Goa Tiger Reserve

Syllabus Areas:

GS III - Environment and Ecology

In July 2023, the Bombay High Court directed the Goa government to notify five Protected Areas as a tiger reserve within three months.

  • The areas included:
    • Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS)
    • Bhagwan Mahavir WLS
    • Bhagwan Mahavir National Park
    • Netravali WLS
    • Cotigao WLS
  • The HC also ordered the State to:
    • Prepare a Tiger Conservation Plan
    • Settle rights/claims of Scheduled Tribes and forest dwellers
  • The order stemmed from:
    • A petition by Goa Foundation after the poisoning deaths of a tigress and her three cubs in 2020.
  • Context: NTCA (2016) had already recommended declaring these areas a tiger reserve.

Goa government’s response

  • Filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the HC order.
  • Main arguments:
    • Designating a tiger reserve would affect 1 lakh people — which their own affidavit later contradicted.
    • Later admission: only 1,274 households (≈5,000–6,000 people) across 33 villages are located inside these areas.
  • Goan government’s shifting stance on tiger presence:
    • Claimed no resident tigers, only transient
    • Contradiction exposed:
      In 2018, before the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal, Goa claimed it did have a resident tiger population and the forests formed a contiguous tiger corridor to Karnataka and Maharashtra.
  • The Supreme Court, noticing inconsistencies, directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to:
    • Conduct a site visit
    • Examine the issue
    • Submit a report
Goa Tiger Reserve

What the CEC report concluded

  • Acknowledged local fears of displacement — said the State must proactively allay apprehensions.
  • Recommended a phased establishment of the tiger reserve:
  • Phase 1 – Core Zone (High tiger presence & contiguity with Kali Tiger Reserve, Karnataka)
    • Netravali WLS – 50 households
    • Cotigao WLS – 41 households
    • Total: 7 sq km
    • Reason: Known permanent tiger presence, low human habitation.
  • Phase 1 – Buffer Zone
    • Northern part of Bhagwan Mahavir WLS – 9 households
    • Bhagwan Mahavir National Park – 2 households
    • Reason: Contiguous with Kali Tiger Reserve buffer, important for landscape connectivity.
  • Logic behind phased approach:
    • Minimises disturbance to communities
    • Prioritises ecologically sensitive, least-inhabited areas
    • Strengthens inter-state tiger landscape (Goa–Karnataka–Maharashtra)

Why this matters

  • Declaring a Tiger Reserve brings:
    • Greater funding (central assistance under NTCA)
    • Better scientific monitoring
    • Higher conservation priority
  • But it also creates:
    • Core zones — must be “inviolate”; residents can only be voluntarily relocated (no forced displacement allowed under law).
    • Buffer zones — allow controlled human activity (agriculture, tourism, sustainable livelihood).
  • For Goa specifically:
    • Provides formal protection to a critical Western Ghats tiger corridor.
    • Strengthens conservation after the 2020 tiger poisoning case.
    • Balances tribal rights, habitat continuity, and state concerns.

Prelims Questions:

1. With reference to a Tiger Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, consider the following statements:
  1. Village relocation from the core area is mandatory once it is declared inviolate.
  2. Buffer areas allow certain livelihood activities such as NTFP collection.
  3. Tiger reserves receive financial assistance from NTCA even if no tiger is present
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
2. With reference to a Tiger Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, consider the following statements:
  1. Village relocation from the core area is mandatory once it is declared inviolate.
  2. Buffer areas allow certain livelihood activities such as NTFP collection.
  3. Tiger reserves receive financial assistance from NTCA even if no tiger is present.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
3.Consider the following statements regarding Goa's forest landscape:
  1. It forms a connectivity corridor between Kali Tiger Reserve and Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.
  2. Goa's sanctuaries host India’s densest tiger population in the Western Ghats.
  3. The State earlier claimed its tiger population was resident in certain belt regions.
Which of the above statements are correct?
  1. 1 and 3 only
  2. 1 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3