Critical Wildlife Habitats

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What is a Critical Wildlife Habitat (CWH)?

  • CFR Potential Mapping identifies forest areas that communities can manage under India's Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006.
  • It empowers local Gram Sabhas to sustainably manage forests, promoting community-led governance.
  • The process fills critical data gaps, enabling focused implementation and accountability.
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HOW IS CFR POTENTIAL ESTIMATED ?

Two key data sources are used:

  • Village-based Forest Data
  • Villages with over 10 hectares of forest land (as per Census data) are flagged for potential CFR rights.
  • This establishes a baseline for areas eligible for claims.
  • Reserved Forest Adjacency
  • A 2 km buffer into Reserved Forests (RF) is added for villages near RFs, reflecting traditional forest use.
  • This method captures additional eligible areas not recorded in revenue boundaries.

By combining these datasets, a comprehensive map of CFR-eligible villages is created, ready for validation.

HOW DOES GIS SUPPORT CFR MAPPING ?

GIS (Geographic Information System) technology refines and visualizes estimates through :

  • Digitizing Village Boundaries : Shapefiles of boundaries are corrected and linked to Census data.
  • Integrating Land-Use Data : Forest areas from census tables are tied to corresponding village polygons.
  • Buffer Mapping : A 2 km inward buffer is drawn into RFs to estimate forest areas likely under community use.
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WHY IS CFR POTENTIAL MAPPING IMPORTANT?

  • Applied across states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, it revealed vast CFR potential.
  • It supports sustainable livelihoods for millions of forest-dwellers by unlocking community forest governance.
  • It supports sustainable livelihoods for millions of forest-dwellers by unlocking community forest governance.

CFR Mapping is a step toward equitable forest management and a stronger community-led conservation future.

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