Source:The Times of India
Nitin Sethi
29 Sep 2007

NEW DELHI: A blueprint to create inviolate critical wildlife habitats (CWHs) across the country has been finalised by the environment and forests ministry. Unlike the existing protected areas — national parks and sanctuaries — the ministry has suggested a set of guidelines based on scientific criteria to establish the habitats.

This is an important step to provide an exclusive space to wildlife when the Forest Rights Act gets operationalised. Under the Act, which is meant to formally recognise rights of forest dwellers, only areas declared as CWHs can be granted inviolate status — sans human presence. Even existing protected areas will have to be re-evaluated under these norms to declare them inviolate if they fall within the set criteria.

Priority has been given to tiger-bearing forests. Within 30 days of the notification of guidelines and formation of state level committees, all regions with a breeding tiger density would be demarcated. The ministry, in consultation with chief wildlife wardens and experts at Wildlife Institute of India, has suggested that for every 20 breeding tigresses, an area of 800-1,000 sq km be maintained as inviolate.

This, the ministry believes, would help maintain an overall population of 70-100 tigers maintainable in the patch along with surrounding buffer areas (where multiple land use is allowed with some regulation on industrial and other activities). Where such large areas cannot be declared inviolate, the attempt shall be to connect small CWHs with bigger ones by blocking connecting land corridors and declaring them inviolate as well. This will ensure the genetic viability and robustness of smaller tiger populations. Only in exceptional cases — where there is not sufficient land to declare as inviolate — shall such inviolate areas be maintained in isolation.

At present, there are 28 tiger reserves (with another eight proposed) and 604 national parks and sanctuaries covering about 24% of the forest area and 4.74% of the total geographic area of the country.

For non-tiger bearing parks and sanctuaries, the ecological space required by other key species — top meat eaters, large-sized herbivores, economically important species, endangered species or migratory animals — will be used to measure how much space should be declared as inviolate.

The CWHs for tigers will be identified by a central committee comprising chief wildlife wardens of states concerned, the director and two scientists of the wildlife institute, field directors of existing tiger reserves, representative of the tribal affairs ministry, a wildlife scientist familiar with the area and the member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

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