Huli Nodi Dia – Did you spot a tiger?

Huli nodi dia? goes the common refrain in the tiger territory of Bandipur, Karnataka. The ESF research team visited this picturesque wilderness area in the 1^st week of November, 2011, as this is one of the study sites for estimating demand for nature based tourism. This study is funded by South Asian Network for Development and Environment Economics (SANDEE).

Bandipur Tiger Reserve (TR) as notified under Project Tiger covers an area of 880 sq. km and is contiguous with the Nagarahole National Park in its north-west; the Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu to its south and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary to its south-west in Kerala. These four PAs together constitute the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve complex with tiger population in the range of 207-327 (mean= 267) covering an area of 9000 square kilometres of landscape. This area has one of the highest densities of tigers in the country.

Like any other protected area in the country, Bandipur too is plagued with many challenges and one of them is the increasing pressure of tourism (recording a 19.14% growth rate in tourist visitation) as evident from this graph below:

Institutional strengthening

To deal with the burgeoning population, associated issues of livelihoods of fringe communities around the TR and increased demand for tourism from the growing middle class, the state government has shifted to a new model of management for the TRs. They have established Tiger Conservation Foundation in Bandipur under Section 38X of the Wildlife (Protection) Act as amended in 2006. This Foundation founded in 2008 facilitates and supports management for conservation of tiger and biodiversity and takes initiatives in eco-development by involving people in such development process. The USP of the Foundation is that the finances generated within the TR from tourism activities stays within the TR (as opposed to the earlier system of all the revenue flowing to the state exchequer). Under this Foundation the following activities were undertaken at an expenditure of INR 155 lakhs in the year 2010-11.

1. Maintenance of Eco-tourism area including the visitor’s facilities in the National Park.
2. Infrastructure development and maintenance
3. Maintenance and repair of roads in Critical Tiger Habitat area
4. Anti-poaching activities
5. Eco-development activities in the fringe villages of the tiger reserve

Carrying Capacity

In keeping with MoEF’s guidelines on ecotourism (2011) and their directives on limiting the tourist numbers in line with a park’s carrying capacity, the TR’s management at Bandipur has worked out a Tourist Carrying Capacity (TCC) figure based on a complex formula built upon a bio-economic model. To this end, the Karnataka Forest Department has implemented the following series of measures to curtail tourist footfalls to ensure low-impact tourism and maintain ecological integrity of the TR

• Limit on vehicles – only 21 vehicles/day allowed into buffer zone
• Revision of entrance fees rates (INR 300 from INR 95)
• Restriction on type of vehicles (only govt. buses or Jungle Lodges and Resort (JLR) jeeps to be allowed for safari purposes)

Whether these policy changes bring about the intended change and help in achieving the twin goals of conservation of tigers in the reserve while maintaining tourism at sustainable levels remains to be seen.

Reference:

Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. (2011). Guidelines for Ecotourism in and around Protected Areas. New Delhi.

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C.R.Sivapradha is a researcher with the Environmentally Sustainable Finance (ESF) group at CDF. Her research interests include benchmarking sustainability, climate policy and environmental economics.