How is Tamil Nadu Pioneering Tiger Conservation Beyond Reserve Boundaries?
The state is pushing tiger conservation beyond reserve boundaries. In 2022, the forest department acquired 38.5 acres of private land near Megamalai to create a corridor linking it to the Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve (SMTR).
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Other strategies include acquiring more land with consent, extending M-Stripe monitoring to spillover and human-inhabited areas, removing invasives, involving local communities, tapping eco-development funds and recruiting more than 1,900 forest staff.
In a first for south India, Tamil Nadu's forest department acquired 38.5 acres of patta land within a potential tiger corridor in Megamalai Reserve Forest in Theni district, says Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, environment, climate change, and forests.
'It involved acquiring land in a potential tiger corridor within a tiger reserve.'
The land, owned by several farmers, was annexed under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, 2013, through private negotiations in 2022 and the process was completed by March 2024 with a sanctioned amount of Rs 2.3cr.
'Such patta lands, from small plots to large estates, are difficult for farmers to manage due to labour shortages, poor access, wildlife threats and encroachment,' says Sahu.
'This landmark acquisition has urged more landowners to come forward. About 60 farmers have come forward to give 848 acres in the Megamalai region. Those are under consideration.'
The Megamalai region has a unique land tenure system, says S Anand, field director of SMTR. 'A significant portion of the tiger reserve was once the core of various zamindari systems. About 13,000 acres within the reserve are owned by different people.
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Also, some of these remote areas were historically hotspots for ganja cultivation, though this has declined. It makes monitoring complex.'
The land acquisition is vital for tiger and elephant migration, says Anand. 'Reducing human presence in these corridors ensures safer wildlife movement. If acquisitions are expedited, more landowners may step forward and this will help build undisturbed habitats and manage the reserve in a more holistic way, from wildlife conservation to water resource protection.'
One recent application, he adds, involves more than 270 acres, the largest yet.
Rakesh Kumar Dogra, principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden, calls it 'positive success story', and adds that there are more strategies in place.
Wildlife conflicts have reduced due to community support, he says. 'But tiger numbers have slightly increased across reserves and are now spilling into the Nilgiris, Coimbatore and Erode divisions, raising future conflict concerns.'
Dogra says that in Tamil Nadu there are no conflicts with tigers but the department is planning strategies beyond designated reserves, including acquiring corridor lands with consent and extending M-Stripe monitoring to spillover and human-adjacent areas.
'Corridors allow sub-adult tigers to find and establish territory within a reserve. Tigers with stronger genes often succeed in displacing older ones or claiming new areas.
The displaced older tigers, along with younger ones still searching, use these corridors to move into adjacent forest reserves. In the wild, it's survival of the fittest.'
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) too is focusing on monitoring tigers outside of designated tiger reserves (TOTR), particularly in areas beyond protected zones.
'Strengthening anti-depredation efforts in spillover regions will help prevent conflict and protect tigers outside reserves from poaching.
Since Tiger Foundation coverage is limited, eco-tourism funds will support conservation,' say officials. 'We've also extended M-Stripe's digital patrol monitoring beyond tiger reserves.'
Patrolling teams now use mobile devices to digitally log their routes and report wildlife kills, ensuring vulnerable zones are covered and data is relayed in real time to control rooms. 'Buffer areas help promote coexistence.
Beyond these buffer areas, there are critical tiger corridors that connect different habitats, and their integrity must be maintained. In buffer areas, activities such as tourism and eco-tourism are permissible, along with eco-development.
A landscape approach is more important than focusing on a single tiger reserve,' says Dogra. Most tiger-populated areas in Tamil Nadu are already part of reserves, with all five reserve boundaries now digitised.
To restore natural vegetation and support prey species, the forest department is now removing invasives such as Lantana, Senna spectabilis, and Prosopis juliflora. 'We hope to eliminate Senna from forests by Oct,' says Dogra, adding that efforts outside forests will involve local communities to reduce human-animal conflict. Lantana is being repurposed into marketable products. 'But restoration is a long-term process.
The department has also recruited 1,947 people ranging from forest watchers to foresters.'
July 29, International Tiger Day
Core to corridor
*Tamil Nadu is home to 331 tigers
*An adult tiger needs at least 50 large kills (sambar or gaur) in a year
*The core area of a tiger reserve is always inviolate
*The buffer zone is critical to the core area
*Tiger corridors are critical in connecting different habitats for the exchange of genes
Tiger count
Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve: 5
Anaimalai Tiger Reserve: 16
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve: 165
Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve: 33
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve: 112
Nepal tried a safe zone too
Extending tiger habitats will increase human-tiger encounters and territorial fights in the short term, says K Ramesh, scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India.
'Long term, a shift from reserve-based to landscape-level conservation is essential. We see more conflict in India because we have 70% of the global population of tigers, and the largest population in the Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats complex.'
He adds that Nepal faced similar issues and used social forestry to reconnect fragmented habitats. 'It was successful to some extent. But with increasing tiger populations, the big cats are seen at higher altitudes, in the Himalayas too.'
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