WILDLIFE FIRST PROJECTS

HABITAT CONSOLIDATION

Evolving solutions to minimize habitat fragmentation

Fragmentation of critical wildlife habitats due to human encroachments and other factors has been identified as one of the most serious problem concerning biodiversity conservation. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in association with Wildlife First and Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation has evolved a pragmatic solution to address this threat in India, based on WCS' science driven goal of long term conservation of living landscapes. In a pioneering effort, one such problem of human encroachment was resolved in a socially just and humane manner by providing compensation and alternate land from private donor funds. This has ensured the consolidation of about 100 sq km of critical wildlife habitat in Kudremukh National Park, one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots.

Wildlife habitats, like Kudremukh National Park, are fragmented by both legal private landholders and illegal occupants of forestlands. A combination of many factors like large extents of land, shortage of sufficient funding and litigation-prone procedures has retarded the progress of the government's efforts in acquiring such land enclaves in Kudremukh.

Bhagwathi, a critical land parcel in the heart of Kudremukh National Park was encroached upon 15-20 years ago by eight pastoral families who owned about five hundred heads of cattle that grazed illegally inside the park, posing a threat to wild ungulates. They survived on supplying their dairy produce to a nearby mining township which is now on the verge of closure due to a conservation intervention by Wildlife First in the Supreme Court of India.

Bhagwathi before voluntary rehabilitation

Bhagwathi after the land was reqlinquished to the forest department

The idea of a transparent voluntary resettlement project driven by private donor funds was first initiated in 1998 by Ullas Karanth, Director, WCS India Program. During extensive discussions, the eight families from Bhagwathi explained the problems they faced and expressed their willingness to move out of the national park if a suitable compensation package was offered.

On their explicit willingness to move out, WCS agreed to financially support them through an innovative package that provided financial compensation for their houses and for buying alternative agricultural land outside the national park. This effort was made possible through private donations from Vikram Nagaraj, a member of Wildlife First, with matching grants from the Seattle based software giant Microsoft Corporation where Vikram works. The compensation cheques which came directly in the name of the eight beneficieries were handed over in presence of the Forest Department.

Wildlife First and Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation motivated and helped the families find suitable alternative agricultural land outside the national park. The Karnataka Forest Department provided them logistical support. All the families after dismantling their houses shifted out of Kudremukh National Park in March 2003 along with their cattle. The encroached land has once again been merged into the Kudremukh National Park and is being protected by the forest department.

The successful implementation of this innovative solution demonstrates the potential of this approach to permanently resolve conflicts by spatially separating humans and wildlife; eliminate habitat fragmentation and deliver genuine social justice to people volunteering to move out. This emerging model is replicable in several wildlife reserves in India through partnerships between governments, NGOs and international donors.