KOLKATA: Fading grass lands and shrinking waterholes triggered by climate change and human intervention could take a heavy toll on the population of tigers that roam along the Himalayan foothills of the Indo-Nepal border, a recent study by the governments of the two countries hasrevealed. This is the first joint study and the biggest of its kind between the governments of India and Nepal to estimate the population of tigers in the Terai region. Officers have stumbled upon across at least 239 tigers in this region. “As climate change advances it is likely to bring additional impacts for tiger and prey populations, and their habitats. Increasing climate variability is likely to result in more extreme weather events, which could include longer drought periods as well as an increase in flooding. Water availability could become an issue for tiger and prey species in the dry season, possibly bringing wildlife into increasing conflict with people and domestic livestock. In the longer term rising temperatures due to climate change will impact vegetation types and species, and may resultoin major shifts in the wetland grassland-forest balance as well as changes in forest type,” said Maheshwar Dhakal, a senior ecologist in the National Parks Wildlife Conservation department of Nepal and one of the team leaders from Nepal. The study titled ‘Tigers of the Trans-boundary Terai Arc Landscape (TAL)’ was carried out between November 2012 and June 2013 to estimate the status, distribution and movement of tigers in the Terai region of India and Nepal and also to get a picture of the prey base and habitat. The study was carried out over an area of more than 5,000 sq km which includes seven protected areas and reserve forests in India and five protected areas, three biological corridors (protected forests) and adjoining forest patches in Nepal. The 49,500 km2 Terai Arc Landscape is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and proximate plains, and includes around 15 protected areas of Nepal and India. The results were published in September 2014 at the 2nd Stocktaking Conference to Review Implementation of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) held in Dhaka. It was attended by tiger experts of 13 countries where the wild cat is still found. Experts of both Nepal and India have pointed out in the study that some habitats are more productive for tigers and their prey such as alluvial grasslands. The quality of vegetation in these habitats is also a key variable for wildlife populations. “But this study has revealed that in recent years wetlands in many parts of Terai-Arc-Landscape have been drying up, or becoming engulfed by invasive species of plants species such as morning glory (Ipomoea cornea), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and white water snowflake (Nymphoides hydrophyllum) among others, which are destroying wildlife habitats,” said a senior official of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in India. The study also warned that in Nepal the rapid development of hydropower in the upper catchments of the major rivers flowing through TAL is likely to have big impacts on the floodplains and grasslands that sustain tiger and prey populations. Storage reservoirs in particular are likely to reduce stream flows and extent of flooding, and hence could cause the on version of wetland to grassland, and grassland to woody vegetation and forest. Extraction of water for irrigation and other purposes may compound falls in water table level. All these could take a heavy toll on tigers and its prey. “Cattle grazing, poaching, increasing human encroachments, fragmentation of tiger habitats, road and railway projects are other major challenges for the tiger population in the region,” said a senior official of the NTCA. (The Hinduthntimes)