India Environment Portal

The Supreme Court has temporarily stayed an order of the Madras High Court, asking resort owners near Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu to vacate the land. In April, the high court had given resort owners three months to hand over the land with them to the state to pave the way for an elephant corridor in the Nilgiri mountains. The corridor would connect Mudumalai to the Sathyamangalam forests in the east of the Segur plateau.

Just mention the large brown-and-white bird and the residents of Mardi village in Solapur burst out in anger. The district in Maharashtra is one of the few refuges for the rare Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), endemic to the grasslands of India and Pakistan. Of the 30-35 birds remaining in Maharashtra, Solapur’s grasslands support the largest population—25. But residents are not keen to protect the bird, called maldhok locally, because they perceive the Great Indian Bustard sanctuary as the stumbling block to the region’s development.

A well-calculated compensation plan eases relocation pain of forest dwellers from the core area of Melghat Tiger Reserve. It’s not the kind of relocation story that one usually hears. Early last year three villages were uprooted from their traditional land in the core area of the Melghat Tiger Reserve to make way for free movement of the big cat. They did not protest, and walked away with their belongings and herds of cattle.

At Pakke Tiger Reserve, Nandini Velho learns how a hunting tribe can be partner in conservation.