Tiger reserves of India are shining bright as the best big cat conservation models in the world.
What started off as Project Tiger with only six reserves in 1971, now stands at 53 spread across 18 states. As the nation celebrates 50 years of protection and conservation of its national animal, the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) report is out.
According to the MEE, an Independent authority, Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala is number one fulfilling 94.38 percent of all requirements needed to further the tiger population in the country, while Bandipur TR of Karnataka and Satpura TR (Madhya Pradesh) come in as joint-second.
The MEE study was checking to tick 33 categories on how well the job was being done. And their report came as India announced an addition of at least 200 more tigers since the last census carried out in 2018.
NONE POOR
On all MEE indicators, 12 tiger reserves achieved excellent scores, 20 are in very good category, 14
are good and five are doing fairly well.
This is the first time ever that not a single Tiger Reserve has been kept in the poor category when it comes to effective management and conservation efforts.
This was the fifth cycle of MEE and the indicators include well documentation of the values of TR, the status of Tiger Conservation Plan, whether it safeguards the threatened biodiversity values, whether the TR has enough trained manpower for wildlife conservation, whether the expectation of visitors was being met and if the local communities.
Field Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve is excited as well as hopeful for the future.
He says, “With a Robust Protection System which include 53 Anti-Poaching Camps we have been making BTR the safest. Plus, BTR has other strengths like it is free from human habitations (as we relocated all the people from Bandipur before 1990) and eco-tourism here is also thriving. We are hopeful that we will be the best in future.”
SUCCESS
The 2022 Tiger Census Report is out and there is a 6.7% growth in the total population of tigers since 2018, with the total number of big cats in the wild being at least 3,167.
The growth between 2018-2022 is way less than the growth between 2014-18 which was 33%. But the possibilities are encouraging.
According to the MEE study, new areas in Uttar Pradesh and North-West of Yamuna in Himachal have recorded evidence of tigers.
Tiger occupancy has expanded toward the territorial forest division of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh too.
However, there have also been increasing conflicts between tigers and large herbivorous, in states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand that need to be mitigated.
SOME ALARMS
The tiger population has declined in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana. Although if prey augmentation and habitat restoration are undertaken seriously among other things, these states still hold the potential for further recovery.
In the Western Ghats, the local extinction of tiger population in areas like Sirsi is observed as also in down south in Kanyakumari.
The connectivity of tiger reserves in Western Ghat (Bandipur, Mudumalai, Periyar and others) is excellent but there is the issue of increased man-animal conflict due to development projects.
FOCUS NORTH-EAST
The tiger population in the North East Hills is comparatively low despite it having a genetically unique lineage. So the study encourages top priority focus on the conservation, and ecological monitoring outside protected areas of North East Hills to maintain genetic diversity.
Tiger conservation will get a further shot in the arm with the launch of the International Big Cat Alliance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BCA will focus on seven of the world’s largest big cats including Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pumas, Jaguars, and Cheetahs. The initiative is India’s call to end these felines’ poaching and illegal trade in Asia.
