Berijam Lake Area: Plea for Scientific Tiger Census

UPSC Daily Current Affairs ENVIRONMENT English 25 Jun 2026

Why in News?

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has placed before its Forest Bench a PIL seeking a scientific tiger census around Berijam Lake to assess whether the landscape is ecologically suitable for recommendation as a Tiger Reserve. Recent tiger sightings near the lake triggered the conservation demand.

Berijam Lake & Landscape

1. Location: Kodaikanal, Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu.

2. Physiography: Situated in the upper Palani Hills, part of the Western Ghats landscape.

3. Nature: It is an artificial lake, created following construction of a dam with sluice outlets.

4. Protected Landscape: The Berijam region is associated with the Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary.

5. Biodiversity: The surrounding landscape contains significant shola and evergreen forest habitats and supports elephants, gaur, Nilgiri langur and other wildlife.

6. Mapping Link: The Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary lies close to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve landscape towards the Tamil Nadu–Kerala side, making landscape connectivity an important conservation consideration.

Why a Scientific Census Matters

1. A few tiger sightings alone cannot establish that an area supports a viable resident tiger population. Scientific assessment can examine population presence, prey availability, habitat quality, movement corridors and anthropogenic pressures before any conservation recommendation is made.

2. The issue therefore illustrates an important conservation principle:

3. Tiger Conservation → Habitat Protection → Corridor Connectivity → Landscape-Level Conservation

Tiger Reserve: Legal Link

1. Tiger conservation in India is governed by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, particularly provisions relating to tiger conservation introduced through later amendments.

2. Section 38V deals with the notification of an area as a Tiger Reserve by the State Government on the recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

3. A Tiger Reserve broadly incorporates:

i. Core/Critical Tiger Habitat — maintained as an inviolate area for tiger conservation, subject to statutory safeguards.

ii. Buffer/Peripheral Area — promotes coexistence between wildlife conservation and livelihood/development needs of surrounding communities.

iii. Prelims Trap: A Tiger Reserve is not the same legal category as a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary; tiger reserves may encompass areas already falling within such protected-area categories.

Conservation Significance

1. The Berijam issue goes beyond protecting individual tigers. Large carnivores require extensive, connected habitats for dispersal and genetic exchange. Fragmentation through roads, tourism and other disturbances can isolate populations even when individual protected areas remain intact.

2. The case therefore strengthens the argument for shifting from species-centric conservation to landscape-level ecological planning, particularly across the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats.

3. At the same time, designation of additional protected landscapes should rest on scientific evidence, ecological carrying capacity, community participation and carefully regulated tourism, rather than sightings alone.

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