Protecting tiger habitats safeguards natural watersheds that supply freshwater to millions of people and vast agricultural areas across India. Recent documentation shows that 53 tiger reserves help maintain several rivers and streams. With growing water stress resulting from climate change, population growth, and industrialisation, expanding and managing tiger habitats sustainably can help secure India’s freshwater systems and ecological resilience, writes Pramod K. Yadav for Mongabay India

A British collector of Tirunelveli (then Tinnevelly), R. K. Puckle had warned in the late 19th century that the large-scale clearing of forests in the Kalakkad region of Tamil Nadu would cause the Tamirabarani river to lose its perennial flow.

About a century later, his warning came true. The Tamiraba

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