PANAJI
In a significant development, the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has recommended establishing a Goa Tiger Reserve spanning 468.60 sq kms of protected area -- directly contiguous with Karnataka's Kali Tiger Reserve -- in two phases.
In the first phase, the proposed reserve brings together three existing protected areas -- Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, parts of Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park.
However, the committee has notably left out the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary -- having 612 households -- from its recommendation for consideration in the second phase, marking a major setback for ongoing demands to include the region within the proposed tiger reserve framework. The CEC has said that the State government may initiate a process to notify the Tiger Reserve within three months. The top court is set to pass its final order on the report on December 15.
“The Protected Areas of Goa that are directly contiguous with the core of the Kali Tiger Reserve and have relatively few households, namely Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary (50 households) and Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary (41 households), should be considered for inclusion in the first phase of the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve,” CEC recommended.
“Similarly, the Protected Areas contiguous with the buffer of the Kali Tiger Reserve and having minimal human habitation, namely, the northern part of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary (9 households) and Bhagwan Mahavir National Park (2 households), constitute the most feasible and socially least disruptive components for notification as the buffer of the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve in the first phase,” it proposed further.
According to the CEC, their ecological adjacency to the Kali core makes them vital for ensuring landscape-level connectivity and enabling natural dispersal of tigers into Goa.
However, the CEC is of the considerable view that the protected areas with significantly higher numbers of households, such as the southern part of Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary (approximately 560 households) and Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (approximately 612 households), shall not be included in the first phase of the Goa Tiger Reserve.
“These areas would require extensive community consultations, sustained awareness-building, and confidence-generation measures before any decision regarding their inclusion can be taken. Their incorporation, if found appropriate, may be examined in a second phase, after securing local support and adequately addressing livelihood and rehabilitation concerns,” CEC said.
As such, CEC said that the total area proposed for notification as the Goa Tiger Reserve is 468.60 sq. km -- 296.70 sq kms of core and 171.90 sq kms of buffer -- and this area is fully contiguous with the 1,345 sq. km core and buffer of the Kali Tiger Reserve, and together they form an integrated protected landscape of approximately 1,814 sq. km. This contiguity is expected to significantly strengthen landscape-level connectivity and ecological functionality.
“The integration of the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve with this large and established conservation complex will facilitate unhindered tiger movement, ensure genetic and demographic continuity, and support natural dispersal from the source population in Kali,” it said while adding that the State shall initiate the process of notification of the proposed Goa Tiger Reserve, as indicated above, within the next three months.
Church body hails CECs recommendation
The Diocesan Commission for Ecology (DCE) has hailed the Central Empowered Committee’s (CEC) recommendation of the establishment of a Tiger Reserve in Goa.
“The Ecological Justice for Tiger was expected and we hope the Supreme Court will deliver justice once again based on CECs recommendation,” stated DCE Convenor Dr Fr Bolmax Pereira.
“That reassures our trust in our Judiciary and we hope the State government will respect the law of the land.”
