Subject: NagarjunaSagar Srisailam tiger reserve update
This is an article from the latest issue of "Frontline" magazine. It is very
depressing and one of the first reports to come out public after the latest
tiger census was taken. According to other reports there was only one or two
pugmarks found on the northern part of the river Krishna which has the better
habitat. The Project Tiger officials have just looked the other way when all
this poaching and poisoning was going on. I request you all to write letters
and get pressure on the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Forest Minister,
Chief Conservator of Forests, the World Bank president, Union Environment
minister. This is one of the best habitats for the tiger and, nowhere in the
world has such large scale poaching of tigers occured.
The url for the article is http://www.the-hindu.com/fline/fl1418/14180780.htmhtm
Thanks
Venkat Nagesh Yerneni
venkat.nagesh@ey.com
703 769 7887, 301 571 7069(W)
Survival at stake
The tiger population has fallen sharply in the Nagarjunasagar
Srisailam
Tiger Reserve, the largest reserve of its kind in the country.
PRANAY WAGHRAY
RAJYASHRI WAGHRAY
THE Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR), the largest
tiger reserve
in India, is in the Nallamalais in Andhra Pradesh. It is spread
over five districts
and encompasses more than 3,500 sq km. The reserve was home to
about 100
tigers at the beginning of this decade. However, according to a
census conducted
in 1997, the tiger population has fallen steeply, to about 20.
The importance of tiger conservation lies in the fact that the
presence of this
predator is an indicator of the health of an ecosystem. A natural
forest in which
the tiger thrives offers benefits that cannot be quantified easily
in terms of money.
These include protection of the topsoil; retention of groundwater,
which is
released through the year; and preservation of biomass resources
and the flora.
Bamboo, fuelwood, timber and fodder and at least 20 types of other
forest
produce such as honey, gum and arabic directly or indirectly help
thousands of
people earn their living; the flora include several plants that are
traditionally used
in medicine.
The tiger, the major carnivore at the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam
Tiger Reserve, faces the
threat of extinction in spite of its resilience and adaptability.
As much as 800 million units of electricity consumed in
Andhra Pradesh is generated using the waters of the
Krishna, and the NSTR forms part of the catchment area
of the river. The Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam
hydro-electric projects are located within the reserve.
The balance of the forest ecosystem is maintained by the
interaction between its
components. The flora need herbivores for the propagation of seeds
over wide
areas, while herbivores cannot survive without the flora. At the
same time, the
herbivore population has to be kept in check to prevent
over-exploitation of the
flora. Carnivores perform this function. In the NSTR, the tiger is
the major
carnivore.
Thus, protecting the tiger essentially means protecting the
ecosystem. A fall in the
tiger population is a clear indication of a decline in the forest's
overall health.
IN forests that are spread over inhospitable terrain and are
predominantly of the
dry deciduous type, as is the case with the Nallamalais, the most
suitable way to
assess the tiger population is the waterhole census. The logic of
this system is that
since the reserve has limited water sources, those that remain wet
through the
summer would definitely draw wildlife to them (the periodicity of
such visits will,
however, vary between species). Thus, perennial water sources -
called
cheruvus, chelimas and dotas - are of prime importance, and the
census is
conducted in summer by monitoring them for days together.
We were present in the NSTR area in three different periods during
the annual
tiger census in April-May 1995. Our objective was to get an idea of
the
population of tigers and their food base - chital, sambhar, wild
boar, chausingha,
barking deer, chinkara and so on. We used the 1989 and 1993 figures
for
reference with respect to the areas in which the predators were
more likely to be
traced. We visited as many of these locations as possible.
The 1997 Tiger Census provides a dismal picture. The situation in
the Amrabad
plateau, which is to the north of the Krishna and which supported
the largest
number of tigers in the area, is worse than in 1995. The forests
across the Dindi
river and those in Guntur district, across the Krishna, cover much
smaller areas;
they act as crucial buffers for the reserve, but cannot by
themselves support
viable populations of wildlife.
Year
Number
of
Tigers
1989
94
1993
54
1995
35
1997
25-30
The decline in the tiger population in the country's largest
national park has taken
place despite Project Tiger. Apart from this fact, the poor state
of the vegetation
and the diminishing number of large mammals, especially herbivores,
also point to
the alarming state of affairs in the area. Much of the flora of the
Nallamalais are
being destroyed even before they are recorded. That such natural
wealth is
handled so casually shows how misplaced our societal priorities
are.
The degradation of the forest, combined with the semi-arid climate
of the region,
has adversely affected the sanctuary. The Krishna, which was
fordable prior to
the construction of the Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam dams, has now
become a
barrier which the animals cannot cross. A significant part of the
sanctuary
towards the north-east is fragmented by man-made water bodies into
small,
degraded habitats. These areas have to be protected to provide
wildlife room to
migrate when necessary, and also to act as a buffer against biotic
pressures. But
the buffer itself has been so over-exploited that biotic pressures
are now
degrading the core area.
The evolving demographic profile of the towns and villages
surrounding the
forests indicates the changes and pressures. The population, both
resident and
floating, has increased several fold. Most people, though classifi
ed as dependent
on agriculture, are employed in farming only during the monsoon
season. At other
times they depend on the forest to make a living - by collecting
and selling
firewood or non-timber forest produce, and in some cases, smuggling
out timber.
Several saw-mills have come up close to the reserve.
The Nallamalais provide fodder for thousands of cattle. In the
absence of a
grazing policy, local people graze their cattle in the forest,
after paying a fee, and
often deprive wildlife access to these resources.
Sustainable use of available resources can help retain the economic
and
ecological value of the forest in terms of biomass availability,
increased water
retention capacity and fertility of the soil. Thanks to its resilie
nce and adaptability,
the tiger of the NSTR has hung on tenaciously; now it is up to
humans to try and
give it a future. The question now is whether an unviable
population can have a
future of any significance. Lakhs of rupees are now spent on
preservation
programmes for the tiger; how well they serve the cause of
conservation must be
studied closely.