MEE TR Web Portal

Introduction

Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) is one of the initial nine tiger reserves declared during 1973 under "Project Tiger" and encompasses a total area of 2584.89 km², of which 1699.62 km² has been declared the Critical Tiger Habitat (core area) and 885.27 km² has been declared the buffer area. The tiger reserve comprises Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary (362.40 km²), Sundarban National Park (1330.10 km²) and reserve forest area (892.43 km²). Under the provision of Wildlife (Protection) Act, the Critical Tiger Habitat CTH was notified vide West Bengal Govt. GO no. 6028-For, Dt 18.12.07. STR is located in the state of West Bengal in South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas districts. The reserve lies between the latitudes 21° 31′ N and 22° 31′ N and between longitudes 88° 10′ E and 89° 51′ E. There are fringe villages all along the northern boundary of the Tiger Reserve. On the eastern boundary lies Bangladesh separated by the rivers Kalindi, Raimangal and Harinbhanga. On the western boundary lies the territorial Division of 24-Parganas South and towards the south lies Bay of Bengal. The headquarters of Sundarban Tiger Reserve are located at Canning Town, South 24-Parganas District. The Sealdah South Suburban Rail station is 46 km. from Canning. The Reserve can be approached by road from the nearest airport Kolkata up to embarkment points at Dhamakhali (80 km), Sonakhali (90 km), Godkhali ((120 km), and Jharkhali (100 km). From these points, the Reserve is approachable by waterway only.

The Tiger Reserve is headed by the Field Director who is in charge of the overall administration of both the core and buffer area. He is assisted by the Deputy Field Director and two Assistant Field Directors. The entire area has been divided into 4 (four) territorial and 8 (eight) functional Ranges. The Territorial Ranges include Basirhat Range, Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary Range, National Park (West) Range and National Park (East) Range. These 4 Territorial Ranges have 17 Territorial Beats/Stations. During MEE visit Sri Tapas Das, IFS was the Field Director and Sri Jones Justin, IFS was the Deputy Field Director of STR.

Sundarban is the largest mangrove delta of the world and encompasses over hundreds of islands, with a maze of innumerable rivers, rivulets, and creeks. The name ‘Sundarban’ means "beautiful forest" and it is believed to be derived from a mangrove tree species ‘Sundari’ (Heritiera fomes). The Indian Sundarban (consisting of STR and part of 24 South Pragana Division) is the southernmost part of the estuarine delta formed by the River Ganges and Brahmaputra, bordering the Bay of Bengal. It is a part of global recognized Sundarban Biosphere Reservedeclared in the year 1989. It constitutes over 60% of the total mangrove forest area in the entire county and has 90% of the total Indian mangrove species. These comprise of true mangroves or major elements, minor elements of mangroves or and mangrove associates, back mangrove trees and shrubs, non-halophytic non-mangrove associates in the area, halophytic herbs, shrubs, and weeds and epiphytic and parasitic plants. The mangrove forests act as a natural shelter belt and protect the hinterland from storms, cyclones, tidal surges, sea water seepage and intrusion. The mangroves serve as nurseries to shell fish and fin-fishes and sustain the coastal fisheries of the entire eastern coast. The National Park area of the STR is a Natural "World Heritage Property" of UNESCO declared in the year 1985.

As per the 2018 AITE the tiger numbers in STR is 87. The principal prey species of the tiger are spotted deer, wild boar, and Rhesus macaque who also swim across the streams and water channels. In addition, it also feeds upon fish, crab and water monitor. The Tiger Reserve is also home to a large number of endangered and globally threatened species like the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) and estuarine crocodile (Crocodilus porosus), Gangetic (Platanista gangetica) and Irrawady (Oracella brevirostris) Dolphin, King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) etc. It harbours significant population of River Terrapin (Batagar baska) and provides the nesting ground of Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) and Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). There is a very good diversity of avian fauna. It is known as a kingfisher’s paradise as out of the 12 species of kingfishers found in the country eight species are found here. Two species of horse shoe crabs (Tachypleus gigas and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) out of the four species found in the world are found here.

South 24 Pragana Division has good tiger population having similar mangrove Tiger Habitat, comprised of 3 tiger bearing ranges, namely Raidighi, Ramganga and Matla. The Matla river is the boundary with STR and tigers move both ways across the river. This along with Bangladesh forms the Sundarbans land scape, which has been classified as a Tiger Conservation Landscape of global priority. It supports a significant tiger population. STR as well as the adjacent South 24 Parganas Forest Division have received International CATS (Conservation Assured Tiger Standards) accreditation. The eco-tourism in STR is confined to Basirhat Range and parts of SWLS Range and NPW Range, in a total area of 911.96 km². Over the years there has been an exponential rise in the number of people visiting the TR. More than 2-3 lakhs people visit the STR annually.

Management Strengths:

Sundarbans Tiger Reserve (STR), a part of Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve, a World Natural Heritage Site of UNESCO and a Ramsar Site is a unique landscape and is the only TR, with mangrove habitat.
STR’s core and buffer area is completely free from human settlements and provides an excellent inviolate space for tiger conservation.
A network of well-equipped land-based/floating forest protection camps with watercraft, use of technology and good coordination with other law enforcement agencies have ensured the STR free from any poaching incident in the past four years.
Compliance with NTCA guidelines, community participation, online booking and proximity to Kolkata has made ecotourism viable and well-managed.
Conservation breeding program of critically endangered brackish water-dwelling Northern River Terrapin (Batagur baska) and its release with satellite telemetry devices to understand their behaviour and ecology, with an objective to re-wilding them, is an important ecological intervention by STR.
Erecting the nylon mesh fencing, towards the northern boundary of STR having an interface with villages in a stretch of 90 km. out of 106 km., is an important initiative, which has checked the HWC, especially with tigers considerably.
STR landscape is free from invasive weeds and therefore provides a healthy habitat for wildlife conservation.

Management Weaknesses:

More than 50 % of the staff vacancies continue to be there and age group distribution of staff indicates more than 50 % of the staff have the age of 50 years or above. Working conditions in the STR are tough and challenging and therefore sufficient staff is required. It is imperative to go for special recruitment without further delay.
Training-wise and staff-wise detailed information/database for all the training given to the personnel of TR is not available
Documents/records on the detailed assessment of threats, preparation of score cards and mapping are not been properly archived and analyzed.
Despite the human-tiger conflict mitigation measures, cases of tiger straying are being reported in some areas, causing panic among the local people. Reasons for every such incident should be analyzed to understand the possible causes leading to them.
Though there is coordination between the paramilitary forces of India and Bangladesh on international boundary matters, a similar arrangement is needed between the forest departments of the two sides for the issues of forest and wildlife protection & management. There is already a proposal in this regard, the same may be followed up further by NTCA/MoEF with Home Department.
There are 26 JMFCs (EDCs) in villages abutting the buffer area of STR. These committees are active and conducting AGMs regularly but presently do not have any micro plans in force. As various livelihood issues dominate in the area, micro plans may be prepared/revised, early by involving the line departments and village panchayats. It will help in holistically addressing the interests of local communities and ensuring their willing support for the cause of conservation.
Generally, the life of nylon nets, used for erecting the fencing along the interface areas of the HWC is reported to be three years. But in the absence of any system in place, to retrieve and dispose of the worn out/decomposed/disused nylon nets, such plastic wastes may cause pollution/threat to aquatic/marine fauna.
To cover all the creeks and the entire periphery in the STR, patrolling efficiency of frontline staff should be strengthened by increasing floating camps and providing boats. Infrastructure in sensitive areas should be strengthened. For monitoring/mapping of such areas, drones may be used.
STR landscape is very productive and highly dynamic. Lack of multi-disciplinary institutional framework, with concerned organizations/institutions to monitor and evaluate the various climatic, morphological, and ecological parameters like erosion of islands, formation of mud flats (char areas), increasing salinity/sea level, succession process/pattern of plants and communities etc. and to document it constantly, needs attention.
Present system of complaints and their processing in the public domain needs to be more responsive to achieve the management objectives.
There are a large number of private resorts around the STR but to encourage, eco-friendly and local community-friendly best practices (like having green infrastructure, supporting the local community for livelihood, following STR rules etc.) their access to eco-tourism in STR may be linked/incentivized to their compliance/follow-up to such practices. A system of scoring in matrix form and evaluation may be worked out as per the local requirement.

Immediate Actionable Points:

Staff recruitment is a major issue and has been pending for a long time. The same may be taken up on top priority at least for existing vacancies in the STR.
As training-wise and staff wise detailed information/database for all the pieces of training given to the personnel of TR is not available. it is essential to immediately prepare a staff-wise database of each and every staff as well as every training program conducted in the STR.
Documents/records on the detailed assessment of threats, preparation of score cards and mapping need to be properly archived and analyzed continuously/at regular intervals.
The reason for tiger straying needs to be investigated.. Mapping of all such spots needs to be taken up and data to be analyzed.
In view of the security concerns in STR, the existing proposal for constituting special Tiger Protection in STR may be followed up.
Action may be taken to retrieve/remove and scientifically dispose of, of decomposed/worn out/disused nylon net from the islands.
Action may be taken to include all casual workers in e-ashram and Ayushman Yojana.
Important research project of TCF for developing a voluntary carbon market for STR to estimate average annual carbon reduction with TERI and NTCA, may be taken up as per the MoU.
As the Security Audit is due, the same may be taken up.
Exercise of completing the micro plans of JMFCs by involving line departments and village panchayats may be completed in a time-bound manner.
A responsive system, in the public domain, needs to be in place with periodic submission of reports/returns on receipt of complaints/its processing/action taken and review. This will help in achieving the management objectives.
As flagged earlier, NTCA/MoEF & CC, may follow up on the matter with the Home Department for arranging the Forest Department level regular contact/meeting between the two countries (with Bangladesh) for the protection of forests and wildlife. It will strengthen the existing measures including the sharing of information across the international border.
As tourism is growing rapidly, there is a number of issues related to it, like improper disposal of garbage, oil pollution, and sound pollution crowding at tourist spots, which are to be addressed at the earliest. Infrastructure like roads, electricity, drinking water and jetties also have to be developed additionally to cater to the increased need for tourism.
A survey on the socio-economic impact of the interventions made by the forest department in the JMFCs and SHGs under STR is done by IBRAD in 2019. The STR should act upon the findings and recommendations of the Survey.
Although on the official website of the STR number of various past offence cases and seizures etc. of Sundarbans Tiger Reserve has been uploaded from 2010-11 to 2016-17, yet the information for the current period from 2017-18 to 2021-22 is not available. Not only do these data have to be uploaded immediately, but also all information in the site should be updated continuously.

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Sundarbans Tiger Reserve

Introduction

Management Strengths:

Management Weaknesses:

Immediate Actionable Points:

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