Building Adaptive Capacities of Communities, Livelihoods and Ecological Security in the Kanha-Pench Corridor of Madhya Pradesh

The Kanha-Pench Corridor (KPC) spreads across three administrative districts (Balaghat, Mandla and Seoni) of the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In the last two decades, the Kanha-Pench Corridor has faced severe degradation caused by an increase in anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Studies of the corridor area reveal that while the forests within the corridor has excellent patches with continuous regeneration, patches which are completely or partially degraded are increasing constantly due to their diversion for developmental purposes or by over extraction of its resources (fuel wood, timber, fodder etc). This situation in the landscape is further exacerbated by climate change. The rainfall and temperature patterns in the region have undergone a change in the past few decades which have impacted both forests and other ecosystem based livelihoods like agriculture and livestock.

The KPC forms one of the most crucial tiger conservation units of the world, as it is still a contiguous forest patch of 16,000 km2 and connects the Kanha and Pench Tiger reserves. The KPC also supports rich biodiversity and provides important ecosystem services like regulating hydrology and carbon sequestration. Besides its ecological functions, the KPC supports a substantial human population that is extremely vulnerable socio-economically.

The project will be implemented in 56 villages that lie in and around the KPC which is one of the 4 forested wildlife movement corridors in the Satpuda Maikal Landscape.

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