The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is working on new guidelines to boost tiger corridor landscapes in the country. They are trying to get project proponents procure land in and along tiger corridors and develop them as part of compensatory afforestation.
Acknowledging the importance of corridors, Ministry sources said that these patches of forest cover act as crucial links between protected areas help in the dispersal of source populations of tigers / other wildlife reducing chances of inbreeding, bringing about genetic exchange.
The experts in the Ministry said that this time specific guidelines are being drawn up to conserve tiger corridors. For this more of forest land is necessary, and the guidelines aim at incentivizing the project proponents in this regard.
They pointed out that the necessity of forest land in corridors cannot be acquired through law. Unlike the protected area of tiger reserves, national park and wildlife sanctuaries, tiger corridors are not protected legally. Hence, efforts are on to incentivise, the process while preparing guidelines.
Yet, the ecological importance of tiger corridors cannot be undermined and has to be taken into account before clearing projects. The sources further informed as a part of the ongoing exercise, the most crucial corridors are being identified. The project proponents will, henceforth, be encouraged to procure land in the corridor to help in its conservation.
Recently, green activists were up in arms for approvals given to multiple infrastructure projects through Kanha-Pench tiger corridor connecting the forests of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. While the National Highways Authority of India is widening National Highway-7 through this corridor the Gondia-Jabalpur railway doubling will also pass through it.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have identified certain landscape based corridors of the country in a report called - Connecting Tiger Populations for long-Term Conservation.
The report has identified corridors under broad landscapes such as Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plain landscape, Central Indian landscape, Western Ghats landscape complex and North East Hills. As per the report, the Kanha-Pench corridor, Rajaji-Corbett corridor and Nagarhole-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Wayanad corridor are some of the most crucial tiger corridors in the country.