Tiger Conservation in the changing world: tying `non-tigers, forests and community' together

Tiger Conservation in the changing world: tying `non-tigers, forests and community' together


Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) is the southernmost Tiger habitat in the Western Ghats. This is the 17th Tiger Reserve in India and 1st in Tamil Nadu. KMTR is known for several endemic plants and endangered animal species. KMTR is part of UNESCO‘s Biosphere Reserves and over 14 rivers originate from KMTR so is popularly known as rivers sanctuary. The perennial river Tamiraparani which originates from KMTR is the lifeline for Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi and part of Virudhunagar and Kanyakumari districts. There are not many human settlements within KMTR compared to any other Tiger Reserves in the Western Ghats. However, there are over 250 villages located in the buffer of KMTR. Prior to 1992, the villagers collected fuelwood and fodder from the reserve and they also sent their cattle to the reserve for grazing. To overcome these challenges, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department with the aid from World Bank initiated the Eco-development Project in the buffer villages of KMTR. The project targeted alternate livelihoods for forest dependent communities. This was a successful project and is now being scaled up to the entire Western Ghats buffer in Tamil Nadu. In recent times, problems like human-animal conflicts, increase in religious tourism, land-use changes in buffer have emerged, which needs dire attention. Tiger has been an effective umbrella species under which the plants and other animals have been protected so far. However, today larger society have more responsibilities to conserve the habitat of the tiger as it has strong links with their own wellbeing - for e.g an important watershed and source for drinking water. In this changing world, the Tiger conservation cannot be viewed in isolation and we have to look beyond single-species protection. It is also about protecting scores of other species found within the reserve; even extending to the larger landscapes and mitigating the problems of communities living in nexus with them. In the coming times, communities from all walks of life have an important role to play in conservation.

Against this backdrop - we are organizing a panel discussion on learnings from some of the community engagements in the landscape and also to explore the scope to scale up the efforts to the larger landscape.

Panellists

1. Thiru.MG Ganesan, M. Sc (Agriculture), DCF, Tamil Nadu Forest Department

Worked as agricultural officer. Recruited as ACF in 2014 batch. Trained at CASFOS DEHRADUN.
Since 2018 he is working as Eco Development Officer at Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve,
he is managing 400 Village Forests Councils at Agasthyamalai Tamil Nadu landscape.

Topic: Joining hands with the larger community for KMTR – a forester’s perspective:

2. Tmt. Latha Mathivanan, Director, Arumbugal Trust, Tirunelveli

Member of Tamil Nadu State Wildlife Board. For past 25 years she is working in the field of
women empowerment, eco-development in forest fringe villages through Arumbugal Cultural
Team.

Topic: Performing art as a vehicle for conservation around KMTR – a success story

3. Thiru M Mathivanan, Senior Research Associate, ATREE’s Agasthyamalai Community
Conservation Centre, Manimutharu

For past one and half decades he is working in the field of biodiversity conservation through
various outreach programmes. He is working closely with local community, students, media
and government agencies.

Topic: Buffering KMTR – building conservation stewardship among the community, youth, children and media


Moderator


Dr. (Rev.) Ignacy Arockyaa SJ is a Vice Principal and Head of the Department of Visual Communication at St., Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai. He worked as a director of Loyola Engineering College, Chennai. 
He is an independent researcher in Environmental Communication.






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