Every rupee spent on the management of tiger reserves in the country brought in indirect benefits worth Rs 346 to Rs 7,488 within and outside the protected areas, as per the findings of a Government study which analysed 10 of India’s 50 big cat habitats. Most of the benefits have been indirect.
For instance, noted the report “Economic valuation of tiger reserves in India: A value + approach,” a series of reservoirs and weirs have been constructed in and around Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), which is blessed with 15 rivers and 64 streams and has various rivers and tributaries, under the multipurpose Parimbukulam Aliyar, Amaravathi and Kadamparai projects. These reservoirs supply water to residents of Coimbatore and Tirrupur districts of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala and generate approximately 589 MW of electricity annually.
Or for that matter, the report pointed out that population of around 1,00,000 is dependent on water supply from the Srisailam Dam in Andhra Pradesh’s Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve and about 1.2 million gallons of purified water is supplied per day to nearby Srisailam town.
It was noted that the 10 tiger reserves Anamalai (Tamil Nadu), Bandipur (Karnataka), Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh), Melghat (Maharashtra), Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh), Pakke (Arunachal Pradesh), Palamu (Jharkhand), Panna (Madhya Pradesh), Similipal (Odisha), and Valmiki (Bihar) whose economic valuation was carried out offer protection from disease, predators and parasites, which is an avoided cost in the range of Rs 7.7 crore to Rs 24.15 crore.
These are just a few benefits among several that the tiger reserves are providing to the community, said NTCA member secretary Anup K Nayak. He said, needless to say forests are source of fresh and clean water. In addition to providing clean water, forests also absorb rainfall, timber produce, employment, herbs used for medicinal purpose, refill groundwater aquifers, slow and filter stormwater runoff, reduce floods and maintain watershed stability and resilience besides natural healing for mental peace.”
The report which was released recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi estimated that together these 10 tiger reserves surveyed provide annual tangible and intangible benefits worth Rs 5,96,502.14 crore while the monetary value from these surveyed protected habitats ranged from Rs 5,094.91 crore to Rs 16,202.11 crore annually.
Jointly published by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Indian Institute of Forest Management, (IIFM) Bhopal, the study analysed that monetary benefits of Rs 346.7 were realised from and within Maharashtra’s Melghat tiger reserve per year, while for the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve every rupee spent on management costs brought benefits of Rs 7,488.60.
While Union Environment Secretary CK Mishra said the study provides rationale for continued and enhanced investment in these reserves, Nayak added the monetary benefits obviously are neither direct nor in physical terms.
The findings of the study are significant amidst frequent ongoing debate on development vs environment, more so after Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently said in Parliament “a poor country” must decide how far it can go in spending public money to protect environment and balance out development needs. He was replying to a question from Congress MP K Suresh who asked if the Minister would consider building underpasses on the National Highway between Mysuru and Wayanad to protect tigers in the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary on the lines of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
However, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar term the tiger reserves as ‘engines of economic growth’ as they provide a host of ecosystem services which are of significant value as has been reflected in the report.
“Tigers being apex predators, their presence in an ecosystem indicates towards a well-functioning and balanced food chain. As Tigers require a large area of contiguous forest cover for home and a good prey base for survival, by protecting them we can also ensure the protection of other species. That is why they are also called as “umbrella” species, said Madhu Verma from IIFM.
Among the 10 reserves, MP’s Panna tiger reserve provided tangible and intangible benefits of Rs 67.14 crore and Rs 20,632.95 crore respectively, the lowest of economic benefits from all ten reserves studied. The highest tangible and intangible benefits worth Rs 34.33 crore and Rs 1,09,664.82 crore respectively were from Jharkhand’s Palamu tiger reserve.
The report asserts that tiger reserves provide a host of ecosystem services which are of significant value in a time when countries are investing heavily in climate change adaptation and mitigation as it looked at tangible and intangible flow benefits that result from investment in these habitats, including employment generation, fishing, fodder, fuelwood, carbon sequestration, water provisioning, water purification, sediment retention/soil conservation.
The other benefits that were analysed included nutrient retention, biological control, pollination, gas regulation, climate regulation, gene pool protection, moderation of extreme events, cultural heritage, recreation, spiritual tourism, and much more.