Tiger Cell in Parambikulam to boost conservation plans

Deccan Chronicle , Saturday, September 14, 2013
Correspondent : R. Ayyappan
Thiruvananthapuram: The forest department has formed a tiger cell in the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve for the implementation of the 10-year Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP). This is the first time a tiger cell has been formed in the state.

The Rs 60-crore TCP, which contains strategies for reserve management and was submitted in 2011, was approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on March 24, 2013. The preamble of the TCP states that it intends to “promote conservation of tiger, co-predators and prey species of tiger at landscape level and sustainable use of natural resources by communities and stakeholders.”

The constitution of the five-member tiger cell was proposed in the Security Plan of the TCP. It will be chaired by the field director (project Tiger),wildlife circle, Palakkad.

The basic functions of the cell are protection and intelligence gathering. This will include the monitoring of cases related to tiger and leopard poaching and identification and rectification of land-use policies that affect tiger and its prey habitats.

Parambikulam reserve, which lies south of the Palakkad gap in the Anamalai Hills of the Western Ghats, is one of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots. It is spread over 4,705 sq km, 3,225.73 sq km of which are in Kerala.

The core area of the reserve in Kerala comes to 390.89 sq km, the buffer zone 252.77 sq km, and adjacent areas 2,582 sq km. There are nearly 30 tigers in the reserve area.

The reserve is highly fragile. There are 473 species of flowering plants which are endemic to Western Ghats in the area. Among the recorded species, 145 are categorised under ‘critical conservation status.'

Of these, 40 are endangered, 38 vulnerable, 49 rare, and the remaining come under other categories. There are also healthy populations of gaur and lion-tailed macaques in the reserve.

 
SOURCE : http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130914/news-current-affairs/article/tiger-cell-parambikulam-boost-conservation-plans
 


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