Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence

by Born Free Foundation
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Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
Protect India's Tigers And Promote Co-Existence
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 loggingThe 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.  

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Born Free Foundation

Location: Horsham, West Sussex - United Kingdom
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Twitter: @BornFreeFDN
Project Leader:
Victoria Lockwood
Horsham , West Sussex United Kingdom
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