Multiple cheetah deaths in Kuno raise questions about habitat limits, prey scarcity, and management. A data-driven look at the challenges facing India’s cheetah project T wo back-to-back cheetah deaths—one from a suspected collision inside the forest and another caused by a speeding vehicle—have once again pushed the spotlight onto the ambitious yet troubled cheetah introduction project in Kuno National Park . While officials have issued preliminary statements, the absence of publicly released post-mortem and investigation reports related to the past such cases has deepened concerns about transparency at a time when clarity is essential. The recent incidents highlight the ecological and management challenges that continue to shape the project’s uncertain trajectory. Each Loss Is Significant Setback On December 5, Friday, one of Veera’s cubs recently released into the open forest, died after reportedly separating from its mother. Just two days later, on December 7, another young cheetah...
When Panna was included as the 12th Biosphere Reserve (BR), it was yet another recognition to its critical tiger reserve facing threat from a river linking project and Bunelkhand’s unique ecosystem. “UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme today (October 29) included Panna in India and Fuvahmulah and Addu Atoll (both islands) in the Maldives, to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves'', the UNESCO website said.
Sustainability: Hope for the Planets
If
we can make sustainability work at a local level, and scientifically document
how it works, perhaps there is hope for the planet. That is the task UNESCO’s
Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) was
given by its Member States 49 years ago, ’the website quoted ,Guy Broucke, head
of Natural Sciences, UNESCO New Delhi.
Introducing Panna as the new BR, the UNESCO said “Located in the centre
of India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Panna is characterized by forests and
marshy vegetation, with an abundance of rare medicinal plants as well as other
non-timber forestry products, such as Kattha, gum and resins. It is a critical
tiger habitat area and hosts the Panna Tiger Reserve, as well as the World
Heritage site of the Khajuraho Group of Monuments. The area has undergone
substantial ecosystem restoration in the buffer zone. With only three urban
centres and over 300 villages, agriculture is the main source of income,
together with horticulture, forestry, and cultural and eco-tourism.”
A Big Question over Ken Betwa Project Again
The
first reaction of environmentalists after this acknowledgement is : How would
it affect the controversial Ken-Betwa
link project (KBLP) , especially in view of the issues raised by the Central
Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court in a case related to the project
on
August 30 last year. It
questioned the basis on which wildlife clearance was granted to it. Punching holes in the green clearances given
to (KBLP), proposed right inside the
Panna tiger reserve, by the Union
ministry of environment, the CEC of the apex court raised questions about the
basic viability of the project. The
report reveals that sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to the
Ken-Betwa project have not been considered and the project will impact wildlife
like tiger and gharial, whose populations are threatened. The report also noted
that felling of over two million trees for the project would be a severe loss
and compensatory planting would not be able to recreate existing riverine and
forest ecosystems. An estimated Rs. 280
billion project involves the construction of a 77 metre high and 2,031 m long
composite dam across river Ken near village Daudhan in Chhatarpur district of
Madhya Pradesh. Once completed, in an estimated nine years, the dam is expected
to provide irrigation facility to 606,980 hectares area, drinking water
facility for 1.4 million (14 lakh) people and generation of 78-megawatt
hydropower. Water will be transferred through a 221-kilometre long Ken-Betwa
Link Canal Phase-l which will be constructed along the left bank of the river
Ken. The project is also expected to result in submergence of over 9,000
hectares of area and out of that 5,803 hectares is in the Panna Tiger Reserve
(PTR).
Also read: Protect This Wildlife Corridor to Save the Ganges
The first river -linking project of India involving the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh envisages a transfer of surplus water from river Ken’s basin to river Betwa’s basin to provide water in areas in the upper Betwa basin that are facing acute water shortage. That Ken basin is water –surplus is always contested. Long back, in 2007, a district collector of Panna shot a letter to the then principal secretary of water resources department and said,” I will not hesitate to say that the first line itself of the feasibility report prepared by the National Water Development Agency is faulty. To say that the Ken Basin is a “Water Surplus” basin is not only totally erroneous, it holds disastrous implications for the residents of Panna district as also other districts of the Ken river basin.”
Questioning the “appropriateness of the wildlife clearances” given to the project , Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams Rivers and people (SANDRP ) also questioned its “viability, optimality and desirability”. SANDRP is a network of organisations and individuals working on issues related to the water sector, specifically associated with large dams. Thakkar also hoped that “the government wakes up to the reality and shelves the project and immediately goes for more viable, quicker, cost-effective and less damaging options for Bundelkhand”
Politics Pushes Environmental Issues to Backburner
Meanwhile
politicians, especially those linked with the party in power keep raising the
issue and talk about its speedy
implementation. Amidst protests from some members of MP State Wildlife Board, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2015
as CM ensured that it gets
the board’s nod. A book on tiger crisis ,‘ BREATHLESS” –‘ Hunted and Hounded,
the Tiger Runs for Its life’ reveals the
inside story of the Board meeting. “One of the
non-official members of the Board
said that the nation will have to choose between the project and the
park, ”the book written by a Bhopal based journalist said. Chouhan opted for
the project. Recently in an election
meeting in Badamalehara ,Chouhan sought
the help of Uma Bharti to coordinate a
meeting with his UP counterpart . Chouhan said that he would have a
meeting with the chief minister of UP
demanding more water for Madhya Pradesh as more land of
the state would be submerged . Though Panna BR is much more than the
Panna tiger reserve, the issue of KBLP
comes naturally. Panna BR area includes ecologically rich forest pockets of
north, south forest divisions, and the
protected areas of Panna district and forest division of Chhatarpur district.
Panna BR ,notified by the ministry of environment and forest on August 25, 2011, represents a unique
ecosystem within a narrow belt of table top mountains of ‘Vindhyan hill ranges’ and part of
‘Bundelkhand’ region. This includes the traditional agro-ecosystems, dry
deciduous forests of Teak, Salai, Kardhai, bamboo and mixed types of
forests. The BR includes 3 protected
areas Panna national park, Gangau and
Ken-Gharial sanctuaries. The Panna BR consists of three well delineated
zones- 792.53 square kms of core area ,989.20 sq kms of buffer and 1219.25 km
sq kms of transition zones . After Pachmarhi and Amarkantak BRs, Panna is third
in the series highlighting the significance of forests in Madhya Pradesh. But
they need to be preserved and protected. And our politicians need to be
enlightened over the importance of forests and environment.
Banner picture : Tiger on a rock in Ken river inside Panna national park.Source unknown tourist
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