purchased one of them from my business profits. The current yield per cow is around six to seven litres per day through which I am able to earn a profit of around INR 7,500 per month. Additionally, I have sold cow dung amounting to INR 15,000 till date. We feed our cows green fodder as recommended by the TCF team who also provides regular treatment to them. Earlier, our family did not have a fixed income as it was only dependent on agriculture. Now due to the diary business I have undertaken due to the programme, I have a fixed income which has helped me to look after my family and also upgrade our house – Amarlal Chaudhary, beneficiary of TCF’s stall-feeding project.

It was abundantly clear during my visit to the field that the efforts of the SLTP partners are having a hugely positive impact. Projects such as TRACT’s Tiger Ambassador scheme and TCF’s stall-feeding project are essential for improving people’s livelihoods and enabling coexistence between people and wildlife, including tigers, in Central India. SLTP plays a pivotal role in supporting and connecting likeminded organisations, ensuring India’s tigers can thrive for generations to come.

Tiger Ambassador team on patrol SLTP/Born Free

Green fodder grown for TCF's stall-feeding SLTP

Links:

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May 14, 2024
SLTP PROTECTS VULTURES, OTTERS, PANGOLINS AND MORE

By Jennifer Cruse | Individual Giving Officer

Vultures Baavan

Whilst tigers are often in the spotlight, the Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership also protects a whole host of lesser known but equally important species.

The Satpuda Landscape Tiger Partnership (SLTP), which Born Free is a memberof, has been undertaking various conservation initiatives to protect the forests and wildlife of central India – one of the world’s most important tiger landscapes – for the past 20 years.

Whilst tigers have often been the focus of many of these initiatives,through conserving tiger habitat, the partners of SLTP have also indirectly extended protection to several lesserknown but equally importantspeciesthat live alongside tigers.

Several partners undertakespecific projects for conserving these lesser known species, from vultures and otters, to the most trafficked mammal on the planet: pangolins.

Vultures

Vulture populations are plummeting across the country,due to poisoning, and ingesting pesticides and medications for livestock (such as diclofenac) which can be lethal to vultures. In response,SLTP partnerBombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has beenmanaging Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres (VCBC) across the country in partnership with local governments, where more than 750 birds have been bred successfully in captivity since 2004. Early this year, 20 Critically Endangered vultures were released by BNHS incentral Indian tiger reserves as a part of this collaborative initiative to save thevultures from looming extinction. To ensure the benefits of the project are felt by local communities, BNHS teams are also conducting community engagement and awareness programmes for cattle owners and villagers around the vulture nesting colonies to sensitize them.

Separately,in Panna Tiger Reserve, situated in the northern part of the central Indian landscape, SLTP partner Baavan has been undertaking bird surveys with vultures being one of the focus species. In 2023, 56 Endangered white-rumpedvultures were observed by the team. The aim is to replicate the surveys in the tiger forest outside the protected areas, which will go a long way in understanding the impact of protection and conservation measures on bird communities.

Pangolins

SLTP partner the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) works in central India to monitorpangolins, the most trafficked mammal in the world. As a part of this programme, pangolins rescued fromthe illegal wildlife trade are rehabilitated in Pench and Satpura Tiger Reserve. It is heartening to hear that the pangolins have started to reproduce in these reserves. In addition,WCT trains the forest staff in pangolin ecology to ensure that the pangolins they rescue have a greater chance of surviving.

Otters

Earlier this year, there was more good news from the WCT team, when for the first time, Eurasian otters were recorded in the state of Maharashtra in central India. The discovery results from their joint study conducted withPench Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra) authorities.

As their name suggests, the historic range of the Eurasian otter is vast, extending from Ireland to Japan, and from the artic to northern Africa. Having disappeared from much of their historic range, Eurasian otters now occur in very low densities, andtheirpresencesignals a healthy ecosystem. The team has been collaborating with local forest departments to initiate a long-term study on this species and forest hydrology to develop effective conservation strategies for the species and its habitat.

There is much to celebrate,not just for tigers, but for otters, pangolins, vultures and many other lesser known species throughout the Satpuda Landscape. We are grateful to all our supporters of SLTP – your contributions go a long way in enabling all the partners of the SLTP Network to conserve the forests of central India and all the wonderful species that call these forests their home.

Pangolin in India WCT

Links:

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