Assessing the Impacts of Road Network on Wildlife Corridors and Mitigation Measures in Assam : Transportation Against Animal Corridor

Abstract

Protected Area Networks (PA) and Conservation Areas (CA) are very essential for ensuring the conservation of wildlife. However, the connectivity among these protected areas is much more important to ensure the viable population of species. Furthermore, the increase in infrastructural development and human encroachment leading to the fragmentation of forests and the natural habitat of wildlife species. The wildlife corridors are the essential structures to connect the fragmented areas, ensure the viability of the isolated population, restores the genetic variations, corridors also increases the habitat diversity in the two habitat patches that it connects, it provides a passage for migration and also acts as an escape route in cases of fire in one patch. Overall wildlife corridors are structures that are important for conservation. Although these protected areas were not well connected the corridor structures help to maintain the continuity of the area. The state falls under North-East India Biogeographic zones under the Province North-East-East-Brahmaputra Valley (9B), (Rodgers and Panwar 1998). In Assam, there are seven National Parks and twenty Wildlife Sanctuaries occupying the area of 3925+ sq. km, where two are designated as World Heritage site (WHS) which is the highest designation given to the protected area. Out of twenty-seven protected area in Assam, fifteen were bifurcated by road networks and there are total eleven corridors, connects the protected areas, eight corridors were cut at multiple places by roads. These connections of the corridors are essential to maintain the contiguous landscape, which is further essential for maintaining the integrity of the WHS. In this study, I have tried to look at the current status of the wildlife corridor portion bifurcated by the road networks in Assam. The objective of the study is 1) What is the extent of different types of road networks concerning PAs and corridors in the State of Assam? 2) What is the land use pattern near the corridor bifurcated by the road? 3) Characterize the current status of the corridor sites impacted by the road network.