Jambhulpani, 22^nd May 2024: Wildlife Trust of India, in partnership with the Maharashtra Forest Department, observed the International Day for Biological diversity, 2024, at Sodlagondi-Jambhulpani village yesterday. As part of the celebrations, a short animated movie “Kinara” was screened at Z. P. Primary School in Jambhulpani. Over 70 people from Sodlagondi and Jambhulpani villagescame together for the screening that highlighted the nuances of human-wildlife coexistence, especially in fringe villages along India’s tiger reserves.

The theme for this year’s International Day for Biodiversity ‘Be part of the Plan’ highlights the importance of community support towards the protection of the world’s biodiversity. WTI’s Field Officer Dr. Mahendra Raut delivered a presentation outlining the precautions that need to be taken while working in the agricultural fields as well as when collecting Mahua and Tendu, as a forest resource. The Jambhulpani and Sodlagondi landscape is crucial for the movement of tigers between the Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Nawegaon National Park. Consequently, the forest dependant community have experienced frequent accidental encounters with large carnivores in recent times.

International Day for Biological Diversity 2024 at Jambulpani, NNTR, Maharastra | Photograph by WTI

WTI’s Primary Response Team (PRT) in Sodlagondi has in fact been one of the most successful community interventions towards protecting tigers in the landscape. While incidents involving cattle and livestock deaths caused by big cats have been regularly reported from the Sodlagondi hamlet, the community has acted responsibly by leaving the wildlife undisturbed and avoiding escalation of a conflict situation. They have been duly compensated by the Forest Department for the losses incurred and the smooth resolutions can be attributed to the PRT members who have acted as a bridge between the community and the department.

The Murdholi Gram Panchayat is also known for the first People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) in Maharashtra, a joint effort by the Biodiversity Management Committee of Murdholi Gram Panchayat and Wildlife Trust of India, which provided technical support.

Through community and alternative livelihood interventions, WTI has been effectively reducing human-tiger conflicts and creating safer tiger corridors in the Nagzira-Nawegaon and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserves for nearly a decade now. The future strategy calls for expanding the success to the Nawegaon – Kanha corridor. The team is already working on a number of interventions, including enlisting the aid of the local community, reducing their dependency on the forest, and enhancing the technical capabilities of the forest department to better enforce laws pertaining to animal crimes. This will be reinforced by recognising and resolving threats in the corridor bottlenecks using a variety of ground truthing assessments, creating corridor management plans, and working with neighbourhood grassroots groups known as Green Corridor Champions (GCCs).

Our work strives to ensure the survival of landscapes and ecosystems beyond protected areas, going beyond merely raising the number of tigers. Instead, it focuses on maintaining and improving connections between tiger populations. WTI’s approach is in line with the broader conservation plan of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which acknowledges the value of connections and possible tiger habitats outside of PAs. The project is supported by the Maharastra Forest Department and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Read more about the Central India Tiger Corridor Securement Project here.