Tigers, Forests, & Communities: Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is working towards safeguarding the tiger corridors in the CIL through an integrated approach that lays equal emphasis on both local communities and forests.
Tigers, Forests, & Communities: Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is working towards safeguarding the tiger corridors in the CIL through an integrated approach that lays equal emphasis on both local communities and forests.

Tigers, Forests, & Communities

Tigers, Forests & Communities

Tigers, Forests, & Communities: Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is working towards safeguarding the tiger corridors in the CIL through an integrated approach that lays equal emphasis on both local communities and forests.

The Central Indian Landscape (CIL), spanning eight states, is a key tiger landscape. Within the CIL the forest areas in eastern Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh are among the most critical tiger habitats essential for the long-term viability of tigers. These areas are crucial as the Protected Areas in these regions are connected with each other through viable corridors, facilitating tiger movement between them. Some of these corridors also harbour a resident breeding tiger population.

WCT - TIGERS, FORESTS, & COMMUNITIES - An aerial view of the mosaic multiple-use landscape in Chandrapur.
An aerial view of the mosaic multiple-use landscape in Chandrapur.

These corridors are multiple-use areas where the local communities depend on forest resources and thus have been subjected to high anthropogenic pressures. This human dependence combined with tiger presence leads to profuse interactions between communities, forests, and tigers. Negative interactions, commonly termed as conflict, can vary from a tiger being sighted inside a village to injury caused to livestock to loss of human life.

WCT - TIGERS, FORESTS, & COMMUNITIES - Camera trap images of firewood collection and tiger movement in the same forest
Camera trap images of firewood collection and tiger movement in the same forest.

Main drivers of human-tiger conflict:

Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is working towards safeguarding the tiger corridors in the CIL through an integrated approach that lays equal emphasis on both local communities and forests. WCT is currently working in the Tadoba-Umred corridor and Tadoba-Kawal corridor in Maharashtra, and the Kanha-Pench corridor in Madhya Pradesh, to identify critical villages based on tiger presence, and implement activities to reduce human dependence on the forest, thereby reducing human-large carnivore conflict and restoring tiger habitats.

WCT - TIGERS, FORESTS, & COMMUNITIES - Audience at the edutainment programme in Tekari village part of Greater Tadoba Landscape. The programmes held at night attract people of all age groups and is attended in large numbers. The artists performing the play are well known belonging to the local theatre industry called Jhadi Patti industry.
Audience at the edutainment programme in Tekari village part of Greater Tadoba Landscape. The programmes held at night attract people of all age groups and is attended in large numbers. The artists performing the play are well known belonging to the local theatre industry called Jhadi Patti industry.
WCT - TIGERS, FORESTS, & COMMUNITIES - Water heater being distributed to beneficiaries by village representatives, teams of Pench Tiger Reserve and WCT at Darasi Kalan, a buffer village in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.
Water heater being distributed to beneficiaries by village representatives, teams of Pench Tiger Reserve and WCT at Darasi Kalan, a buffer village in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.
Tigers, Forests, & Communities: Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) is working towards safeguarding the tiger corridors in the CIL through an integrated approach that lays equal emphasis on both local communities and forests.
Location

Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh

Vision

To ensure quality habitat for tigers along with reducing the dependence of the local communities on forest resources.

Conservation Challenge
  • The Central Indian Landscape, spread across eight states, is one of India’s key tiger landscapes.
  • These corridors are multiple-use areas where the local communities depend on forest resources and thus have been subjected to high anthropogenic pressures.
  • The forest areas in eastern Maharashtra and southern Madhya Pradesh are among the most critical tiger habitats essential for the long-term viability of tiger populations. The Protected Areas in these regions are connected to each other through viable corridors, facilitating tiger movement between them.
  • High human dependence, combined with tiger presence in a space-and-resource-limited system, leads to profuse interactions between communities, forests, and tigers, which often escalate into conflict.

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