Technical Reports
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Item Patterns of Human-Wildlife Conflict in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, India(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2022) Habib, B.; Nigam, P.; Praveen, N.R.; Ravindran, A.Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) is the negative interaction between human or human property and wildlife and is a growing cause for concern among conservationists and scientists globally. Although HWC is a global phenomenon, there are certain differences in its manifestation as well as magnitude in developed versus developing nations. Developed regions of the world exhibit lower levels of direct dependence on forest ecosystems and their resources, as well as exclusionary management of the wildlife habitats. India, being a developing nation, is witness to an increasing intensity of human-carnivore conflict due to the fast-shrinking percentage of forest cover, that act as natural habitats of many carnivore species, due to a combination of factors including human population explosion, agricultural expansion, and large-scale developmental activities, leading to fragmentation and destruction of forest cover all across the country. The Central Indian Landscape (CIL) is one of the regions of high tiger populations and density in India with 6 Tiger Reserves featuring heavily as source populations, including Tadoba Andhari, Pench, Kanha, Satpura, and Melghat Tiger Reserves. But there is a disproportionate decline in forest cover as well as quality, which means that even though the populations of large carnivores are thriving, there isn’t enough pristine forest to support their growing numbers. This eventually leads to a spill-over of the carnivores into surrounding human-dominated landscapes (HDL). This acts as one of the major reasons for the burgeoning number of conflict cases between humans and large carnivores. The Vidarbha Landscape (VL) of the state of Maharashtra is facing a similar decline in forest cover leading to an increase in conflict cases. Records of conflict incidents were collected from the Greater Tadoba Landscape (GTL) which covers the divisions of Brahmapuri, Chandrapur & Central Chanda, along with the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), in the Chandrapur Circle. Using these records, hotspots of livestock depredation and attacks on humans were mapped using a hotspot analysis tool in ArcGIS. Various scientific and non-scientific methods continue to be tested to slow down the increasing rate of HWC across the world. One of the major hurdles in the implementation of a universal mitigation method to curb the number and impact of HWC is the heavy influence of local factors including topography, vegetation, and human demography of the region. This requires an intensive study of the patterns and causes of conflict in a given region. Studying conflict hotspots and understanding the emerging spatial and temporal patterns is a quintessential step in the process of mitigating the HWC of any landscape. An important step in that direction is the establishment of a comprehensive database, which can be used for trend analysis and predictions. The hot spot analysis of human-carnivore conflict for tigers, leopards, and sloth bears enables visualization of the spatial distribution of events of attacks on humans as well as livestock depredation by each species, hence aiding in the development of site-specific management strategies to mitigate the effects of human-carnivore conflictItem Implementing artificial canopy bridges to connect fragmented population of Hoolock gibbon in Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, Assam(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2023) Jha, R.R.S; Zangmo, S.; Gopi, G.V.Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation are two principal threats to most terrestrial biodiversity across ecosystems and geographies. Gibbons are a particularly vulnerable group of primates inhabiting the forests of South and Southeast Asia. Of the 20 gibbon species – all threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN – the endangered Western Hoolock gibbon Hoolock hoolock is the only one found in India inhabiting the forests in the southern bank of the Brahmaputra-Dibang river system. The Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary (HGS) is a small ~21 sq.km Protected Area (PA) in Jorhat, Assam and is one of the species’ stronghold supporting around 125 individuals living in more than two dozen family groups. It is also the only PA in India named after a primate species. Apart from the W. Hoolock gibbon, the Sanctuary also harbours six other primate species – capped langur Trachypithecus pileatus, stump-tailed macaque Macaca arctoides, northern pig-tailed macaque M. leonina, Assamese macaque M. assamensis, rhesus macaque M. mulatta, and Bengal slow loris Nycticebus bengalensis, thereby having the distinction of harbouring the highest primate species diversity for any Indian PA. However, a single track ~1.65 route-km long railway line (currently broad-gauge, but un-electrified as yet) has fragmented the Sanctuary since 1887 into two unequal parts. Over time, the Sanctuary has become a ‘forest island’ having lost connectivity with surrounding forest patches. Since gibbons are exclusively arboreal animals inhabiting the forest upper canopy, they are particularly sensitive to canopy gaps. Gibbon families on both sides of the railway track have, thus, been effectively isolated from each other, thereby compromising their population genetic variability and further endangering their already threatened survival in the HGS. Worldwide, and even in India, several conservation initiatives have attempted bridging such canopy gaps in forests through artificial canopy bridge (ACB) structures to facilitate arboreal species’ movements. The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun was approached by the Divisional Forest Officer, Jorhat (Territorial) Division of the Assam State Forest Department (ASFD) to provide specific design inputs towards the installation of such canopy bridges at the HGS. In this context, this report provides design guidelines and considerations as well as specific location-wise details of seven (07) potential sites within HGS for such canopy bridges installation, following thorough literature survey, field data collection and interaction with stakeholders such as ASFD officials and field staff, railway officials and consultants, and local conservationists. We recognise and emphasise that the design, successful installation and post-installation monitoring of canopy bridges require the involvement of several individuals with professional expertise in fields such as forestry, ecology/primatology, engineering and mountaineering/climbing. Post-installation monitoring of the canopy bridge structures – both behavioural observations of animals around canopy gaps and installed structures as well as through arboreal camera traps to assess bridges’ use – is one of the most important aspect of this project. As is clear, the present un-electrified single-track ~1.65 route-km railway line passing through the HGS has caused distress and posed significant conservation issues to arboreal animals. Hence, a future doubling of the line (if planned) will increase the canopy gap to a large extent and render any conservation interventions (such as ACB installations) futile. Over the longer period of time, it will be best if the status quo is maintained, although electrification of the existing single track may be permitted subject to necessary statutory approvals with appropriate mitigation and compensation measures implemented after detailed investigation of its ecological impacts. Forest regeneration on both sides of the existing track through afforestation activities to gradually enable natural canopy connectivity, adherence of trains to speed limits when passing through HGS and its Eco-Sensitive Zone/wildlife corridors, ensuring landscape connectivity of the isolated ‘forest island’ HGS with neighbouring patches of forests, and rerouting of the existing railway line outside Sanctuary limits, and establishing and supporting low-impact home-stay based ecotourism facilities are some of the longer-term interventions necessary to ensure that W. Hoolock gibbons and other canopy-dwelling species persist and thrive within HGS and in the immediate larger landscape.