08/12/2020 - Environment

KEY POINTS

Eco-Bridges

·        Eco-ducts or eco-bridges aim to enhance wildlife connectivity that can be disrupted because of highways or logging.

·        These include canopy bridges (usually for monkeys, squirrels and other arboreal species); concrete underpasses or overpass tunnels or viaducts (usually for larger animals); and amphibian tunnels or culverts.

Importance

·        Usually these bridges are overlaid with planting from the area to give it a contiguous look with the landscape.

·        The bridge is an awareness-building mechanism for this very congested tourist route. The bridge was a way to see how we can preserve the ecosystem necessary for reptiles that feed on insects, for snakes that feed on reptiles, and for eagles that feed on snakes

·        The new eco-bridge built for reptiles in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand The span and distribution of eco-bridges should depend on animal movement patterns. “The bigger bridges will see sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, wild pig using them, while for tigers or leopards.

·        Nature Conservation Foundation, working in Tamil Nadu’s Anamalai Hills, built canopy bridges for lion-tailed macaques and Nilgiri langurs.

·        Smallest bridge was about 10m and the longest was about 25m. These have been very successful with the monkeys taking to them pretty fast.With five animal underpasses and four minor bridges on the 6.6-km road within the forests, it’s one of India’s success stories.

·        One of the largest underpasses – 1.4km – for animal conservation is India is being built along the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border, he said. Other proposals include the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway, in the Hosur-Krishnagiri segment, near reserve forests for elephant crossings, and in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur, Maharashtra.

Is my answer Fullfilling the demand of the question??

Kindly provide feedback. Thank you mam/sir

Sir/madam,

I have exceeded the word limits. But please tell me whether they are correct or not?

"Eco-bridges", also known as Wildlife corridors or Eco-ducts, can be defined as- "a link of wildlife habitat, generally made up from native vegetation, which joins two or more larger areas of similar wildlife habitat".

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur, Maharashtra is one of them.

Eco-bridges may include: underpass tunnels, viaducts, and overpasses (mainly for larger animals); amphibian tunnels; fish ladders; Canopy bridge (especially for monkeys and squirrels), tunnels and culverts (for small mammals); green roofs (for butterflies and birds).

>>> Significance of the eco-bridges in conserving the wildlife habitat :

- Genetic isolation : To prevent genetic isolation of fragmented flora and fauna, the bridge would encourage the interaction of wildlife by facilitating movement between the once separated forests and effectively expand habitat, mating and foraging ranges of flora and fauna, thereby reducing the occurrence of inbreeding and increasing the long-term survival of our native species.

- Pollination and dispersion : With wildlife crossing the expressway from one natural reserve to another, the chances of pollination and dispersion of rare native plants could greatly increase.

- Protection from natural disasters : Providing crossing infrastructure at key points along transportation corridors is known to improve safety- mainly at times of natural disasters like flood, drought, etc., reconnect habitats and restore wildlife movement.

>>> Challenges involved with Eco Bridges :

- Lack of funding : The challenging aspects of wildlife corridors are the lack of funding because of the lack of research into the actual benefits of these corridors.

- Availabilty and approval of land : As many wildlife corridors intersect busy roads or places where a lot of humans are, many species shy away from the area. Corridors  need to be built very wide to maintain the wilderness effect, but this land is very hard to get approved for usage as a wildlife corridor in some cases.

- Invasive species : Unfortunately, these corridors often allow for the safe passage of invasive species of flora and fauna which can drastically change the ecosystem of a nearby area that was once inaccessible.

>>> Conclusion  :

Although there are challenges, yet wildlife corridors can help halt biodiversity loss and redress the impacts of the degradation and isolation of ecosystem, thus, conserving the wildlife of the country.