The TRB seeks to grant legal rights to tribals residing in forest till 1980
and up to 2.5 hectares where they are living right now. Government estimates
that two million people live inside forests and some in the core areas of
national parks. The TRB will grant them permanent right to residence in the
forests and independent experts say that a significant part of forest land will
be diverted for granting legal rights to tribals. Their dependence on forests
and economic aspirations are worrying conservationists trying to keep tiger
habitats free from human interference. Further, there is fear that illiterate
and unarmed tribals may be forced out their land by poaching and land mafias
thus subverting the fundamental assumptions of the bill.
The Forest Survey of India reports that Tiger reserves of Nameri, Manas,
Indravati, Buxa and Dampa have showed a significant loss of forest cover while
Bandipur-Nagarhole, Dudhwa-Katarniaghat, Kanha, Pakhui, Palamu and Sundarbans
are also showing declining trends in forest cover. These reserves are under
threat from human habitations within and outside the reserve, encroachment and
cattle grazing. For the first time, the report showed loss of forest in a 10
kilometers (km) radius from the periphery of reserves. Conservationists say
that outer forests health is crucial as it buffers the reserve from external
human pressures therefore enhancing the prey base for wild cats. The report
also said that of the 11 tiger reserves with shrinking forest cover, the worst
ones lost 7 to 45 sq km and the less affected ones by less than 4 sq km.
Detailed analysis has also thrown up natural and unnatural causes for forest
cover change. In the Buxa Tiger Reserve, flooding of the river flowing through
the reserve caused forest decrease during 2000-2002. However, it is not clear
whether the flooding was natural or manmade. In Nameri, Manas, Indravati, Kanha,
and Palamu Tiger Reserves illegal logging and encroachment are seen as primary
reasons for forest cover shrinkage. In Dampa and Pakhui Tiger Reserves,
shifting cultivation is cited as the cause. Change in the course of the Mohana
River is cited as the likely cause for the shrinkage in Dudhwa-Katarniaghat
Tiger Reserve. The decrease in Sundarbans Tiger Reserve was caused by ebb
erosion in Mayadweep Island. A rehabilitation centre inside Bandipur Tiger
Reserve has caused shrinkage in that forest.
The only Reserves that actually grew in forest cover were the ones at
Bandhavgarh, Corbett, Nagarjuna Sagar-Srisailam, Namdapha, and Valmiki where
the forest area has increased by up to 7 sq km.