Tiger pug mark in river island of Orang Tiger Reserve. © Avishek Sarkar.

This study will identify the existing corridors as well as model the habitat connectivity geospatially, so that conservation plans can be structured accordingly. Identification of wildlife relying on these corridors will help in concentrated conservation and wildlife research activities in this landscape.

Identification of threats to the wildlife populations in the study area will help the concerned authorities to check anthropogenic pressure at ecologically important sites. The regulated activities thus will help in the improvement of wildlife habitats and their populations and decrease the human-wildlife conflict.

The study will generate temporal changes in the riverine landscape using remote sensing data in open-source GIS platform. The study will analyse decadal changes from the last 40 years and predict future land use patterns. This will help in planning and implementation of wildlife conservation initiatives by policymakers in the decision-making process. In addition, the project team will impart training and capacity building to the frontline staff of the forest department on the use of handheld global positioning systems (GPS), awareness activities on wildlife conservation targeting school students, fishermen and communities living in the landscape and help them understand the importance of conserving wildlife.

Header: Herd of Asiatic water buffaloes in river island of Orang Tiger Reserve. © Avishek Sarkar.