Trees for Tigers

This project plants trees on the fringes of the Similipal National Park in the Mayurbhanj district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority in India has identified a potential link between the migration of wild animals from the Similipal Tiger Reserve to the Satkosia Tiger Reserve and has proposed a corridor. It is a very long corridor but is highly fragmented due to intense mining activities, power stations and a large number of human habitation.

Similipal National Park is also one of the UNESCO’s recognized biosphere reserve and home to a number of endangered species of animals, reptiles, birds and spices of plants and herbs.

Simlipal Tiger Reserve is the only tiger habitat in the world with melanistic tigers, which have broad black stripes running across their bodies and thicker than those seen on normal tigers, so much so that their tawny skin colour is barely visible. The reserve first reported the presence of melanistic tigers in 2007. In 2016, a census carried out by Odisha’s forest department in the reserve only found six melanistic tigers (The National Tiger Conservation Authority)

In this context, several local stakeholders conducted which suggested, that the promotion of primary forests becomes essential to maintain the ecological balance as trees help in regulating micro-climates by releasing oxygen and absorbing carbon along with other particulate matters.

Implementing the project aims to generate over many thousand workdays for locals, especially for the local women residents.

The plantation of trees will also help secure and enhance wildlife habitats by providing additional food within the forests for herbivores/omnivores, limiting their movement within the forest ranges, which will reduce crop degradation and incidents of human-wildlife conflict, strengthening a sensitive agriculture-based local economy.

This large-scale tree plantation project will help restoring ecological balance by protecting the soil, improving the river catchment. At least 12 rivers cut across the plain area of this national park where the rainfall ranges from moderate to heavy.

Most of the tribes in this region are settled agriculturists and are supplementing their income by being dependent on various forest resources. This project will give access of local communities to the collection of fuelwood, and another minor forest produces, thereby, also contribute to reviving the traditional conservation cultures.