MADHYA PRADESH: Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district -- the first home to African cheetahs in India - is witnessing a movement by local villagers to stop the rampant cutting of trees.
The first batch of eight cheetahs were flown from Namibia and released into the quarantine bomas (enclosures) at the KNP by PM Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022. However, much before they were sent here, two Gurjar caste-dominated villages Kankar and Chitara, located in the Park’s buffer zone, embarked on a movement to save the cutting of trees in KNP forests. It has been around a year and a half since the Chitara-Kankar’s common village panchayat unanimously resolved to stop the felling of trees in the KNP buffer zone forest, by banning entry of villagers with axes.
“It was unanimously decided that anyone who violates the ban on carrying axes into the KNP buffer zone forests will be slapped with Rs 11,000 penalty. So far, the panchayat has collected over Rs 2 lakh as a penalty and there are hardly any incidents of felling of trees or their branches reported now. It is to ensure adequate green nourishment for the Sambars and Chitals, which form the key prey base of leopards and the African cheetahs in the dense KNP forests,” Nawab Singh Gurjar, the deputy sarpanch of Chitara-Kankar village panchayat said.
Not only has the ban on entry of axes into the KNP buffer area and associated monetary penalty stopped residents of the two villages from felling trees and branches for green fodder, but round-the-clock vigilance by the Cheetah Mitras (volunteers roped in to protect the cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa) of the two villages, have also led to capture and legal action against 3-4 men from other villages who were involved in tree felling in the forests.
The two villages, whose residents largely rely on dairy farming (the cow and buffalo milk is provided to three milk dairies of MP and adjoining Rajasthan), up till a year and a half back ventured into KNP buffer zone forests and cut the green trees, particularly branches for rendering fodder to their bovine livestock. However, a few months before the first batch of African cheetahs were trans-located to India in 2022, motivated by the forest department and the KNP management, the villagers decided to ban the entry of axes in those forests. “We had three-pronged objective, including saving green cover for rendering ideal habitat to cheetahs, ensuring green fodder for the prey base of cheetahs and leopards and raising groundwater level by saving trees, including Mahua, Khair and Salai trees. We’ve succeeded in our efforts significantly,” Nawab Singh claimed.
Knowing well that the ban on entry of axes in the forests will create a shortage of green fodder for two villages’ cattle, the two villages have started extensive cultivation of green fodder plants and grass. “We no longer have to rely on the KNP forests for our cattle fodder, but have developed our own green fodder stock in the villages only, thus leaving the green fodder solely for the herbivore prey base of cheetahs,” he said.
Every month, the village panchayat reviews the success of their environment conservation initiative. Even adjoining villages, including Bargawan, Dobh and Piprani are now working on starting a similar initiative in association with the KNP management.
According to DFO-Kuno National Park, Prakash Verma, “While KNP’s core area is spread in 750 sq km, the buffer area which includes around 45 villages is spread in another 550 sq km. The ‘No-Axe-in-Forests’ initiative which was started around a year and a half back by Chitara and Kankar villages in consultation with the forest department has already done wonders on the ground.”