Tigers, Forests Help Check Malnutrition
Author:
First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 30
No. 12,
December 2010
Believe it or not, tiger forests can help arrest malnutrition in human beings. A recent study conducted by Nature Conservation Society Amravati (NCSA) has advanced this claim and backed it with figures. Melghat first hit headlines in 1993 for death of 500 tribal children due to malnutrition. Initially, people said Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) was responsible for the problem because of stringent forest laws and wildlife policies.
The NCSA study now reveals that children in deforested areas outside the MTR were more vulnerable to malnourishment than those inside. Children from villages in MTR in Chikhaldara, where forest is dense, were in better health. This was due to consumption of nutritious forest food like edible wild flowers, tubers, fruits, crabs, fish etc. Read the full report here.
Source: Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, Nagpur.
