This report makes the case that the biggest threat to the long term survival of the Royal Bengal Tiger in its largest contiguous landscape- Central India- has been overlooked by the Indian government and its administrative machinery. That threat is coal mining and its related infrastructure.
Coal mining threatens over 1.1 million hectares of forest in 13 coalfields alone in Central India. The GIS analysis, conducted by the Geo-informatics Lab at ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) overlaid maps of the 13 coalfields (2) with forest cover, Protected Area boundaries and the latest government data on tiger, elephant and leopard presence.
Almost all the coalfields overlap with endangered species habitat – of the 1.1 million hectares of forest at risk, over 185,000 ha. are inhabited by tiger, over 270,000 ha. by leopard and over 55,000 ha. by elephant.
Read the report to find out more >> How Coal mining is Trashing Tigerland
“How coal mining is trashing Tigerland” – report cover